There is a text found early in the book of Joshua that I found puzzling in the past. After forty years in the wilderness, the second generation of those whom Moses led out of Egypt had finally crossed the Jordon and begun the conquest of the land God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. Their first challenge was the walled city of Jericho. Forty years earlier, the spies that Moses had sent into Canaan has brought back a report that the land was, indeed, fertile and rich but, “the people who live there are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large” (Num. 13:28). Jericho was one of those cities and the first significant test for the Israelites.

On the eve before Israel was to attack Jericho, Joshua encountered an unknown man. The text says, “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.’ Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’ The commander of the Lord’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so” (Josh.5:13-15)

The puzzling part of this text is the way in which the man who, was the commander of the Lord’s army, answered Joshua. Joshua asked whose side he was on. I expected the angel of the Lord (or possibly Jesus before his incarnation) to say that he was on Israel’s side and had come to assure their victory. However, he did not respond in that way but instead said that he was neither on Israel’s side nor the inhabitants of Jericho. He then simply identified himself as the commander of the Lord’s army. His response seems peculiar but only because of our mindset.

Ultimately, I think this is the point. God doesn’t line up with us, we must line up with him. If we want him to fight for us, our first step is to align ourselves with him. We join him…he doesn’t join us. When we think God is on our side because of our affiliations, we miss the point. Achan was an Israelite, but his sin cost Israel a battle and cost him and his family their lives. Although he was a Hebrew, his misalignment with the Lord caused him to be rejected. Rahab was a prostitute and part of the community who lived in Jericho. However, when she believed God and aligned herself with his promises, she was accepted and she and her family were saved.

God is not particularly interested in our affiliations – whether we attend First Baptist or Mid-Cities or Gateway. He’s not impressed with whose preaching we follow most or to whose praise music we gravitate. He is not even concerned if we are Republican or Democrat, American or Russian, or what neighborhood we live in. What he is concerned about is whether our hearts are aligned with his heart. He doesn’t join us – we are to join him. He doesn’t take up our agenda – we are to take up his. That was the message of the man Joshua encountered that night. God would fight for whoever joined him. It is clear that Joshua took up the Lord’s agenda because there was no other reason to march around Jericho once a day for seven days and then seven times on the last day blowing trumpets and shouting. That makes no earthly sense. But once Israel aligned themselves with God’s will and his ways, victory was assured.

Too often, I expect God to pick up my agenda and my desires and give me the victory that I have planned. The Spirit, however, expects us to adopt the agenda and the desires of God that he reveals to us. Remember, Jesus modeled life for us and he said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (Jn.5:19). When we discover that model, then we will see the power of God at work in our own lives.

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? Amos 3:3

The somewhat familiar passage from the Book of Amos listed above, embodies an important principle in the spiritual realm. Basically, it states that those who are in agreement with one another form some kind of unity – they walk together. That’s because there is no neutral ground in the spiritual realm. You are either with Jesus or against him. He declared, “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Mt.12:30). There is no “unaffiliated” category in the unseen realm. You are either a believer or an unbeliever. There is no “agnostic” box on the ballot.

Because of that, agreement is critical to our relationship with God. That’s why James warned the “double-minded,” who were trying to live with only a partial commitment to the Lord and his standards, by saying, “That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (Ja.1:7-8). Being double-minded is not just about whether I believer there is a God or not or whether I believe that Jesus died for my sins. It more often falls in the category of whether or not I believe God’s word is true for me.

Most Christians, if asked, would immediately declare that they believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is, therefore, true. Knowing what is true is critical because Jesus taught that the truth will set is free. And yet, my experience is that many, many Christians are not free. They are still in bondage to past hurts and past mistakes. They still walk under a cloud of rejection and condemnation. They still feel insignificant and unworthy. They still do not feel the love of God and often medicate their emotional pain with some addiction. These good people love God, pray, and attend church on a regular basis and yet can’t seem to break free from their pain and their pasts.

It is also my experience that, on a personal level, they do not believe God’s word for them. In conversations or counseling sessions, they often respond to the promises of God with, “Yes, but…” When God’s word declares his love for them, his provision, or their value and significance in Christ, they reject that truth for them. The issue is that they give their emotions, the wounding words of mothers or father, or the lies of the enemy more authority than the word of God. As they “disagree” with God’s word they unknowingly agree with Satan and through that agreement he gains a foothold in their life. The underlying belief in their objections is that if their feelings don’t agree with God’s word, then his word is not true…at least not for them. It is a trap that prevents many of God’s people from experiencing the freedom that Jesus has purchased for them. Remember that the blessings of heaven are accessed by faith.

The path to healing and freedom often must begin with a decision of the will to declare that God’s word is true regardless of our feelings. It’s good to confess that our emotions and automatic thoughts don’t line up with the Word as long as we stand on the truth that we are in error rather than scriptures – that our emotions are liars rather than God. Our prayer and our confessions must be aimed at bringing our feelings and automatic thoughts into alignment with God’s word rather than distorting his word to match our emotions.

