Refining the Focus of our Minds

Things are really starting to move at church. Melinda and I were recently reflecting about how we were progressing at church and realized, "wow, we're already at 6 months!" On the outside looking in, it seems like we have made no progressed. But God has recently been moving in our lives and the life of the church. We recently had a wonderful couple from Texas move to the area and come join our team. As some of you know, Melinda and I have been praying for 2 young couples and 1 worship leader to join our team to help plant/replant/start/restart the church. Well God has partially answered our prayer. They share our vision and passion for ministry and truly called to the mission of the church. So we're praying for a few more people to join our team.

Here's a recent picture of Elianah and I:


I was just reading an article recently about our how our minds are constantly thinking about something else. You're probably thinking about something else as you're reading this blog. Because our minds tend to lose focus quite often, I believe that they are highly vulnerable for the attacks of Satan.

I think often in our spiritual walk, our minds are often neglected. Maybe we think it’s too intellectual or that it’s dipping too much in science and psychology. But know this: the mind is a primary stronghold of Satan in our society. Our minds control the meanings we assign to what we deal with, and they can even blind us to what lies plainly before us.

Here's a quote from Dallas Willad:
“This is the basic idea back of all temptation: God is presented as depriving us by his commands of what is good, so we think we must take matters into our own hands and act contrary to what he has said. This image of God leads to our pushing him out of our thoughts and putting ourselves on the throne of the universe.”

How we obey, follow, and worship God depends heavily on our minds. God has given us minds to help us think, to give us free will, but to also glorify and worship him.