Christ Revealed in His Own Word #72
“The Garden of the Mind”#2
Sunday Morning Communion Service, January 26, 1997
Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship
[Matt 13:24-30] Let’s pray
Last night we
showed you how that everything you are, even your Character comes forth from
the garden of thought that is in your heart, making you what you really are. Brother
Branham told us that when we are born again, we receive everything that we will
ever have need of to bring forth the image of God in us.
In Fact we here
John tell us this in [1 John 3:2]
Here we find that we are already Sons of God, but that at this point we just
don’t look like it, and therefore we may not know it.
This morning, I
would like to show you how the garden of your thoughts affects every thing that
is already in you, not only affecting
your character, and molding your character,
but even to the circumstances that you enter into daily, which
circumstances are used by God in the shaping of your character into it’s final product that God has predestined
for you. Therefore, every trial you must endure, every test that God puts you
through, comes about only as a result of the Seed Thoughts that lay within your
heart.
[1 Peter 4:12] Here we see that it
should not surprise us when we face our trials, because these trials are made
for the purpose of testing us. In fact we see in [1 Peter 1:7] that not only are we ordained to these test, but we
are also ordained to pass them. WUEST TRANSLATION ....In which last season you are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that
expresses itself in a triumphant exuberance, although for a little while at the
present time if perchance there is a need for it, you have been made sorrowful
in the midst of many different kinds of testings in order that the approval of
your faith, which faith was examined
by testing for the purpose of being approved, that your approval being much
more precious than the approval of gold which
perishes, even though that gold be approved by fire-testing, may be
discovered after scrutiny to result in Praise, Honor and Glory at the time of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ;
Therefore, we can
say that every trial that you go through and ever time you are put to a test by
God and you can not see beyond the circumstance which surround your life, just
remember that these are all a result of the seeds of your thinking and they
have spawned forth from the garden of your own mind. Remember, what Paul told
us in the book of [Romans 8:28-31]
And so if everything about us is already predestined from God, then the very
thoughts we think He knew before the foundations of the World, and He knows not
only what you have thought, but what thoughts you will think too. Then we can
see the relationship of these thoughts that we have and how they influence our
growth into the image of His Son.
Remember, our
minds are in a constant flux of change. When we were children we had certain
thoughts that filled our minds. Then through our life experiences, we begin to
further develop our thoughts. And as we receive each and every new experience,
our minds begin to examine the circumstances in our lives with a more mature
understanding. Paul said in [1 Cor 13:11]
“When
I was a child, I spoke as a child, because I understood as a child understands,
because I thought as a child thinks, but now that I have become a man, I put
away from my mind childish thinking.”
And so we see
that our mind is constant growth pattern, in which our garden or thought is
constantly bring upgraded so to speak, or renewed by what life experiences we
go through on our journey of becoming.
Paul tells us in
[Romans 5:3-5] that we should glory in our tribulations, or
testings. Now this word here is a Greek word which means those things that seem
to bring forth the pressure upon us. We always think of these trials as an
outward influence, but we are told by
Paul that we should glory in these things,
because he went on to say, “knowing
that tribulation worketh patience; and patience; experience which is character,
and character brings forth an earnest expectation, and having an earnest
expectation makes us to be not ashamed, because we know that the Love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts or understanding by the Holy Ghost which God has
given to us by the receiving of His Word. And so we see how God uses all
outward influences called circumstances to bring forth in us character and
Grace.
Christ Revealed
in His Own Word #72
“The Garden of the Mind”
Therefore we must
understand that since our character development is dependent upon receiving
every outside stimuli that will produce in our thinking, the thoughts of God,
thus we can see the dependence upon
these stimuli in order to bring us into fulfillment toward the ultimate goal of
receiving the very mind of God. Therefore, our reactions that we show toward
these circumstances is an outward indication as to where we stand in our
development toward the end-product of our being. How we handle each
circumstance will depend upon what stage we are in, in our progression toward
our ultimate character. Then what appears to be a test at one stage in our
progression, will not appear to be so at a further stage in our character
development.
Circumstances are
just like taking a test in school. What would appear to be a very difficult
thing for us in the first year of schooling, say grade 1, would not even appear to be a test after
twelve years of schooling, or grade twelve. And the further on in our
progressive state that we move into toward the image of God that we are
conforming to, the further developed will be our response mechanism that we
harbor in our mind set or seed garden of our thinking. Therefore out
circumstances we face are a growth from our own mind or thoughts. Circumstances
grow out of thought. We are only buffeted by circumstances so long as we
perceive these to be an outside influence upon our lives. But when we come to
the place where we realize that circumstances that come forth in our lives are
a direct result of our own mental state, we will begin to appreciate their use
and purpose in our growth toward the finished product that God has destined for
each one of us.
Anyone who has
for any length of time, been a practicing Christian, and who has practiced self control and self
purification, which is sanctification,
will have noticed that the alteration in their circumstances have been
in a direct ratio to the alteration in their mental state. When a man purposely
and earnestly makes an effort to remedy their personal character defects, and
makes a swift and marked progress, toward bettering themselves in those areas
of weakness, they pass swiftly through a succession of unpredictable
changes. Therefore, the soul attracts
that which it secretly desires, and also that which it fears the most. It not
only reaches the heights of it’s desired aspirations, but it also falls to the
level of it’s unchastened desires, and circumstances are the means by which the
soul receives what it longs for.
Therefore, every
thought seed that is sown, or that we
allow to fall into the fertile soil of our minds, to take root there, will
produce it’s own, after it’s own likeness or nature. Sooner or later each
thought seed we have sown in our hearts will have to take blossom and become
manifested in our lives as an action or deed. And each action or deed will bear
it’s own fruit in terms of opportunity or circumstances. As the Scripture tells
us, good thoughts will bear good fruit and bad thoughts will bear bad fruit.
That is why we
must come to the place where we begin to monitor and control what we think and
believe.
[1 Peter 1: 20-22] Here we find Peter
tell us that if we suffer for Christ sake it is acceptable with God, but if we
suffer for what we have caused, then we should just take it patiently, knowing
that all things are working together for our own good. As you can see, you
thoughts are seeds that must by nature of being a seed bring forth into
manifestation the nature that is in the seed, and since the life in the seed
will make itself know, then when the seed thought does give way to a life
experience in the form of an action or a deed, it will then cause other things
to happen in response. Therefore as Peter said, don’t be so shocked and
surprised if your actions cause other circumstances to happen which you may
feel you can not control. Because you really can control them by not causing
them to happen in the first place.
You see, for
every action there is a reaction. And so it behooves us to be careful how we do
things. If we really believe that everything we sow will result in a reaping,
then when we sow hateful speech, or criticisms, we should not be surprised when
the criticisms come back our way. Therefore we should be able to now see how
that the outer world of circumstance actually shapes themselves to our inner
world of thought. And both pleasant and unpleasant external conditions are
factors which make for our ultimate good, or work together for our good. That is why we learn by both suffering and
receiving blessings. Each of these outward stimuli helps to further our growth
toward that image of Christ that we so long to be in our souls. Therefore we should be able to see that our
actions are only an expression of our thoughts. Circumstances do not just happen, they grow out of the conditions
of our heart.
Christ Revealed
in His Own Word #72
Sunday Morning
Communion Service, January 26, 1997
“The
Garden of the Mind”
Just as our spiritual
lives are progressive where word must be piled upon word to bring forth that
Glorified body, so too do our circumstances add to our suffering in order to
help our character to grow and develop.
Every situation we face in life is like the piece of a large puzzle that
once fitted together gives purpose and meaning to each of them. The
circumstances and conditions we face each day are only reflectors which help us
to know how far along in our development we have come. A man does not always
receive what he prays for, but he will always receive what he has sown for.
Therefore our desires and prayers are only really gratifying to us when they
are in harmony with what we are sowing in the recesses of our mind. When we
fight circumstances we are only revolting against the effect of what we have
been sowing. We se the circumstances or conditions that are without and we may
not like what we see, yet they are there only because we keep nourishing them
in our minds, and we keep feeding and thus preserving them in the gardens of
our mind.
We so often are
wish to improve upon our circumstances, but yet we are so unwilling to improve
ourselves. And that is why our circumstances remain the same. If we shrink from
crucifixion of self, we shall never achieve our hearts desire. A man who wishes
to have a better life style, must be willing to work for what he wants. Too
many people live at the poverty level and wish daily that they could rise above
it, and yet they are personally unwilling to do something about their condition
other than gripe and complain about it. People who are over weight very often
look in the mirror and wish they could change the way that they look, and yet
they are that way because they do not do anything about it. You are the reason
you are rich or poor, fat or thin, educated or not, Spiritual or not. What you
have sown in your life is what you are reaping in your life.
You don’t get a
close knit family by shear luck, you get a close nit family by hard work and
constant communication. Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad
results. Jesus told us that a Good tree can not produce bad fruit. Therefore if we think good thoughts, we will
have good actions which will produce good results. [Matt 7:17-19] You reap only what you sow. Therefore if you delight
in the Lord, you will receive the things that you have need of. [Psalms 37:4] [Proverbs 16:4] You make the commitment, and you are the one who
must sow, and then God simply honors the Law or Reproduction that says, every
seed will bring forth after it’s own kind.
Beautiful thoughts of all kinds crystallize
into habits of Grace and kindness, which solidify into friendly and cheerful
circumstances: pure thoughts crystallize into habits of holiness and self
control, which further solidify into circumstances of rest and peace. If you
sow thoughts of self reliance, courage
and decisiveness, they will bring forth circumstances of success, plenty and freedom; energetic thoughts
crystallize into habits of cleanliness and industry, which solidify into
circumstances of pleasantness: gentle
and forgiving thoughts solidify into protective and preservative circumstances:
loving and unselfish thoughts crystallize into habits of self-forgetfulness for other which solidify
into circumstances sure and abiding prosperity and true riches.
If you keep sowing the same particular train
of thoughts, be it good or bad, it cannot help but to produce its results on
the character and circumstances in which you live.
[77] See, down through the age we started off from the foundation, from the first
church age when the Seed went in the
ground, the complete Seed. Then it come out through the feet, Luther, come
back out then through Wesley, then into Pentecostals, the tongues and the lips.
See? Now, it's in the eyes, prophetic, of Malachi 4 and so forth. And now,
there's nothing else left for it to come, but Him Himself to step into that, 'cause that's the last thing there is. The next is the intelligence, and we have no intelligence of our own; it's
His. See? We have no sight of our own.(Now, notice here that he is not
referring to physical sight because he goes on to say,) How can a man foresee those things? He can't do it; It's God Himself.
See, it's becoming to a place... And He's governed the body all the way through.
Then the complete Body of Christ is
revealed in the form of a Bride that was taken out of His side, like Adam
did at the beginning--like Adam's was, rather, at the beginning.