Topic: Renew

Romans 12:1-2 | TPT (1)  Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (2)  Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

• God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the outside. 

The Bible is very clear in teaching us that the way that we change is by changing the way that we think. 

So, if there are behaviors, habits, etc. that we have in our lives, then they can be changed or eliminated by changing the way that we think.

• You can change defeat into victory by changing your behavior and you can change your behavior by changing your mind.

• Your victory in this life will follow your right decisions and your right behavior.  

The Choice Is Yours

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT (19) “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! (20) You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” 

Remember that whether we are experiencing life and blessing OR death and cursing is dependent upon the decisions that we make in life. 

• The quality of life that we have today is a result of the choices or decisions that we made yesterday.

Often we try and blame the quality of our lives on others or circumstances but ultimately the responsibility is ours. In order to make any positive change in our lives, we must start by accepting that truth. 

• Whatever is influencing our lives the most, is what helps shape the decisions that we make.

• God works through your recreated spirit to influence your decision making process.

The location of our free moral agency is our soul. 

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV (23) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body. 

• Your soul is the seat of your decision-making process.

Your soul is comprised of your mind, will, and your emotions. 

• Our decision-making process is based on: I think, I feel and therefore I choose.

Your mind interacts with your emotions or how you feel to produce desire and desire is the foundation of your decision-making. 

Your desires are based on what you think about that situation and how you feel about that situation. 

• God has created you so that if you have the right information and process it correctly, you will not make bad decisions.

You have reasoning ability given to you by God. You can take information and process it and come to a logical conclusion. 

• Your mind was not created to arrive at the wrong conclusion. Most people do not have enough of the right information to come to the right conclusion.

They mostly have enough of the natural information and not enough of the spiritual information. 

If you have enough of both types of information you have the capacity to come to the right conclusion.

Wean Your Mind 

Before you can change your thinking and come to the right decision, you must identify and wean your mind from any destructive thoughts – any patterns of thought that generate internal agitation. 

Psalms 131:1-2 | AMP (1) LORD, MY heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me. (2) Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting]. 

Fret: to feel or express worry, to move in agitation 

Examine the analogy of the infant and its mother. The infant is totally and completely dependent upon its mother for sustenance and life itself. There will come a time when that growth and development will demand that the child be weaned from that dependency so that it can fully mature. 

There are things that your mind says it is dependent on to be able to live, be happy, be content and be satisfied in this life. 

The weaning of the mind is weaning your mind from the wrong thinking that you think must be there for you to be happy and at peace. 

To be weaned means that you are free from fretting (agitated, turmoil, bothered). We are talking about any kind of mental activity that produces agitation. 

1. Self-centered thinking.

A child only thinks about “me”. We must be concerned with the needs of others above our own needs. 

1 Corinthians 10:24 | NLT (24) Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others. 

Concentrating on you will always cause agitation.

2. Comparison thinking.

Hebrews 12:1 | NIV (1) …And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  

3. Feeling sorry for yourself.

This kind of thought will always lead to depression and then oppression and eventually death. 

Philippians 4:4 | TPT  (4) Be cheerful with joyous celebration in every season of life. Let joy overflow, for you are united with the Anointed One!  

4. Prideful thoughts.

God gets all the glory all the time. You must come to grips with the fact that we don’t get any of the glory. 

John 15:5 | NLT (5) “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. 

5. Negative, defeated thinking. 

The glass is half empty… 

Romans 8:35,37 | NKJV (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (37) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 

6. Natural reasoning that is contrary to God’s Word.

Sometimes God does not give you enough information to come to a logical conclusion but our minds always want a logical conclusion. When He doesn’t give us enough information, we try to come up with our own conclusion and that is called natural reasoning and it takes you to a natural answer.

You will then move over to agitation and frustration. 

A mind that is weaned from carnal reasoning will stop at the question and moves over to trust of God. God said don’t lean to your own understanding. We must arrive at the place of maturity where the questions don’t matter.  

Proverbs 3:5 NKJV Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 

How do we wean these thoughts from our mind? 

Replace those thoughts with thoughts from God’s Word.

• Your victory in this life will follow your right decisions and your right behavior.

• You can change defeat into victory by changing your behavior and you can change your behavior by changing your mind.

