Is 55:8-9 says that God’s thoughts and man’s thoughts are not the same.  The Lord said, “my thoughts are not your thoughts”.  He said, “my thoughts (are higher) than your thoughts”.  And he said, “neither ore your ways my way”.  Today, we’re going to talk about your thoughts and ways.

The reason our thoughts are not God’s thoughts is that man’s thoughts are:

• Evil – Gen 6:5 – the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  Matt 15:19 says, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts”.
• Wicked – Ps 10:4 – the wicked… will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.  And so that you know what God thinks about the thoughts of the wicked, Prov 15:26 says, “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord”.
• Vain – 1 Cor 3:20 – the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.  These are the men and women whom the world calls “wise”.  About them, the Psalmist said, “I hate vain thoughts,” Ps 119:113.
• Rebellious – Is 65:2 – a rebellious people, which walketh… after their own thoughts.

Heb 4:12 says that “the word of God is… a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”.  1 Chr 28:9 says, “the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.” He’s knows exactly what you’re thinking and why you’re thinking that way. 

And what your thinking about becomes what you do.  Your thoughts lead to your ways.  You thoughts and ways are connected.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord,” Is 55:7.  The Lord wants you to quit thinking like men and to start thinking like him.  He wants you to forsake your thoughts and ways and accept his thoughts and ways.  

Your thoughts about your salvation.

Before you were saved, you thought you were all right with God and that you were going to heaven when you die.  But then you heard the truth about sin, hell, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And you know what you did?  You forsook your thoughts and ways and accepted his thoughts that you were a sorry sinner on your way to hell who needed to get saved by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary.  You forsook your thoughts and ways and turned to the Lord and got saved.

Now that you’re saved and you know it, your thoughts about salvation are right.  You got them from God out of his words.  Prov 12:5 says, “the thoughts of the righteous are right.”  You took him at his words.  You found out that his thoughts that are higher than your thoughts are also better than your thoughts.  

Your thoughts about your life.

But do you know God’s thoughts about anything else?  Do you know God’s thoughts about  leading your family and raising your children?  Do you know God’s thoughts about the direction of your life?  Do you know God’s thoughts about how you spend your days?  Do you know God’s thoughts about your thoughts?  Where did you come up with your thoughts?

Salvation not only affects your eternity but it should affect your thoughts and ways about your life after you get saved.  

Your thoughts about the world.

Pastor David Haveman said, in a recent conversation with several other pastors, “People aren’t thinking; the media and social networking are thinking for them”.  I’m sure that statement is true concerning people in the world.  But I’m concerned that his statement may also be true for God’s people.  I am confident that some of you are spending way too much time gleaning thoughts from the media and facebook and twitter and other internet sites.  Some of you haven’t been reading and studying your Bibles, at all.  And so you don’t have one clue what God thinks about all of this stuff that’s going on these days.  And some of you, frankly, may not even care.

Have you been getting your thoughts from God or from the evil, wicked, vain, rebellious men of the world?  Come on now, let’s be honest with each other.  Tell me what God thinks about all this that is going on in the world around us.  What’s one significant thought you received directly from the Lord regarding topics of interest to you?

Your thoughts have been framed more by those who hate God than by God himself.  And for a child of God that is an awful testimony.  You should repent of this error and commit to the Lord that you are going to forsake your thoughts and ways and let God give you his thoughts. 

Conclusion

What anyone else thinks about your salvation or the topics of interest to you makes absolutely no difference to you when they are wrong.  Like Mic 4:12 says about people who are wrong, “they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel.”  

Ps 33:11, on the other hand, says, “the counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.”  You and the Lord need to get on the same page about everything you think about now.