Your Mind Is a Treasure!

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Chapter One   The Place of the Mind

1.1 Preamble

1.2 Significance of the Mind.

1.3 The Mind is a Battlefield

1.4 The Relevance of Understanding Your Mind.

Chapter Two   Who are You?

2:1 You are God’s.

2:2 The Reality of God

2:3 Creation and Life Point To God’s Reality.

2:4 Think: What Becomes of You after Your Sojourn on Earth?

2:5 Religion: A Product of Man

2:6 Sieve-off the Chaffs! Think Well!

2:7 The Bible: The Living Book

2:8 Man can Choose to Gravitate towards Perfection

2:9 Sin is as a Result of a Failed Mind’s Process.

Chapter Three   Why Your Mind Makes all the Difference

3:1 The Peculiarity of the Mind

3:2 Pay the Price and Get the Prize.

3:3 Thoughts are Things

3:4 The Mind Works on the Available Menu

3:5 The Success of the Mind is Hinged on Proper Connection.

3.6 Power is Released by the Proper Use of the Mind.

3:7 Your Mind and Your Destiny

Chapter Four   Your Content Determines Your Comments

4:1 Your Comments are Deep-Rooted.

4:2 You are the Product of Your Mind’s Mill.

4:3 Guard and Utilize Your Mind

4:4 Input to the Mind is Proportional to Its Output

4:5 Self Development Stems from Mind Development

4:6 Study: A Veritable Tool for Development

Chapter Five   Get The New Life

5:1 Cast-off the Veil!

5:2 Mind Discovery: The Mother of Recovery In Life

5:3 God must Take Pre-eminence

5:4 The Vacuity of Materialism

5:5 You are a Warrior

5:6 Blessing is Contingent Upon Divine Obedience

5:7 The Use of the Mind Averts Wastages

5:8 Love Resides in Understanding

5:9 Improvement is a Journey

Chapter Six   Reflections

6.1 Your Mind is of Inestimable Value

6:2 Consider Your End: Make Amendments

6:3 Mind Your Business

6:4 You can Choose to be an Overcomer

6:5 Study: Agent of Approval

6:6 Eradicate Wrong Complexes

6:7 Material Wealth does not Translate to Life

6:8 Adversity Develops

6:9 Make Disciplined Choices

6:10 Mortal Death is a Transition, not Annihilation

6:11 Newer Insights and Definitions

Chapter Seven   Exercise Your Mind

7:1 Plan and be Organised

7:2 Set Goals and be Focused.

7:3 Study

7:4 Fast and Pray

7:5 Give Praise and be Thankful

7:6 Be Disciplined

7:7 Have Faith

7:8 Love

7:9 Give and Sow

7:10 Be Prudent

7:11 Get Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom.

7:12 Be Bold

7:13 Work Hard!

Chapter Eight   Put Your Mind to Work

8.1: Introduction

8:2 Appreciate God

8:3 Life is God’s Gift

8:4 God’s Word: Key to Success in Life

8:5 Develop Your Mentality

8:6 There are Wrestles in Life

8:7 Jesus is the Ultimate Model

8:8 Keep Watch! You are A Soldier.

8:9 Fight The Good Fight

8:9 Eternal Bliss is Ahead

Chapter Nine   The Origin of This Book

But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgement.

(Job 32:8)

Dedication

The Holy Spirit

Preface

People act differently based on their value system. Value system dictates attitude. Value system rules over attitude. They are developed from the perceptions ingrained in the mind. Perceptions are developed from what the mind is fed. In essence, the value system of an individual reflects his/her inner-vision (mind). These are the determinants of actions. Therefore, thoughts are not mere assumptions. They are very real things!

Despite the seeming haste in the world, it is important for you to think and meditate on the quintessential of life as encapsulated in the Holy Bible. This is only achievable by the use of the mind. Essentially, your mind is the foundation upon which your life sits. Your life can only be successful when your mind is. Hence, it takes the discovery of the mind to make it in life and eternity.

The conscious and consistent use of the Scripture provides the best nutrition for the discovery and development of a healthy mind. Actions are products of the mind. The choice of good or evil is subject to the use of the mind. Thus, the discovery of your mind is an imperative. It is this discovery that avails the limitless treasures abounding therein. The optimization of your mind’s treasures, guarantees distinction in the attainment of life’s purpose in line with divine precepts.

