The combination of brain and mind are an astounding duo. They are inseparable, interdependent, and operate both consciously and unconsciously. The spiritual heart is the engine that powers up all that we are and do. The heart provides the fuel for our minds to operate on, both healthy and unhealthy fuels. God acknowledges the significance of the heart; above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23 NIV).


While many thoughts are determined by us, there are those that simply appear. We don’t always understand our thoughts, some of them just arrive uninvited. To a large degree, it is the heart that supplies the values and beliefs which stimulate our thoughts. Likewise, the heart educates the conscience with values from which it speaks into our minds and thoughts.

Thoughts never leave us stationary or stagnant, but always take us somewhere. They always direct, lead, or invite us down a path of further thoughts. They often leave lingering feelings, they stir up emotions, and ultimately end up materializing somewhere in our attitudes and behaviour. Thoughts unavoidably grow towards a destination within our minds which we can either accept or reject. Just because we have thoughts does not mean they are right or wrong or have authority over us. We all have the capacity to govern and direct our thoughts.

The inner person is multi-layered and complex. Thankfully, God’s Word has much to say about our hearts, our minds, and our thoughts. Scripture provides us with the required truth to understand and educate our inner person so that the Lord’s righteousness can filter through our whole person.

Jesus explained that, of our natural selves, when we are separated from God; out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander (Matthew 15:19). Left to ourselves, the natural human heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9). When we listen to the instinctive voices rising from our hearts, we are often perplexed, and fail to understand why we are the way we are. But God brings the required clarity; humanity has a self-deceiving spiritual heart sickness called ‘sin.’ It is sin which produces evil thoughts. Left to itself, the heart spits out many thoughts which exclude God, which self-harm, and are destructive of others who suffer from the same sickness.

Therefore, Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:3, I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Jesus Christ is the only cure for the heart disease called sin. A spiritually pure thought life begins with sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

God promised Israel in Ezekiel 36:26-27, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you… I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Likewise, all humanity is dependent upon the Lord doing this supernatural work within them. A cleansed and forgiven heart is one that fuels a cleansed mind which produces cleansed thoughts.

For believers, God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). We consciously put Christ first in our hearts by reading and believing the Word of God, by believing in Christ’s substitutional death on the cross, by worship and fellowship with other believers, and with private and group prayer. These simple faith disciplines are the beginning of an ordered thought life, which is pleasing to God.

To be continued…

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).


All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us… (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14).

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct… (1 Peter 1:13-15).

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Colossians 3:12-14).

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (Luke 10:2).

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints… (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Jeremiah was not compelled by promises of positive results, he simply did as God instructed. The 12 tribes of Israel were torn apart due to idolatry, yet Jeremiah remained a faithful prophet. The 10 northern tribes had been taken captive by the Assyrians, and shortly Jeremiah would witness the captivity of Judah by Babylon.


Jeremiah would remain unmarried (Jer 16:2), and he was often overwhelmed by tears at the suffering of rebellious Israel (Jer 9:1). Jeremiah was a young man when he began prophesying to Judah during the reign of King Josiah in 627 B.C. until after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. The Lord told him, before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5). This was God’s mission, Jeremiah was God’s mouthpiece, and the nation was called to obedience or further judgement would come.

It was the 4^th year of King Jehoiakim, and partnered by his secretary Baruch, Jeremiah said; I am banned from going to the house of the LORD, so you are to go. You shall read the words of the LORD from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah… (Jeremiah 36:5-6). Consequently, the officials had the scroll read to them also, then they instructed Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are” (Jer 36:19). The officials proceeded to read the scroll to the King. As three or four columns were read, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire… ²⁴ Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid… (Jeremiah 36:23-24). Unrepentance and arrogance had hardened their hearts to God’s Word so that they did not fear what they should have feared. 

Tenacity for God marked Jeremiah’s life. Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe… who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them (Jeremiah 36:32). Fear of King Jehoiakim paled in comparison to Jeremiah and Baruch’s fear of God. Judgement was coming!

While Jeremiah was seeking safety, the officials were enraged, and they beat him and imprisoned him… (Jer 37:15). Later, they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah… they let Jeremiah down by ropes. There was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud (Jer 38:6).

And so it happened, Jeremiah chapter 39 records Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army capturing Jerusalem. The belligerent officials were killed. King Zedekiah’s sons were also killed in front of him. Nebuchadnezzar then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon (Jer 39:7). The King’s house was burned, the city walls were broken down, and Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city (Jer 39:9). What an avoidable tragedy!

Jeremiah 39:11-12 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar gave command concerning Jeremiah saying…  “Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” God is faithful to His Word and to His servants. Jeremiah lived on to prophesy of hope and of a restored nation. He leaves us with an amazing example to follow.

