I will love the Lord with my entire mind and my character will not be fierce

From: July 27 – August 1, 2004

THEME: I will love the Lord with my entire mind and my character will not be fierce Genesis 43:23 If we don’t love the Lord as the Scriptures teaches us, we will have failure in our Christian life. The Bible teaches us that we must love the Lord above all, among other things, it says “…with all your mind” Mark 12:30 So we must be careful of our thoughts to love the Lord. Not all thoughts are truthful, or healthy for a good relationship of love with our God. If we love the Lord with our mind, we will be able to see things more clearly and things will go well. In the story of Genesis 43 we see that some of Jacobs’s sons were men with a fierce character. This caused many problems and entanglements in their life. We must learn from this to have a mind for God that will help us with our character. If we start developing in our life a fierce character it will be bad for us and for others. Character is our own peculiar way of being, reacting or to say things that we believe or think. We either form or distort our own character. There is a great diversity of characters among believers. Some laugh more than others; some are more serious, others more expressive and others are more discreet, etc. But our character can be affected or damage because of negative circumstance and this is a problem for a person that wants to do God’s will. From here some get to the point where they walk away from God, led by anger and fierceness. Beloved, leaving God is a great luxury we must not grant ourselves. A fierce character is one which attacks with cruelty; it’s wild and horrible. Have you ever seen yourself with a fierce character? If we would understand that we must dominate our mind we would not be subjected to such evilness. We must have a self-control of our minds so that others will receive a good message of who we are and what we have to offer. We have seen how anger takes control of a person and brings much harm. Many are affected because of a fierce character. One of Satan’s purposes is to make humans explode with anger and rage. The devil knows that a fierce character will bring much harm and terrible consequences in the future. We must watch over our character at all times. If your character has already been deformed and you are suffering the consequences, then you must pray intensively to God so that the Lord will renew you. It is best for us to know how we should work with our lives. Many do not wish to struggle to overcome their mind and character. They abandon their selves to whatever comes up. Beloved; you, must take care of your mind and work on your character. For character is what distinguishes each person. Let us not be known as having a fierce character. You will treat others according to your character. One decides to live in life with a fierce character or without it. If we decide to live with a fierce character like Jacob’s sons did, bad days will come and there will be no good. Genesis 49:5– 7 It doesn’t matter how old we are, we will have to live with the consequences of our fierce character. We must be able to see that for some this fierce character begins during their childhood.

It is the parent’s responsibility to help their children to be meek for God. Because it is better to cry now in our youth and deny ourselves of this rage and be able to have happiness in our old age. The lives of Simeon and Levi, Jacob’s sons, let us see clearly the inauspicious results of leaving your mind open to anger, rage and revenge. It seems like Lea raised her children with anger; they were full of hatred and had violent resentment. Anger provokes madness in humans. We must deliver ourselves from gossip and entanglements. We must seek with extreme care what is really inside of us towards others. We must be free from this, because what is inside of us will come out sooner or later. People with anger, fury, rage, or cruelty in their lives have a big problem. The gossip moved by this type of person brings problems, brings pain and embarrassment is involved towards others. We must not do wrong to others or entangle others’ lives. In this world we can see there are no righteous conversations, nothing seems to be pure. Because there is anger and bad will in men who turn away from God. With his fierce character, Simeon didn’t take any measures and didn’t look after his acts and decided to sell his own brother Joseph. In Genesis 34:30 we read what Jacob told his sons Simeon and Levi. God defended Jacob at all time, therefore he spoke by experience. God had spoken to Jacob and gave him promises, but he had been disturbed by his two sons. In verse 31 Simeon and Levi spoke back confronting their own father. Simeon dared to defy his father. Defying will only destroy many things. When we defy church authorities, later defying others will be come easy. When there is a fierce character, we don’t measure the consequences. Simeon spent many months in prison being punished. Genesis 42:24 People make their own groups to destroy others, but the Holy Spirit is watching our intentions. Gossip, bad company and slander bring prisons. In the reunion of Simeon and Levi to sell Joseph there was anger, cruelty, resentment and hatred. They had dominion to the point where Judah and Issachar joined them. We can imagine Joseph pleading to not be sold by his own brothers. Prison was good for Simeon so that he would awake from that fierce character. When a person has a fierce character, others who live righteously will stay away from him. Watch your character so you won’t end up in prison. Be meek and humble. Mathew 11:29 He who is meek lives for God. God will prosper you in everything. Don’t let Jacob’s sons experience happen to you, for they were disarmed in spite of their astute and fierce ways. When God shatters everyone is left disarmed. We shall love the Lord with our entire mind and refine our character to be meek and humble of heart like Christ our teacher and our Lord. AMEN