• The supernatural power of God in you can never rise above the ceiling to which your mind comes in agreement with your spirit. 

• We have no limitation in this life except what our mind sells us based on how we see our lives.  

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification!

Some think that renewing the mind is simply replacing the worldly value system that you have had and replacing it with God’s value system or removing old standards and replacing with new ones. Renewing does not mean learning.

Romans 12:1-2 | TPT (1)  Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (2)  Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

• God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the outside. 

The Bible is very clear in teaching us that the way that we change is by changing the way that we think. 

Other translations speak about the “renewing of the mind”. 

So, if there are behaviors, habits, etc. that we have in our lives, then they can be changed or eliminated by changing the way that we think. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (4)  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds😉  (5)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

Three Levels of Thinking: 

• Thoughts
• Imaginations
• Strongholds 

2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 

What is a stronghold? In the Greek, it is defined as a fortification such as a high-walled city or castle but this word can also be translated as a prison with high walls and fortifications. 

We are talking about patterns of behavior that have been built in our lives, mostly over long periods of time that started with thoughts and have been established as strongholds or habits. 

Habit – a pattern of behavior that we do enough until it has become almost involuntary. 

I believe there are habits that we can build in our lives and some we can even overcome just through discipline. But there are others that are going to take more than just discipline; they are going to require supernatural weapons. 

Isaiah 10:27 KJV  And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. 

Breaking Bad Habits 

You can gain victory over the bad strongholds (habits) in your life! 

1. Be willing to identify the stronghold.

Proverbs 28:13 NIV Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

Darkness cannot continue in the light. 

2. Fast and deny the desires of the flesh to amplify the anointing.

Part of this is to deny your mind the triggers. 

Only YOU can identify these. 

Isaiah 58:6,8 | NIV (6) “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (8) Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 

3. Pray and ask the Lord for help and He will answer.

Isaiah 58:9 | NIV (9) Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I… 

4. There must be some Word push-back by you. 

Luke 4:4 | NKJV (4) But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD OF GOD.’ “ 

5. Deal with one stronghold at a time.

Deal with the strongholds in the descending order of their impact on your life. 

Don’t let the enemy get you busy fighting more than one fire at a time.

6. Don’t try to be a hero. Get help if you need it!

James 5:16 | AMPC  (16) Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

7. Be consistent and don’t quit!

Hebrews 6:11-12 | NIV (11) We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.  (12)  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Galatians 6:9 | MSG  (9) So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

• Our greatest challenge as Christians is to change our thinking and thus change our behavior.

How we behave determines the quality of life we experience now as believers in the earth. 

• Your victory in this life will follow your right decisions and your behavior.

• You can change defeat into victory by changing your behavior and you can change your behavior by changing your mind.

Your mind is the ceiling to the power of God that we are filled with and to the degree that our mind comes into agreement with our spirits, will release that power out of you to effect your life and reality. 

• The supernatural power of God in you can never rise above the ceiling to which your mind comes in agreement with your spirit.

• We have no limitation in this life except what our mind sells us based on how we see our lives.

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification!

Some think that renewing the mind is simply replacing the worldly value system that you have had and replacing it with God’s value system or removing old standards and replacing with new ones. Renewing does not mean learning.

Romans 12:1-2 | TPT (1)  Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (2)  Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

• God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the outside. 

The Bible is very clear in teaching us that the way that we change is by changing the way that we think. 

Other translations speak about the “renewing of the mind”. 

So, if there are behaviors, habits, etc. that we have in our lives, then they can be changed or eliminated by changing the way that we think. 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (4)  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds😉  (5)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

Three Levels of Thinking: 

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Strongholds 

The first level of our thinking starts with our thoughts. 

• You determine the thoughts that you take or reject. 

• You take a thought by saying it. 

• You make thoughts obey by speaking God’s Word which is contrary to that thought. 

Your thoughts do not consist of words; they consist of pictures or images. 

The second level of our thinking is our imagination. 

Imagination – (Dictionary) the forming of mental images of what is not actually present to the senses.

In other words, our imagination was given to us by God so that we could “see” things that have not yet happened in our lives. 

• Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes. 

