As We Think So We Are

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a sermon on how to determine the signs of having a Laodicean attitude. There were two signs, not loving the Word of God and how you treat other people, or two indicators of whether or not we're Laodicean. I talked in that sermon about how it's really difficult to tell because the condition of Laodicea is a condition of blindness. So how do you know if you are, if you're blind?

We talked about those two things. You might have been wondering, well, that was a strong sermon. Why were they so strong? The reason is Jesus Christ asked the question, will He find faithful on the earth when He comes? That is what I very sincerely hope for all of us, that when He comes, that He finds us to be those faithful. So I wanted to jump off of that sermon today, springboard off of it, if you will, and get down to some practical how-to kind of a thing today.

How do you use the Word of God? I mean, it's one thing to talk about reading it and loving it and incorporating it in your life. Great. What does that do for you? I want to answer that today. When we get into the Word of God, when we start reading it or listening to it in the car as we're driving every day, a lot of you have asked me about that app that I listen to in the car, and I've shared it with you. And if you want that app, let me know, and I'll just text it over to you, and you can download it yourself onto your phone.

Pretty neat thing. They just talk the Bible to you. So as you're driving back and forth, you can go through an entire epistle of Paul or Peter or some in the Old Testament. It's pretty cool. Then what do you do with it? And what does Satan want you to not do with it? What is his tactic to thwart your Bible study? You know, we live in a world where everything that we face is full of propaganda against God.

It's in the news. It's in the grocery store, on the stands when we go to check out. Everything that we see on billboards, on radio, on television at night, when we're at the workplace and we're just dealing with people in our culture, there's propaganda against the Word of God. We're bombarded by media that makes sure we ask no critical questions. They break the news down for us into small bite-sized pieces so that you don't have to think.

There's an effort by many to secularize the world, to completely strip the world of any religious beliefs. That will give way, in the future, to false religious beliefs. But everybody believing the same thing and not syncing with God. We have heard that the Bible is a spiritual manual. It's not a medical journal.

It's not a school book. It's not a diet book. It's not an exercise guide. It's a spiritual manual. It's not a carbine guide, and that's all true. But, brethren, the Bible governs how we behave and what we believe in all of those subjects. All of them. What we eat, what and how we are to learn, and how we are to teach.

How we seek healing, whether or not we lose weight or how we do it. The Bible gives general overall guidelines and guiding principles to help us through all of life's activities. But Satan is a very, very clever enemy. In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1, it says he's more cunning than any beast of the field. And in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, it says this. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

I don't know if you've watched any nature shows. Lions are incredibly diligent hunters. When they hunt, they are all in. They crouch down, they're in the grass, both eyes are on their prey, and they do not lose their concentration. And a lion usually is an ambush predator. Interesting that Peter puts it in this light. A lion generally does not attack a water buffalo from the front. He would get smooshed, gored, beat to a pulp. What does a lion usually do? He sneaks up behind the prey and takes him down subtly, without the prey knowing that the lion is there.

And that's what Satan does to us. Satan's big tactic in getting to our thinking is to convince us to compartmentalize the way we think. We compartmentalize our lives so that when we think about religious things we use the Bible. When we think about work, we use our background, our education, and our skills. When we think about diet, we use the latest fad or research. I've been fascinated by that one all my life. Since the 1970s, when it was the no-fat thing and you couldn't eat a burger, what?

You know, are you kidding me? So I've been watching Diet Fads. I'm real sensitive to that one. So, Satan wants you to compartmentalize everything in your life so that you don't use the Word of God in everything. Why would he do that? What's the end game there? Why is that such a subtle attack? The title of the sermon today is, Think with God. Think with God. Everything that we do, brethren, comes from our thoughts.

And that is where Satan attacks us. And he generally hits us from the blind side. He generally hits us where we're not looking. Don't compartmentalize your life, but rather with everything reason with God. Interesting that God opens the book of Isaiah with reasoning, with thinking, in a legal sense, in a pleading sense. But if you turn to Isaiah 1 and let's look at verse 18. Now, Isaiah is God pleading with ancient Israel to repent, giving them their final warning before they get wiped out. And even in his final warning, he asks them to think with him. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18, Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord.

