A Newsletter of PURSUING THE TRUTH MINISTRIES
www.pursuingthetruth.org

April 2005

Hello and welcome to another issue of “The Truth” eMagazine. I do pray that your walk with the Lord is getting more intimate as you draw closer and closer to Jesus Christ.

What’s New

Our new website is now live! I have also added a search utility that will better search our site for the resources that you desire. I am currently in the process of implementing the search feature, which is provided by Picosearch (www.picosearch.com). I will have it on several other pages besides the home page shortly.

Seminar – We are planning a seminar for June 4 th instead of the end of May as we first announced. The seminar is titled, “Getting More From Life: The Truth about the Abundant Life.” We are going to discuss the truths about the abundant life as opposed to what is typically taught in the main stream prosperity movement. Come learn how you can truly get more out of life instead of just going through.

Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for a friend of mine who was diagnosed with lung cancer. His name is James. He has completed the Chemotherapy and radiation treatment and is doing very well. He stopped by my house a couple of days ago and we talked about software development for websites. He looks good, though he has lost a lot of weight and is virtually bald. He said that there were times that he could feel the prayers being lifted up for him. He was in so much pain and at those times he thought of the prayers of others and that helped him to get through it all. So I do thank you for praying for Jack (James).

Please pray for Michelle’s father who was diagnosed with cancer and was taken to the hospital for other issues. Michelle is my wife’s co-worker.

Remember to look at the prayers section on our website and please pray for those who have asked for prayer.

Thoughts?

What do you think about? Do you know that out of your mind come all of the activities of your life? What you think about is typically what you do or what you spend much energy on even if those thoughts are fantasies.

The human mind is a powerful thing. Paul told us in Romans 12 to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Notice that he didn’t say to be transformed by the renewing of the heart, but mind. The mind is where your battles are fought. The mind is where you struggle, win, or are defeated. The mind is where it all happens. Therefore, we have to be conscious of the power of our mind.

The Bible says that we should think about honest and true things among others (See Philippians 4:8). This will help us to avoid thinking about unclean things. However, what are these honest, true, just, and pure things that we should think about. From a very practical standpoint: what if my thoughts help me cope? What if my fantasies help keep me from doing something really crazy?

Here is where a relationship with the Lord comes to the rescue. Sometimes a harmless thing is only seed for something that is devastating later. For example, let’s look at a marriage relationship. The husband that becomes disillusioned by the wife (or vice versa) finds comfort somewhere else whether at work, with his buddies, another woman, or religious life. However, with a mind stayed on Christ then he is better able to control his thinking and work to solve his marital woes instead of seeking solace someplace else.

Here’s another illustration. Haven’t you talked to someone about doing something and his or her first response was, “I can’t.” He or she hadn’t even thought about it and yet their first response was that he or she was unable to do it. We allow ourselves to think so negatively sometimes that we accomplish nothing. Furthermore, consistent negative thinking will cause others to avoid you. Who wants to be around a sourpuss anyway? A can do person wants to be surrounded by can do people. Negative energy, if you will, has a tendency to take away from the positive outlook that someone else might have. So our thoughts should be more consistent with, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.”

Therefore, our minds need to be focused on God and His Kingdom. We need to be possessed with thoughts and aspirations of the will of God for our lives. This way we will be dedicated to it and put ourselves on the path to accomplish it. I have found that what a person does is what is really important to him or her. Jesus said that where our treasures are that’s where our heart will be. Are you serious about accomplishing the things for God? Are you serious about living a life for Christ and doing your part to spread the Gospel of Christ? If so then change your thinking.

The Kingdom of God does not operate in the way that you are used to. The Kingdom of God is not selfish. The Kingdom of God operates on a principle of love. Therefore, we truly have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds because for the most part humans are very selfish. We go to God because we want instead of for the needs of someone else. You will do what you think about and what you think about mostly is what most important to you. A person that neglects his wife does not consider his wife important (and vice versa). A man who neglects his children for something else reveals that the something else is more important than the child.

I have found that it is far more productive and realistic to respond to what a person does instead of what a person says. We can say anything to someone else, but what we do is what really matters (even if our actions are not consistent with our heart). The book of Proverbs says, “Whatsoever he thinks in his heart, so is he (See Proverbs 23:7). What’s in your heart? What do you think about consistently and why? What really matters is what’s in the heart and what’s in the heart is what we think about because those are the things that are really important to us.

So we have to be transformed by the renewing of the mind and the only way we can do that is to start with the heart. Jesus said it this way. He said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” The priority in life is God and his kingdom. All else comes from that. We have other such priorities that we should consider. If you are married then your spouse and his or her happiness and fulfillment should be more important than self. If this were really practiced today then very little married couples would include an unhappy spouse because they would both be looking out for each other. It’s interesting that in the Bible marriage is used to depict the relationship between God and his people.

Something so simple as thoughts and our thinking is really crucial for a fulfilling life in Christ. We have to control our thoughts and shift the center of our hearts. Our affections should be towards the Lord and then all else comes in their respective levels of priority. We really do have to think right.

How To Think and What To Do

How do I think right? Let me get real with you hear. It is easy to say that we should live a life in Christ and that we should act justly. It’s a whole different thing to actually practice these things. Controlling your thoughts is very difficult and for the most part requires training of some sort and lots of practice. For example, try this experiment. I want to you close your eyes and try to think of one thing for one minute. Try it now. Just close your eyes and for one minute think of NOTHING, but one thing.

Hard isn’t it! Imagine that same thing operating in your life. Most people can’t control their minds for one minute. All kinds of thoughts pop into your mind and they trigger other thoughts until you finally are completely away from what you were originally thinking about or what you intended to think about.

