How do you know your mind is renewed?
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How do you know you mind is renewed?
How do you know you mind is renewed?
A man was driving through west Texas one spring evening.
The road was deserted and he had not seen a soul for what seemed like hours.
Suddenly his car started to cough and splutter and the engine slowly died away, leaving him sitting on the side of the road in total silence.
He popped the hood and looked to see if there was anything that he could do to get it going again.
Unfortunately, he had a limited knowledge of cars, so all he could do was look at the engine.
Feeling despondent as he stood looking at the gradually fading light of his flashlight, he cursed that he had not put in new batteries like he had promised himself.
Suddenly, through the inky shadows, came a deep voice, "It's your fuel pump."
The man raised up quickly, striking his head on the underside of the hood. "Who said that?" he demanded.
There were two horses standing in the fenced field alongside the road and the man was amazed when the nearest of the two horses repeated, "It's your fuel pump. Tap it with your flashlight, and try it again."
📷
Confused, the man tapped the fuel pump with his flashlight, turned the key and sure enough, the engine roared to life.
He muttered a short thanks to the horse and screeched away.
When he reached the next town, he ran into the local bar.
"Gimme a large whiskey, please!" he said.
A rancher sitting at the bar looked at the man's ashen face and asked, "What's wrong, man? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"It's unbelievable," the man said and recalled the whole tale to the rancher.
The rancher took a sip of his beer and looked thoughtful. "A horse, you say? Was it by any chance a white horse?"
The man replied in the affirmative. "Yes, it was! Am I crazy?"
"No, you ain't crazy. In fact, you're lucky," said the rancher, "because that black horse don't know anything about cars."
Today’s Message is continuing our Hope in the waiting series and it entitled:
How do you know you mind is being renewed?
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Roman 12
The Bible is clear.
We should not change our thinking to line up with the world, but rather our thinking should line up with God’s thoughts.
Bill Johnson
“I can't afford to have thoughts in my head about me that God doesn't have in His.”
Having a renewed mind is the most freeing and satisfying things a Christian can have on this earth
Its a perquisite to walking in the abundant Life Jesus came to give.
But it doesn’t come easy or even by accident
It’s a constant battle to line up your thoughts with His
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
We know at first there is a discrepancy between what we think and what God thinks
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares 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.
In the OT is was impossible to even think the way God thought
But through the work of Jesus on the cross and the continued work of the Holy Spirit in each one of us. We have the ability to think the way Jesus thinks
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
That means we have the ability to think whatever Jesus thinks, and know whatever knows.
I’m not saying we know it, I’m saying we have the ability to know it.
And having a renewed mind is pivitol in this process
In , Paul quotes and then makes a statement concerning all believers: “We have the mind of Christ.”
think about that...
I’m not saying we know it, I’m saying we have the ability to know it.
And having a renewed mind is pivitol in this process
Having the mind of Christ means sharing the plan, purpose, and perspective of Christ, and it is something that all believers possess.
Having the mind of Christ means we understand God’s plan in the world—to bring glory to Himself,
restore creation to its original splendor, and provide salvation for sinners.
It means we identify with Christ’s purpose “to seek and to save what was lost” ().
It means we share Jesus’ perspective of humility and obedience (), compassion (), and prayerful dependence on God ().
In the verses leading up to , we note some truths concerning the mind of Christ:
1) The mind of Christ stands in sharp contrast to the wisdom of man (verses 5-6).
2) The mind of Christ involves wisdom from God, once hidden but now revealed (verse 7).
3) The mind of Christ is given to believers through the Spirit of God (verses 10-12).
4) The mind of Christ cannot be understood by those without the Spirit (verse 14).
5) The mind of Christ gives believers discernment in spiritual matters (verse 15).
With all of this evident Let’s get back to our original question:
How do I know my Mind is being renewed?
There’s a litmus test. You can ask yourself these 7 questions.
Do I live in Hope
If you expect bad things they will happen, as you give them authority through your belief
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Rom 8:28
2. Does the impossible seem reasonable to me?
And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Mat 19:26
Bill Johnson :You know your mind is renewed when the impossible seems logical
3. Do I live in peace and don’t worry?
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2 cor 10:5
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Heb
4. Do I like Myself?
When People tell you to drop the negative people in your life, but you are the negative people in your life.
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
“The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
What about Loving yourself?
You are to love your neighbour AS you love yourself
2 Cor
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 cor 12:7-10
5. Am I quick to forgive, and show mercy?
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
6. Am I confident and thankful?
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.
7. Do I believe in others, and willing to give them the benefit of the doubt?
Jesus put Judas in charge of the money
Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.
For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor.