He is always on my mind!

“I will praise the Lord who counsels me — even at night my conscience instructs me. I keep the Lord in mind always. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:7–8, HCSB)

I read these words this morning in my Bible reading and prayer time. As I read them, I thought about all of the times that the Lord’s “still small voice” has spoken to my heart at night before I drifted off to sleep.  Praise Him for the times that He has counseled me at night!  In addition, verse 8 refers to the fact that the Lord is with us and that fact sustains us and helps us not be shaken with the circumstances of life.

However, the key to all of this is found right in the middle of these verses: “…I keep the Lord in mind always.”   Most versions of the Bible say something like, “I have set the Lord before me always.”  That translation does not mean that the Lord is subject to us; it means that we choose to focus on the Lord. That is why the HCSB states it the way it does. Don’t miss the point.  David is saying here that the reason the Lord counsels him in the night and sustains him is because he keeps the Lord on his mind constantly. It’s amazing – the more we focus on Him the more we hear from Him!

I once read that someone famously asked Charles Spurgeon how long he prayed at a time.  Spurgeon replied that he rarely prayed for very long at one time, but he tried to never go very long between praying.  In other words, Spurgeon kept the Lord on his mind always. Certainly, all of us have lots of things on our minds. Our families, careers, financial obligations, and the mundane affairs of life such as haircuts and dry cleaning all combine to consume large hunks of our thought life.  We must meet those obligations, no question.  However, we must consciously choose to keep the Lord Jesus always on our mind, or else “life” will keep our minds off of Him.

Why don’t you take a few moments right now and focus on the Lord Jesus. Praise Him. Thank Him. Cry out to Him.  Ask Him. Then, in a few minutes, do it again!  Maybe you are in a place right now where you can openly and loudly praise Him, or maybe you are at work and the quiet meditation of the heart and mind is more appropriate.  Either way, the key is the same: to keep Jesus always on your mind!  If Jesus is on your mind, two things will happen.  First of all, if Jesus is always on your mind, then you will hear from Him more often.  Second, if Jesus is on your mind, He will come out of your mouth!  You will be a witness for Him to others.

Let’s all determine to have the Lord Jesus on our mind far more in coming days!