Day 5: Love God with All Your Mind and Strength

With my parents visiting this weekend, I just didn't have time to write about yesterday's chapter. I did read it, though, so without further ado, here we go (since I need to write two of these tonight).

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I was listening to music when I opened up the webpage, but the opening line of this chapter told me to totally clear my mind, so I have now turned the music off. It asks an important question: how do we love God with all of our mind? The answer is a deceivingly simple sentence: "[t]o love God with all your mind is to know that God's thoughts are thoughts of love toward you and to decide that your thoughts will be thoughts of love toward God." A further breakdown takes Phillipians 4:8 and shows how the list of things in this verse can help develop a continual habit of thinking with love towards God (MAN that was an awful sentence. I'm tired):

-That which is true means that which we can depend on in life. God's promises, anyone?
-That which is noble reminds us of God's presence in EVERYTHING we do, making the mundane have the "light of eternity."
-That which is right is aligned with God's will.
-That which is pure refers to that which is unclean. Unfortunately as humans we can not forget the mistakes we have made, but what we can do instead is look to Jesus' perfect life and sacrifice for us.
-That which is lovely "means not so much 'pretty' as 'enjoyable.'" Too often we get caught up in living "good" Christian lives that we are missing out on the fun God wants us to have!
-That which is admirable is something we should point out in our relationships with others (rather than their faults, which is way easier to do).
-That which is excellent motivates us, because our God is excellent! If we are not so wrapped up in our own stuff, we can't help but see His greatness!
-That which is praiseworthy is really the culmination of all this: we should celebrate what God is doing in our lives!

This chapter also talks about how we can love with all our strength. The finale of the other three, our strength is when we take all the inner parts and let them play out in the real world. Three things we should do:
-Have complete confidence that God can do ANYTHING
-Be convinced that we can do nothing of eternal significance without Jesus' presence in our lives
-Turn to God to change our weaknesses into strength

I can look back a year in life and see that all three of these things are true. And for that I am eternally grateful that God brought me down here to FL and hit me over the head.

One last thing (before I crash- I'm EXHAUSTED)- feeling inadequate in a certain area is an indication of a place that we need to learn to rely on God's strength. It doesn't mean that we will start to feel more adequate; instead, we rely on someone Who is adequate in that place. I love that idea.

Point to Ponder: To love God with your mind, you must put God's words into your mind.
God is love. I could write out the mathematical proof but it's not worth it, so use your imagination.

Verse to Remember: Philippians 4:8- "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent of praiseworthy- think about such things."
I can't begin to count the number of times I have brought this verse to mind in many a situation. Actually it's something that helps me to combat my sleep issues when they arise.

Questions to Consider: Where have my thoughts been focused lately? When was the last time I asked God to give me the strength to move forward in his power, even though I was feeling weak?
Lately, it's been on trying not to be sloppy with everything that's been going on in life. I'm not sure about that last question either. . . but I need to SLEEP.