January 4 Devotion- Renewing My Mind- Step 1

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

ولا تشاكلوا هذا الدهر. بل تغيّروا عن شكلكم بتجديد اذهانكم لتختبروا ما هي ارادة الله الصالحة المرضية الكاملة.

Romans 12:2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

I have read this Bible verse many times and wanted to renew my mind. Let us learn together how we can do that. Feedback and additions are welcomed.

In order to renew my mind I first need to unlearn things that are totally based on worldly wisdom. Then I need to replace them with God’s teachings and accepting Jesus as my Lord (over my life) and as my Saviour. Salvation is only through Christ.

I believe that I can experience God’s good and pleasing will for my life when I:

·     Surrender to God

·     Let The Holy Spirit work in me and direct me  

·     Clean up (detoxify) my mind

·     Constantly read the Bible and meditate on God’s word

·     Pray without ceasing

·     Get my thoughts, behaviour, and attitude and boundaries aligned with God’s word

In the next 10 devotions I will share with you 10 steps to clean up or detoxify the brain. Let’s learn to apply them.

These steps are adapted from a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian author and other teachings I learned.

Step 1: Consciously Control Your Thoughts

It is essential that you learn about your mental processes and get actively involved in changing them.

Demanding unrealistic performance from yourself and others puts your mind and body in stress mode and this has a negative effect on your health. We need to depend on The Holy Spirit living within us in order to be able to live the Christian life.

When you receive a thought, filter it. If it is helpful accept it, if it is not helpful reject it. You should: ask, answer and discuss your thoughts out loud with yourself. Never let thoughts wander through your mind unchecked. If they are toxic they will eventually make you sick. Thoughts are real things with substance and need to be controlled.

Until you have your thoughts and attitudes under control, no amount of knowledge, skill, or medication can help you truly detox your brain. You will need courage and perseverance to confront and control your thoughts and to build healthy boundaries for yourself and in your relationships.

One of the real dangers of toxic thoughts is that they build toxic memories. The first step to stop building toxic memories is to filter the thoughts in the early stages. Toxic memories can be replaced by reprogramming and replacing them with pleasant memories. This will require many recordings of the pleasant memory until the negative memory is erased.

Research shows that intelligence is not static but can be enhanced (or reduced) by your neurochemistry. You control your neurochemistry by your thought life; therefore you can make yourself healthier and smarter and more able to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself and meditate on it:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and inseparable love. Lord, help me to stop leaning on my own abilities and to depend totally on Your wisdom and power through The Holy Spirit working in me. Help me God to filter my thoughts and never allow toxic thoughts to find a home in my mind. Help me Lord to control my neurochemistry by my thought life; and make me more able to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, please continue to teach me to renew my mind so that I can be transformed to be Christ-like, to feel Your joy, to live Your good and pleasing will for my life. I declare Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and I pray in His Holy Name. To Him be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

January 3 Devotion - Renew Your Mind - Base

Many people go through a process of writing ‘New Year Resolutions’ at the beginning of a new year. Successfully changing a behaviour requires us to change our paradigms (how we see the world). The Bible tells us we need to renew our minds. That is a big and important process that is easier said than done. In the next 12 devotions I would like to learn and share with you how to: Renew your mind

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

ولا تشاكلوا هذا الدهر. بل تغيّروا عن شكلكم بتجديد اذهانكم لتختبروا ما هي ارادة الله الصالحة المرضية الكاملة.

Romans 12:2

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

وَلِي ثِقَةٌ فِي هَذَا الأَمْرِ بِالذَّاتِ: أَنَّ الَّذِي بَدَأَ فِيكُمْ عَمَلاً صَالِحاً سَوْفَ يُتَمِّمُهُ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْمَسِيحِ يَسُوعَ.