While the world may be content with immature adults living foolishly, this is never God’s desire for His children. Immaturity is not some type of art form, but it can easily become a lifestyle that celebrates selfish shallowness, foolishness, and an unwillingness to learn and improve. Despite what some may think, the Lord never intends for Christian maturity to translate into a boring, dull, or unexciting life. On the contrary, as believers grow towards maturity in Christ it opens up a life of understanding, of exploration, and even adventure.

The apostle Paul makes an important contrast in 1 Corinthians 14:20; do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. This double-sided instruction shows that childlike thinking is not to be a permanent condition for God’s children. Spiritual growth is God’s design, and this growth is accelerated as desires and thoughts for evil behaviour are increasingly rejected. Christian growth begins with a right attitude towards Christlike thoughts and character development. This requires a dramatic reorganising of our priorities which moves us from living to please self to pleasing God (1Th 2:4).

Patience, consistency, and perseverance are essential for this growth to take place. Determine to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love (2 Peter 1:5-7). These are the expressions of faith which grow maturity in Christ. Peter rightly instructs us to put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up… (1 Peter 2:1-2).

In 2 Timothy 3:6-7, Paul warned Timothy of people who sometimes creep into church life with sinful intentions. Their motives are dishonourable, and their purpose for others are selfish and destructive. Paul says that such people are burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Such people choose to prevent themselves from surrendering to biblical truth which would transform their minds and their entire lives in Christ (Rom 12:1-2). Contend to remain biblically and practically naïve, they are happy with spiritual uncertainty, content to have unanswered questions and unresolved beliefs over difficult subjects. Consequently, their minds remain childlike in their understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and salvation always seems just outside of their reach. For such people, this justifies their self-centredness and their sinful behaviour which keeps them from repentance of sin and loving obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 14:21; Mk 1:15; Rom 10:9-10).

Therefore, a deliberate redirection of our desires is necessary for this maturity to happen. Hebrews 6:1 explains to the would-be Jewish people considering faith in Christ; leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity. If all we do is focus on the most basic truths, we rob ourselves of fulfilling the purpose for those foundational truths, which is to set us on a path of growing faith and personal development for maturity into Christlikeness.

Paul explained in Colossians 4:12, that Epaphras understood this and specifically prayed for the believers in Colossae in this regard. Epaphras… is always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. Epaphras knew that spiritual maturity produces assurance of the sovereign working of God’s will in our lives. May we rejoice in these truths and assist our fellow believers to grow towards maturity in Christ.

Following confrontation by Nathan, King David faces up to the ugly realities of his life. Therefore, Psalm 51 unfolds for us an honest confession of a broken sinner and his expectations of a merciful God. David became guilty of far more than he ever thought possible. It began with coveting another man’s wife which soon led to adultery, then the extermination of Uriah, who was the innocent husband and loyal to both wife and king. Such is the seductive nature of sin, it’s never content with the status quo, it must have more. You can read the sad account in 2 Samuel chapters 11-12.

David’s guilt had gripped him, and finally he confessed; I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. His offense was first and foremost against Holy God, all other offenses were secondly. This confession included acknowledging the correctness of God in calling a sinner to account and the impending judgement should he not repent. David accepted that God was justified in His words and blameless in His judgment of his sin (Psalm 51:3-4). David knew that he was exposed and condemned before an all knowing and holy God.

David could not undo his wrongs. He certainly could never restore innocence or Uriah’s life which he had extinguished. Realising his impending judgment, and the impossibility of making things right again, he cries out “have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love” (Psalm 51:1). Hope ONLY existed in the merciful heart of a loving God. David’s hope and request were simple enough; “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:2). He could not cleanse himself of these sins, others did not even want to forgive him, but God was both able and willing to cleanse David of his shocking crimes.

But cleansing of specific sins was not sufficient to prevent David repeating history. So, he asked the ONLY one who could do the impossible, he asked God; “create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). ONLY God has the desire and ability to regenerate an instinctively selfish and sinful heart to be clean and right before Him. What’s more, David knew that ONLY God could replace guilt and pain with joy. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12). Self-correction and self-determination could not maintain a righteous walk, but God can recreate a person’s heart so thoroughly that joy in God’s salvation becomes the new default. ONLY God can redesign the inner workings of a person so that volitional faithfulness becomes the joyful norm. And repentant David knew this.

However, personal reconciliation with God is never to be without its impact on others. David realised that this spiritual recreation within had to cause him to reach outside of self-interest. Consequently, David acknowledges that he “will teach transgressors God’s ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:13). His renewed life, and his recreated right relationship with the Lord had to flow to others so that God could be glorified in their lives as in his own.

Finally, David desired to “sing aloud of God’s righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise” (Psalm 51:14-15). Even in worship, David realised his dependency upon the Lord to enable him to verbally praise God appropriately. Silent gratitude was not to be the pattern of David’s life. The world had to know what God had done in rescuing sinful David. May this be true in each of us?