Cleaning Your Filter
Mar 28, 2023 | by Diana Wade
Pastor Anthony often speaks of everyone having a different mental "filter". A good definition of filter would be "the total of all the input of your entire life”. Examples of this could be that today your grandchildren were on a plane to Disney World, other children were taking a walk with mom and dad, staying with a babysitter because mom had to work, hungry because no school means there’s no breakfast or lunch today, taken out of their bed last night by Children's Services because mom and dad abused them, told they were moving to another state and leaving their friends, spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa and went for ice cream, or stayed home alone playing video games. ALL THIS IS ADDING TO EACH CHILD’S FILTER.
A filter can be a good thing. Filters for your coffee or a filter for the water in your refrigerator are good things, but what happens if you never change them? They will make the coffee or water taste worse. Let’s see what the Word says about our filters.
Ephesians 5:25-26 says the Word “washes” us. Romans 12:2 in the Amplified Classic says the Word “transforms” our minds. The mind is part of our "soul" and controls the other parts of our soul--our emotions and will. Out of those three things spring every action, except maybe those involuntary actions your bodily systems control, like blinking!
THE WORD CLEANS OUR MENTAL FILTER! So, knowing these things, let’s look at some thoughts from the Word that can help clean our filters:
1. CHOOSE LIFE…
First of all, it’s our choice whether or not we are going to hide the Word so deeply in our hearts that nothing can change our minds about it. It’s our choice to make it pre-eminent in our lives. No one can make that choice for us. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 tells us to "CHOOSE LIFE" and that ”HE’S YOUR LIFE”…”HE’S YOUR LENGTH OF DAYS”.
2. CHOOSE SUCCESS...
Joshua 1:8 in the Amplified Classic says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall deal wisely and have good success." I can think of many examples in the Word of people who heard the Word of the Lord and made good choices. Some would be Rahab, Ruth, Joshua, Paul, Peter, and Mary. Those choices changed their legacies.
3. CHOOSE TO BELIEVE GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU…
It seems that John just knew from the very beginning that “he was the one Jesus loved” (John 13:23). We need to believe that too. Romans 5:1-8 tells us that He loves us, we have His love in our heart, and we have peace with Him. So, if part of your “filter” is that you have no peace with any family member, start meditating on the FACT that you have peace with your Heavenly Father and His love has been put in your heart. Once you start believing that, you can allow His love to “wash” that filter and spill over onto the people in your life.
4. CHOOSE TO BELIEVE YOU’RE ACCEPTED…
Ephesians 1:6-8 tells us what God thinks of us. It doesn’t matter what people told us all our lives, God accepts us in the beloved. If we believe He’s like those who spoke wrong words to us our whole lives, we can’t step into the glorious future He has for us.
5. CHOOSE TO BELIEVE YOU’RE FORGIVEN AND THAT YOU CAN FORGIVE…
Forgiving others is a choice. Think of it being like a “three legged race”. Unforgiveness “binds” us to another and keeps us from “running the race” set before us which is spoken of in Hebrews 12:1-2. If we’re “looking behind” at those who have robbed, hurt, cheated on, and injured us, we can’t be “looking ahead” at the race Jesus is leading. Let's not “faint in our minds” like verse three says. If we could have fixed it, we would have a long time ago. Forgiving just means we release any “care” we have about it and commit it to the Author and Finisher of our Faith.
When we make these choices the joy of the Lord can overtake us and truly be our strength. Then we will have "good filters" in our minds. It's always just a choice.
Love you SO MUCH!
Pastor Diana