God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Our body’s health directly affects our disposition. You know how you feel when you are sick – more irritable, less social, more self-focused. Adversely, when you can get your body into its optimal performance, it stands to reason that it will positively affect your countenance, attitude and disposition. I am not giving an excuse to act in the flesh (when you don’t feel well) nor am I implying that true fruit is not of the Holy Spirit, but the loving attitude toward others that our Lord desires flows much easier when we are not laboring to get through life. We can easier get our minds off ourselves and on to the needs of others as Philippians 2:3-4 teaches. Isaiah 35:3 says, “Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.” Wouldn’t you rather be on the encouraging and strengthening side than the exhausted and feeble side? Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
All our minds are working in overdrive recruiting files to “dwell upon” (Phil. 4:8). Do those thoughts successfully pass through the spiritual grid presented to us in Philippians 4:8? Are we needlessly putting thoughts in our minds that are contrary to Philippians 4:8? Therefore, think twice before you look at that picture, watch that movie, entertain that gossip, visit that place, receive that counsel, read that article and listen to that song. Are you guarding your heart by living a disciplined life in the pursuit of righteous living and practicing self-control at to what you choose to dwell upon?