The key to realignment is the renewal of our minds and the revelation of the Spirit in our hearts. The renewal of our minds will come with a constant expression of God’s truth through our own verbal declarations, meditation, conversations, writing the scriptures, memorization, etc. It is how we establish new neural pathways in our minds and extinguish old pathways that contain and prompt our automatic thoughts. At a deeper level, we need the Spirit to give us a revelation of those truths in our hearts as we pray for that revelation and listen to his voice. As we renew our minds through the Word, that truth eventually seeps down into our hearts where the real issues of life reside. Revelation, however, seems to be a moment when the Holy Spirit bypasses our intellect and deposits God’s truth in our hearts. When that happens, God’s truth overrides the lies the enemy or life has written there.

It all hinges, however, on our first and persistent decision to give God’s word more authority than our own feelings, hurtful words, wounds from the past, and our old thought patterns, which often contain lies from the enemy.   Think about your agreement. Where are you agreeing with Satan more than God? Wherever we would say, “Yes, but,” concerning God’s word and his promises for us, there is a pocket of unbelief. Those pockets can give Satan a foothold, which eventually becomes a stronghold. Ask the Holy Spirit and your spiritual mentors to point out the “Yes, buts” in your life. Apply the word of God to those places and give God’s word more authority than those old familiar feelings and beliefs. It is your first step to freedom.

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Repentance is a foundational concept in the New Testament and is a requirement for entering the kingdom of God. Both John the Baptist and Jesus launched their kingdom campaigns by preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” On the Day of Pentecost, in the first post-resurrection gospel sermon, Peter declared, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you…” Repentance is a very important key to the kingdom.

The Greek word that is translated “repent” is metanoeo. It means to change your mind or your way of thinking, to adopt another view, or to feel differently about something. It often carries with it an emotional component of regret or remorse for the foolishness or even evil of former ways of thinking. Most of us have been taught that repentance is about stopping sinful behaviors and replacing those behaviors with good deeds or better ways of thinking. That is included in the concept of repentance, but repentance is not limited to that. In fact, limiting repentance to a change of behaviors greatly hinders our life in the kingdom.

The truth is that our behaviors flow out of our beliefs and perspectives. Sin is a fruit of thinking that is misaligned with the Father’s thinking. Doing away with sinful behaviors is the fruit of having changed the way we think about how we have been living. If we are simply changing behaviors and not changing our thought patterns, perspectives, and values, then we will continue to sin in our hearts and our thoughts regardless of our actions. We will also continue to sin in our actions, only in more subtle ways that are not so obvious to others.

The failure of religion is that it focuses on behaviors much more than an essential change of heart and mind. Jesus addressed that problem in his “sermon on the Mount” recorded in Matthew 5. In that section he keeps saying, “You have heard that it was said…But I say unto you…” Each time he would point to a behavior (anger, adultery, retaliation, etc.) that had been defined by the Law of Moses, but would then point them to a change of heart that went much deeper.

To truly enter the kingdom of God, we must change the way we think, the way we view life, the way we see ourselves, and the way we see others. We must learn to focus on the spiritual rather than the natural and on the eternal rather than the temporary. We must learn to love our enemies and bless those who curse us and our words must reflect what is truly in our hearts.

Kingdom living requires an extensive remodel of our thought lives. Paul counsels us to make every thought obedient to Jesus Christ (2 Cor.10:5) and calls us to no longer conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). If I only focus on the things I should do or should not do, my thought life will be minimally transformed and my life will be minimally transformed as well.

When I’m angry, I should ask the Holy Spirit to show me the source of my anger. Was it pride, fear, insecurity, or a damaged self-image that prompted the anger? When I discover what makes me vulnerable to an angry response, then I need the Word of God and the Spirit of God to change my perspective (my mind and my heart) about God, others, and myself so that the responses of broken and hurtful people toward me don’t trigger anger, but rather compassion, blessing, and prayer.

The gist of this is that we should focus on our thought life more than our behaviors since what we do flows out of what we think. Our actions and emotions are clues to our thought life but are symptoms rather than causes. David was wise enough to pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps.139:23-24). Many of our deepest thoughts, beliefs, and values can be hidden from us and so it is wise to ask the Spirit, who searches all things, to reveal our thoughts or beliefs that are opposed to God’s word.

When we discover those beliefs, we should test them against God’s word, his values, and his truth. Repentance is bringing our thought life and belief systems into alignment with his word in every part of our life. Study, meditation, memorization, spiritual conversations, and prayer all work to renew our minds and to rewrite those things that are misaligned.   When our minds begin to mirror the mind of Christ, then we are able to perceive more of the kingdom and more of the kingdom is released to us. Bottom line…learn to think about what you are thinking.

