What God Brings to Mind

I’m trying to write something small each day, six days a week (I’ll take Sunday off). Or at least, this will be the attempt. I don’t know how long it will last, but many sources say it does some good to write something each day, even if it’s not research related or even particularly academic (I’m currently working on my PhD, as most of those who know me know by now!). I was reading Philippians today, and I was struck by two verses in particular (out of many!):

1:3 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,” (KJV)

and

3:15 “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”

This past Sunday night, our church gathered for our prayer and worship night. It involved singing a few good songs, and equally, if not more strongly, emphasized was our prayer portion of the night. There were seven stations, and you could move to any station you wish and pray for the requests or topics there (missionaries, peoples of the world, the church, confession of sins, thanksgiving to God, etc.). It was a good time of focused, personal prayer (and yet we were all together). I prayed for our staff, our missionaries, people in limited-access countries, and praised God.

Yet the one thing I realized I did not do is pray for my wife and child. My own family. It was only today, in reading Philippians, that God revealed something else to me[1]: I don’t pray for my family. Oh, if one of them is sick, I will. But I don’t pray for my wife’s spiritual growth, or my son’s salvation, etc. At least not much at all. And yet there I was, praying for some people who were perfect strangers. Indeed, I should have prayed for those strangers—and I’m glad I did! But tonight I made a specific point to pray for them, and repented of that lack of prayer.

So what is it that God is bringing to your mind right now? Don’t look for excuses or dismiss it out of hand. What does he want you to change, in your thinking? It’s not about doing the kinds of things that you think ought to be done. Instead, it’s about being the kind of person that Christ would have you to be.

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[1] The context of this passage is that we are to have the mindset that we have not already arrived, but we still have room to grow. If we have attitudes, then, that suggest otherwise, or areas that need improving, God will bring that to our minds.