People who strive to be Great thinkers in the Kingdom understand that God is the epitome of quality thought and that purity of thought produces peace. The bible says in Isaiah 55:8-9 that “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Purity of God’s thought resonates with His peace for man. It is what caused Him to send His Son Jesus to come and die for us and establish peace between God and man. This presupposes we as His image are expected to have purity of thought. Unfortunately, we do not have it as the bible categorically states in Isaiah 55:8-9. But that does not mean we should not strive to attain purity of thoughts.
There are many in Ghana today who believe that peace conferences, concerts and demonstrations is what will ensure a peaceful elections in December 2012. Paradoxically, these steps can initiate peace but cannot sustain peace. Peace comes from God and He alone can grant peace to Ghana. You see the issue is not the intimidating or inflammatory statements that anyone has made or is making but what God is saying. Vendetta-proned statements or behaviors should not stop Ghanaians from seeking for peace that comes from above. We have a motivation. The bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that “if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. Again, the bible says in Isaiah 53:1 that “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed”. These bible texts explicitly states if we humble ourselves, and seek God’s face He will hear us and heal the land of Ghana. Secondly, the report of man will always be overridden by the report of God once we believe the report of God. Thirdly, God will cause us to turn away from our wicked ways producing purity of thoughts that promote and sustain peace in the nation. In fact, two important products of healing the land of Ghana will be Peace and Purity of thought for the people of Ghana. Purity of thought will change the mindset of Ghanaians where the mind will be saturated with optimistic contemplations of peaceful and prosperous Ghana before and after the elections in December 2012 as against pessimistic contemplations of civil war or trouble. For those who are pessimistic about a peaceful atmosphere in the country before, during and after the December elections. I have news for you. You have forgotten God is involved in the affairs of Ghana and if we call on Him He will hear us. There is nothing prayer cannot do and if Ghanaians intensify their prayers instead of relying on strategies of political parties to pursue peace a successful Ghana is inevitable. To our political factions, I say this: to the campaign, add prayer campaigns which encourages all and sundry in Ghana and Diaspora to spend time praying for the country instead of politics of insults. The decider of Ghana’s fate in terms of who would be the next president will not be the political or peace campaigns but the perpetual prayers to God. The bible says God alone sets up kings and removes kings. As a Ghanaian if you have not gone down on your knees to pray start immediately. Don’t accept the status quo of the country which is wobbly based on the inflammatory statements and recent obnoxious developments in the political arena. Remember Hezekiah in the bible (Isaiah 38) whose life was spared by God because he refused to accept the report of the prophet Isaiah from God about his imminent death. Some will say that Hezekiah exhibited a self-justification personality before God which could have made things worse. But at least I know God heard his prayer and saw his tears and added 15 years to his life. God will do the same for Ghana if Christians in Ghana will incessantly cry out to Him in humility. God wants to hear the voice of Christians in Ghana so that He will change the destiny of Ghana for better. Now, let me talk a little about the importance of purity of thought.
In all spheres of man’s life, purity of thought is very important and inexcusable. Whether in your business, education or job, purity of thought is paramount to good success. As a matter of fact, you are no different from what you think. For the bible says in Proverbs 23:7 “as a man thinketh in the heart so is he.” The bible also says in Jer. 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? I the Lord search the heart I test the mind even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” That means your behavior is a product of what you are thinking about. Also our thoughts can be acceptable or unacceptable before God depending on the level of purity. Unfortunately, as humans we are moved at times to see the pessimistic side of issues we face every day and there is the tendency for us to default on being optimistic. But the bible enjoins to have purity of thoughts and in fact boldly commands us in Phil.4:8 to have quality thoughts. Philippians 4:8 states that “Finally, brethren whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. If there be any virtues, meditate on these. This bible text is drawing our attention to the six things purity of thoughts focus on. Purity of thought focuses on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely and of good report. The last one “good report” fascinates me. Good report of peace and prosperity for God is what Ghanaians need. The country does not need the bad report of civil war or chaos. Bad report is orchestrated by the forces of evil. Spiritually, we must understand that the mind is the battle ground for the forces of evil (Satan and cohorts) and forces of good (God and His Spirits). In fact Satan is interested in fighting our minds than our actions because he believes that when he is able to overcome our minds by letting us have impure thoughts, evil actions will follow suit. He also believes that in so doing he would be able to turn us against one another and bring chaos in Ghana. But we refuse to be intimidated by his threats because we have a bigger God. You see whereas God is constantly working on us through His Holy Spirit to bring us to the level of quality thinking and make us solution people, the devil is working hard to make us problem people. Now, as Ghanaians we have a choice to make whether to pursue purity of thoughts which is God inherent or to subject ourselves to impure thought which is Satan orchestrated. Remember, if the devil influenced Adam and Eve with impure thoughts to initiate their downfall Ghanaians are not immune to his reproaches. Don’t spend your time engaging in impure thoughts such as immoral thoughts, evil thoughts of instability or political feud in Ghana. Rather spend time praying to God to give you purity of thought that will contribute to the peace in Ghana. Referring to one of the articles I wrote recently, God is the architect of Ghana and whether people like or not, He will give us peace. God bless our Homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong! God bless Ghana and its citizens both home and abroad. Ghana will overcome because God is with us.
Charles Horace Ampong www.icgcchicago.com / www.charliepee.blogspot.com
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