Week 3 Day 4: Our Belief System

“I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.”

Psalms 34:4 NLT

When we pray, God meets us where we are and He answers us. Most of the time His answers don’t look like our requests. Sometimes He says “yes" but most of the time He says, “Wait and see, I have something so much better.” One thing He will always do for us is give us His peace and free us from our fears, silencing the voices of destruction. The catch is, we have to do our part and meet Him in the battle.

So many people think that life is about taking it as it comes. They don’t want to think about a battle or what they believe. They think it’s ok to allow any old thought to lay around and fester in their heads. But when we refuse to believe in anything, we fall prey to everything. We all have belief systems, whether we want to admit it or not. If we don’t choose what we believe, the world and others will choose it for us with all their incessant chatter.

What we believe determines how we react and our beliefs are instilled in us from the moment we are born. Confirmation bias is a term that means we will automatically interpret new information as proof that our beliefs are right, even if they are not. In other words, once we believe something it will continually be reinforced by our environment as the truth, even if it is a lie. This is why we must be careful that our beliefs and emotions are not based on lies. What we choose to believe is the most important thing we will ever do.

Christ followers shouldn't react to circumstances like everyone else does, we are supposed to respond like Christ. That's why we are called Christians. We do live in the world but we are not supposed to operate according to the world’s systems. The world reacts to trials by being upset and hateful. When we operate with the mind of Christ, we don’t allow ourselves to remain anxious and worried. 

Notice the term remain. Having the mind of Christ doesn’t mean we are never upset or devastated by our circumstances or the actions of others. Unlike the world, Christ followers can let go of what did happen and what will happen. If we can’t let go of the past, we can’t grab what we need to move forward. Being stuck in our pain and wishing the past was different leads to the road of self-destruction.

Our belief systems drive our attitudes and affect our circumstances for good or bad. When our beliefs and thinking are aligned with God’s word we invite God into our presence and allow Him to heal our hurts and control the outcome. He is the one that gives us peace in the middle of a chaotic world. He takes burdens off of us that we were never meant to carry and He frees us from our fears so we can move forward.

Do you know what your belief system is based upon? What do you believe?

Meditate on Psalms 34:4 today