Post by randgolf on Apr 11, 2007 10:17:24 GMT -5
Thought
Dear Fellow Disciple:
For as he thinks within himself, so he is..(Proverbs 23:7)
Incubation is a principle established by God. Everyone in the world is affected by it. It works both good and evil, for the unsaved as well as the saved. It involves thought, and what we do with it.
It generates the power to produce kingdoms and dynasties. It can propel anyone to rise above his peers. At the same time it is the fabricator of immorality of every conceivable kind.
When we receive a thought, we must decide what to do with it. It may come to us through television, or reading material, or through something someone said. We receive thoughts many ways, and in every case we have responsibility to determine the effect that thought has upon us. If we dwell upon it, it begins to incubate. Eventually it brings forth something, depending upon the nature of the thought.
"And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:17,18)
When we truly believe in a thing, signs follow us that reveal the extent of our belief. The longer we allow a belief to incubate within us, the stronger the signs that follow us.
This is one reason television advertising is so expensive. The secular world understands the principle of incubation. The advertiser plants the seed of thought, then waters it regularly. He forces the incubation process to begin within the minds of the viewers. He invests millions of dollars in the incubation process because he knows, with absolute certainty, signs (actions) follow what those viewers believe.
Those who allow the incubation process to take root are powerless to stop the natural outcome. It is a principle God established, and the advertiser reaps the benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars. He understands the principle even though he probably doesn't know it was established by God.
It works also in other ways. King David allowed a lustful thought to incubate, and it resulted in adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). The principle of incubation makes pornography extremely treacherous. It is the same with violence in movies, and with hard rock music. Repeated exposure generates incubation, and incubation generates a devastating product.
We should never have the idea that it doesn't matter what we believe or think about. We become what we think and believe. It is not what we say we think and believe. We can "name it and claim it" until we're blue in the face, but that is just a self-imposed con game, unless we actually believe. What we really do think and believe, we are; it is impossible to separate us from what we think and believe, because that is who we are!
If we believe we can be successful, we eventually become successful; if we believe we are worthless, we behave accordingly. If we believe that dwelling upon pornography brings forth evil, we should believe that dwelling upon God's Word brings forth good. It is the principle of the incubation process.
Satan understands the incubation process. He uses it to try to convince us that we are someone other than the person God made us to be. He reminds us of our weakness, our past performance, the mistakes we made, our lack of money, or physical attractiveness. He uses whatever he can to start a negative incubation within us. His goal is to keep us from attaining the fullness of the purpose God has for our lives.
That is part of the spiritual warfare we are up against, daily. But if we know the Word of God, we don't have to buckle under to those lies. In Luke 10:19, Jesus tells us He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy.
We are not to refer to the past to determine our future. Our past may have been miserable, but our future begins anew every morning. We have the opportunity to place ourselves in the hands of our Lord, to allow His Word to incubate within us.
Noah, Abraham, Moses and David allowed God's Word to incubate within them, and they accomplished great things. Great signs followed them because they believed. We may not be destined for great things, but we are destined for something according to God's plan, and we will not realize true personal satisfaction until we accomplish it.
Someone said the majority of mankind dies with the symphony still in them. Another way of saying it is that we sell ourselves short of our potential, and go to our grave without accomplishing what God has in store for us. One reason is that we accept the lies of Satan rather than the truths of God.
We must be aware that the incubation process is at work in us this very minute. The good news is that we decide what we allow to incubate. To test what is incubating inside us, we need only to listen to our self talk. How do we react to the situations that occur in our lives? Are our responses negative, or positive? Are we intimidated by others? Do we tell ourselves, "I can't!," or "I won't!," or "I'm afraid!?"
Such negative responses incubate within us and form an unworthy personality. Perhaps we were programmed to believe we were unworthy, but if we have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and have decided to make Him Lord, we are now new creatures in Him. This means our old nature has been crucified and buried with Him. We have been resurrected with Him to live new lives.
If we accept that as a fact in our lives, and if we screen our self talk through Him, He does a new work in us. He starts a whole new incubation process, through which He takes us from glory to glory!
Jesus is King!
P.S. What are you doing of eternal value?