That word reason is talking about sitting down at the mediation table between an accuser and the accused. And interestingly enough, our accuser happens to be God. In this particular case, he's the one we've sinned against. He's the one who has a case against us. But he is the one who comes to the mediation table first and says, Let's work this out. Why would he do that? Because he's not only the judge in the case. He's also our dad, our father.

And we're his kids. And he wants us to come to the table and think with him. So he uses this legal term, and he says, Come and let us reason together. Think with me, God says, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. He wants to work it out. He wants us to think with him, not think by ourselves. Though they're red like crimson, they shall be wool.

So God gives us the goal to become a righteous character like he is. And how do we do that? By changing our thinking to think with him. Later in the book, in Isaiah 43, verse 26, God says, Put in remembrance, this is Isaiah 43, verse 26, put in remembrance and let us contend together. State your case that you may be acquitted, and that word contend is translated plead in other cases. And it also means to argue and reason or think legally with a legal mind of how to get out of the mess that we're in.

God wants us to think, not let society spoon-feed us little bite-sized bits of information, and we don't ever reason things out with God. God is so much smarter than we are. Sinks so much on a higher plane than we are on. Isaiah 55, moving down a little bit farther in the book. Do we trust God in everything that we think? Isaiah 55, verse 6, we'll read through verse 11. Isaiah 55, verse 6, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Now, that was the last sermon that I gave on how to know if we're Laodicea or not.

Seek the Lord. Pray to Him, trust Him, and read the Bible every day. Seek Him while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way. So, talking about actions, how we treat other people, and let the unrighteous man, his thoughts, his thinking. Satan attacks us at our thinking, and he wants us to compartmentalize our lives. Where God has influence over some of our life, but we really don't seek His guidance on other parts of our life. Why does Satan do that? There's an amazing reason. It's an incredible strategy that he has. It will blow you away how smart it is, and yet it is so simple to defeat.

Satan is clever. Let's read on. For my thoughts, God says, are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your way, says the Lord. For as heaven is higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. This is interesting. What does God's way of thinking bring? What's the result? What's Satan trying to stop? Verse 10. For as the rain comes down in the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. And it shall not return to me void or empty. The word of God is supposed to produce something. It's not just that we read it every day. There's something that's supposed to be produced by His word in us. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please.

And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. It makes us prosper. How?

We tend to compartmentalize our thinking. When it comes to church and morality, we go to the Bible. No problem. We all know that. We're all in agreement of that. You wouldn't come to church if you didn't agree with that. You wouldn't be listening to the sermon today if you didn't agree with that. So, in that sense, it's like I'm preaching to the choir, so to speak. Of course, we form our religion around the Bible. The Bible says, keep the Sabbath. We keep the Sabbath.

We even keep the Holy Days, which most Christians won't do. Of course, we use the Bible.

Satan attacks us, and he's very clever. What other things?

Do we not put our trust in, but use other sources to trust? They determine the way we think and act.

Key Scripture for today, Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6.

Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6. Satan is a subtle ambush predator. He sneaks up from behind, and he attacks us in our thinking. But in Proverbs 3, verse 5, King Solomon said, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not in your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. Notice it said, All your ways. You know what? The Bible is not a health manual. It's not a business manual. It's not an owner's car buyer's owner operation manual. It's none of those things. It doesn't tell you what part to buy to fix your car, but it does tell you the quality and the diligence in which you are to put into fixing your car. It does tell you if you fix other people's cars, that you're not supposed to cheat them and charge them too much or put poor quality equipment in that car, doesn't it? So, the Bible does talk about automobile repair, does it not? The Bible covers every single aspect of our lives, but Satan is cunning, and he tricks us out of using the Bible as the basis for our thinking in all our ways. And we tend to compartmentalize and just use the Bible for religion.

And we go to other sources first for everything else in our life. And that's where Satan gets us, and he gets us something that is significant. It's huge what he's trying to do.

And it has nothing to do with the specific thing that he's trying to get you to think apart from God from. It has to do with something completely different. Satan has an in-game in mind, and he is amazingly clever.

So, what I'd like to do is to talk about using the Bible, not just your head. You know how people say, well, use your head. Think about it. It has some common sense. You know, that's actually true.

You are supposed to use your head. Now, when we read on Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18, God did tell us to use our head. He said, reason. We are supposed to think. We are supposed to reason.

We're not supposed to be mindless, dumb automatons. We are supposed to think.

But that thinking is supposed to be, like it was said in the sermonette, in subjection to God.

Because he said, think with me.

