Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God.
Okay so what does the truth of this scripture look like?
John 14:6 says this; I am the way the truth and the light no one comes to the Father except through me.
So, we can all agree that we believe that we are in the Kingdom and heading heavenwards.
Do we all have Kingdom mindsets?
John 8:32; And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
John 18:28; God has always wanted to take His people into the Promised Land. In the Old Testament it was a physical land. In the New Testament our Promised Land consists of the promises of God. Jesus died to redeem us to God and give us abundant life in Him. He died so we could have a relationship with God and obtain everything He promised in His Word. However, most Christians are living below the level of the joy and prosperity He wants to give them. The reason for this is that they are more conformed to the world than they are transformed by God’s Word. The world and the enemy are in the business of killing, stealing, and destroying mankind. If they can’t keep you from getting saved, then they still will try to keep you from your Promised Land.
They will fence you in with lies and deception that make you believe you cannot escape poverty, sickness, depression, a bad temper, sexual immorality, criminal activity, or addictions of all sorts. They will tell you, “That’s the way the men in your family have always been, and that’s the way you will be. It’s in your blood, man!” Or they’ll say, “Women like you can never be happy. Your dreams are unrealistic. Girl, you’re living’ in a fantasy world!”
The Bible tells us something entirely different! That is why it is vital that we renew our minds with the Word and keep our minds renewed. Otherwise, we will swallow the devil’s lies, be squeezed into the world’s mould, and give in to our carnal lusts and patterns of sin. We will continue believing evil reports and miss our Promised Land. We will not live the high life because we have allowed the enemy to fence us into a corner of thinking that there is no way out. We will let him convince us that we cannot overcome, succeed, and be healthy and happy in this life. We will just have to wait until we get to Heaven.
We need to look at this from the enemy’s standpoint a minute. Satan’s only hope is to stop us from operating in the truth. If he can keep us from abiding in and acting upon God’s Word, hecan deceive us, he can discourage and frighten us, he can get us entangled in sin and the things of this world, and he can keep us from fulfilling God’s call on our lives. In simple terms, if he can keep us from reading, studying, and meditating on the Word Day and night, he can steal our divine destiny. I’m convinced that the reason the church has been very contained, limited, and impotent is because we have not taken seriously the Spirit’s admonition to renew our minds and be transformed.
Our God is a big God and His plans are big plans. That means we must learn to think big like He does. When we let the devil fence us in with lies, we shrink God down and His plans become impossible to us. Instead of seeing a Promised Land ripe for the taking, we see giants stomping all over us! In practical terms, how does the enemy gain control? Because he never had an original thought in his life, he uses God’s principles for evil purposes.
When Jesus taught the disciples the Parable of the Sower in
Mark 4:1-20 He revealed how Satan does this.
The Sower soweth the word. And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts
Every time we hear the Word, Satan comes to steal it. However, he does not stop at stealing the Word. He also sows his own seeds. Bad seeds! His seeds are designed to lead you away from the truth of God’s Word and cause mental blocks. His seed will get you even more entrenched in your ungodly subconscious set points. This bad seed will give the enemy power and influence over your soul, so there will be no way you can prosper in God.
3 John 1:2 John
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.
To be transformed, you must renew your mind with the truth of God’s Word. You must sow God’s eternal, life-giving seed into your mind and heart—and refuse to let go of it! That is how your soul will prosper and you can rid yourself of the bad seed that has succeeded in fencing you in and getting you stuck in the low life.
1 Corinthians 2:4-5
My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
When Paul says, “your faith shall not stand in the wisdom of men,” he is saying that your faith will not stand in sense knowledge but in spiritual truth, which is the supernatural power of God.
Here is an example of what he was talking about. We know that Egypt is a type of the world and Pharaoh is a type of Satan. God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and out from under Pharaoh’s rule to serve and worship Him. When He saves us, He brings us out of the world and out from under Satan’s rule to serve and worship Him. We are to stand in Him and His power.
God brought Israel out of Egypt and then took them into the wilderness. He brought them into a place where there was nothing, not even trees for shade! There were no superstores, no convenience stops—not even a soft-drink machine. They had to depend on God to supply everything they needed. In this way He hoped to get the limitations and false perceptions of Egypt out of them and reveal to them who He really was. What kind of picture does the devil and the world paint of God? What did the serpent tell Eve? “God is keeping you from good things. He doesn’t want you to have everything you want. He is judgmental and hard-hearted. You can do much better on your own!” These are the lies that trap people in bondage.
When God wanted the children of Israel to forsake the low life of Egypt and live the high life in His grace and power, He took them into the wilderness to reveal His love and care for them. This was His way of attempting to tear down every fence of doubt and unbelief that was keeping them from receiving His blessings and their Promised Land. He was showing them how much He loved them and cared for them by leading them into a place where they were completely dependent upon Him. When we are saved and come out of Satan’s dark kingdom into the Kingdom of God, we also must depend on God for everything. Then we will come to know Him as He really is. We must deal with the boundaries our previous environment placed in us, those fences that say, “God really doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t want you to have this. You cannot go there. You are not capable of that. You are not worthy.” These boundaries can show up in so many little situations in life.
When we renew our minds with God’s Word and that renovation process takes place, we can be uncomfortable. It’s because we are leaving comfort zones that may have been established when we were children. We got used to those fences, even bad ones. Before we were saved, we were comfortable being on welfare and using food banks. We were comfortable living with our boyfriend, or girlfriend and not being married—or being in homosexual or lesbian relationships. We had no problem lying on our income tax forms and using the Lord’s name in vain. Then we got saved. We moved into the Kingdom of Light, and the Light began to expose a whole lot of wrong thinking, wrong speaking, and wrongdoing. Suddenly, our “world” became unrecognizable. We found ourselves in this wilderness and all we could do was depend, on God and His power to survive. He wanted to bless us beyond our wildest dreams, but we were all bent out of shape at the thought of quitting our job at the in the bar and taking a job at the department store. He wanted to restore our soul, and we couldn’t sleep, worrying about how we were going to get along without that homosexual “life partner.” And every time we turned around, we caught ourselves saying stuff that sounded completely inappropriate and even filthy to our ears.
This wilderness experience can happen to the mature believer too! God wants to deal with some area of our life that needs deliverance or correction, and we blame it on the devil! We will go on and on about how the enemy is messing with us when he isn’t messing with us at all. He doesn’t have to because he has already programmed all that stinkin’ thinkin’ into us a long time ago. Now God is trying to get it out of us by getting our minds renewed in that area.
The only reason we have the devil’s attention now is because he stands to lose the control, he has had over us. If we keep renewing our minds with God’s Word, he will never be able to touch us again where that issue is concerned. The Word will dynamite those fences, we will smell the sweet fragrance of freedom in the Holy Ghost, and the enemy will be powerless to stop us. After we are born again the devil is under our feet. He is no longer our primary problem. In the Name and blood of Jesus we have full authority over him and every demon that crosses our path. After we are saved, our primary problem is ourselves! We have been accustomed to thinking in certain ungodly patterns and believing certain unscriptural things, so now we need to make radical changes. And that is not always comfortable. However, if we will trust God and stand in His power, we will be transformed in ways we could not imagine.
Why don’t we try just meditating on this scripture over the next few days and ask God what area you need to renew in the way I think.
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God.
If you are brave enough to do this, I think you will begin to recognise some things that may surprise you.