Last night, before I sleep, I resolute to wake up this morning to dwell in God's word

A few thoughts came to mind:
1. Our minds are often preoccupied with the things we call as "we need to do"
2. Then our minds struggle to put God's word as our priority
3. After a wrestle for a moment, we often justify that we will seek God once we are done with what "we need to do"

And I admit that more often that not, I will choose to worship God when I am free based on the extend of the number of items on my "need to do" list

This morning, it happened to me too as with many times
I've an assignment due this Friday which I needed precious time to work on, after spending a weekend on a draining leaders' retreat
I wrestled like mad, I tell you

I thought, probably I can spend just 5 minutes fulfilling my responsibility as a Christian - read through some inspiring verses and "believe" that God has spoken

God spoke - Shallow conversions will only result in shallow relationships

I was brought to Romans 8 this morning again - surprisingly, the passage which I shared with some of the music team members last week

This particular verse jumped up at me

Romans 8:5-6
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit

For to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be

another translation for "carnal mind" is the mind set on the flesh

because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, (NASB)

very often, the mind of the flesh dictates and controls my life
and that is reflected in the choices I make
down to the minute details

for example, my house renovations
there were lots of hiccups and our interior designer began to be lazy and thus caused some inconveniences for ivy and I
Many a times, I was furious and fuming, not willing to compromise because of "customer rights"
and I realised the Spirit behind it is a selfish mind - a mind set on pleasure for myself

I always tell Ivy that the theme for our home is Joshua 24:15
And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

It became very clear to me that I am serving... me
it becomes all about me
it becomes what I want first, then to God

it doesn't mean that for every defect I will just go "praise the Lord"
but rather, we really need to examine our minds, that it does not dictate our actions according to the flesh

Put it this way
When we set our minds on God,
we become less dependant on what we CAN do
we focus our attention on the things that pleases God
obeying, serving God, serving His people
and God comes in to DO the things that we "need to do" for us - where more often than not, the things we "need to do" may not be what God wants us to do - or to focus our attention on
and when God's in control, the end result, God is glorified - NOT US

we often come to God,
doing everything
then when things work out
it's 90% our effort - 10% we attribute to God
I'm convinced it does not glorify God - even if we give our testimony
in fact, it contradicts and is insulting to Him because of our unbelief in His strength

in verse 28 it says
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
For whom He forenew,
He also predestined, to be conformed to the image of His son
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren
Moreoever whom He predestined, these He also called;
whom He called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified

God says "all things"
not church things, not only difficult things, not only insignificant tasks but - ALL
from this verse, we see that God is at and should be at the beginning of the chain

it requires a paradigm shift in our mindsets especially for us in Singapore
the way we prioritise needs a change
and when we are trained by God and led by His Spirit in this manner, we can be sure that ALL THINGS will fall in place

when the tough gets going,
what would you do then?