Philippians 1:6

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself and meditate on it:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings and inseparable love. Thank You that You want to revolutionize my mind as well as my soul. LORD, I pray that out of Your glorious riches You strengthen me with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that I can change my thinking and in turn change my attitude and behaviour. Through the supernatural change agent; the Holy Spirit; change O’ Lord all my entrenched mental configurations. I pray that You make me willing to change. I know that You began the transformation in my life when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and am confident that You will carry it through on to completion. I pray in Jesus’ Holy Name. To Him be the power, the glory, the majesty, the blessings, and the dominion forever and ever, Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

January 2 Devotion - When We Do Not Know What To Pray For

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

وَكَذلِكَ الرُّوحُ أَيْضاً يُمِدُّنَا بِالْعَوْنِ لِنَقْهَرَ ضَعْفَنَا. فَإِنَّنَا لاَ نَعْلَمُ مَا يَجِبُ أَنْ نُصَلِّيَ لأَجْلِهِ كَمَا يَلِيقُ، وَلَكِنَّ الرُّوحَ نَفْسَهُ يُؤَدِّي الشَّفَاعَةَ عَنَّا بِأَنَّاتٍ تَفُوقُ التَّعْبِيرَ.

Romans 8:26

There are times when life is too big and too complex and we do not know what to pray for. In such times, we also do not know how to present our petitions to God. The Holy Spirit graciously intercedes on our behalf and He helps us in our weaknesses giving wisdom to all who ask of Him. The Holy Spirit groaning on our behalf means to me that He takes up our needs at the deepest emotional level and conveys our hurts and cares to the Father’s throne, all in line with the will of God.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You that Your deep steadfast love for me endures forever.  Thank You God for Your abundant blessings in my life, and for the riches of Your grace upon my life. Thank You Lord that The Holy Spirit is here to help me especially during those times when I feel weak and/or confused and do not even know what to pray for. Thank You Lord that The Holy Spirit connects with my needs at the deepest emotional level and conveys my hurts and cares to You Father, all in line with Your will. Thank You God that You take my liability and turn it into an asset. God strengthen me to stay in faith, remove any doubt from me, and immerse me in Your wisdom. In Jesus’ name I pray. To Him who is able to keep me from stumbling and to present me before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen. Jude 1:24-25

 

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein

Happy New Year- God Has Prepared Good Things for You in 2018 - January 1 Devotion

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” 
            

وَفْقاً لِمَا كُتِبَ: «إِنَّ مَا لَمْ تَرَهُ عَيْنٌ، وَلَمْ تَسْمَعْ بِهِ أُذُنٌ، وَلَمْ يَخْطُرْ عَلَى بَالِ بَشَرٍ قَدْ أَعَدَّهُ اللهُ لِمُحِبِّيهِ!»

1 Corinthians 2:9

“Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea And a path through the mighty waters, “ Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”

هكذا يقول الرب الجاعل في البحر طريقا وفي المياه القوية مسلكا 18 لا تذكروا الاوليات. والقديمات لا تتأملوا بها. 19 هانذا صانع أمرا جديدا. الآن ينبت. ألا تعرفونه. اجعل في البرية طريقا في القفر انهارا.

Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

Was 2017 a wilderness for you? Was it dry like a desert? Even if it was so, God is telling you to forget any former things and to behold His new roads in the wilderness and His rivers in the desert.
Let us rejoice, at all times rejoice, for God is preparing beautiful things for us. He tells us that they are beyond our imagination and we have not seen anything like them before.

Let us expect God’s blessings and trust His promises and believe that in 2018 we will be able to repeat what King David said: 

You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance.

Psalm 65:11

كللت السنة بجودك وآثارك تقطر دسما.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings in 2017. I thank You for what I have and for what I do not have. I thank You for Your Mercy and for Your Grace. I put my future in Your hands and I declare that I love You. I know that You always keep Your promises, and that You have prepared wonderful things for me and that they shall spring forth in 2018.  I rejoice in confidence that in 2018 You will bless me, my family and friends and anyone reading this devotion. In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

         

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein