Most Compassionate Lord, I am glad that I have come to understand that what one consumes is what they become. If I eat a lot of junk food, I will become fat and unhealthy. If I eat a balanced diet of foods that are good for me, I will become healthy and strong. So it is with my spirit man. If I feed on depraved and lust-filled thoughts, I will sin without remorse. If I feed my spirit through a deeper relationship with You and fill my mind with reading and meditating on Your word, I will live uprightly in accordance with who You are … righteous and good. You have explained that there will always be enmity between my flesh (which is fallen and inclined to sin) and my spirit (which has been born again and is inclined to live as You did). Therefore, these two forces wrestle for control over my mind, and whichever I allow to gain a stronghold will control my actions and motives.
Your Word tells me not to be conformed into the patterns of the world but be transformed by filling my mind with Your thoughts. Then, and only then, will I be able to withstand the trying of my faith and show myself approved by You. When I draw close to You and feast on Your Word is the time when I learn what is good and pleasing in Your sight and in line with Your perfect will. I trust that as a Believer You have a good and purposeful plan for my life. Your desire is for me to be a committed follower, who with a renewed mind, will live to honor and obey You. Because You want what is best for me, You came down from Heaven to die and rise again to make a new way possible for me. This is at the heart of why I have made a choice to draw closer to You, adhere to Your words and become a living sacrifice willing to do whatever You ask. What I fill my life with will determine what I become.
You have commanded me to not conform my life to the patterns of the world with its behaviors and customs that are selfish and corrupting. Instead, I must become resolved to the fact that worldly behavior is off limits to me. My refusal to be conformed to the values of this world must go deeper than just my behavior … it means filling my mind with Godly thoughts. The ways of the world that I want to avoid include pride, covetousness, selfishness, and arrogance. Only when I can renew, reeducate, and redirect what I take in will I truly be able to work out my salvation. A key element of my spiritual growth is my identity with You. I must grow in my devotion to the way You lived Your life and strive to emulate it. Apart from You I have little value, but in union with You I am valued and capable of doing things I once thought were impossible. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Colossians 2:20-23 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world why, as though you belong to it, do you submit to its rules. They are destined to perish with use because they are based on human commands and teachings.