¹² For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 CSB)

The beauty and the awesomeness of scripture comes from its ability to separate thoughts and intentions. But how do mere words in a book do this, you may ask? When the words are from God they cut deeply “Penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit”.

You see, when we believe and read scripture deeply for meaning we find very quickly that the Spirit convicts us of our thoughts and intentions. Scriptural truths are brought starkly to mind by the Spirit when we are leaning toward the world more than we are leaning toward God. This can help us find pathways out of sinful behavior and avenues that keep us headed in the right direction.

Our mind is a wonderful thing, but it is a deceitful thing as well. We are masters at listening to the wrong input and thus fooling ourselves. The enemy and the world compounds this and before long we are lost in a morass of anxiety, fear and misunderstanding. Our thoughts and intentions run counter to God because we have lost any peace that He so freely gives. We have begun to believe the lies we tell ourselves.

God gave us His word and the Spirit to guide us in these times. He gave us truth which will combat the lies the enemy and the world hurl at us continually. But we must take time to search deeply the scriptures and apply them to our thoughts so this drives our intentions.