Having the Mind and Heart of God

Good morning to all on this Monday morning. It is a rainy day in Georgia and God is good. I had a very relaxing weekend; although I had plans to do a lot of paper work I enjoyed my family instead. The B. Waine Kong clan achieved a milestone this Saturday. Our youngest son Aleron, moved into his own apartment. He researched his options and then made the best choice. We helped him moved and although I was a little surprised to find him in the guest bedroom on Sunday, my heart was still thrilled. His Dad is going through a bit of a withdraw but I am convinced our youngest child and all of our children are in a good space. Praise be to God the great Jehovah! Keep us all in your prayers.

I am continuing my journey in Matthew 16 today verses 21-29, "From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to You!" Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father's glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Amen and amen!

When you read this passage who can understand that Peter was motivated to protect Christ however Peter still didn't know Christ. Peter acted on emotions 100% of the time and had a pure and sensitive heart which is why Christ told Peter on his faith Christ would build His Church. I am sure Peter was feeling rather confident that he was the number 1 disciple; the favored one; the "go to" disciple. What Peter didn't understand was the depth of the mission of Christ. Christ was the Messiah and He would have to make the ultimate sacrifice for the world to be saved. Christ preached this through out His 3 year ministry; the old testament prophets foretold the death of Messiah. The Jews however wanted a Messiah to lead them out of the bondage of Rome just as Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt. Christ came and began to preach that the bondage that we should all be concerned about is that which is created by sin; sin binds our minds and emotions and does not allow us to be free to assist Christ in Kingdom building. Sin will blind us into thinking that we have the power within ourselves to live the life that Christ preached about and we don't. Christ came that our lives might manifest the fruits of the Spirit; when our lives do not then we are still in the prison of our "own" selves and other men will not see the Light of the Gospel. This rebuke of Satan by Christ was necessary for Peter to understand that Satan works through the emotions of men; moral men and women, good men and women can also be working for Satan against the Kingdom of Christ. Good works, good intentions do not pave the way to Spiritual salvation. Only our confession of faith.

When we have the mind and heart of Christ, we are safe from believing in good works, whether ours or others. When we secure our very walk with Christ each day then we are protected. Christ tells us to keep our  mind on Him and continually pray as Satan in on the prowl to devour that precious soul. If you have the opportunity to pray with others in your home, do so often. If you have the opportunity to pray in the work place, do so often. If you have opportunity to pray with friends do so often. Keep about you the mind of Christ so that your heart and soul can be protected by the evil one. God loves you today and is prepared to give you the desires of your heart. Keep on the mind and heart of Jesus today because someone is going to need the love of God in a real way.

Stephanie