Who Filters YOUR Air?

So I changed my a/c filter the other day and it was filthy. I couldn't believe all of that stuff would have gone through my a/c unit if not for the filter. And then I began to think of all of the filters on all of the A/C units in the Western part of the US in recent weeks, working hard to filter out all of the smoke from the forest fires, leaving people able to breathe much better than if they were out and about with nothing to filter the air in their environments. It was then I came to a brilliant conclusion on the matter: Filters are good things.

It's true in the spiritual realm too. By spending time in God's Word, you allow God to put filters in your mind that will help you screen out a lot of the noise and the peace-wrecking static. God-filters can give you perspective that filters out the minutia that destroys the bigger picture that lets us know that God is in control even if things appear bad. When we run the noise of the world through God-filters, a lot of the junk just won't go through, which leaves us breathing healthy, purified and peaceful spiritual air. You don't have to be subject to every wind of fear that blows through. You can live a life of peace by breathing the air from God's life-giving filter.

But the devil has filters too. He will filter out the good and cause you to believe the worst of others. He will create suspicions and angst and cause you to be short of temper and long on criticism. He will only let you see what causes you to despair. His filter system will lead to panic attacks, heavy heartedness and a loss of focus as he gets you to hone in on hearing all of the wrong voices. Worse yet, the devil specifically filters out the calming, peace-giving voice of God leaving you with spiritual air that is as toxic as smoke over the Western US during forest fires. You can't live on it long without succumbing and going down.

In this age of where the news blows in rancid, toxic air on an hourly basis, and where people have breathed hate-filled, or despair-filled or conspiracy-filled air for so long that they have become increasingly polarized on issues and many are now ardently defending things that they once said they detested and abhorred.

See, without a God-filtered perspective, the devil can twist our minds and bend them to accept logically-based conclusions that only make sense if there is no God. And it doesn't matter whether you say you believe in God or not, as long as the devil can filter your spiritual air, he can lead you to a functional atheism that concludes, "well, if that's the case, then..." without ever questioning whether that indeed IS the case.

What if Daniel had only accepted the devil's filtered air when told he could only pray to the king? "Well if that's the case, it's only for 30 days." (And some of us have gone longer than that without going back to God to breathe His air.)

What if Joseph had said, "Well she IS my owner's wife, therefore, also my owner...so I guess I have to do what she says."?

What if Moses had said, "Well, that's it folks...it was a good 3 days while we had it...but looks like we are trapped between the sea and the mountains now."?

Each of these was able to keep their perspective, because they filtered their circumstances through a better, bigger filter! The filter of God's life-giving, life-saving, peace-filled, redemption-based reality.

Question: Who filters what is currently going through your mind? Not sure? Look at the air on the other side? Is it peaceful, focused and calming or are you given more to fear, anxiety, and suspicion? If you aren't getting the results you desire, change filters.