So, we're supposed to use our head, not just our head.

So, I would say use the Bible, not just your head, in everything that you do. And I'd like to walk through with some examples today. Not to step on our toes. I know good and well this sermon is going to step on toes.

I know it will. And I don't intend it to. It is not my goal. My goal is that we, when Jesus Christ returns, are His faithful. We're the ones where He puts His arm around. He gives us a fair hug. And He says, good job to you and to me. That's the goal.

So, let's look at some ways that we tend to not let God into our thinking.

Let's talk about dieting, exercise, and medical care. Taking care of the self. Do you know it is mind-boggling to me how we do not include the Bible, and yet we invoke the name of God and say we're doing a godly thing by taking care of our health, and yet we don't seek God's advice, and He gave a bunch of it when it comes to health and diet and exercise. And we just ignore God, and we go along with whatever fad happens to be raging in the media at the time, and we're spoon-fed little tiny little bits of this research and that research, and this proves that and that, and we believe it. Even though it contradicts the Bible, we're okay with that because science says, and if science says, we do. Only science contradicts itself throughout the decades, and we don't pay attention to the contradiction. And yet the one thing that stays constant through it all is the Word of God. It was written far before any of us were ever born, and it will never change. But science constantly changes its mind.

Let's go back to the 1970s. Fat was out. Fat was the enemy. You can't eat fat.

All right? That was determined by Congress, not doctors, by the way, in case you don't remember. How does a bunch of senators that we elect know anything about diet?

But we remember the songs, you know, the 99 cent heart attack, heart attack in a bag, talking about if you eat fat, it's going to kill your heart. Later research proved that fat doesn't actually cause heart disease. Well, I say it was proved. That will later come around and be disapproved. I remember in the 19... early 1980s, late 1970s, beef was really, really bad. You can't eat beef. Hamburger causes cancer. If you fry hamburger on a griddle, it will cause cancer. And I kid you not, this is true. A few years later, a study came out and said hamburger and the fat in it cures cancer.

Which one is it? Does beef kill you or does it heal you? Well, science proved it did both.

What does the Bible say? The Bible said God said certain foods were clean to eat.

Do we trust Him? Are God's thoughts higher than our thoughts? Do we trust Him or do we contradict Him? And what's the big deal anyway? Because I agree 100% the kingdom of God is not a food and drink.

It is not. If you want to kill yourself with processed foods and all that junk, I feel bad for you and you're going to pay the price. But the kingdom of God is not a food and drink. The Bible is not a health manual.

It has health instructions in it, but its purpose is to bring mankind back to the tree of life.

It is a spiritual and moral manual. And a lot of times we forget that it also says to acknowledge God in all our ways. We forget that in Isaiah that God said His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and if we think like Him, it will benefit us. We will prosper, and yet we contradict Him. And in the 1970s, we stopped eating beef because it was high fat. And then I remember low-fat ice cream. To this day, and it's still in the grocery stores today, you will find a low-fat ice cream alternative. That is horrible. It's the sugar or the artificial sweetener that'll kill you.

And science has proven that fat is necessary for your brain. If babies don't have enough fat, they will literally die. Their diet is a mass consumption of fat, and that certain kinds of fat, like olive oil, are heart-healthy. And yet, in the 1970s, we all believed, well, we didn't all believe, but society believed that fat was bad. Oh, but then came the 1980s. Fat came roaring back. Oh, fat came back, you know, like it was out of style, because what was bad in the 80s? Carbohydrates. Oh, do not eat carbs. Everything was low-carb. Carbs are bad for you. Carbs cause every health problem on the planet. Eat as much beef as you want to eat. Don't eat carbs. And people started having kidney problems, because all they were eating was high-fat diets, way out of balance. They were really ruining their health. But science proved that fat wasn't the problem. Carbs were the problem.

And that Jesus Christ is the bread of life. God blesses them with a grain harvest when they're righteous, and He takes their grain away when they're not righteous. And He's going to do it in the future when they don't come to the Feast of Tabernacles. He's going to take their right away for what? So they won't have any grain which has carbohydrate in it. Imagine that.

