The Renewed Mind

Only the Word of God can renew your mind.

How does it do that?

Many of us think it is by reading the word daily but the Bible doesn't support this assertion

God told Joshua that the book of the law shouldn’t not depart from his mouth

It is the spoken word that becomes the living word, when it is not spoken the word is dormant

A word in your memory is not active, it is knowledge but knowledge not put to use will be of no benefit to you

So, you must SPEAK the word in order for your mind to be renewed by the word

What about thoughts?

Thoughts are the building blocks on which our actions are built, we act out our thoughts and convictions on a daily basis but we cannot change our thoughts from within, we can only change them from without

This means when we speak the word, our ears will hear it and then our bodies and lives will respond to it by yielding to its instructions

I remember being full of anger at one stage of my life, anything I deemed an insult to my person would be responded to in kind

After I became a believer, I expected the issue to be settled but all I ended up doing was bottling up stuff until I would eventually explode when it got too much for me to bear

One day, after an altercation in front of the church in which I conducted myself in a manner unworthy of the Lord, I began to speak to myself

"You will not behave like this anymore, you are full of love, kindness, meekness and wisdom. You are not a fool and therefore anger does not dwell in your bosom. The Word of God has transformed you, you are the express image of Jesus and you will act in accordance to His love and reality all the days of your life"

I began to say this to myself daily

One day I was driving in Ketu (Lagos, Nigeria) and my car suddenly developed a fault, I put on the hazard light as I began to slowly drive it to the mechanic's workshop

Unknown to me a man was driving behind me who had gotten angry that I was driving so slowly, the man alighted from his car, ran to me, and banged the bonnet of the car, screaming like a madman

I was unmoved by his antics

I wound down my windshield and said, "Apologies sir, the car Is faulty, I am sorry for delaying you"

Wow.

Passers-by were shocked

The passengers in my car were fuming already but my calm demeanor disarmed them

The man was equally shocked

He expected a fight, I gave him a smile

Some passers-by saw the exchange and commented, "Wow, what a peaceful man, he must be a good Christian"

I felt so happy

For the first time, men were seeing in me the glory of God and testifying of it

Naturally, I would have reacted to his provocation without thinking but the word of God had changed my thinking pattern and my renewed mind did something totally unexpected

I wouldn't have behaved like that on any given day, my companions knew this but the spoken word had changed my reality

Till today, I react to provocations in a very measured manner.

The same principle applies to how you deal with your physical body, many will use drugs and trust it to heal their bodies forgetting that their bodies equally respond to the spoken word

A man with high blood pressure came to me once complaining of his struggles with the disease and how it had hampered him from making progress in life

Drugs had failed to help him but he was hanging in there

I asked him if he speaks to his body

He looked at me as if I was high on something

So, I said to him, "Say after me, my body hear the word of the Lord, you were given to me as a vehicle to take me everywhere I desire to go as led by the Holy Spirit in this physical world. Therefore, you will not fail, you will not be an hinderance to me, you will not be a weakness to me, you are strong, healthy, strengthened by the word of God.

My blood pressure, I command you to drop now, whatever is wrong in my system that is triggering you, I command it to stop right now. I speak to my blood vessels, to my cells, to my bones and marrow, to my muscles and ligament, I command you to be made whole now by the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Amen."

As simple as the declaration was, it is still working for him till today

The last time I spoke with him, he was on his way to Edinburg for a conference

His blood pressure had become normal.

You must do a frank self-assessment, note the areas of your life that needs improvement.

Then you must speak these improvements into your life.

If you know you are lacking in wisdom or understanding or strength, speak these things into your life

Check out Apostle Peter's instruction to the church, he said ADD to, not pray for!

How do you add spiritual things to your reality, you speak them to being and they become?

2 Peter 1: 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your mind is very important.

It’s the door to your spirit, and it’s also the door from your spirit out, to bring something into the natural world.

“Be ye transformed (metamorphosed) by the renewing of your mind….”

This means you exchange your thoughts for God’s thoughts; you cast away your carnal thinking, your fleshly ideas, and receive His glorious thoughts and ideas. The latter part of it says, “…that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

The word, “prove” is from the Greek – dokimazo— meaning to scrutinize or examine.

Simply, it’s like the Customs official who is assigned the responsibility of disallowing illegal exports and imports- interdiction of contrabands.

Once he sees such, he disallows it from entering the country. That’s what that scripture is making us understand as the result of renewing the mind. You’re able to “prove,” that is, scrutinize the thoughts you allow to go through your mind, to be sure they’re consistent with God’s Word and His perfect will for your life.

Now that you’re born again, you’re required to think excellence and only see pictures of excellence. Focus your mind on things that are pure, just, honest, lovely, virtuous and of good report (Philippians 4:8). You can’t afford to continue with the old way of life; you’re different now.

Ephesians 4:22-23 says, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” It’s expressing the same thought: think and live differently now that you’re a child of God. As you do this, you’d be giving vent to the glory in your recreated human spirit; the beauty of the Spirit in you will be revealed on the outside in an eve-increasing measure. Hallelujah!

“And be not conformed to this world: but BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 KJV

This is an important revelation. Paul, by the Spirit, lets us know that God has given us our minds for our transformation. The English word “transformed” is from the Greek word “metamorphoo,” which means “to be transfigured or changed from one form, state, or level to another.”

Imagine that the Scripture stopped at “…be ye transformed”; we would have been at a loss as to how to be transformed.

Thank God, He told us how! He said we are transformed by the renewing of our minds, not by the renewing of our phones, cars, wardrobes, homes, or bank accounts.

You can renew these things all you want; you still won’t be transformed until your mind is renewed.

That’s because God has fashioned your mind as the instrument for your transformation. And this transformation we’re talking about is from one level of glory to another, from one standard of living to a higher and better one.

Glory to God!

Your mind is unlimited in its potential to create whatever you desire. When you put your mind-power to work, these possibilities are endless.....

After you’ve given your life to Christ, you’ve got a responsibility.

The Bible tells us not to be like the rest of the world. Don’t conform to the world’s standards and ways of doing things. Be different. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That means, change your way of thinking; have a new mindset. If you want to see increased manifestation of the glory of God in your life, you must keep renewing your mind with the Word.

Before you became a Christian, you heard, and spoke words from the world; words that you learned from your friends, from school, your environment, the members of your family, etc. Sometimes they were bitter words, angry words, and harsh words.

Some other times, they were nice words. However, God gives us words that are more than “nice”; words of the Kingdom, with which to transform our lives from glory to glory.

As you study and yield yourself to the ministry of the Word, your spirit is inundated with divine truths; your mind is elevated to think Kingdom thoughts.

This is why learning and meditating on the Word is so important. God’s Word gives you a new way of thinking. Whereas you used to think failure, fear, lack, and want, the Word gives you the mindset of success, excellence, victory, dominion, and abundance.

Now that you’re in Christ, refuse to be conformed to this world; rather, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Renew your thinking with the Word. By hearing the Word of God, and digesting it into you, you develop new thoughts.

One of the major reasons many are defeated in life is their thinking. When they don’t think right, they can’t act right, and their minds are held in bondage. Nevertheless, with the transforming power of God’s Word, the limits are broken. So, set your mind on the Word and let it transform your life.

PS: I will be ministering at The First Baptist Church, Lagos Island tomorrow on the topic “The Renewed Mind.”