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The Spring Within
Devotional for Saturday, October 30, 2004 by Ivie Bozeman
Proverbs 4:23 - Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. (ESV)In a state park where we once camped, there were many springs, bubbling out of the mountainside. This water was pristine, cool, and refreshing. If we had no containers, we cupped our hands together and drank from them. This spring water definitely had a different taste than our tap water back home. The water bubbling out from the springs was pure because it had come from within the mountain where it had been purified.
The spring bubbling out of the mountainside reminds me of that place within me from where everything bubbles. Out of our hearts burst forth our thoughts, words, and actions. If we have not purified this spring within us, what comes forth will not be pure.
Many of us have heard the saying that it isn't our actions as much as our reactions that show people what kind of person we are. Frustration, anger, and criticism come from the same spring as does love, faith, and encouragement. Contamination can creep into our spring, and before we realize what is happening, it gushes forth, surprising even us.
How do we keep the spring within pure? By guarding the thoughts we allow to dwell in the mind. An evil thought begins in the mind and works itself downward, until this area is contaminated. If the evil is not removed, it will pollute the water of our spring, and what bubbles forth will not be pure and clean.
Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)
Prayer: Lord, cleanse our hearts of all thoughts of impurity. Let that which bubbles forth from within be representative of Your image. Amen.
Ivie Bozeman <ivie@rose.net>
Thomasville, Georgia, USA
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Today's Music:
The Battle Belongs To The Lord.