Rabbi Schneider - Invite God to Shape Your Thoughts
"Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all the people, just as we also do for you". Now, I'm going point out Paul here was asking that the Lord would direct his path towards the saints in Thessalonica. So I'm going to kind of take that concept of Paul asking the Lord to direct him and make a personal application about that for you and I.
So, if you think about what Paul was asking the Lord for, may the Lord direct our way to you, what that tells me is that we can ask God to direct our way. There are so many different decisions and pathways that we could walk through or go through in life. I mean, every day is all about making decisions. Isn't that true? Every single day we are faced with choices. From the time that we wake up in the morning to the time that we go to bed at night, we are faced with decisions about which way to go. If you break this concept down in the most fundamental way, we have to make decisions continuously every minute about what we're gonna think about. You might not even be being aware of what you're thinking about.
Psychiatry tells us that most of people's thought processes are controlled by their unconscious mind. And a lot of times our mind wanders to focus on something negative. And we're not even aware that our mind has drifted and is focusing on that negative thing. But the Bible says, as a man thinketh so he is. So it really begins with what we think in our mind and in our hearts. But we find that Paul here is asking the Father to direct his way. May the Lord direct our path.
So I want to encourage you today, beloved one, to ask Father to direct you. From directing you in being able to channel your thoughts in the right direction, to direct you by giving you the power to have self-awareness so you can see the light and choose correctly. David said of the Lord, "In Your light, there is light". And so for you to choose the right path, for you to be directed by the Lord, it involves being able to see correctly, to see light. But a lot of times what we think is light is not really liked at all. This is why it's important to ask the Lord to direct us.
The Bible says, Lean not on your own understanding, but rather acknowledge Him in all your ways and He shall direct your path. So it begins in the mind and in the heart. We asked the Father Lord, help me to take possession of myself, that I would direct myself, by Your grace, in the right direction.
I remember, beloved, years ago in an experience, a vision of the night, I was laying in bed in a little room I called the rabbi's quarters in the facility where I was shepherding a congregation. And I went to sleep one night, and in the night, I had this experience. And in this vision of the night, I was in this house and there were like demons behind me. I couldn't see the demon's physical shape. I could just see that they were there and they were driving me they were oppressing me, and they were causing me torment.
And I was trying to run away from the demons. They were behind me pressing down on me, and I was trying to run away from him in this house. And I ran into this room in the home and the tormentors followed me there. And then I ran into another room in the home and the demons followed me there. Then I ran into another room in the home and the tormentor still were behind me. I couldn't escape them. Then all of a sudden, I felt a beam of light from heaven. I felt the gaze of the Lord fall upon me.
Suddenly I became aware that the Lord was looking upon me from heaven and He showed me that there was somebody in my life that I had ill will towards. And the Lord spoke to me in this vision of the night and He said to me, "Release them". And right then in there I made a decision to release this person that I had unforgiveness and ill will towards, and immediately those demons, those tormentors left. What happened? The Lord directed my path. He directed my heart. He directed my mind. And when He did, and I came into agreement with His light, the tormentors left.
So Father, again, we thank you for being our Savior through Messiah Jesus. Father, thank You that we don't have to do anything alone. You said it's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. So Daddy, we humbly submit ourselves to You, ask You to pour forth Your health into our life, that our paths would be directed towards life and godliness.