Have you ever known or been a double-minded person? Many believers try to live with one foot in the kingdom and one foot in the world, never quite giving themselves fully to either one – obeying the commands of God that are comfortable, but participating in the values and ways of the world that satisfy the flesh. The truth is that all of us have to fight the battle against double-mindedness because the natural man (the flesh) wars against the spirit and constantly pulls us in the direction of the world while Satan provides every justification for ignoring or putting off the things of God.

King Saul is a classic study in double-mindedness. Anointed by God and made king by no effort of his own, he served God from time to time but served himself more consistently, while all the time convincing himself that he was being perfectly obedient to the God of Israel. His tendency is never more apparent than in his dealing with the Amalekites.

We are told, “Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys’” (1 Sam.15;1-3). Through the prophet Samuel, God gave a very clear directive to Saul. He was to be the instrument of God’s judgment on the Amalekites for their attacks on Israel. The command was to attack and leave nothing alive or standing.

We are told that Saul mustered his troops, attacked the Amalekites, and routed them. “Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed” (1 Sam.15:7-9).

Notice that Saul did much of what God had commanded, but held back on some things that stirred the desires of their flesh. The king of Amalek, Agag, was spared. I have no doubt that Saul spared him because he too was a king (professional courtesy, so to speak) and because it made Saul feel powerful and exalted for Agag to be indebted to him. They also spared the best sheep and cattle. I sense that they thought some of those animals might end up in their pens as spoils of war. The text says that they were “unwilling” to destroy them completely, even though God had given a very clear command. They were not willing to destroy the things they desired but did destroy “everything that was despised and weak.”

In the same sense, in serving God we are often unwilling to give up the things of the world that give us pleasure, but freely give up the things we don’t particularly value. In doing so, we convince ourselves that we are obedient servants of Christ. When confronted about his disobedience, Saul was confident that he was pleasing to the Lord. But the scripture says, “Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: ‘I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions…When Samuel reached him, Saul said, ‘The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?’ Saul answered, ‘The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest’” (1 Sam.15:10-15). Saul’s first declaration was that he had totally fulfilled God’s command. When confronted, he blamed the miscue on his soldiers but imputed “godly” motives to them. “We spared the best for sacrifice.” In other words, Saul determined to serve God in ways that might profit him and on his terms while convincing himself that he had done all that was asked.

Ultimately, God removed the kingdom from Saul and gave it to David. The idea is not that David was perfectly obedient in all he did. Bathsheba comes to mind. The difference was that David did not justify his sins, ignore them, or blame others. Whatever God called sin, David called sin. He failed to live up to those standards at times, but he didn’t dilute the standards and when he failed he took personal responsibility and felt genuine sorrow. Saul only feigned sorrow when he was caught. In fact, David was so concerned about the deceptive capacity of the flesh that he prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).

We all live in danger of slipping into the double-mindedness of Saul. God’s blessings are very limited in that direction and he will be able to trust us with very little because we will want to do it our way and call it good. That approach to life is also an open door for the enemy because placing ourselves, our will, and our desires ahead of God’s commands constitutes idolatry in which we give ourselves greater standing than God. Some of our personal idolatry is subtle and hard for even us to detect, but the Holy Spirit is glad to make us aware if we truly want to know. David’s prayer is a great prayer for us to offer on a regular basis. Uprooting double-mindedness in our own lives is an essential key to seeing God do great things through us. It might be a valuable joint project between us and the Holt Spirit for 2018.

Today our culture seems bent on removing all personal responsibility for individual choices in the name of science and social tolerance. That path leads to some extremely negative consequences. First of all, it is a rejection of God’s Word which clearly declares that God will hold us personally responsible for our choices and our actions. God makes a clear distinction between sin and righteousness. He then deals with the problem of sin through the blood of Christ, confession, and repentance rather than excuses and the claims of science that men and women are controlled by physiological processes over which they have no control. Much of the current thinking comes from recent research in genetics and brain science.

Caroline Leaf, a leading researcher in these areas and a believer, has some very helpful things to say about this “scientific trend.” I would like to quote her. “Today there is a massive split in the world of neuroscience. Many scientists believe that the mind is a result of firing neurons: they see the mind as an emergent property of the brain. On the other hand, many scientists (myself included) are mind-body dualists: we argue that the mind changes the brain. The neurocentric perspective of the former argument arises out of humankind’s desire to worship the created brain instead of the Creator…why is this neurocentric vein of thought so dangerous? Essentially, the ‘oversimplification, interpretive license, and premature application of brain science in the legal, commercial, clinical and philosophical domains’ can lead us into murky waters when it comes to taking responsibility for our actions. Are you a murderer or did the different activity seen in the brain scan make you do it? Are you addicted to food because your brain is wired that way…or because you have made choices? Once you start down this path, you will ultimately have to question your belief in free will, since a predominant focus on the brain takes the control away from the individual and places the blame squarely on the brain” (Carline Leaf, Think and Eat Yourself Smart, Baker Books, p.129-130).