And so in the 1980s, it was carbohydrate. Now we're much more refined. Now we really get the science of diet. And now we're gluten-free. Oh, yes. That's the perfect diet. We are now gluten-free. Now, gluten does cause some problems in some people. So I want to say, if gluten causes a problem, you better be gluten-free. There are some people, if they eat gluten, will double over in pain and not be able to get out of bed. Gluten can be a problem. For the mass majority of human beings, gluten is not a problem. It's not. It is, however, a multi-billion dollar industry.

Have you ever tried to buy anything gluten-free? You literally pay at a minimum double of whatever else would contain gluten. So if you want some lasagna, lasagna, if you take the fads of the last three decades, four decades, lasagna is the worst food on the planet. Because it's fat. Oh, it's got dairy. I forgot to mention the no milk thing. Right? So it's got fat. It's got dairy. It's got carbs. Super high carbs. And it's got gluten. Are you kidding me? Never eat lasagna again in your life. I'm going to eat lasagna today. So, you know, reason with God. The Bible is not a diet book. I'll admit that. I'll give you that. It's not. But there are certain things in the Bible that Satan wants to sneak around from the back and have us contradict God. He wants us to say, well, I believe in God mostly, but God is wrong here. Pick your poison, whatever it is.

Satan wants us to say that God is wrong, and he doesn't care where we say he's wrong, as long as we say he's wrong. He's good. So he's going to pick at us from all different angles.

Diet and exercise is not the only thing. But let's just go through some things that God says about gluten. Isaiah 28, verse 23. Reason with God, and then use your head.

Isaiah 28 tells us that God taught the farmers, starting with Adam and Eve, to plant the grain and how to process it. And I'm not going to read it. You can just look it out. Cain was a grain farmer. The whole gluten idea comes from the notion that we evolved. Did you know that? The basis of the gluten-free diet is steep in evolution, not creation. We evolved from apes and became cavemen. And when we were cavemen, we were hunter-gatherers. And so we didn't till the soil. And so our natural state of being is eating in the hunter-gatherer kind of way. Things that grow on their own without being cultivated, which grain is not one of them. So you have to cut all grains out of your diet completely. And that is the natural state of man. Well, Isaiah chapter 28, and verse 23 through 29, contradict that. Because it says it was God who told man how to plant grain.

And when did he tell man? Well, I surmise that it was Adam and Eve that he told, because lo and behold, Cain, their son, was a grain farmer.

Who taught them how to sow grain? God did. So when we hear something like, don't eat grain, oh, do we say in our head, God must be wrong. Satan wants us to say that. I'm talking about a spiritual issue. He doesn't care what you eat. He cares what you think. He doesn't care whether you're gluten-free, fat-free, milk-free, or any of those things. We have certain things that we can't eat in our family, because they create horrible health problems. That doesn't mean the rest of you can't eat them. You can. We just have to be responsible to avoid them, because it hurts our family, because we made certain mistakes when we were young, and we ruined our health, and we take responsibility for that. And we don't tell you that you can't eat the things that we can't eat, that God made to eat, that are good for food. We simply know we have to avoid them, and that's the way that you want to be as well. I suggest that we don't tell people that they should be one diet or the other diet. We should tell them that they should be healthy, but we need to be ready to back that up with the Bible, because if we can't back it up with the Bible, we're very likely spouting a trend of the world, a trend of society, and that trend may very well contradict the Bible. And there's a spiritual reason why Satan wants us to contradict the Bible. What about exercise? What about yoga? Hey, let's go do some yoga. You know yoga limbers your body?

Mmm, it's awesome for limbering your body. If you do yoga for 20 minutes a day, you will not have a stiff back, sore joints, and all the other things. So let's do some yoga. Oh, except one little problem. Yoga puts you in the positions, multiple positions of pagan gods. That's what yoga is. Oh, no, no, no, no. They've sterilized that. We don't do that part of it anymore. That's like sterilizing Christmas. Yeah, we keep Christmas, but it's not about Jesus. No, it is too. It's pagan. If it's pagan, it's pagan. I have a stretching video at home. A guy does 20-30 minutes of stretches. He's as limber as you can imagine, without getting into one single yoga pose.

He's just stretching his body. Why does Satan push us like that? Oh, yeah, do stretching, but do it in the form of a pagan god.

Brethren, don't fall for that. Satan has an endgame in mind, and it has nothing to do with how limber your body is, or how healthy your heart is. It has nothing to do with it.

It has to do with whether or not you believe God is wrong on one tiny little point.

That's all he wants you to do. What about watching the news? Let's get off this diet thing.

