Blogging is easier than journaling. Forgive my incomplete thoughts that are bound to happen.

What you believe to be true is going to directly affect how you act. For example, you believe getting punched in the face hurts, you try to avoid getting hit. That being said, look at the lives of all the Christians you know. Do we really believe Jesus? When Jesus says in Mark 16, "And these signs will accompany those who believe: in My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hut them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." What if our daily lives are totally off track?

Separate thought. I struggled a lot lately with an area of disobedience, in which I spent a long time trying to fight the sin and hate the sin and treat the sin as what it was, when all along the Lord was really saying, "yeah, it happened, but you need to move past it." Some wisdom a friend shared with me last night- "When you focus on your past sin, it is empowered. When you focus on the old man, he is empowered. Only one thing deserves your focus: Jesus, how much He loves you, His holy and perfect will for your life, His Spirit moving within you." Jesus said in Luke 9:62 "no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom." If you're looking back at the crooked lines you've already plowed, you won't be looking forward to plow straight lines.

Where your thought life is, your heart will follow. If you don't discipline your thoughts, "take every thought captive" (2 Corinthians 10:5), your heart will not be focused on Jesus. If your heart is not focused on Jesus, being near to Him and serving Him will be a hard thing to do.

Jesus, I pray that you will put a hunger in my heart for Your Word, that my pursuit will not be half-hearted.