The amazing thing that science is now discovering is that although a tremendous amount of genetic predispositions is passed down from generation to generation, the predispositions are essentially turned on or off by external influences. This phenomenon is called epigenetics. What we choose to think, see, listen to, and surround ourselves with actually shapes the brain which then influences our thinking. Although neural pathways that form in the brain because of our repetitive choices push us back to those choices, we still have free will and can begin to prune old pathways by our choices to think differently and involve ourselves in a different environment.

The word of God tells us to mediate on the Word day and night. What is understood through that command is that our choice of filling our days and nights with focus on the Word also precludes the worldly reinforcement we used to open ourselves up to on a daily basis. Through consistent meditation, memorization, writing the word, etc., we can lay in new, godly pathways empowered by the Spirit while we prune the old pathways of toxic thinking and sin. Paul instructed the church to make a consistent choice to think on “whatsoever is true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil.4:8-9). In doing so, these believers were laying in neural pathways that would automatically produce thoughts in line with the Word of God rather than leading us back to thoughts opposed to God’s word.. This is part of the process of renewing the mind.

Many believers are still dominated by toxic thinking because they have not done the work required to renew the mind. The newest brain research demonstrates that our choices – what we say, what we do, what we read, who we spend time with, what we eat, what we hear, etc. all impact and create either healthy or toxic cellular environments for physical, spiritual, and emotional health or toxicity. God has made us so that every choice contributes powerfully to our brain, our genetics, our physiology, our health, and emotions, and our spirit. Our free will is a powerful tool and God will hold us responsible for our choices despite the cries of a fallen culture.

The good news in this is that personal responsibility empowers us to make choices that can make a huge difference in every part of our life and well-being. We are not helpless, powerless pawns doomed to a destiny over which we have no control. Alcoholic parents do not doom us to alcoholism. Generations of depression do not guarantee that we will be depressed. The genetics of depraved ancestors do not lock us into the depravity. God has given us a way out through taking personal responsibility, repenting, confessing, and by contact with the blood of Christ. He has given us divine weapons of the Word, worship, prayer, fellowship, even fasting and solitude that help rewrite our very DNA and create plasticity in the brain so that our brain begins to default to God’s thoughts rather than man’s.

A culture that declares that our identity, lifestyle, response to life, mental health and morality are all predetermined by genetics and brain chemistry takes away man’s power to choose good and become good. It is a strict secular doctrine of predestination in which the physical brain has total sovereignty over your life rather than a God in heaven. When I feel no responsibility for my choices and at the same time feel powerless to overcome my genetics and physiology, then Satan has won the day. This view is a current “big lie” of the enemy that we must push back on rather than caving in to pseudoscience. There is some good stuff our there by world class researchers who are also dedicated believers. I encourage you to read some in this area. Caroline Leaf’s books would be a great start. Blessings in Him and choose to have a good day.

 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:14

Having stated the principle of separation, Paul gives a list of reasons for the separation. In general, he makes the case that because the Spirit of God lives within you, you are sacred and set apart for exclusive service unto God just as the temple was. Anything that is profane or secular that touches the sacred defiles it. To underline his command, he simply asks a series of rhetorical questions.

He first asks, “What do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” and “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” He lists two incompatible things that are polar opposites. In many cases, we are so desensitized to the world that we often don’t see wickedness for what it is. The Greek word is anomia which means lawlessness. Righteousness is living based on God’s standards or God’s law. Of course, we don’t always measure up to his standards but we have an “imputed” righteousness through the blood of Christ and an innate desire to live up to the standards. An unbeliever does not submit to the law of God nor does he desire to but lives by a set of worldly standards that have been established by the prince of this world. Although those standards may have an appearance of goodness and morality, the basis for the standards is polar opposites. The righteousness of the kingdom is based on the moral nature of a holy God who will judge men and nations. Worldly standards always place man as the judge of all things and truth as his truth rather than the creator’s truth.

The world can imitate goodness and morality but at the core, righteousness exalts God while wickedness exalts man and self. Eventually, that road will lead us away from God and the fallen nature will have its way. When speaking of light and darkness Paul simply reminds us that they too are incompatible. Fellowship implies close and harmonious association. Darkness is the absence of light and light pushes out darkness. They cannot coexist in the same space. From God’s perspective, believers are incompatible with unbelievers because the Holy Spirit living in us makes us so different from the unredeemed that we can only be contrasted not compared. Again, I think our desensitization to the sin and self-centeredness around us dims our awareness of how different children of light are from children of darkness. But God does not lose sight of the vast difference.