Let's talk about the news. Recently, I gave a sermon on prophecy, and I talked about how prophecy gives us hope, the light at the end of the tunnel. It's not for watching the clock.

And yet, when we watch the news, do we think with God? I remember when I was a boy, and I would watch the news with my father. I couldn't have cared less about the news.

I cared about my father's commentary, because when he watched the news, he watched it from the Bible point of view. And he would always tell us about prophecy, or some moral issue, or the moral reason why what was going on was going on. And we, growing up, framed looking at the news from the Bible. It was awesome! And then, I get these text messages from people, from time to time, after some big news event happens, like the Marines were recently shot.

And, oh, the internet, Facebook, and all those things just light up with conspiracy theories, and worry, and doubt, and we start watching the clock again.

Why? Satan wants us to think that God is wrong. Just on one little thing. That's all he's trying to get us to do. He did not have hope in the future. Okay, I have an admission to make. There is a conspiracy, a major conspiracy, and I'm not kidding. There is a conspiracy right now, going on. It's happening in the United States, and it's happening in Russia, and it's happening in China. It's talked about in the book of Jeremiah, that there is a conspiracy in the land, and it's been going on since Adam and Eve were deceived and left the Garden of Eden. And that conspiracy is that Satan is trying to bring mankind to nothing. Of course there's a conspiracy. We know that, but we have hope. Hope in the future. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 11, when we read the news, do we watch it so much and read it so much that we let them spoon-feed us their opinions, and we no longer have critical thinking of our own. We think the way they tell us to think.

And when we do that, we contradict God without even knowing it. Those subtle little things that they throw in about science contradicting God, and we take it in and we believe it.

Where do we hear those things? The news, and we don't use critical thinking. We don't use the Bible. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 11, for the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of the people saying. This is God. Do not say a conspiracy concerning all the people is called a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. When you watch the news, do you see conspiracies and everything?

We already know the conspiracy. It's already been uncovered.

Satan wants to destroy mankind, and things are going to get really, really bad in the future.

Be prepared there. That's the conspiracy. Otherwise, brethren, we are not to be troubled.

The Lord of hosts, verse 13, him shall you hallow. Let him be your fear. Let him be your dread. Dread to leave God. Do not dread the news. Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7.

Second Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

I used to love watching the news with my dad, because he would give us critical thinking, as that commentator would give his opinion. My father would either agree or disagree and tell us why from the Bible. Brethren, that's the way we ought to be. Think with God in all your ways. Acknowledge him. With work, brethren, we are to acknowledge God. You know, the Bible doesn't tell you how to program a computer, but it does tell you how to treat your boss, how to work with all of your might. It does tell you how to work, even though it's not a work manual, and all of your ways acknowledge him. Your education. How you learn should be with critical thinking. Don't accept everything that your teachers tell you, especially youth. According to the Barna group, in a book called You Lost Me, approximately 80% of all Christian children lose their faith during their freshman biology class. 80%. Of the 20% that are left, most do not have a strong belief in God. Choose your education wisely. Satan wants to get us from the sides. He's an ambush predator. He wants our thinking. That's how he gets us. The Christian home is supposed to be one where God's word is taught above all else. Does that describe your family? Is God's word taught during the week at your house? In all your ways acknowledge him.

What about trials and persecutions? What about trials and persecutions?

Do you think when you're going through a trial, and Satan wants to get you here, too, he doesn't care which angle he gets you at. From this side, from behind, from that side, it doesn't matter as long as he gets you. What about trials and how you think in a trial?

Do you think God's always punishing you? Are you ashamed when you get persecution or a trial?

Do you feel ashamed? I know I have. I know I've fallen into this. Does it make you feel embarrassed that you're going through a trial? Is that the way you're supposed to think?

Do you feel like you're undeserving of God's love? Do you know, brethren, that God uses trials to mold you, not just punish you? Think with God! Reason with Him, like it says in Isaiah.

How does God look at trials? How does He think about it? What's He thinking when you're going through persecution, when somebody else is picking on you and you lose your job because you're a Christian and it happens quite frequently? How does God think about it? You know, sometimes it's a punishment. God chases the sons He loves. It's not always a punishment, brethren. 1 Peter 4.