Thought for today: What did I allow to incubate inside me today?
Dear Fellow Disciple:
For as he thinks within himself, so he is..(Proverbs 23:7)
Incubation is a principle established by God. Everyone in the world is affected by it. It works both good and evil, for the unsaved as well as the saved. It involves thought, and what we do with it.
It generates the power to produce kingdoms and dynasties. It can propel anyone to rise above his peers. At the same time it is the fabricator of immorality of every conceivable kind.
When we receive a thought, we must decide what to do with it. It may come to us through television, or reading material, or through something someone said. We receive thoughts many ways, and in every case we have responsibility to determine the effect that thought has upon us. If we dwell upon it, it begins to incubate. Eventually it brings forth something, depending upon the nature of the thought.
"And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:17,18)
When we truly believe in a thing, signs follow us that reveal the extent of our belief. The longer we allow a belief to incubate within us, the stronger the signs that follow us.
This is one reason television advertising is so expensive. The secular world understands the principle of incubation. The advertiser plants the seed of thought, then waters it regularly. He forces the incubation process to begin within the minds of the viewers. He invests millions of dollars in the incubation process because he knows, with absolute certainty, signs (actions) follow what those viewers believe.
Those who allow the incubation process to take root are powerless to stop the natural outcome. It is a principle God established, and the advertiser reaps the benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars. He understands the principle even though he probably doesn't know it was established by God.
It works also in other ways. King David allowed a lustful thought to incubate, and it resulted in adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11). The principle of incubation makes pornography extremely treacherous. It is the same with violence in movies, and with hard rock music. Repeated exposure generates incubation, and incubation generates a devastating product.
We should never have the idea that it doesn't matter what we believe or think about. We become what we think and believe. It is not what we say we think and believe. We can "name it and claim it" until we're blue in the face, but that is just a self-imposed con game, unless we actually believe. What we really do think and believe, we are; it is impossible to separate us from what we think and believe, because that is who we are!
If we believe we can be successful, we eventually become successful; if we believe we are worthless, we behave accordingly. If we believe that dwelling upon pornography brings forth evil, we should believe that dwelling upon God's Word brings forth good. It is the principle of the incubation process.
Satan understands the incubation process. He uses it to try to convince us that we are someone other than the person God made us to be. He reminds us of our weakness, our past performance, the mistakes we made, our lack of money, or physical attractiveness. He uses whatever he can to start a negative incubation within us. His goal is to keep us from attaining the fullness of the purpose God has for our lives.
That is part of the spiritual warfare we are up against, daily. But if we know the Word of God, we don't have to buckle under to those lies. In Luke 10:19, Jesus tells us He has given us authority over all the power of the enemy.
We are not to refer to the past to determine our future. Our past may have been miserable, but our future begins anew every morning. We have the opportunity to place ourselves in the hands of our Lord, to allow His Word to incubate within us.
Noah, Abraham, Moses and David allowed God's Word to incubate within them, and they accomplished great things. Great signs followed them because they believed. We may not be destined for great things, but we are destined for something according to God's plan, and we will not realize true personal satisfaction until we accomplish it.
Someone said the majority of mankind dies with the symphony still in them. Another way of saying it is that we sell ourselves short of our potential, and go to our grave without accomplishing what God has in store for us. One reason is that we accept the lies of Satan rather than the truths of God.
We must be aware that the incubation process is at work in us this very minute. The good news is that we decide what we allow to incubate. To test what is incubating inside us, we need only to listen to our self talk. How do we react to the situations that occur in our lives? Are our responses negative, or positive? Are we intimidated by others? Do we tell ourselves, "I can't!," or "I won't!," or "I'm afraid!?"
Such negative responses incubate within us and form an unworthy personality. Perhaps we were programmed to believe we were unworthy, but if we have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and have decided to make Him Lord, we are now new creatures in Him. This means our old nature has been crucified and buried with Him. We have been resurrected with Him to live new lives.
If we accept that as a fact in our lives, and if we screen our self talk through Him, He does a new work in us. He starts a whole new incubation process, through which He takes us from glory to glory!
Jesus is King!
P.S. What are you doing of eternal value?
Thought for today: What did I allow to incubate inside me today?