Do Not Be Mastered by Anything!

Sometimes, when something negative enters into your mind, it’s impossible to shake it off! The thoughts grip the walls of your brains, with strong resilience. If only good thoughts were that way! Instead, they are ideas that cause you hurt, confusion, distrust, and feelings of betrayal.
As a human, questions will keep boggling your mind. You will never rest until they are answered. But the thing about God is, He expects you to do the total opposite of what you would naturally do. That is not easy!

“I am not mastered by anything” – Johnny English reminded himself in the movie, when he realized that his drink was poisoned with chemicals of mind control. The drink was forcing him to do things he didn’t want to do. Yet, he fought against it, because he didn’t want to allow his mind to control him!

The hardest thing to train is NOT your disobedient pet, your stubborn child, your selfish husband or your complaining wife. Neither is it your most difficult employee.

The most difficult thing to control is YOURSELF – your thoughts, words, emotions and feelings.

We are controlled by the ideas the world puts into our mind. It keeps us in bondage, it robs our joy, it wastes our time– it diverts our focus off Christ!

But God tells us to be joined with Him in Spirit, to fight the strategies of the evil one!
How does God teach us to do it?

1) Prayer
2) Fasting
3) Praise
4) Meditating on the Word

Prayer is not easy when your mind is troubled. You have a million things to say to God, but at the end of the day, you just sit and wonder whether everything you heard is true. But that’s exactly why prayer is so important! When you tell it to God, you let it off your chest! You give Him the problems and TRUST Him to take full control. If people are out to cheat you, God knows how to ‘revenge’ – you don’t have to crack your head on what to do! ‘Vengeance is Mine,’ says the Lord. If people are lying to you, God knows how to arrange circumstances to show you the truth! If someone is taking advantage of you, God knows how to get them out of your life. If God has a mission for you to send a message to change them, He knows how to use you! Live for Christ, and tell Him everything in prayer! Just trust Him!

Fasting – this is a tough one for me! I am a small eater, and that’s exactly why it’s so difficult. Since I eat little, when I don’t eat, I lose weight drastically. But then again, fasting doesn’t have to be only from food. I can fast from other things (but even that is hard). I hardly do anything ‘bad’ or extremely pleasurable, to fast from. Now, the only thing I can think of to fast from, is telephone calls! I make a lot of calls because I am alone and need human contact. I’ll try fasting from this! The idea of fasting is to deny yourself of something you really like or want, and replace it with God (reading His word, singing His praises, thinking of Him etc.) It’s a form of detox! (When you fast from food, you cleanse both your body and mind – but I’m not up to this yet, at the moment.) The most important thing about fasting – it trains you not to be mastered by your desires, habits, emotions, feelings and thoughts! It forces you to go against the norm, with the power of God.

Praise – man, this is not simple when your heart is a tempest! Having to sing, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” when you’re feeling really down is not easy. But this is exactly what God wants us to do! After you praise, you will find your burdens lifted away – it’s true! When I am alone in my room, sometimes my concentration fails me to praise God with 100% positive attitude, but I always make it a point to go to church. There, the drum beats, electric guitar and piano just sets me into the mood, and the presence of all the other people of God stirs me on. I always go back feeling full of joy from the Lord –like a recharged battery! Waiting for church on Sunday, while I discipline myself to sing praises with my guitar, and in my heart the whole day! The evil one will distract, but praising God is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you, once you start!

Meditating on God’s Word – this is a little easier for me, since I like to read, and write. I have no problems reading the Bible, in the morning and night, and on the internet. Yet, thinking of it the whole day, to fight the evil thoughts, is a real challenge. People’s words, unpleasant memories and situations tend to push their way into my head, like a virus fighting the antibiotics. Still, God’s Word, plans and purposes will prevail!

Do not be mastered by anything, except God!

I Corinthians 6:12

"Everything is permissible for me"--but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"--but I will not be mastered by anything.

Psalm 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.