Chapter One

The Place of the Mind

1.1 Preamble

Your mind is the seat of your thinking-power, understanding, and intelligence. It is the place of your thoughts, feelings, and creative reasoning. A place of memory and re-collection.

It is a treasure because it is an accumulation of mental wealth and riches. It is a faculty of great value that should be cherished.

You were born with a clean slate of mind. What you become is predominantly a function of how this innate gift-facility called the mind/heart is utilized or harnessed.

The mind is a gift because it was given free. By a creative Being. By God! Or, has any other being the capacity to create the human mind?

Corollary, greatness stems from the positive use of the mind (Proverbs 4:23). Fortunately, the extent of greatness attainable from the mind is almost infinite. The converse is also true. Perversion of the mind is seemingly boundless. In the final analysis, this leads to chaos and destruction. Hell and destruction are never full (Proverbs 27:20)

You are what you are by occasion of how you use your mind. More succinctly stated; your mind is you! You function as your mind does. You are your mind. If you lose your mind, you are lost! If you gain godly control of your mind, you become a success, and a treasure in life.

How you see things is determined by your presence of mind. For example, people based on the differentials in their minds’ state assess so many subjective things differently. Albeit, at birth, the mind’s state was perhaps same. We say for instance that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder because our minds’ eyes assess beauty differently.

Those conversant with rudimentary Christian tenets understand that every human being is an entity composed of a spirit, soul and body. Otherwise stated, a man is a spirit with a soul that resides in a body. Therefore, man is essentially a spirit! Man on earth is a supernatural being having an earthly experience.

The body is tangible in the physical plane whereas the soul and spirit are not. Within the body is embedded such entities as the heart, the central nervous system (CNS), the brain, etc. The physical heart pumps blood. The CNS deals with responses to stimuli. And the brain is the seat of intelligence, while the mind relates to the soul of a man. The mind is the medium through which the cerebral faculty finds expression. It is an integral part of the soul. From first principles, the mind is not one and the same as the heart in Scriptural parlance. It may be observed that the heart and the spirit of a man are often used as synonyms in Scriptures.

The body as we know it today is transient—been so created from the earth. Upon serving its very limited time-span in the course of eternity, it passes away. That is, until resurrection when it becomes spiritually quickened and it puts on immortality.

It is taken that the mind is embodied in the soul. The spirit (also called the inner-man) is the real essence of a man. Both the soul and the spirit never die. They live forever. All through eternity! Especially given that its Originator—God, is everlasting. Hence, the final destination of the soul and spirit is determined (to a very large extent) by the application of the mind.

1.2 Significance of the Mind.

Suffice it to say that the mind (and by extension,—the soul) also functions to discern, interpret, analyse, and take decisions—amongst a host of functions.

The mind determines whether good or bad steps will be taken by the associated body and spirit being.

Again, we all were created with a liberated soul. Same for the spirit and body. Like all else, this liberty is relative. It frees us to choose between good or evil. Moreover, whichever of the twosome we choose determines the dominant spirit within us per time. In other words, though your spirit was free (Psalms 51:2) from creation; it can either grow in liberty or is ensnared in evil progressively. Therefore, all through life, there is a differential per time in the level of liberty or captivity attained.

A being is typified by its actions. Actions are predicated on the decisions of the mind. In the same context, the kind of in-dwelling spirit can be fathomed by the type of mind. For instance, a good spirit in-dwells a godly mind. A good mind births good fruits in the physical that are palpable. Fruits are the undeniable evidence of a characterization.

. . . By their fruits, you shall know them (Matt 12:33)

Given that you are whom you are by the reason of your mind, then the relevance of the mind can not be over-emphasised. It is so potent an instrument; that, both good and evil (i.e. fake—the counterfeit of good) seek to posses it. Yet, the choice is yours. In addition, because the choice is yours, you are responsible for your every action. Liberty is not reckless. It comes with associated responsibilities.

There is no destiny—except that chosen! The mind births motives. Motives are often more powerful than actions. It is the poor understanding of this that often prompts some men to assume wrongly that God is partial. Two persons may act similarly but get different outcomes because of the motive factor. Cain and Abel both offered sacrifices but received different outcomes.

1.3 The Mind is a