WHAT ARE YOU MINDFUL OF?
WHAT ARE YOU MINDFUL OF?
Heb 11:15-16 KJV 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had the opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
The Greek word used for “mindful” in the verse is “mnēmoneuo” It means:
1) to be mindful of, to remember, to call to mind
1a) to think of and feel for a person or thing
1b) to hold in memory, keep in mind
2) to make mention of
Here the Bible talks about the patriarch of faith and said that while on their journey to the promised land; if they had been mindful of the country they came from, which was Chaldes, they would have had the opportunity to return there.
This was the problem the children of Israel had. They were always thinking and making reference to Egypt. They will say we remember when we were in Egypt, we ate garlic, ginger, melon and onion. Any time they faced challenges the next thing was to start making reference to Egypt. This unbelief attitude eventually denied them the grace of entering into the promised land.
Num 11:5 KJV We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
They actually desired to go back to Egypt
Num 14:3-4 KJV 3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Heb 3:19 KJV So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
For these patriarchs, the journey was not smooth, they left relatives, familiar friends, familiar terrains, good food and they embarked on a journey of no return. It was unique in that they did not actually had that specific destination but they obeyed God and went out.
This shows that their remaining as strangers and sojourners in the land of Canaan was voluntary. They preferred it, with all its inconveniences and hardships, to a return to their native land. The same thing is true of all the people of God now. If they choose to return to the world, and to engage again in all its vain pursuits, there is nothing to hinder them. There are enough “opportunities” enough. There are abundant inducements held out. There are numerous frivolous and worldly friends who would regard it as a matter of joy and triumph to have them return to vanity and folly again
Now the writer of the Bible says if they had been mindful or were thinking of that place, they would have just made a U-turn after all it wasn’t that far.
What kept them then? Why didn’t they turn back?
In verse 16, the Bible says that
Heb 11:16 KJV But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
That is, at the time referred to when they confessed that they were strangers and sojourners, they showed that they sought a better country than the one which they had left. They lived as if they had no expectation of a permanent residence on earth, and were looking to another world
The wandering and unsettled patriarchs to whom the promise was made, and who showed all their lives that they regarded themselves as strangers and pilgrims, were admitted to the home of permanent rest, and their posterity was ultimately admitted to the possession of the promised land. Nothing could more certainly demonstrate that the patriarchs believed in a future state than this passage. They did not expect a permanent home on earth.
Their minds were so full of heavenly thoughts that they lost the thought of where they were at that time.
Whatever your mind is full of is going to affect the course of your life. Prove 23: 7 says as a man thinks in his heart so is he.
Pro 23:7 KJV For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
You will become literally what your mind is full of or what you have been thinking.
Our lives go in the direction of our dominant thoughts. Most people wonder how things have turned out in their lives or wonder why they are facing their challenges. It is because they have planted such thoughts in their mind and the mind being a spiritual land will germinate whatever is planted there.
It is not God or the devil, it is you that determines what comes out and it’s a by-product on what you fix your mind on.
Some are depressed today not necessarily because of hormonal imbalance but because of depressive thinking they engage in. There is a relationship between what goes on in our mind and the way our body responds. Most of the sick people in the hospital are emotional and psychological based.
There is no way you will be thinking of Christ, what He has done for us and you will be sad. The joy of the Lord will fill your heart.
BIble has the advice for us:
Col 3:1-2 KJV 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Rom 12:2 KJV And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 8:5-7 KJV 5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
to be carnally…: Gr. the minding of the flesh
to be spiritually…: Gr. the minding of the Spirit
The word and the spirit are the same. In John 6: 63, the Lord said the flesh profiteth nothing the word that i speak unto you they are life and they are spirit. The word and the spirit agree totally. When you are word minded then you are spirit minded. What you gain is life and peace. but when you are flesh minded, you gain death. Death is separation from every favour and love of God. You make the grace of the Lord Jesus of no benefit to you. Gal 5: 4-5.
Renew your mind to the word of God, change your thinking to God’s thoughts as Phil 4: 8 says.
Phi 4:8 KJV Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
The good news is that what the patriarchs were mindful of and looked towards are already ours now. We are seated with Christ in heavenly places already.. We are blessed with heavenly blessings.
Eph 1:3 KJV Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: