Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

Our consciences are so important that we need to consider how to fully protect it. There are many people in our circles who can have a massive impact on our lives. Our minds are so impressionable that one word from a person of influence can either elevate us to greatness or kill us. This is the main reason why we need to protect our hearts. This learnt behaviour can either limit our progress or accelerate it. A child who is constantly told that they are: ‘useless’ and ‘won’t achieve anything’ will invariably end up being useless and underachieving. Receiving and retaining negative messages in our ‘hearts’ causes us to live out these negative messages, incorporate them into our consciousness and then act them out. This is why we are encouraged in scripture to ‘have the mind of Christ’ (Phil. 2:5), ‘be transformed by the renewing of our minds’ (Rom. 12:2) and have our ‘hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water’, (Heb. 10:22).

The breastplate of righteousness then is there to protect our thoughts, our consciences and our dreams. Ultimately we will become what we think and believe about ourselves. And so to conclude today, we are reminded by the wise man Solomon that ‘as a man thinks so is he’ (Proverbs 23:7 KJV). Jesus picking up on this theme told his hearers that the important thing about any human being is not what they eat but what they say, Matthew 15:11. So guard your thoughts and in doing so protect your dreams. Read Matt 15:10-20.