Paul then raises he question, “What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” Belial seems to be one of several Greek names for the god of the underworld and is a reference to Satan. Believers belong to Christ while unbelievers belong to Satan. Most unbelievers are unaware that Satan owns them and would deny that they serve him but there is no spiritual Switzerland – no neutrality in the spiritual realm. We either belong to Christ or we belong to Satan and the two have declared war on one another. There is no peace between the two kingdoms and to be yoked to an unbeliever opens the door to the presence of the enemy. Satan will always use his subjects to draw you away from Christ. To be in a binding relationship with an unbeliever is making an alliance with the one who rules over him or her and that “ruler” is bent on destroying you.

Paul then summarizes his point by asking what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever. Of course, you might answer that you both like baseball or that you both need love and purpose and those things would be true, but Paul is talking about our natures, our allegiances, our purpose, and our destination. From Paul’s perspective, you have nothing eternal in common with an unbeliever.

Paul finishes with the rhetorical question, “What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.” This again raises the question of the sacred mixing with the profane. The temple and everything in it was dedicated to the service of God. Because the presence of God was in the temple, great care had to be taken to purify all of the grounds and instruments related to the temple from sin. Sacrificial blood was sprinkled on everything on a regular basis to cleanse the temple and its furnishings from the defilement of sin. Any bowls, knives, plates, tables, censers, etc. that were used in the temple services were to be destroyed if they were ever used for ordinary purposes. Once you have been dedicated to the service of God you are not to involve yourself in anything that will defile you. In addition, idols are always associated with demon worship in both the Old and New Testaments and so Paul is declaring that to be yoked with unbelievers not only connects you to profane things that defile your sacred standing with God but also brings you into agreement with demons and empowers them in your life.

Our problem is that we don’t value the presence of God within us and the holiness of God as we should. We become careless with it and often compromise with the world and may even yoke ourselves to what is unholy in the eyes of God. But God calls us to be separate and to serve him only. He is not calling us to isolate ourselves from the world because them we could not rescue the lost from the dominion of darkness but we are to maintain a separation in our hearts and refuse to make alliances binding agreements, and covenants with anyone or anything that is not willingly submitted to Christ and made clean by his Spirit. Those relationships will always pressure us to compromise.

That does not mean that we separate ourselves from the lost or refuse to love them because God loves them. Jesus associated with sinners but never came into agreement with their values and never bound himself to them in order to win their approval or even their love. He never compromised his allegiance to the Father or his mission. Paul’s challenge is this section of scripture is for us to never forget who we are, who we belong to, and who lives within us. We must consider ourselves and all those who have the Spirit of Christ within them as sacred – as holy ground. We must also remember that those outside of Christ belong to the devil and have the spirit of disobedience within them. Our job is to bring them into the light not to participate with them in their darkness. You are holy. You are sacred. You house the presence of God. Live like it.

 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”                       2 Corinthians 6:14

Sometimes it’s very beneficial to go back to familiar texts to see what else the Spirit will show you. The word of God always has more and is layered with truths. Jesus said, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Mt.13:52-53). Each time you study the Word, whether an unfamiliar passage or a very familiar passage, you find not only confirmation of truths you have already discovered but discover new truth as well. The passage above is a familiar passage but I felt prompted to consider it again. It will take two blogs to do it justice so I hope you will bear with me. It is a very important text.

The first verse is usually translated as the NIV translates it above saying, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. ” Some translations like the ESV say, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” The idea is rooted in Old Testament law. Under the Old Covenant the Jews were not to intermarry with surrounding tribes who did not worship Jehovah (Dt.7:3) or plow with different types of animals in the same yoke (Dt.22:10). There were a number of laws that reinforced the principle of separation and purity even to the extent of not weaving garments out of two kinds of thread or material. The idea that God’s people are to live distinct lives driven by kingdom goals and values without worldly influence is a constant theme in both the Old and New Testaments. The root word translated as yoked means to be in agreement with. It also carries the idea of being influenced or tied together by covenants. When animals are yoked together they are bound and the movements of one influence the other. Not only was Israel to never marry those outside the covenant but also was never to make any treaties with foreign nations. Of course, they violated that principle over and over and the inevitable outcome was that Israel compromised her values in order to maintain the alliance and as a result alienated themselves from God and his blessings.

The apostle Paul clearly tells us that we are to avoid relationships with unbelievers that yoke us together in any kind of covenant or alliance because there are spiritual implications to those relationships. The truth is that you cannot enter into that level of relationship with an unbeliever and maintain that relationship without compromising your spiritual values. Throughout his writings, Paul is clear that the unsaved cannot understand or agree with spiritual matters because they do not have the Spirit of Christ in them. To them, many of your values will seem quaint, naïve, or unreasonable because their thinking is darkened. To maintain a relationship will create constant conflict unless you compromise your values and perspectives to some degree. It cannot be any other way. Think about how hard it is to maintain relationships even with those who do have the Spirit of God within them much less those who do not. Those who do not have the Spirit of Christ are darkened in their understanding (Eph.4:18) and are blinded by the god of this age (2 Cor.4:4). They may say they agree with you but cannot and because of that, there will be a slow but steady pressure in the relationship for you to compromise your relationship with the Father.

These “yoked” relationships that Paul had in mind probably had marriage at the top of the list. In Ezra 10, as the Israelites were rededicating themselves to the Lord, all those who had married non-Jews and even had children by them had to put away those wives and children because they were defiled by the relationships. Even Solomon, toward the end of his life, was drawn into idol worship by foreign wives he had taken for himself. Many of those were products of foreign alliances in which he took the daughter of another king to cement an alliance. For all of his wisdom, he was still drawn into a seriously compromised spiritual position because he allowed himself to be yoked with unbelievers. Yoking brings us into agreement with another and whatever or whoever we agree with we empower.

In addition to marriage covenants these yoked relationships can also include political alliances, business partners, dating relationships, and best friends. It is also important to know that Paul was not just giving wise counsel but was giving a command to believers. Whether or not your friend, your partner, or your love interest are aware of it, your yoking with that unbeliever gives Satan power in your life. When you enter into a binding relationship legally or relationally with unbelievers, you are entering into an alliance with the one they serve. We need to think seriously about that before joining ourselves to others that do not belong to God. That joining can take many forms and we will consider those in Part 2.

In the past 20 years or so, brain research has made remarkable strides and has debunked what was once accepted science. In a conference I just attended on healing the human soul, Jim Laffoon stated, “Until the end of the 20^th century, neurologists believed no new neurons (specialized cells that communicate and store memories in the brain) were created after the first 3-5 years of life. With the discovery of neurogenesis, we know that humans retain the ability to create new neurons and neural patterns throughout their lives. Surprisingly, the only area in the brain that creates new neurons is the same area that controls and stores our memories. We also have discovered neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to change throughout life). This new neural growth is also stimulated through environmental neurogenesis; neuroplasticity has revolutionized modern psychology and psychiatry” (Healing the Human Soul, Jim Laffoon, p.6).

I’m still trying to get my head around all the scientific terminology but let me try to summarize what has just been said. First of all, lets agree with the Psalmist that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Science knows that we think but has yet to fully understand the processes. Let me share a quote from a blog called Quantum’s Blog regarding the mind. The writer says, “Our brain is made up of billions of nerve cells known as neurons. Neurons connect together through their branch-like tentacles called dendrites, (signal receivers) and axon terminals. (transmitters) These neurons transmit and receive electrically charged nerve signals to and from the brain at speeds of over 300 km ph! This is why our thoughts and body reflexes are lightning quick and so well coordinated.

When neurons come together to form thought patterns, they look like an intricate net called a neuronet. The ends of each tentacle of one dendrite and axon terminal connect to other tentacle endings of other dendrites and axon terminals, but do not really touch. The gap is called a synapse and this is where the thunderstorms of electrical signals occur. Electrical impulses are sent from one neuron to the next through the synapses of their dendrites and axon terminals.

Some studies say a neuron has as many as 1,000 to 10,000 synapses, (some argue much more) meaning it can communicate with as many as 10,000 other neurons, muscle cells, glands etc. We can see why the brain’s potential for biochemical pattern forming is massive. Considering the presence of billions of neurons with this degree of association connectivity, the brain has an infinite capacity for storing information, associating concepts and triggering instructions to the body because it can create endless new neuron pathways.”

As thoughts or experiences are repeated, neurons link together in identifiable chains called neural pathways. These become like ruts in a road so that the thoughts or perspectives wired into these pathways become our automatic or default settings for how we think, feel, or view life. In addition to thoughts, these neurons can release chemicals in our body. The strength of these neural pathways is reinforced by the brain’s reward circuits. One of the most important of these circuits is the mesolimbic dopamine system. When certain thoughts and behaviors are activated, these neurochemicals are released which rewards the individual with feelings of comfort and well-being.

When the individual is in distress or emotional pain, the brain will prompt the individual to repeat behaviors that release the chemicals that comfort the individual or, in the case of drug and alcohol abuse, introduce chemicals into the body that create positive feelings. This process is the basis of addictions and can be very powerful even when the behaviors have long term destructive consequences. That is why when we are stressed, lonely, depressed, etc. we are often drawn to food, sex, pornography, shopping, drugs, or alcohol to “medicate” our pain. We “remember” the activities that released the neurochemicals that made us feel better – at least for a while. These sin patterns can be very strong because they become our automatic or default thoughts and actions that carry short-term rewards and the release of powerful neurochemicals. In short, we can become addicted to sin.

Pornography is a powerful example of how this works. This summary was taken from an internet article produced by Covenant Eyes.

