Where does your mind go first?

1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Whether we all confess it or not, each one of us has an instant standard of belief—the glass is half full or half empty. We use this standard in various ways depending on the circumstances. To put it in a different way, some people are natural optimists, and some are pessimists. But as Christians we are to first think on whatsoever is true, of good report, honest, and loving. Not just about others but about our own selves.

Proverbs 23: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

When my journey toward healing started the very first thoughts I had to accept were about what God said about me. I had to believe God over everything I was feeling and seeing. I had to judge God righter than what my circumstances were telling my senses.

We live in a body governed by five senses. If we can’t see it, touch it, taste it, smell it, or hear it, then it’s not real. That’s what our natural body tells us. But when we become born of the Spirit, our spirit comes alive, and we die to the senses. It’s like a house going from running off electricity to now operating by solar. But we are still living in the same house.

I had to make an instant decision. I could within those first few minutes make a choice. Was I going to believe what I was seeing and feeling or was I going to listen to the voice of God telling me to trust Him and allow Him to show me how He works in this world? I wish I could say that my faith was so strong that I made my choice out of the full knowledge of knowing God, but I’d not be telling the truth.

I can back that up by a recent situation just yesterday. I want to believe that I’m a person who leans toward the positive about things that happen in my life but I’m still learning things about myself—some I need to change.

I ordered a bottle of vitamins and knew that it would be a few days before they arrived. Honestly, I sort of forgot they were coming. When I did remember, I went to the site I ordered them from and there was confirmation that they had indeed been shipped and delivered by FedEx. FedEx has a habit of taking a picture as proof of delivery. But the package hadn’t been delivered to my door, it was left between the two electric doors at the front of the building where anyone could easily take it.

My first thought was anything but true. I listened to that carnal side of my mind and instantly believed that someone had taken it. I became angry with FedEx. Their drivers are the laziest among delivery drivers. I’ve had other items left downstairs rather than them taking the time to do their jobs right. So, in my mind I was out my bottle of vitamins; not to mention the dishonest person who took my package.

But in my spirit, I was hearing something different. I heard, call the office, and see if my package was sitting there that had been delivered two days ago. I didn’t listen. I leaned toward my own understanding and not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always ready to help us if we will listen to His voice and obey it.

This morning my phone rang and it was the manager calling to tell me that she had a package in the office for me and apologized for getting busy and not letting me know it was in the office. Right then I heard the Holy Spirit’s conviction—not condemnation but loving conviction. I could have saved myself from two days of a bad attitude had I listened and obeyed.

Recently another more heartfelt situation happened and for three days I have been struggling with my feelings over believing what I know is true. Every day we have choices to make. Are we going to walk in our old man or walk in the Holy Spirit? There shouldn’t even be a question but sadly the flesh doesn’t die easily. Even when we have walked with God for many years we can slip up. Thankfully, I’ve learned to turn my heart and mind around much quicker. Years ago, I went months suffering with my feelings. Now it can be as quickly as a few minutes. But in these two back-to-back cases it was three days.

I knew that God was trying to teach me a very valuable lesson. I cannot trust my feelings. I had jumped to conclusions, which shows me that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done inside of me.

Praise God, that the night standing in the shower when it was a matter of my life, I listened. I set my feelings outside of my body and refused to believe what all my senses were telling me. I chose to believe God.

Dear reader, if you have been born again and have the Holy Spirit living within you, you can do the same thing. I had to wake up to a daily choice. I also had to not judge my circumstances before the time no matter what was to come.

Chemotherapy and radiation were soon to be in my future. There would be words spoken to me and over my life that I would either believe or remember what God said. One of the hardest to deal with was knowing that I was to be as the man who Jesus said to go wash in the Pool of Siloam in John 9:7. My healing was going to be a journey even though I knew that the very moment I chose to believe the voice of the Holy Spirit I was healed.

God’s thoughts are so much higher than ours and His ways are not our ways. I want to live and walk by the Spirit about even the smallest things in my life. I got my bottle of vitamins and I’m choosing to believe the best of the other circumstance and about myself. Not making judgments before the time.

I bless you.