The mind that God gave us is a powerful thing; it can work for us or against us.
Watching the series ALONE I saw one contestant who let his mind work against him, instead of for him. He was quick to think the worse about his situation each day, and quick to become angry when something happened that hurt him; quick to curse with his words. How we feed and nourish our mind determines how we deal with loneliness, adversity and loss. It makes all the difference.
This contestant learned how negative he was by all the problems he made for himself by thinking so negatively. All his ‘cursing’ over the situations he was in worked against him. For example: a mouse followed him around chewing his gear so that he decided to change locations, but the mouse followed him wherever he went. He began to realize that it was ‘him’ who needed to change, not his location, and not expecting nature to change. Nature does what nature was created to do.
Why does God tell us (in His Word) to think on the things are worthy, good and lovely; those things that nourish and increase the mind’s true purpose from God? Why does God tell us NOT to think on the things that are not true, and that starve and weaken our mind? What power does our mind really have that we are responsible for? How we think is how we act.
God created us. Our mind works right when it’s fed right. When it’s fed right – we do right. When we do right – God blesses it. When God blesses it – great things happen all around us. It rubs off on others.
God’s Word (the truth) is what we need to feed our mind with. This man suffered so much because his mind was weak and incapable of seeing the value around him with nature. His mind was unable to see how to use things around him that nature provides us. He was not prepared at all. Therefore, nature worked against him and not for him. Therefore, this man became his own worst enemy.
People get depressed and have mental breakdowns because of how they think; how they have been raised to think. People commit suicide because of how they think. People hurt people because of how they think.
God is good and God is love; therefore, everything in nature works together because God made it to naturally do so; everything except the ‘natural’ man that is when his thoughts are evil rejecting God and God’s Word.
God set man apart from all other created things; giving him the right to rule and care for His creation. But when man does not “think” right – man works against creation instead of along with it. When man does not “think” right – man works against himself: inhumanities (cruelty, viciousness, mercilessness, atrocities, sadisms).
When we are out of touch with God – our life is so much harder than it needs to be and should be. God intended our life to be fruitful and joyful. God has given us His precious Word to bring us to think right about ‘all’ things pertaining to life, both now and later after death.
God has given us His Son in physical human form to show us the way to the “abundant life;” to free us from our fears and from the condemnation of our sinful nature.
God will bless us with the gift of His ‘indwelling’ Holy Spirit when we trust in His Son in order to bring us out of mental darkness – to open our vision to reality and raise us to our full potential of all things good and eternal.
When you know all this, and not just “know” it but have tested it to be absolutely true in your life, what is there in your mind or in life that works against you anymore? What can happen that you and the LORD can’t overcome, improve and fully enjoy? God’s Word says:
“These light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all; so we fix our eyes on what is unseen and not on what is seen; for that which is seen is temporal but that which is unseen is eternal.”
When we don’t feed our mind ‘the truth’ about this life that we’re born to live – we remain mere infants always falling down and hurting ourselves, getting angry and throwing tantrums, expecting others to support and comfort us, never coming to the maturity of truth and confidence, strength and perseverance, helpful and joyful.
This sad and pitiful man on ALONE (Season 2) eventually ‘broke’ after mentally suffering almost two months in the wilderness. He fell to his knees and cried to God in total desperation (lonely and hungry), and I tend to believe it was the first time he ever completely humbled himself before God.
He was the second from the last man (who won), but he went home with a brand new outlook on his life. He didn’t win the $500K, but he gained so much more in those two months in the wilderness. You really come to the truth about your beliefs, your life and who you are – in a lonely wilderness place. It’s my personal belief that everyone who comes to live the “abundant life in Christ” – has spent some time in the wilderness.
The true wilderness is a “state of mind.” It is all in how you choose to think.
When everything seems against you – God is still for you. He’s waiting for you to realize that. He waits for you to fully believe that HE IS who He says He is; that “He exists and rewards those who eagerly seek Him.”