Word from the Pastor 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; To gird is to strengthen and protect, so to gird up your mind is to strengthen and protect your thoughts from attack. We are attacked in our thoughts by our own weaknesses and the enemy of our souls takes advantage of us when we allow the fiery darts of the wicked one to over take our thinking. The loins of our mind are tender and innocent, so we need to protect them from evil thoughts. In other words, we need to guard the vulnerable areas of our mind. Ephesians 4:25-27 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. It’s our weak spots that the enemy tries to place his fiery darts, after all, why waste his ammunition on our strongest defenses? One of our weakest parts are what we fear, because it is not protected by faith. Ephesians 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. . The attack of the enemy or “the preempted” attack on our faith doesn’t come with great fiery arrows but most often with “wicked whispers” where we are the weakest. These wicked whispers set the fire of our desire in our thoughts by igniting our past sins again. Philippians 3:12-16 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Don’t let the enemy keep reminding you of your forgiven sin as to ignite it again with your own “fire of desire” it is a spiritual war that we fight against sin, but if we are tempted or provoked to walk in the flesh we cannot win. So, when those wicked whispers start in we need to stir up our spirit in order to fight with the right weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Remind yourself that you are stronger than before so that you can win this war against sin. 2 Timothy 1:6-7 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Philippians 4:6-9 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Don’t allow the wicked whispers to call you back into sin again by speaking the truth of God louder than the evil deceiver. Genesis 3:1-10 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." Isaiah 29:4 You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium's, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust. It is the low tones of the deceiver that lure us into sin again as if by calling up our memories from where they are buried. Isaiah 8:19 And when they say to you, "Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter," should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 1 Samuel 28:13 And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What did you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth." Those old spirits of sin can come back up again when you call them by thinking about them over and over again. Memories of the past that last because you choose to keep them alive in your memory bank. Psalm 51:14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. 1 Peter 1:13-14 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; Stop thinking sin again! Pastor