E7 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Heart and Mind of Jesus - Lesson 6 Restoring the Mind - Parts 1&2

Title: Heart and Mind of Jesus – Restoring the Mind – Lesson 6 Pt 1&2

Date: 5/17/2021

Contact: info@hopesharbor.net

Key verse: Luke 4:18b “…he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted…”

Intro: Continuing with Jesus’ tasks in Luke 4:18 we come to His mission to heal the brokenhearted.

·         I think it safe to say few of us are brokenhearted in the common usage of that term today.

·         But Jesus meant something else in addition to our meaning of the phrase.

·         He came to restore our minds to wholeness by dealing with mental distresses.

Devotion focus: (Lesson point)

Luke 4:18b “…he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted…”

·         Heal - Middle voice of apparently a primary verb; to cure (literally or figuratively): - heal, make whole.

·         Broken - From G4862 and the base of G5147; to crush completely, that is, to shatter (literally or figuratively): - break (in pieces), broken to shivers (+ -hearted), bruise.

·         Heart – Prolonged from a primary κάρ kar (Latin cor, “heart”); the heart, that is, (figuratively) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by analogy) the middle: - (+ broken-) heart (-ed).

·         In Ephesians 6:17 - Paul wrote ‘And take the helmet of salvation…’ as part of donning the armor of GOD.

·         Helmet refers to encircling the head with a defense, that being salvation.

·         This means to protect the mind – How does salvation protect our minds?

·         It is the knowledge of what salvation is, what it accomplished, and the position we hold as a result placing our faith in all Jesus brought about by His death on the cross, His burial, and resurrection.

·         In Episode 2 we looked at what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

·         So let’s look into the position we hold as Christians and how this knowledge protects the mind.

·         In Romans 8:15-17 is revealed our standing as children and this in opposition to fear – vs 15: ‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."’

·         Romans 8:16 - The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

·         Romans 8:17 - and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

·         Adoption: From a presumed compound of G5207 and a derivative of G5087; the placing as a son, that is, adoption (figuratively Christian sonship in respect to God): - adoption (of children, of sons).

·         We could stop right here with this passage and have enough knowledge to cover our thoughts with, to put the encircling truth of Scripture as a filter by which incoming fear is stopped.

·         We’ll look at how to put this truth in place, but first there are other reinforcing verses to look at:

·         In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, chapter 4:4 – 7,  he reiterates our position as children of GOD –

·         Galatians 4:4 - But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

·         Galatians 4:5 - to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

·         Galatians 4:6 - And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"

·         Galatians 4:7 - Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

·         In Galatians Paul had to deal with Christians who were returning to the bondage of legalism under the Judaic law.

·         Why would they return to bondage? Even Paul was amazed and expressed it in Galatians 3:1-3:

·         Galatians 3:1 - O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

·         Galatians 3:2 - This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—

·         Galatians 3:3 - Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

End Part 1

Begin Part 2

·         One more passage and then I’ll tie them all together into a protective helmet of truth:

·         It’s found in Ephesians 1:3-7

·         Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

·         Ephesians 1:4 - just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

·         Ephesians 1:5 - having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

·         Ephesians 1:6 - to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

·         Ephesians 1:7 - In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

·         From these passages, GOD is declaring to us we are His beloved children, made so by the death of His Son which paid the penalty for sin. All sin by the way, past, present, and future.

·         As GOD’s child we are safe from the fear of hell and we are free from the stifling bondage of legalism. (Legalism is rooted in the attempt to earn GOD’s favor, or earn eternal life.)

·         When Jesus declared in Luke 4:18 that He came to heal the brokenhearted, He was referring to a major result of His coming death on the Cross.

·         Knowledge held in the mind by faith that we are children of the King of kings will, with time through meditation and keeping this truth in the forefront of our thinking gives us a protective covering for our thoughts.

·         It doesn’t mean we won’t experience fear or any of a hundred other troubling thoughts, but it does mean with the truth in place we can displace the destructive thoughts with healing thoughts of GOD’s love for his own.

Summary:

·         Our minds are the center point Satan aims at with the fiery darts of lies and deceit. His goal is the destruction of every child of God. Our defense is to know and apply the Word of God. Easy to hear – hard to do.

·         One place to start: Philippians 4:8 – ‘Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.’

·         Another is Psalm 31:24 – ‘Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.’

Action to consider: Look up John 15:9 and write that verse on a 3x5 card to keep with you in the coming weeks.

·         It reads John 15:9 - "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”

·         Read this again and again until the power contained in this verse releases its truth deep in your spirit. This is a strong guard around your mind.

·         I read this week that people spend more time gathering knowledge and less time implementing the knowledge. This will lead to defeat when it comes to protecting our minds.

·         It takes knowledge of course, but then, if we want to do our part in bringing wholeness to our minds we must apply Bibles truths.

·         We do this by recalling Scripture when tortuous thoughts intrude and think on those Scriptures continuously until GOD’s Word displaces the mental darts fired into our minds by the enemy of our souls. (Ephesians 6:16 – ‘…above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.’

Next week’s episode: Continuation of part 1 - conclusion of part 2