Filtered
When making coffee you need at least 5 things: a container in which the coffee will be collected, a coffee filter to allow the essence of the coffee grounds to reach the container without the substance of the coffee grounds themselves reaching the container, and a container of water, which will be utilized as the vehicle to extract the essence from the substance. Once you have everything you need and everything is in position, you pour the hot water over the coffee grounds and wait as the container below fills with coffee. The expected result is that the container below will contain a derivative of the grounds that you began with. If the actual result differs from this expected result something is amiss, an exceptional condition has occurred and investigation is needed.
When we make decisions our brains retrieves, as much as it can from our memory, information pertinent to the subject at hand, and through that filter of our past experiences, information learned, and things we have been exposed to it then yields a basis from which we make a decision on how we should proceed. Like making coffee the decision we arrive at can only logically come from the source we started with; so what happens when the source information in our memory is faulty, biased, forgotten, was never there, or planted there by some entity that has it’s own plans for us and our lives? Well it means the final product, the decisions we make, will also be wrong, twisted, and misguided.
Well as per usual, God anticipated issues with our source materials and its byproducts and has a solution for us. His first piece of advice is to: carefully guard your thoughts [see proverbs 4:10-27 CEV] ; He then tells us through Solomon to remember his teachings and instructions and write them in our minds because they will help us live a long and prosperous life [see Proverbs 3:1-12 CEV]; He also tells us to test everything with scripture to see whether or not they come from God or from wickedness [see 1 John 4:1 and 1 Thessalonians 5:21 ]; He warns us that liars, false prophets, will come and lie to us — telling us things that will tickle (please) our ears but are not true/wise and so we are to be aware of that and on the lookout for it so that we will not be deceived [see 2 Timothy 4:2-4 AMP] ; and furthermore He tells us to renew our minds daily [Romans 12:2 AMP] which means to reset your mind/perspective/view of the world, with His word forgetting/leaving behind any knowledge or perspective gained from the world that goes against what God has instructed you to do or warned you not to do so that you can be evidence of how God wishes for people to live and vessels through which God’s plans come to fruition on the Earth.
Having the proper filter not only ensures that we make the best choices when it comes to the actions of our bodies but that we also make the best choices when it comes to the words our mouths speak — God warns us to speak life and not death into ourselves, into the lives of strangers and our loved ones, and into our situations. So many of us underestimate the power of our wards and are then devastated by the fruit that comes from the things we said. Some of the tears we have cried and the mourning we have endured has been by our own hand through the things we say — the pronouncements we make, the gossip we spread, and the things we sing.
It would behoove you to take some time to take inventory of and to test the places you like to go with scripture to see if they are appropriate and leading towards abundant life, test the character, words; and lifestyles of your friends and family to see if they are in alignment with God or not, test the things you have been saying about yourself (self talk) and about other people and determine if your words have been casting curses or declaring blessings.
Its time to change your filter so you and everyone attached to you can enjoy the things produced by you instead of being repulsed by your bitter fruit (actions and words).
