Keep Your Mind On It

I Corinthians 14:15 I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.

I am blessed to be a good reader.

          I can read almost anything without giving a bit of thought to what I am reading. 

          I can read a whole page of a book and not be able to tell you what I just read.

I do not always have my mind on what I am reading.

I am blessed to hear well (with the help of my hearing aids, that is). 

          I can sit in a group and hear everything that is said but when the group disperses, I cannot tell you what was said.

          I can sit at the dinner table and hear everything my hubby says, but I cannot tell you what he said when he is finished talking.

I did not have my mind on what I was hearing.

I cannot sing very well, but I do enjoy singing with the congregation at church.

          I can an entire song without thinking about a single word I sang.

I do not always have my mind on what I am singing.

In chapter fourteen of First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is pointing out how the spiritual gifts God gives to believers are given to individuals for the benefit of the entire body of believers of which that person is a part.  (Gifts such as faith, discernment, teaching/preaching, speaking in tongues, and others mentioned in various locations in the New Testament). 

But did you notice what the Apostle Paul said in the verse quoted at the top of the page?

Pray and/or sing with my mind as well as my spirit.  

Keep my mind on what I am doing or saying. Don't do it mindlessly.

Pay attention to it. 

I must not let any of what I do or read or sing become so perfunctory that I do it mindlessly.

I need to pray, sing, read, and act in my spirit, doing it wholeheartedly and genuinely, but also in my mind. 

I need to KEEP MY MIND ON IT.

My Vigorous Defense

Jeremiah 50:33b-34 All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go.  Yet their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name.  He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land ...

Although these verses fall in a chapter of prophecies against the oppressors of the Israelites of the Old Testament, they rang a bell for me as I thought about people who fight against addiction. Addictions are like captors holding onto the one addicted, refusing to let them go.

These verses are comforting to me when I think about the power of habitss and weaknesses that I struggle against in my own life.  I do not have the addictions that some people struggle with, but I see how difficult it is to break certain habits in my life, and they are like captors holding onto me.  How much more a person addicted to drugs or alcohol or any other addiction must feel that same captivity holding onto them.

So, when I read that my Redeemer is strong and that He is standing up for me, I am comforted. It gives me hope knowing that I am not fighting my weaknesses or addictions alone.

Not only does He stand up for me, but He vigorously defends me!   

Vigorous ... strong, active, forceful. That is how God defends me when I want to fight a captor, a habit, an addiction. He is not standing off to the side just cheering me on. He is taking part in the fight.

The reason?  So that I can rest. A bad habit, a strong addiction, has the ability to keep me from having a fully satisfying life. It takes a lot of hard work to break that addiction, and it is a tiring job.

I do not have to fret and worry about my bad habits’ hold on me.  I have strong, active, forceful assistance from God Almighty. I can rest even as I do my part to break that habit, that addiction, because my Redeemer is vigorously defending me, and that I will eventually have victory over those habits.

God Almighty vigorously defends me so He can bring rest to my life.