What is really worse is when your thinking is helping you cope with an otherwise undesirable situation. A man may begin to think or fantasize about another woman or a wife may begin to think or fantasize about the man at your job. These thoughts seem harmless because they arise out of a need to cope with the undesirable situation at home. Where is the line however? Where is the point at which we say that these thoughts are harmful and may lead me astray? After all, it is natural for a human being to avoid pain.

Success in Degeneration

The world is becoming more and more successful. Opportunities today are many even though many still suffer lack. However, the problem is that the success of the world in themselves lead nowhere except to degeneration. Consider the person who becomes successful and then turns to drugs or sex. Their success led them to destruction. Why? Their success was tied to the world and not the will or purpose of God.

I recall many years ago reading an article about a man that won millions in the lottery and yet some time later filed for bankruptcy. I couldn’t imagine how someone that received millions could have run out of money. Well the problem was evidently that he did not know how to manage his money and therefore the money flew away from him. He evidently never sought God’s voice on the matter or at least heeded what he did hear from the Lord.

I could see that man now going crazy spending money. To him a million dollars was infinite because, if I remember correctly, he was on welfare or something like that before he won the lottery. His success led him to degeneration and his final state was worse than his prior state.

The same fate can happen to us if we are not diligent to seek God in all that we do. The Bible says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6). So we should be careful to seek God when we obtain success in our lives else our success will lead us to destruction.

Success to Fulfillment

On the other end of the spectrum we have success that leads us to fulfillment. This success comes from God and His Spirit leads us. The success that we encounter is due to the will and purpose of God for our lives. We walk in His ways and experience and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

The important thing to remember here is that we can have success, but it is still important to use that success to do God’s will and to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Always seek God in the things that you do especially if you have a business. Don’t allow your success overtake you and cause you to forget about your commitment to God. Keep things in perspective and don’t go wild with excess. Be successful and be fulfilled and therefore enjoy your life.

FUNCTIONAL Marriage

We get a lot of emails and prayer requests pertaining to marriage issues. Marriage is a sacred thing, but it involves very practical and real things as well. We should remember that marriage is a relationship between two real human beings (a man and a woman). Another important factor about marriage is that the two are always together. They live together and therefore spend a lot of time in each others presence (not that they are necessarily together in the intimate sense).

Therefore, marriage takes constant monitoring and adjusting in order to keep it alive and strong. If you don’t work at the relationship then the love could fade and the next thing you know you really don’t like each other. This can be avoided if the two take the time to care for each other. It is important that the two are doing this same thing else one would become weary after a while.

Both should care about the other and their actions should demonstrate this care. This care is part of the whole scope of love—true love. I’m not talking about the typical teachings you get sometimes where the husband is supposed to hold the car door for his wife and the other gallant things I’m sure you know about. I’m not talking about the stereotypical things you hear concerning wives where she has to have dinner prepared for him and such. I’m talking about gestures and activities that grow out of the relationship that are personal. Perhaps you will hold the car door for your wife instead of just jumping in the car and unlocking it for her. Perhaps you will buy her flowers from time to time. Perhaps you will fix him a great meal and massage his head from time to time or whatever. The point is that your love is demonstrated by the things that you do. This is part of the concept that I promote called “togetherness.”

Don’t take the marriage relationship for granted. It requires diligence to keep it fresh and moving forward in intimacy. I am all for intimacy in addition to functionality. It is easy to be functional together and yet not intimate. Intimacy requires personal contact, care, wisdom, and knowledge. It requires that you get to know the person and that you unselfishly do what you have to do for the betterment of the relationship. Functionality only requires that the job gets done. For example that the mortgage gets paid, the child gets registered for school, the lawn gets cut, etc.

Marriage is serious work. However, often marriage is not taken seriously by the husband, wife, or both. I have found that marriage typically goes the route of functionality instead of intimacy. The husband does his thing and the wife does her thing for their respective careers, hobbies, or jobs. However, the same diligence is not applied to the marriage union and before long they are no longer in love or one is not in love with the other as he or she once was. This is the beginning of marital deterioration.

It is very important that the center of the marriage relationship be the God ordained union and the purpose for such. It is very important that the husband and wife strive to become more intimate as the church is intimate with Christ. It is paramount that the husband and wife work to grow a long and continually growing marital relationship else things will become stagnant and functional. Functionality is good in a marital relationship, but it shouldn’t be the basis of that relationship.

Of course the two should seek God and His kingdom as the number one priority as we can do nothing without Christ. They should not neglect the sanctity of the union and should therefore strive to please each other as they please God. This is the same principle in Christianity where we all look out to care for the other and in such a situation all is being cared for.

However, there are many instances where the husband or the wife is left alone to fend for him or herself. The spouse has departed from the union in regards to intimacy and in some case has even departed from the relationship. Of course the surviving partner still should strive to restore the relationship, but sometimes this doesn’t happen. Sometimes the spouse still walks away. This is unfortunate and I can only imagine very painful. However, it is another aspect of life where we have to get over and rely on the Spirit of God to comfort us and heal us. It also helps very much to have someone else that you can talk to in order to help you deal with the situation and associated pain.

In any case, marriage requires work. We have to go beyond functional and move into the realm of intimacy. We have to strive well beyond making things work to making the relationship grow. We strive to acquire a personal and intimate relationship with Christ and we should also strive to acquire and maintain an intimate relationship with our spouse. However, it will take both practicing this in order to make it work. Remember that intimacy requires activity. Intimacy in marriage requires personal activities as the two lives are joined (as opposed to intersecting) and prosper in a life together. Amen.

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