Single-Minded part 1
I mentioned this verse a couple of days ago, and it stuck with me. So, with the advice of my pastor ringing in my head, "Preach it until your heart is empty on it," I'm going to go ahead and dive in. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). I think we can all relate to this. Any time we're at war with ourselves. And I've long said the two hardest things to do in the world are: 1. Doing something you don't want to do. 2. Not doing something you do want to do. Going against your nature, if I can say it that way. But there key there is knowing what your new (TRUE) nature is. Which is what James 4:8 tells us, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." I don't want to get to deep into the "ye sinners" part. Because I believe a "sinner" is simply someone who doesn't know who they really are. Sin is unbelief. Not believing, or not knowing, the truth. The ultimate truth of the universe. That God is love and He loves you. But like I said, that's not today's Rant. Today I want to focus on the single-mindedness that comes from drawing nigh unto God. Look at Ezekiel 11:19, "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh." I will give THEM... ONE... heart, saith the Lord. We didn't each get a new heart, individually. We each got HIS heart. One heart. One mind. Remember that God only has one will, right? It is good, and acceptable, and perfect, but it is singular. His will is to love. What else could it be? He is the God who is love. What else could possibly come from His mind, or heart? He took out our stony heart--the Law of Moses which was written externally on tablets of stone--and replaced it with a heart of flesh. The New Commandment for the New Man. To love one another as Jesus has loved us. To receive and release the gift of God. Which is His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God. Nobody can live Jesus's life except Jesus. How could we? But we CAN experience His life by letting Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. We can draw nigh unto God, with the blessed assuarance that He will draw nigh unto us. And, listen, God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. This isn't saying, "If you want God close you have to do something." God doesn't work like that. It's not about what we do. It's about who we are, and who He is. This is saying, "If you want to EXPERIENCE God... you have to focus on Him." What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. What you feed is what will grow. What you dwell on--or dwell in--is what you experience. "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us his Spirit" (1 John 4:13). His Spirit--the mind of Christ, which is already in us, which we can, and should, LET it BE in us--is how we stop being double minded. Focus only on love and experience only love, no matter what is going on around us. The fire in you is always hotter than the fire you're in. Let it burn like a Holy Ghost wildfire, consuming everything but itself!