Most of us spend our entire lives trying to wrap our heads around the reality that God has made us powerful overcomers through Jesus Christ. I believe this is one of the greatest desires of our Father’s heart, that we would believe how powerful and loving He has made us. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 16:19(ESV), “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Jesus Christ spoke these words to his disciples that were living during the time of his sojourn on earth. This means that he is speaking them directly to us, God’s sons and daughters. We are placed on this earth to carry forth the ministry that Jesus Christ began, and to do this, our Heavenly Father has given us the privilege and responsibility to walk with the same power and authority as Jesus Christ.
In John 10:10(NKJV) Jesus Christ declared, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Our Lord and Savior made a more than abundant life available to every human being, but as we look around in our current environment, many people are not living an abundant life, and this includes many believers. We must ask ourselves why this is. Jesus Christ gives us the answer to this question in a piece of knowledge he spoke in John 8:32(NLT). He said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The English word, “free” is translated from the Greek word, “eleuthero“, which means to make free and to be set free from the dominion of sin. This includes the bondage of oppression in our minds, hearts, and souls. Through Jesus Christ, we are set free from the entanglements of poverty, sickness, and disease. We are set free from bad relationships, financial struggle, and other issues that can keep us from progressing in faith. Jesus Christ took care of all this on the Cross of Calvary. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but Jesus Christ paid in full the price of our sin. He took our place, and now we are free to live an abundant life in him. This is a foundational truth, and we believe it in the depths of our hearts.
Genesis 1:26 tells us that God made us in His image. He is triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He created us to be spirit, soul, and body. 1Thessalonians 5:23(NLT) says, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” By God’s divine design, we are three-part beings, and God’s instruction to us is to keep all three parts of our being holy in every way. On our own, we can’t do this, but through Christ, God has given us a Helper, and He comes to live inside us when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
Our Helper is the person of the Holy Spirit. The sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ made it possible for our human spirits to be recreated. 2Corinthians 5:17(NLT) declares, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Our human spirits were once dead to God, but because of Christ, our human spirits come alive once we accept him as Lord and Head of our lives. We become born again of God’s Spirit, and the Holy Spirit comes to live inside our human spirit.
The Holy Spirit is also our Teacher. He helps us to understand God’s Word, and he helps us navigate the rocky terrain of life on earth. It’s knowing God’s truth that allows us to live in the victory of Christ, but the world or society doesn’t see it this way. The world is filled with cynicism and arrogance, and this can paralyze a person’s life. We must be very careful not to allow negativity to gobble up our hope, faith, and joy. The way to prevent this is to submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
God tells us in Romans 12:2(ESV), “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” The world mass produces negativity and turns it’s back on God’s Word, but the key to deliverance is in Romans 12:2. It’s to renew our minds, and this means we must change the way we think and leave the negativity behind.
Ephesians 4:22(NIV) says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;” Jesus Christ showed us the way to have the kind of relationship with Heavenly Father that He desires. God made it possible through Christ for us to be saved from a life of darkness and despair. Our spirits have been made brand new and the person we used to be doesn’t exist anymore. God has given us newness, and He commands us to put off the ways of our old selves.
All the negative habit patterns that we have learned through the world’s systems have to be unlearned. God tells us in Ephesians 4:23(NIV), “be made new in the attitude of your minds;” We must be clear that Jesus Christ has given us newness. We have his Spirit living inside us, and we must change our minds by renewing them to what God says in His Word. The Holy Spirit did not come inside us and start throwing all the bad thoughts and feelings out. No. God has given us free-will choice, and He will not withdraw, violate, or overstep the gift He’s given us. Our minds are our responsibility, and we need to change them so that they equal the newness we’ve received through Jesus Christ.
God has made it possible for Christ to be in us, but it’s up to us to make sure we are in Christ. Ephesians 4:24(NIV) tells us, “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” This commandment from God is regarding our inner reality. It’s about the parts of us that no one can see, the mind, heart, and soul. These determine who and what we value, and they determine the life we’re going to live.
We live from the inside out, which means that when our hearts and minds are aligned with God’s Word, it can transform our outer reality. God designed life to cooperate perfectly with His Word, and when we cooperate with His Word, life cooperates with us. Our Heavenly Father didn’t make this complicated. He has empowered us to transform our minds and hearts so that they duplicate the mind and heart of Christ. God tells us in Romans 12:2 that we should not allow ourselves to be conformed to the world and its standards, because the world and its standards allow satan to steal the blessings that He wants to give us. Our Heavenly Father warns us in Proverbs 4:23(NLT) to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” To guard our hearts is to renew our minds to God’s Word. It’s to keep the world’s negativity out of hearts and minds so that we do not fall prey to the devil’s tricks and plots against us.
So many of us miss this. The world teaches us that other people, things, and circumstances control our existences. Jesus Christ taught us in John 8:12(NLT), “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” Our precious Lord and Savior is the true light, and all who love him live in his light. We are in this world to carry forth his ministry of love and life, so we are in the world but not of the world.
1John 2:15(ESV) says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” We must not love immorality or anything else that God does not love, because we belong to Him. We are His children, and we are members of His Kingdom. Jesus told the disciples in John 15:19 that if they were a part of this dark world, the world would love them because they would be one of them, but because we, as disciples of Christ, are not a part of the world, the world wants nothing to do with us. I don’t know about you, but I’m just fine with this. We should all be so thankful that God has set us apart as His very own. He will keep us in His protection and care if we are faithful to keep His Word.
The world looks to enslave us by making us think and respond to it continuously. It’s not news that the devil is busy, causing all kinds of evil, wickedness, and mayhem in the world. If we’re easily distracted by all this, we will fall prey to the enemy’s plan to keep us from focusing on our relationship with God. We must pray for discernment and wisdom so that we recognize what’s happening. Our Heavenly Father commands us to remain focused on His Word and have faith in Him so we can live free. God teaches us to step outside the world system and to remember who He has made us in Christ. We are called to live a spiritual life, which again means we are in the world, but we are not of the world.
God tells us in Galatians 5:1(MSG), “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” We are here to have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and to live through him. Our lives do not belong to us, they belong to God. He has set us free through Jesus Christ to live a bountiful and blessed existence, and we should keep our heads always in the higher place of His love and light. The world is enslaved by satan and doesn’t know it. 2Corinthians 4:4 tells us that satan is the god of this world and has blinded the minds of people so that they will not believe and have faith in God. Our Heavenly Father wants us to wake up and recognize that the mind is the battlefield of life. It’s the place where we either decide to have faith in Him and to be free through Christ, or we can decide to remain asleep. The choice is up to us.
1Timothy 2:4(ESV) tells us that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is a two-pronged plan, first to give us salvation through Jesus Christ so that we are born of God’s Spirit, and to free our minds so that we can rejoice and live in the full knowledge of His truth. We must renew our minds to God’s Word so that we know who we are, where we are, and what we’re supposed to be doing. We were created to be like Christ, to have his mind and exercise his power, authority, and love in the earth. This is the Will of God for us, and He’s given us everything we need to live it abundantly in Christ.■
English Standard Version
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“A Renewed Mind is the Mind of Christ”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.