God's Thoughts

"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" After our conversion, Jesus said, our names are written in the "Book of Life", and Jesus will teach us prayer and faith. Jesus prayed before He attempted to commence His ministry- He prayed. He prayed 40 days, it is said with fasting. He did not ask His disciples to fast and pray for 40 days. But He encouraged them to fast and pray when they faced difficult situations. This Psalm says, God has got precious thoughts for us and a great number of them. But how to know these thoughts? God had great thoughts, holy thoughts for Jesus Christ and He came into this world to fulfill all those thoughts and plans of God. After prayer, Satan began to speak to Jesus Christ and began to tempt Him. Praying people will have discernment as to which is Satan’s voice, which is Jesus’ voice and which are their own thoughts. Jesus had that discerning spirit. He defeated the evil one. Converted King David learnt to go and pray and to know God’s thoughts and God’s mind. That is what we too are being taught--how to go to God and pray and get guidance. King David always went to God and got answers for his prayers and questions. He had difficult tests of faith. On one side, he had to fight the Philistines and at other times with those in Israel who fought against him. Then he had his family in which he faced much trouble. But he had that close touch with God and touch with heaven. He overcame all his trials to the end of his life. So praying people will get victory, if they are looking to the Lord and praying to Him about all the problems they face. The prophets understood the mind of God easily. They had to be ready to give answers and counsels to those who looked up to them. When we have our own minds by which we understand many things, we often walk by our minds and by our sight. Jeremiah says, " God has got plans of peace, thoughts of peace for everybody, not of evil." Jer.29:11&12. There he says to find God’s thoughts of peace, we have to pray and seek Him with all our hearts. Even after conversion, we tend to walk by sight and walk guided by our own thoughts. That is wrong. We lovingly looked after a certain man. Later we entrusted him with the ministry also. But he became very ungrateful. He began to talk evil against the servants of God. He has now become an old man. Can he be forgiven? Will he be forgiven by the Lord? That is our thought. But God’s thoughts are different. Suddenly a few days ago I saw that man. He came and asked forgiveness for his evil talking. I prayed with him. Shortly after that, he died. Our thoughts are not sometimes strengthened by the Lord Jesus Christ. When people listen to the Word, they are convicted by the Word of God. Even strongly rooted misunderstandings are straightened out. When we pray faithfully we are seeing victories. People are coming and confessing their sins and they are trying to get right with God. First we have to get victory over our thoughts. As we are trying to pray and get God’s guidances, God will put His thoughts into us. Our thoughts are small thoughts. That is what Isaiah preached to the people. And God’s thoughts are great thoughts and high thoughts. How to get these thoughts? Has God made provision for us or are we left to struggle to get them? God always makes a provision for God’s children to know His mind. In my small experience, I had been seeing that to get God’s thoughts is possible. Constantly seeking His thoughts had made the receiving of His thoughts easy. Now I get a thought and I understand at once that it is my own thought. I reject it and after that I receive another thought. This second thought is always of the Lord. God says, "I will give you a new heart and I will put my spirit in your heart." The Spirit of God who knows the mind of God, will guide you into all truth. I always think of the traffic lights-first the red light, then the amber and then comes the green directing light. If we are not committing conscious sins, then we will have the joy of being led by God’s Spirit. God says, He has got precious thoughts and that He has many thoughts about us. So God wants to deliver us from our thoughts. And He wants us to be victorious in our walk with Him. We need to be very faithful. And if we desire that God should guide us, then only, He will guide us. The prophets did not have a big struggle to get God’s guidances. They had that live-touch with God. They were abiding in God and freely received his thoughts. God says, "My thoughts are of peace and not of evil for everyone." In the book of Jude it is written, "Build your lives on holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit." Then we can live blameless lives in God’s sight and we can bring many souls to the kingdom of God. If God fills our minds and heads with His thoughts, how blessed we will be! God wants us to be abiding in Him and to do His work, pleasing Him. God wants to bless us.