• “When having sex or watching porn, dopamineis released into a region of the brain responsible for emotion and learning, giving the viewer a sense of sharp focus and a sense of craving: “I have got to have this thing; this is what I need right now.” It supplies a great sense of pleasure. The next time the viewer gets the “itch” for more sexual pleasure, small packets of dopamine are released in the brain telling the user: “Remember where you got your fix last time. Go there to get it.”

• Norepinephrine is also released, creating alertness and focus. It is the brain’s version of adrenaline. It tells the brain, “Something is about to happen, and we need to get ready for it.”

• Sex or porn also trigger the release of oxytocin and vasopressin. These hormones help to lay down the long-term memories for the cells. They “bind” a person’s memories to the object that gave him or her the sexual pleasure.

• The body releases endorphins, natural opiates that create a “high,” a wave of pleasure over the whole body.

• After sexual release serotonin levels also change, bringing a sense of calm and relaxation.

This system works the way it is supposed to work when you’re having sex with your spouse and only your spouse. Together you can experience a high, an alertness of sexual pleasure, and the deep calm afterwards (norepinephrine, endorphins, and serotonin). With each sexual embrace you are emotionally bonding to this person (oxytocin and vasopressin). Over time a craving for sex is transformed into a desire for one another (dopamine).”

When used as God intended, this is a powerful tool for pleasure, intimacy, and even faithfulness. When misused, it becomes destructive. Paul put it this way in the book of Galatians – a man reaps what he sows. If he sows to the flesh, he reaps destruction. If he sows to the Spirit, he reaps life. When we pursue righteousness, God’s design works with us to reinforce righteousness. When we pursue sin or the flesh, those same processes can empower sin.

These chemical rewards can also be released as you encounter the presence of God in worship, prayer, meditation and so forth so that you emotionally bond with God, experience peace and comfort and long to be in his presence again. David wrote, ‘As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you.” David was a man who often needed comfort because of the immense stresses in his life. He often sought the presence of God for that comfort. The one time he sought that comfort from another source, Bathsheba, the consequences were disastrous.

As science begins to understand these processes, we can begin to understand the power of sin in a person’s life and why it takes the supernatural work of God in conjunction with our choices to set us free and bond us to God. In my next blog, I will talk about the processes that prune or diminish existing pathways and establish new ones. These processes are part of “renewing the mind” as Paul commanded in Romans 12. The good news is that by our own choices and the power of the Spirit we can hunger and thirst after righteousness even more than the chocolate cake you may have been imagining earlier.

This week I’m attending a four-day conference at the King’s Park International Church in Durham, North Carolina entitled Healing the Human Soul. Most healing conferences offered by churches today are all about praying for physical healing. I love those conferences as well, but I would say that healing the soul is of greater importance and if the soul is healed, many times physical healing will follow. For a number of decades now, leaders in the field of medicine have estimated that 60 to 80 percent of all illnesses are emotionally rooted. When they say “emotionally rooted” they mean that chronic stress, worry, fear, bitterness, anger, etc. tend to compromise the immune system, increase blood pressure, rob people of sleep, create chemical imbalances, etc. and those conditions then give way to illness. Because of that, physical healing is often impossible or, at least, impossible to maintain without first healing the soul.

The prophet Isaiah recognized the great need of healing the soul when he spoke of the coming Messiah. He spoke for Messiah prophetically when he said, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isa.61;1). Because of sin, man is enslaved to a number of things: sin, addictions, demonization, self-centeredness, and illness. All of these create their own form of bondage for people – even God’s people. In Isaiah 61, the prophet suggests a chronology needed before each person can be fully released to become all that his/her Father in Heaven has decreed for them. First the gospel must be preached so that sins are forgiven in Christ. That releases us from the legal demands of sin on our lives. But secondly, Jesus came to bind up, heal, or minister to the brokenhearted. That is healing the soul. After that, captives and prisoners can be set free from whatever form bondage has taken in their lives.

Too often we try to heal the physical body or cast out a demon without addressing the brokenness in which a disease is rooted or to which a demon is attached. If the wound isn’t cleaned and healed properly, even if there is some temporary relief, the infection will return. Addictions are ways in which we attempt to medicate our broken souls. If the soul is not healed, a person may be set free from one addiction but will simply find another with which to medicate the wounds hidden deep in his or her soul. Believers often get stuck in their spiritual growth because they can’t get past their brokenness. The church over the last 200 years has been excellent at bringing people to forgiveness but is just now beginning to discover or rediscover how to heal the soul so that the sanctifying work of the Spirit can truly make us like Jesus.

As we minister to broken people, we too often think that problems are one-dimensional and need a one-dimensional solution. If a person is sick, command healing. If person is emotionally distressed or in bondage, cast out a demon. If a person is hopeless, preach Jesus. All of these are valid expressions of the kingdom of God and are extremely important. However, broken and enslaved people typically need all three of these elements to find healing and freedom.

