Be Sound

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind."
2 Timothy 1:7

Back in my high schools days on some boring Friday night, I talked a group of my friends into going on a scary adventure.  We went and found what was rumored to be a haunted farm house.  The house was located in the middle of an orange grove, so it was dark and spooky.  There were no doors or windows left on the house so it was easy to enter.  After looking through the house for a bit, I gathered everyone together so I could tell them why the house was haunted.  I began to tell everyone a completely made up story, that was told to me by a completely made person.  It was about a crazy farmer that lived in the house, who murdered his whole family.  As I was telling this phony story I could see my friends starting to feel a little creepy, so I poured it on more.  Pretty soon every noise from inside or outside the house seemed to be magnified, and everyone was getting even more scared.  And then something amazing happened, I began to scare myself!  I was making the story up, I knew it wasn't true, I knew it was fictitious, yet I was starting to get a little freaked out.  At long last, there was a thumping creaking sound that came from another room that made us all scream and run for our lives.
How crazy is that?  I was able to get myself into a freaked out fearful state, with my own made up scary story!  I had knowingly brought myself to a place of not being of sound mind.
There is good spiritual application to this story.  It is very important for us to be of sound mind, to be disciplined in our thoughts and imaginations, and to be clear and sober in our reasoning.  Our enemy knows how to get us to the place of an unsound mind, with one fearful thought, our mind begins skipping and our imagination begins to exaggerate situations, and presto, we freak out!  At times the unsoundness is not even from the enemy, it is self-inflicted, we magnify circumstances or problems and we create scary scenarios that drive us to fear.
Our enemy loves to keep us unstable through fear.  The best way for us to battle this, is to be disciplined in keeping our focus on the Lord and on His word.  We need to learn to take our thoughts captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), and as we do, fear will wane and His peace will reign.  Search His word for those promises that keep you heart and mind stayed upon Him.

Rest In His Word

Psalm 119:49-50 "Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope.  This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life."

Words are very powerful.  I heard on the radio this morning that the stock market had taken a major plunge because of word from Greece.  I was on a hospital visit sitting with a family anxiously waiting word from a nurse.  I recently got a prayer request from a man wondering about his health, as he was awaiting word from a medical lab regarding a test he had taken.  And then there was the worry of a young man who knew word was coming from his mechanic as to how much money it would take to get his car running.  All these folks were waiting on words that would bring sadness or relief, fear or joy.
Words are indeed powerful, and we can get words from anywhere, doctors, friends, teachers, lawyers, or co-workers.  It is important to listen to man, but we must be wary not to set our hopes in the words of man, lest our lives be set on an unstable roller coaster type foundation.  Our lives are not to be set on the words of man, but on the sure foundation of God's word and His promises.  As we trust in His word we have hope, and comfort, and life, not matter what we hear from the world.