Be Sober, be viligant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whome he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8


The Holy Spirit knows us well and enforces the exhortation to gird up our minds, to pull up our spiritual standards, to eliminate carelessness in word and thought and deed, and activities and interest!

Now, let us think of what Peter must have had in mind when he added the words, "be sober," to the discipline of right thinking.

Sobriety is that human attitude of mind when calm reason is in control. The mind is balanced and cool and the feelings are subject to reason and this statement is proof enough for me that the Holy Spirit will never urge believers into any kind of spiritual experience that violates and dethrones reason.

All of us are aware of instances where men and women have taken part in unreasonable and unseemly acts and then excused them on the grounds that they were moved by the Spirit.

Frankly, I must doubt that! I doubt that the Holy Ghost ever moves to dethrone reason in any man's mind.

Whenever the Holy Spirit... comes, He willl always be found witnessing to Jesus and honoring the Son of God.

AW Tozer for Today

[DrFrank]

The problem with the basic premise of this message is that unfortunately the human mind is exceedingly inferior to God's mind and therefore our "reason" often is very much divorced from God's thinking.If our "reason" was in sync with God then obviously sin would drastically be reduced, but what do we see in the world today instead?Human reason tells our leaders that we must bring "freedom" to nations by sending our young men and women to invade their territory and begin to murder and torture their people.Within our nation,these same leaders use their morally perverted "reason" to determine that the way to reduce violent crime is to make it easier for almost all adults to buy guns than to vote.Guns will bring peace is what they keep telling us as more and more totally outrageous and obscene homicides occur on a daily basis.

An even more important objection to insisting that Christians stick to human "reason" in their worship experiences is that it will totally preclude supernatural encounters with God which are by definition totally out of the realm of human "reason".(Thank God for that!)One of the most astonishing experiences of this nature that I have ever witnessed occurred to me many years ago while I was sitting in an Oral Robert's evangelistic crusade,in full and complete control of my "reason" I can assure you.All of a sudden I literally felt the presence of Jesus.I could not see Him but I just had the overwhelming impression that He was indeed there.I thought that maybe it was just my unreasonable imagination until I looked at the two people sitting next to me.They had both burst into tears.ALL THREE OF US FELT THE PRESENCE OF JESUS STANDING NEXT TO US.

Wow I sure am glad that we allowed our minds to be governed by faith instead of human "reason" that frequently is perverted with moral sickness and a completely ungodly lack of understanding and wisdom.

[christkid777]

I thank you for the encouragement MMari. The idea of accountability is sometimes a hard idea to get across. Not everyone wants to accept that they are responsible for their words and deeds. Faith is supposed to cover it all. But we are encouraged to "add" to our faith.

[Linsinbigler]

Originally Posted by MMari

Be Sober, be viligant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whome he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8


The Holy Spirit knows us well and enforces the exhortation to gird up our minds, to pull up our spiritual standards, to eliminate carelessness in word and thought and deed, and activities and interest!

Now, let us think of what Peter must have had in mind when he added the words, "be sober," to the discipline of right thinking.

Sobriety is that human attitude of mind when calm reason is in control. The mind is balanced and cool and the feelings are subject to reason and this statement is proof enough for me that the Holy Spirit will never urge believers into any kind of spiritual experience that violates and dethrones reason.

All of us are aware of instances where men and women have taken part in unreasonable and unseemly acts and then excused them on the grounds that they were moved by the Spirit.

Frankly, I must doubt that! I doubt that the Holy Ghost ever moves to dethrone reason in any man's mind.

Whenever the Holy Spirit... comes, He willl always be found witnessing to Jesus and honoring the Son of God.

AW Tozer for Today

Good post Marilyn

Originally Posted by MMari

Be Sober, be viligant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whome he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8


The Holy Spirit knows us well and enforces the exhortation to gird up our minds, to pull up our spiritual standards, to eliminate carelessness in word and thought and deed, and activities and interest!

Now, let us think of what Peter must have had in mind when he added the words, "be sober," to the discipline of right thinking.

Sobriety is that human attitude of mind when calm reason is in control. The mind is balanced and cool and the feelings are subject to reason and this statement is proof enough for me that the Holy Spirit will never urge believers into any kind of spiritual experience that violates and dethrones reason.

All of us are aware of instances where men and women have taken part in unreasonable and unseemly acts and then excused them on the grounds that they were moved by the Spirit.

Frankly, I must doubt that! I doubt that the Holy Ghost ever moves to dethrone reason in any man's mind.

Whenever the Holy Spirit... comes, He willl always be found witnessing to Jesus and honoring the Son of God.

AW Tozer for Today

I think this is a fantastic observation. Sobriety is a prerequisite to revelation. And revelation results in greater sobriety and humility. No wonder those that have will receive more and those that have not will have that which they already have taken away.

And isn't this one of mankind's greatest individual and collective challenges today? Our world is moving so fast. We are conditioned by society to worship entertainment and spiritual inebriation. How can one receive revelation in such a state?

Excellent post.

[doinghiswill]

Originally Posted by MMari

Be Sober, be viligant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whome he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8


The Holy Spirit knows us well and enforces the exhortation to gird up our minds, to pull up our spiritual standards, to eliminate carelessness in word and thought and deed, and activities and interest!

Now, let us think of what Peter must have had in mind when he added the words, "be sober," to the discipline of right thinking.

Sobriety is that human attitude of mind when calm reason is in control. The mind is balanced and cool and the feelings are subject to reason and this statement is proof enough for me that the Holy Spirit will never urge believers into any kind of spiritual experience that violates and dethrones reason.

All of us are aware of instances where men and women have taken part in unreasonable and unseemly acts and then excused them on the grounds that they were moved by the Spirit.

Frankly, I must doubt that! I doubt that the Holy Ghost ever moves to dethrone reason in any man's mind.

Whenever the Holy Spirit... comes, He willl always be found witnessing to Jesus and honoring the Son of God.

AW Tozer for Today

Here's another good thought to go alone side your post, wich i found refreshing and confirming.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Originally Posted by doinghiswill

Here's another good thought to go alone side your post, wich i found refreshing and confirming.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Thanks Keith... your input is always welcomed! I really like this particular passage.