v 6 letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
It seems that God has given us the power (ability) to make decisions about what goes on in our minds. We are able to allow ourselves to be dominated by the bad side of things – become doom-mongers or self-centred prigs – or give the Holy Spirit freedom to change all that and allow love to become central. So this is a decision you face every day; what will be the major trend in my thinking today?
Here is a very good reason for starting each day with God; if He is in your thinking as you read your Bible and pray in the morning it will be that much easier to keep Him in the centre of your thoughts as the day progresses. Start the day worrying about what might happen during day and you are very likely to find it hard to get on track with God as time and events rush by you. Consciously get on track with God from the outset, and you enjoy His peace will discover that you will as events are played out.
The worst possible scenario is to wake up with malice, or impure, unjust ideas running through your mind. You might be pre-occupied with thoughts of the bad events of yesterday and how they might play out today. Or you are still feeling cut up by what someone said to you yesterday and you are filled with thoughts of how you could retaliate today. It may just be as ordinary as how your job, with all the decisions you face, will turn out. God has given you the power, through the Holy Spirit, to kick such thinking out of play and embrace the beauty of life as the Holy Spirit prompts you. That will be good for your daily walk of faith – and then too for your mental health!
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