Our Thoughts Can Suffocate the Light of His Glory In Our Lives

As I walk down the path I see a tall stately tree that has a thinning, sparse crown in its canopy leaves. From a distance I can see that this tree has a vine that has grown all the way up its trunk.

These vines grow rapidly and quickly taking over the tree and growing into the canopy eventually suffocating the tree.

Even trees that are planted near a stream, where they are well watered, are susceptible to these vine's swift ascent to the top branches where they, as parasites, rob energy and nutrients from the tree by blocking the light of the sun and girdling the thin branches, preventing the life giving flow through the tree's vascular system and ultimately penetrating through the tree cambium.

We too are susceptible to encroaching vines that suffocate a life that is lead and walking in the Spirit.

Unruly thought patterns are like parasitic plants that rapidly grow into  and rob the believer's inner sanctuary, causing unrest and ultimately preventing us from seeing the light of God's glory and grace.

In effect when we allow our minds to run wild, we giving way to a destructive vine that will rob us of all that is good making our lives fruitless.

But how is it that these thoughts have such a detrimental effect on our lives?

The mind is one of three distinct components that make up the believer's heart.  Our thoughts effect not only our minds but our will and emotions.  What we dine on internally will most assuredly effect the outcome of our lives because we act out of our will and emotions.

Romans 6:17 indicates that our obedience to God is first manifest in our hearts.

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin 

have become obedient from the heart 

to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 

and, having been set free from sin, 

have become slaves of righteousness.  

I am speaking in human terms, 

because of your natural limitations.  

For just as you once presented your members as slaves 

to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, 

so now present your members as slaves to righteousness 

leading to sanctification.

As we give way to our flesh in the area of our thoughts, we are entering into bondage.

Obedience starts in the heart and that involves our mind, will and emotions.  When we make way for our flesh to rule in these areas, clinging to our past identity, we become futile in our thinking and our hearts become darkened.

When we give our thoughts over to carnality then we become slaves to our carnal minds.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves 

to anyone as obedient slaves, 

you are slaves of the one whom you obey, 

either of sin, which leads to death, 

or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

What we meditate on will impact our lives.  Rehearsing things in our minds or replaying past hurts or declaring that you are prone to a certain personality type, will set up a stronghold in your mind that perpetuates these things as reality, preventing your heart's leading into righteousness.

But when we choose to cut off these thoughts, not giving them the fertilizer and water that they need to grow but instead saturating the ground of our hearts with the truth of God's word, then we are able identify and uproot false identities and ideologies that are a part of our old man.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?  

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized 

into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, 

in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead 

by the glory of the Father, 

we too might walk in newness of life.  

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, 

we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, 

so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  

This is why Christ died!  That we would not longer be enslaved to sin!  To give us a new identity!

When we present our minds to the Lord and His word then we are submitting as slaves, our unruly minds which leads to the sanctifying work of the Spirit.  We are obeying the Spirit and following Him into a new life with new thinking and this sanctifies us and leads us into righteousness, a life where we act in a right, pure and good way.

When we give our minds over to the flesh we will absolutely reap fleshly fruit and thus perpetuate the cycle of planting, water and growing more and more in our carnality.

Romans 13:11-14 gives us insight

Besides this (fulfilling the law by loving others)  you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.  

For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.  

The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  

So then let us cast off the works of darkness 

and put on the armor of light.  

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, 

not in orgies and drunkeness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.  

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 

and make no provision for the flesh, 

to gratify its desires. 

We cannot continue in sensuality in our minds and think that we are walking in the Spirit but we must cast off the works of darkness by taking our thoughts captive to the obedience and Lordship of Jesus Christ, being ready to punish every act of disobedience that ultimately starts in our minds.  

We must face our old identities and cut them off at the ground and dig them out so that our thoughts do not overtake the growth into the measure and stature of Christ becoming a well watered tree that flourishes for all to see bringing Him glory. 

Father we thank you that by Your Spirit and Your Word, Jesus, that we can die to our old nature of thinking.   Thank you for your grace which provides us with everything we could possible need to grow and thrive in the light of your countenance and in the understanding of your word.  

Awaken our hearts and show us where we have set up strongholds in our thinking that have served to suffocate our growth in the Spirit.