If we want to be prepared to face our increasingly hostile, anti-Christian culture, we need to quit focusing on ourselves.
Prepare for Battle—Don't Remain in Your Easy Chair
If we want to be prepared to face our increasingly hostile, anti-Christian culture, we need to quit focusing on ourselves.
Brainwashing Can Be Good when God's Word Cleanses Our Minds
Brainwashing is a negative term that normally means deceiving a person or forcing them to believe things that aren't true.
But I'd like to put a positive spin on the word because it's what we all need spiritually. Instead of being deceived, we need to overcome the deception in and around us.
Our fallen human thinking needs to be "washed"—cleansed of soiled thoughts, grimy attitudes, dirty doubts, and filthy fears.
We cleanse our minds and spirits through reading and studying God's Word and letting His truth remove our corrupted thoughts and desires (Ephesians 4:22-24).
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2).
When we let God's Word "brainwash" us, we can:
- Tell ourselves the truth
- Avoid negative thoughts
- Forget past offenses
- Deal with adversity
- Overcome discouragement
- Count our blessings
- Gain a gratitude attitude
Each of the numbered points above is a link to a one-minute devotion.
Why not read each of the devotions above and then do the Bite Size Bible Study Bible Brainwashing.Bible Love Notes
The World Doesn't Have a Clue What Jesus Is Like
How often have you heard someone say Christians will be more likable if we act like Jesus?
Biblical Cure for Low and High Self-Esteem
Are you proud of your high self-esteem? Don't be.
Our culture believes high self-esteem is good, but God says neither low nor high self-esteem is desirable. Instead, we need a realistic, balanced view of ourselves, based on our faith—i.e., our esteem for God and our dependence on His wisdom.
“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3).
The way to achieve this balanced view of self is to quit focusing on self altogether (Luke 9:23-24) and follow the priorities Jesus gave us in Mark 12:30-31:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’ ... ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
No greater commandment—and no greater cure for high or low self-esteem.
Christianity Isn't about "Formulas"—God's Purposes Will Prevail
Someone recently asked me about a ministry that promises Christians they can have complete victory in every area of their lives (sickness, finances, marriage, infertility, etc.) if they pray specific prayers to break down strongholds.*
Don't Let Others Do Your Thinking for You
Christians are easily misled when we fail to do personal Bible study.
We desperately need God's Word to shape our lives, equip us for ministry, and help us discern errors:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Bible teachers and pastors can help us understand biblical truths, but we can't let them do our thinking for us. We must be able to discern between solid Bible teachers and teachers who distort God's Word for their advantage (2 Peter 3:14-17).
So let's do our best to present ourselves to God as discerning Christians who correctly handle God's truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
Scripture Records This Ridiculous Lie
💙 Be sure to check out the Bible Love Notes devotional Wisdom for Life.
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Is 2 John 1:10–11 about Houseguests?
At first glance, 2 John 1:9–11 appears to be a prohibition against inviting non-Christians into our home. It says this about anyone who doesn't accurately teach the gospel:
"If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching [about the gospel], do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work."
What does this mean?
We were attending the protestant chapel service at a military chapel when a new chaplain was introduced who would be helping to present the service that morning. And he was Mormon (LDS). We quietly slipped out of our seats and went home, feeling that participating in the service would be approving of Mormonism. And we later shared our concerns with the chapel leadership.
Mormons deny the Trinity, the unique deity of Christ, and the divine inspiration of Scripture.
What's Your "Achilles' Heel"?
The term “Achilles' heel” originated in pagan Greek mythology, coming from a strange, fictional story about a mother who dipped her baby into a river that was supposed to protect his life. However, because she held him by the heel, he remained vulnerable in that one spot and was killed at a young age by a poison arrow shot into his heel.
Since the 1800s “Achilles' heel” has been used to describe something seemingly insignificant that gradually destroys a person, business, or nation.
Scripture expresses this truth in a slightly different way:
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much” (Luke 16:10).
Satan targets sins that we think are insignificant. He knows they can become our “Achilles' heels” (Ephesians 6:10-18).
So let's ask God to help us identify these sins so we can deal with them aggressively through prayer and God's Word. (See A Practical Way to Deal with Specific Sins.)
And let's memorize Luke 16:10 and 1 Timothy 1:18-19 as part of our defense.
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“Fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith” (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
Moses' 5 Excuses and Why He Wasn't a Good Listener
God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh (in Exodus 3 and 4).
Moses replied:
1. Who am I?
2. Who are You?
3. They won't believe me.
4. I'm not a good speaker.
5. I don't want to do it.
God didn't respond to Moses by building up Moses' ego or encouraging him to esteem himself. He didn't talk about Moses at all. He talked about Himself and His ability to do what Moses could not do on his own. Moses needed to esteem God, trust Him, and obey Him.
It didn't matter who Moses was. It mattered who God was.
God explained He wasn't a little "g" god like those of Egypt, but the Great I Am. He promised to prove Himself to the Egyptian leaders and give Moses words to speak.
I imagine when Moses got to his fourth excuse and said, "I'm not a good speaker," God was thinking, “No, you're not a good listener. I've been trying to tell you that it's not about you—it's about Me.”
Most of us can identify with Moses' attitudes. But it's clear that whenever God asks us to do something, all our excuses are irrelevant.