We're talking about how we think, how we think in all our ways, everything we do, how we eat, how we exercise, how we work, how we learn. Even when we go through trials. 1 Peter 4. Beloved, do not think it's strange concerning fiery trials, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you, but rejoice. Wow! We are supposed to think that it's an honor and be glad when we go through persecution or a trial. Rejoice to the extent that you partake in Christ's suffering. Wow! You are now part of the family because you suffer just a little bit the way Jesus Christ suffered a lot.

That when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad and with exceeding joy, look to the future of the end of that trial, is what He's saying. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed. Oh, those people who mistreat you, God does not think joyously of that.

Not at all, but for you, for you, He is overjoyed because of what He's producing in you.

Is that the way we think? Brethren, that's not natural. That's not the way we think naturally when we get fired, when we get cut off on the freeway, although that's not for Christ's sake, but still. Same kind of feeling.

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the Spirit of glory of God rest upon you. On their part, He is blasphemed, but on your part, He, God, is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or evildoer or a busybody in other people's matters. Oh, you know, if you get yourself in trouble because you did wrong, you deserved it. That's what Peter's saying. I'm not talking about you getting fired because you stole from the boss.

That's not what he's saying. But, verse 16, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed. Are you ashamed when you suffer, when you go through trials, when God molds you and shapes you, when other people persecute you, do you feel guilty and unworthy? Peter's encouraging us to not think that way.

But let him glorify God in this matter. Praise be to God that He's molding me and shaping me to become like Jesus Christ. That's how we're supposed to think. Verse 17, for the time has come for judgment to begin on the house of God. Now is our time of salvation. Now is our time of growth. Of course, we're going to have trials. Don't be ashamed. You're in good company. We all do.

We all suffer so that God's glory can be revealed in us. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? For if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? God remembers James chapter 1 verses 2 through 4.

James 1 verse 2, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. That's the Greek word hupomone, and according to Thayer's dictionary, it means to hold on. One word for endurance means run and never stop. Never quit. Never give up. That's not what this word means. This word means hang on for your dear life and never let go. And that's what trials help us do. They help us hold on.

And let patience have its perfect work, verse 4, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing. Why do we count it all joy? Because we're going to end up in the end not lacking anything. How do you think about trials? Don't compartmentalize your life, but think with God. Think as He thinks. Satan is very clever. He attacks us from the sides in very subtle ways. Why does he want us to compartmentalize our life and not use the Bible in everything? Proverbs chapter 23 gives us some insight into Satan's strategy.

What he's doing. It says, do not eat bread in verse 6 of Proverbs chapter 3, 23. Proverbs 23 and verse 6. Do not eat bread with a miser nor desire his delicacies.

What I'm talking about today is not the miser. I'm talking about verse 7. For as He thinks in His heart, so is He. Oh, as we think in our heart, so are we. And if we think God is wrong about gluten, we think God is wrong. Do you get it? And as we think that we are, if we contradict God on something small, we're going to contradict Him on something big. Satan doesn't care whether or not we do yoga or not. He cares whether or not we think God is wrong. Satan doesn't care whether or not we compromise and we sneak out and we keep Christmas with our families or not. He cares that we think God is wrong on that one little issue. Because as we think that we are, and if we're contrary to God on one little thing, we're contrary to God! That's His goal. His goal is to get us to think without God. And He doesn't do it front on. He's not going to take you on in the status, because that would be a frontal attack and you would obliterate Him on that argument.

You've already proved it to yourself. Oh, He's going to get you on the sides.

It's all the same to Him, because if He gets you to contradict God, you have contradicted God. And as you think that you are, pretty clever, isn't it? Wow! He really is a roaring lion. He really is seeking to devour us. And I don't want that of us. My hope is that we are the faithful when Jesus Christ returns. The faithful follow God in all their ways. Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. What does that mean?

Lean not on your own understanding. He's not saying don't use your head.

He gave you a brain to use your head with Him. He said in Isaiah chapter 1, reason with me. Come to the table and negotiate with me, because His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. And Satan is going to try to get us. And he's not going to try to get us up front. He's going to try to get us somewhere on the side. Some side issue. It might be a religious issue. It might be totally unrelated to religion. It doesn't matter. As long as we contradict God, He's got us. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths. Brethren, in everything we do and think, let us acknowledge God. Let us follow Him, and He will direct us through to the kingdom of God. Watch out for Satan's subtle attacks from the side. That's where He'll get us, because brethren, as we think, so we are.