• Whether you know it or not, your imagination is dictating how your life goes. 

Genesis 11:1,4-6 | AMPC (1) AND THE whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression. (4) And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. (5) And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. (6) And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them. 

Why is this so very important? 

In the Scriptures, when referring to a positive imagination, the word used is “hope”. 

In his article called “The Power of Hope”, Andrew Wommack said, 

“Hope is more powerful than people realize. Something the Lord shared with me that really made this truth come alive is that hope is a positive imagination. 

Your imagination is like soil. Soil doesn’t care what kind of seed you plant in it; the moment it’s planted, the soil starts producing. It’s the same thing with your heart and your imagination. Your imagination will conceive something and automatically start making it come to pass, whether it’s positive or negative. It’s like your spiritual womb.” 

• You get to choose whether your imagination is positive—which is hope—or negative, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

• The imagination isn’t moral or immoral; it’s what you focus your attention on that determines whether it is good or bad.

Luke 21:26 NKJV men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth… 

Isaiah 26:3 NKJV You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 

Hebrew word for “mind” can be translated “imagination.” 

• You must stay in God’s Word and let it dominate you, or the unbelief of this world will extinguish your positive imagination. 

How Do I Change the Picture? 

Joshua 1:8 | NKJV (8) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 

Psalms 2:1 | AMPC (1) WHY DO the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) an empty scheme? 

Psalms 1:1-2 NKJV (1) Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 

• The way that you change your imagination is to meditate on or imagine God’s Word.

In his book Visioneering, Andy Stanley says, “Everybody ends up somewhere in life. You can end up somewhere on PURPOSE!”

Imagine your life being lived out as God’s Word states it.

• Our greatest challenge as Christians is to change our thinking and thus change our behavior.

How we behave determines the quality of life we experience now as believers in the earth. 

• Your victory in this life will follow your right decisions and your behavior.

What exactly shapes our thinking? 

• Poor decisions and bad behavior can be traced back to a cloudy way that you see yourself and your world. (Matthew 6:22-23)

Perception: Your behavior is a response to how you see and perceive your circumstances and how you should relate to them. In other words, the filter of your mind looks at your life and evaluates your circumstances and then tries to determine the best course of action. But this is based on your perception. 

Illustration: 

Mr. Steven Covey in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about perception and how it affects our behavior. He tells the story of how he was riding the subway in NYC one morning. “I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly – some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene. 

Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed. 

The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing. 

It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt like was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?” 

The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.” 

Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man’s pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. “Your wife just died? Oh I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything changed in an instant.”  

• You don’t see things as they are – you see things as you are.

Proverbs 23:7a | NKJV For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…

From the moment we are born, our mind begins to store and catalog everything that is said and happens to us. This is what shapes your perception of life and the world around you.

• • • Family History
    • Training
    • Life experience
    • Words spoken to you

Good News!! 

• We who are Born Again have another perspective or viewpoint of our circumstances that can determine another course of action or behavior.

Your right behavior will follow your perception of life and reality and this requires us to renew our minds. 

• You can change defeat into victory by changing your behavior and you can change your behavior by changing your mind.

Your mind is the ceiling to the power of God that we are filled with and to the degree that our mind comes into agreement with our spirits, will release that power out of you to effect your life and reality. 

• The supernatural power of God in you can never rise above the ceiling to which your mind comes in agreement with your spirit.

• We have no limitation in this life except what our mind sells us based on how we see our lives.

• Your mind is the check valve to the power of God that we are filled with and to the degree that our mind comes into agreement with our spirits, will release that power out of you to affect your life and reality.

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification!

Some think that renewing the mind is simply replacing the worldly value system that you have had and replacing it with God’s value system or removing old standards and replacing with new ones. Renewing does not mean learning.

Romans 12:1-2 | TPT (1)  Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (2)  Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes. 

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

• God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the inside.  

How do we change our thinking? 

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  (4)  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  (5)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

Three Levels of Thinking: 

1. 1. Thoughts
   2. Imaginations
   3. Strongholds

Our thoughts are a process of moving through the circumstances of our everyday life. There is no such thing as a blank mind. Your mind is in operation all the time. 

Thoughts are introduced to you by the circumstances of life. 

