Making My Thoughts a Sanctuary

I’m at Wegmans. I am eating a 6 dollar fruit salad.

I don’t know why I felt the need to tell you that, except for the fact that I have NO idea how to start this entry. Which is funny for me, because usually it’s not this hard.

I’m not sure how to start because I don’t want my words to be misinterpreted. I don’t want you to read this and think that I’m judging you. Because I’m not.

I’ve been fighting writing this for a while, but right now it feels like I won’t have rest until I say it.

I read this quote the other day and it really helped bring clarity for me, giving me the confidence to write this post.

“God tells us to make a sanctuary of our thoughts in which He can dwell.” 

~AW Tozer

That’s what I’ve been doing. I’m trying to make a sanctuary of my thoughts. Instead of filling my mind with: hours of TV, songs with disgusting messages, and that hamster-wheel of worry... I’m trying to fill my mind with peace, joy, and all things that glorify God.

It’s a constant struggle. Stand up, take a few steps, fall over. Repeat. I praised God in this moment, then complained in the next. I’m not trying to be perfect, but I’m trying to be better than I was yesterday, or even a few minutes ago. 

One day last year, I just decided that I’d stop listening to “worldly music.” I didn’t tell anyone. I just quit. And now, I feel like it is one of the best decisions I ever made. 

Now, after “fasting” for so long, I can see what it was doing to me. I can see the toll it took on my mind. 

There are songs that are so blatantly against the things of God- and I don’t think that people of God should be listening to them. 

That’s just my opinion. 

Philippians 4:8 pretty much says it all: “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

It’s not just my opinion now. Now it’s God’s Word, commanding that you and I think on things that are worthy of praise. I’m sorry (not sorry) to be the one to tell you that God requires more from you if you are to bear His name. 

We need to bring glory to God by the way we live our lives. 

This includes the music that we listen to.

I’m not saying that you have to be like me. 

I’m not even saying you have to cut it out entirely. 

All I’m trying to say is: Are you making your thoughts a sanctuary? a place where God can dwell?

Names, Lambs, and Provision (This Could Change Your Life)

In this quest of mine to actually know Scripture, to hide His Word in my heart, I'm discovering who God really is. I'm learning more about His character because it's His story all throughout the Bible. It's God orchestrating it all- all for His glory.

I decided to learn what those names of God really mean. 
You know... Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Shammah, etc.

So I would google a name each day and discover not only what it meant and where it is in the Bible, but also what that means for me. See, God is true to character. Those names are His identity. Who He was to the Israelites during the Exodus, is the same today. Right now. I find such comfort in that thought.

I think that maybe the most common or famous of His names is Jehovah Jireh. It seems like that's what everyone goes to during a hard time. If we know someone who's having a crisis, we say, "Oh He's Jehovah Jireh, He'll meet your needs." And it gets said so often, without even really thinking about it. 

Don't get me wrong. He does meet your needs and I think you should go on saying it, but maybe, not without actually learning the meaning behind the name in the first place.

Jehovah Jireh literally means "God who sees and meets needs."

It appears only once in the Old Testament and it is when Abraham is about to sacrifice his son Isaac. Yes, sacrifice. God was testing Abraham's faith, something Abraham would later become known by. But God sent an angel to stop Abraham and to basically tell him that he passed the test. God sent a lamb for Abraham to sacrifice instead. 

So Abraham named that place The Lord Provides. 

Even today people say, 

“On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” 

(Genesis 22:14) 

Abraham didn't have to sacrifice his only son on that hill because God provided. Jehovah Jireh.

Here's the part that struck me, the part I really want you to get:

God did not just see the need and provide a lamb for that moment. 

Jehovah Jireh sent THE LAMB, Jesus, years later- to die on a hill. The only Son, the perfect Lamb of God, died in Isaac's place. In our place. 

It's God's love that sent Jesus. It's Jesus' love that went willingly. 
It's the death on the cross and the resurrection that saved us and redeemed us. God saw the need and provided.

So here's my request: The next time you proclaim that God is Jehovah Jireh, remember that no need is too great for Him. He went so far as to sacrifice His only Son to meet Abraham's need. To meet our need.