KEEP THE CANVAS CLEAN FOR GOOD PAINTING

January 3. Genesis ch 9-12

CLEAN CANVAS FOR A CLEAR PAINTING

““Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

GOOD DAY. The year is a new canvas for everybody but the mind is not. The mind is a canvas marred by old paintings and for the new painting to come up clear and clean, something has to be done to the old canvass of the mind. The canvas of the mind has been painted by all sorts of occurrences, memories and emotions. For example there is the painting of unanswered prayers of the past. The wickedness of people that God has not redressed. The heartache of the past that God has not soothed and so many other things.

Then there is the painting of scientific reasoning. To the reasoning mind, some things are not possible. We feel that such things are beyond God. There is also the painting of our motives. Paintings in the mind are not all gloomy story but unfortunately, the mind does not recall those good paintings often. Any which way, let us see what God says about these paintings.

God is not saying that your feelings and these incidents are not real but He is saying you should put them behind you. Assume those paintings are not there as you are painting the new one. If you continue calling them to mind, you cannot see the new thing that God is doing.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 NASB1995

Whatever fills the mind is what plays out in life eventually. So you must plan to train your mind not to be fixed on things of the past. When your mind goes there, you bring it to where you want it to be. Use Philippians 4:8 as a guide to what your mind should dwell on. Become conscious of your mind from now so you can see what kind of canvas it is.