God is interested in redeeming every part of us. Paul echoes that truth when he says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess.5:3). In one sense, the idea of sanctification is for us to align ourselves perfectly with God’s will, his ways, and his purposes. He wants the body, soul, and spirit of every believer to be aligned with him. When that occurs healing is manifested, freedom is experienced, and the fruit of the Spirit can finally begin to flourish within the believer.

Most often this is a process, not just an event and discipleship is the ultimate solution so that these afflicting conditions don’t return. As Americans we are prone to look for the quick fix and often leave many things undone that manifest later. Taking our time to minister to body, soul, and spirit is a much more effective approach in the long run. The cost on the front end is time and effort – both on the part of the one who needs the healing and on the part of those administering the healing. Slowing down is a spiritual discipline that many, if not most, of us need to master. I’m at the front of that line.

Pastor Jim Laffoon from Nashville, Tennessee is leading this conference and is providing really interesting insights and thoughts about healing the soul. Much of his presentation is connecting what the Bible has told us for millennia about the impact of sin and righteousness in our lives and the lives of our children with current brain and genetic research. This research is revealing some of the “whys” for God’s commands and may suggest even more effective approaches to our use of the divine weapons that God has given us.   I will be sharing some of those insights in my next few blogs.

Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk from your lips. Proverbs 4:23-24

The “heart” is the innermost part of our being. It is where our deepest beliefs and convictions reside. They color and flavor every experience we have and every thought produced by our intellect. Scripture often alludes to the heart and tells us to keep watch over it or to guard it.    In the proverb quoted above, Solomon called the heart the wellspring of life. The word in Hebrew means the beginning place or source like a spring from which a river flows. So for us, our heart is a source of life from which everything else flows.

Biblically, it is hard to define the heart when it is used in this context. It is much more than love or emotions or feelings which we assign to “ the heart” in our culture. It is more than the brain or even the subconscious although the Bible tells us that we believe in our hearts. It simply seems to be the depository of all that we truly are. Some of what is there is beyond our perception so David prayed and asked God to search his heart and to show him if anything that offended God was operating in his heart. We are told that even Jesus resides in our heart. So there is a spiritual dimension to our hearts, a faith dimension, and a character dimension. Out of all that, our life flows strong and clear or trickles out like a polluted stream.

What we speak affects our hearts. According to Solomon, any choice to speak perverse or corrupt things affects our hearts. Paul tells us in Romans 10:9-10 that if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, we will be saved. There seems to be a connection in that verse between our speaking and our believing. God has created us in such a way that the things we speak get written on our hearts. But there is a cyclical process that also occurs for Jesus tells us that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Mt. 11:34). What we speak repeatedly becomes established in out hearts and then what is in our hearts comes forth in words – especially in unguarded moments. What we store there by the words we speak then reinforces the beliefs or attitudes or desires that are there so that the heart reproduces itself by prompting the words we speak.

Solomon tells us to guard our heart, which is the wellspring of life, by putting away perverse and corrupt talk. Perverse talk is twisted or distorted talk. It is talk with a spin. The devil is a master at spinning a lie so that is sounds like the truth or a plausible explanation. It is the kind of language that deflects blame to others and always justifies the one speaking. However, Jesus tells us to let our “Yes” be “Yes” and our “No” be “No.” He calls for strait talk because when we begin to speak half truths and put spin on our stories to justify ourselves or to hide our own failings in the matter, then it is only a matter of time until we begin to believe our own lies. It is only a matter of time until we begin to minimize or justify our sins rather than confessing them and repenting so that God’s grace and the blood of Christ can cover our sin. If we excuse our sins, then God cannot. If we blame others for our decisions, then he cannot forgive.

Corrupt speech again carries the idea of lies and deception. It is speech is that promotes death. Corruption is decay and decay is evidence of death. Satan is called Beelzebub – the lord of the flies. Flies are drawn to corruption. Ultimately, corrupt speech is speech that disagrees with or opposes God’s truth. Jesus said that his words are Spirit and they are life. The word of God produces life and health. A word that is in opposition to God’s truth produces death and decay.

Whatever we agree with we empower and speaking something brings us into agreement with whatever we spoke. If we speak as God would speak, then we come into agreement with him and empower his word in our lives as we deepen its presence in our heart. If our words do not align with God’s truth, then we are coming into agreement with lies and the father of lies, the devil. We then empower him to operate on our hearts. To guard our words is to guard our hearts and to guard our hearts is to guard our lives. Words matter.

Ask the Holy Spirit and those closest to you, to make you aware of any of your words that are not aligned with God’s truth. When you discover those words simply repent, align yourself with the Father, ask the Spirit to cleanse those lies from your heart, and then begin to speak God’s truth in the matter until that truth is your automatic response. Then you will know that your mind has been renewed in that area and God’s word then will be your words and will begin to produce the life the Solomon points us to.