A few years ago I was at a football game when a streaker came out of nowhere and went running across the field. The officers guarding the sidelines, watching for this sort of thing, went running to apprehend the fearless flasher. The play had to stop to accommodate the interruption while the guards worked quickly because every second counts – especially on live television. The game is delayed until the suspect is detained.

Our minds play out a similar scenario several times a day. We take on our day ten yards at time, and then an intrusive thought flashes through your mind. It’s intent on  distracting you, derailing you, and if it can run far enough, it will completely dismantle you. We go from being productive and making plays to a flag on the field. Everything else stops while the mind spirals. Sometimes these intruders start out as entertaining, even day dreaming, but quickly become all consuming.

2 Corinthians 10:5 says ” We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” We have to be quick to recognize which thoughts are intruders and even quicker to arrest them – because what starts as a scene in your mind becomes a seed in your heart. And we all know what seeds do, they grow. We have to be swift to capture the intruder in our head so it doesn’t get into our heart. We must be aware that there is a very real enemy intent on stealing our time, killing our integrity, and ultimately destroying our lives. One reckless thought at a time. The longer these things play in our minds, the more time it takes away from the game. And that’s it’s goal – to keep you from reaching yours. 

We can’t change the first thought but we can take charge of the next one. We have to put rebellious thoughts in their place, which is out of our heads. Tackle your rebellious thoughts as fast as guards tackle streakers. We have to be quick to discern the source and intention of our thoughts and where they’re taking us – towards a penalty or towards the goal post. The play can’t continue until you pivot.

Philippians 4:8 calls us to “fix our thoughts on what is true, honourable, right, pure, and admirable.” Having to fix something implies that it’s broken – and though you may not have been the one to break it, it is your responsibility to fix it. The next verse goes on to say that once we’ve put this level of excellence into practise, then the God of peace will be with us.

What intruders have you allowed to run free in your mind?

What seeds do you need to pull out by the root?

If you don’t direct your thoughts, they will direct you.

Your enemy won’t be able to drag you into the wrong end zone if your eyes are firmly fixed on the one who sits on the throne.

Scripture: Genesis 6:9 – 8:19

Lesson: Sinking in Sin

Noah spent 120 years building the ark. 120 years of ridicule and persecution. Noah wasn’t considered to be socially acceptable, because he didn’t believe in a God he could see; he believed in a God he could hear.

Noah turned down the volume of his mockers, so he could hear the voice of his God. A voice that gave him careful instructions and provision – a voice that gave him hope and a future.

When all of creation turned their backs on God, Noah turned his face toward Him.
Noah stood firm on his pillars of faithfulness and obedience; and when all others forgot about God – God remembered Noah (Gen 6:8, Gen 8:1), and protected him from His vengeance.

For 40 days and 40 nights, the world sank in its sin, but Noah and his family stayed afloat on their faith. There was only one door into the ark, by which Noah and his family were saved; and on His day of reckoning, God shut the door.

Application: From the Flood to the Blood

It’s interesting how the names of the scornful weren’t recorded in the pages of history, but the story of Noah’s obedience hangs as artwork today, on the walls of countless nurseries, and in the hearts of faithful people.

Look around; we too, live in a society that has forgotten about God. The question is, do you persevere in obedience to God’s word in spite of the mocking voices; knowing that God remembers faithfulness?

If we entertain the scornful voices of a sinful world, we won’t hear the gentle voice of a loving Father, who has already made a way for us. There was only one door into the ark by which Noah and his family were saved from destruction; and there is only one door by which you and I are saved through forgiveness in Christ Jesus (John 14:6).

After the flood, the sin that tarnished the earth had been washed away and everything had been made new – and so it is the same with our life in Christ, every sin is washed away, and we’re given the grace to start again (2 Corinthians 5:17).

On the Lord’s final day of judgment, when his son will return, God will shut the door of eternity. Will you be safe under the ark of salvation – or will you be sinking in sin…

It was by faith that Noah was saved from the flood.

It is by faith that we are saved by Christ’s blood.

~ Vanessa

© Vanessa Donnan and Walk by Faith, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Vanessa Donnan and Walk by Faith with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.