Matthew 6:25-26 | KJV  Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  (26)  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 

• You determine the thoughts that you take or reject. 

Matthew 6:31 | KJV  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 

• You take a thought by saying it.

The word “saying” in the Greek is “lego” meaning you are laying it out and systematically communicating your thoughts and relating them to you. You are connecting it to you. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 | KJV  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Captivity – as in a prisoner of war 

• You make thoughts obey and submit by speaking God’s Word which is contrary to that thought.

When you do this, that thought will die powerless and unborn and does not have any power to affect your life.

How many of us have behaviors that we would like to see changed? The things we know that could be holding us back?

• The greatest challenge that we face as Christians is not to have great faith. 

Jesus said that you can have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed and still move mountains (Matthew 17:20). 

The scripture also says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) So getting faith and having faith are not the main challenge. 

• Our greatest challenge is not to overcome the flesh. 

Your flesh simply responds to the strongest voice in you and responds to the decisions that we make.

• Our greatest challenge is not really the devil.

Through what Jesus did for us, he is an already defeated foe. 

• Our greatest challenge as believers is to change our thinking and thus change our behavior.
• Your victory in this life will follow your right behavior.
• You can change defeat into victory by changing your behavior and you can change your behavior by changing your mind.

The reason that most people are not able to change their behavior is because they are trying to produce change by addressing the fruit of their behavior and not the root of their behavior. 

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification! It is about transformation.

Romans 12:1-2 | TPT (1)  Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (2)  Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the inside.

In other words, if you struggle with your weight, trying to address weight loss by diet and even exercise will not produce lasting results because you are only addressing the results of the behavior that needs to be changed. If you struggle with smoking, trying to address the smoking by simply cutting back on cigarettes, while that is good, is not going to produce lasting change. You see, you are not addressing the root of the smoking, only the fruit. If you are in debt and you simply try and address your financial situation by trying to find a better paying job so that you can have more money to pay your bills and meet your needs, you are simply addressing the fruit of your behavior and not the root of your behavior. There is a root to the behavior that we must address if we are going to see lasting change in our lives. 

• We must understand first that we are a spirit, we possess a soul and we live in a body.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 | MSG (23)  May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ.

• When we receive Christ, our spirits are born again and made new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 |NKJV (17)  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

• There is something that we must do about our bodies and our minds.

James 1:21 | NKJV (21)  Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But what exactly shapes our thinking? 

From the moment you are born, your mind begins to store and catalogs everything that is said and happens to you. This is what shapes your idea of life and the world around you.

Your mind has eyes. (2 Corinthians 4:4 – blinded to the Gospel)

How you see the world around you ultimately determines how you are going to behave. 

Matthew 6:22-23 | NKJV (22)  “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (23)  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

• • Eye = vision
  • Good = clear
  • Light = how you see yourself
  • Bad = degenerated or diseased
  • Darkness = opaque or obscured

Matthew 6:22-23 | NKJV (22)  “The lamp of the body is the eye (Your eyes are like a window for your life) (vision). If therefore your eye (vision) is good, your whole body will be full of light. (23)  But if your eye (vision) is bad, your whole body (life) will be full of darkness (obscured). If therefore the light (photo) that is in you is darkness (obscured), how great is that darkness (obscurity)!

• The problems that confront you in this life and you are not able to overcome can be traced back to a cloudy and diseased way that you see yourself and your world.

Ephesians 4:17-18 | AMPC (17)  So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds. (18)  Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature]. 

• We have no limitation in this life except what our mind sells us based on how we see our lives.

• Your mind is the deciding factor in which course your life will take.

• Your mind is the check valve to the power of God that we are filled with and to the degree that our mind comes into agreement with our spirits, will release that power out of you to affect your life and reality.

• In other words, the supernatural power of God available to help you change your life and the quality of it, can never rise above the level to which your mind comes in agreement with your spirit. 

Ephesians 4:20-24 | AMPC (20)  But you did not so learn Christ! (21)  Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him], (22)  Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion; (23)  And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], (24)  And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness. 

• We must allow the Word of God and the Spirit of God help us to change our thinking and thus change our behavior.

• Your victory in this life will follow your right behavior and right behavior comes as we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.