Guard Well The Entrance To Your Mind!- Part 7

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.  Then I saw another angel coming up from the east having the seal of the living God.  He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea.  “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” (Revelation 7: 1-3, NIV, Emphasis provided).

Dear God, It is with gratitude that we approach Your throne of grace.  We are anxious to be taught by You, so please speak to our hearts, is our prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Today, we will continue to look at ways in which we can guard well the entrance to our minds.  Yesterday, we made a pause, to begin to consider why guarding the entrance to our minds is so important, as it related to receiving the seal of God.  We made an interesting discovery – that the frontal lobe, where it is believed that rational decision making, and the exercising of the will, takes place, is “in the area of the forehead,” where the servants of God will be sealed.  Hence the important of carefully guarding our minds.

A couple of days ago we suggested two ways of guarding the entrance to our minds:  Do not engage in conversation with the Adversary; and, Remember that God sees the bigger picture; we do not.  Today, let us consider other ways.  In order to do this, let us go back to the beginning; to the Garden of Eden, where our first parents fell under the influence of the Adversary.  We will continue where we left off.

3) Be very careful what voices you listen to.  Early on in our study, we saw that our first parents had been told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  They were told that the result would be death (on another occasion we will talk about why they did not die immediately).  The command was so direct, and so clear (Genesis 3: 16, 17), that we can conclude that it was not for a lack of clarity that they disobeyed.  The only other reason that we can think of, for their disobedience, is that both of them, listened to the wrong voices!  The woman listened to the serpent, “You will not surely die” (4).  And the man listened to his wife, “…She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (6).  When in conversation with God, He should have the last word!  Nothing anyone else says, in opposition to what God has said, should supersede His command!

4) Keep off forbidden ground!  Let me share with you some thoughts from the book Patriarchs and Prophets, “Satan was not to follow them with continual temptations; he could have access to them only at the forbidden tree.  Should they attempt to investigate its nature, they would be exposed to his wiles [remember we read that she had been warned not to leave her husband’s side] … But absorbed in her pleasing task, she unconsciously wandered from his side.  On perceiving that she was alone, she felt an apprehension of danger, but dismissed her fears, deciding that she had sufficient wisdom and strength to discern evil and to withstand it” (53, 54, Emphasis provided).

We have not changed much since the days of Eden, have we?  There is so much similitude in our behavioral patterns!  There is nothing to be gained by placing ourselves in a position to be tempted, but we do!  We choose to look at, listen to, and read, things we cannot handle!  Many of us are wandering off to “trees of knowledge of good and evil,” in our own sphere, and the enemy is waiting for us there!  Many of us believe that we are strong enough, and wise enough, to withstand evil.  It was not true in the Garden of Eden; it is not true today.  We will continue.