Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Romans 12:2
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 and perfect will of God.
Paraphrase - “Do not embrace the culture, values and traditions of this world, instead be continually transformed as you renew your mind and embrace the mind of Christ. As a believer with a renewed mind, you will receive God’s best and demonstrate the perfect will of God in your life.”
Romans 12:2 (TPT) - “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.”
Romans 12:2 is talking about transforming the entire operating system of your mind… what you know, what you believe, how you reason things out, and how you come to conclusions. Your reasoning can be fully based on ‘worldly logic’, it can be fully based upon ‘the New Covenant Word of God’, or it can operate on a mix of ‘world and Word’… the ‘world +Word’ mindset is probably the most dangerous mindset that a believer can have… it is not based upon a total lie, but is based upon deception… deception is partial truth that leads to complete error. As believers, our reasoning needs to be totally based upon the New Covenant Word… the mind of Christ… a mind of faith, and a mind that is in tune with the promptings of the Holy Spirit!
YOUR MIND IS THE PART OF YOU THAT DISCERNS AND THEN DECIDES WHAT TO EMBRACE, WHAT TO REJECT AND WHAT TO DO.
YOUR MIND IS THE UMPIRE THAT LISTENS TO YOUR SPIRIT, YOUR EMOTIONS, YOUR DESIRES AND YOUR LOGIC, AND THEN MAKES THE CALL…
IF YOUR MIND IS NOT RENEWED, IT’S LOGIC WILL OVERRIDE THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT AND THE WORD, AND YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE GOD’S BEST AND YOU WILL NOT CHOOSE THE WILL OF GOD.
THE MIND OF CHRIST RECEIVES REVELATION, THE MIND OF CHRIST DISCERNS, THE MIND OF CHRIST IS WORD DRIVEN, NOT CIRCUMSTANCE DRIVEN… (IT IS CONSTANTLY PULLING UP SCRIPTURES AND REFERENCING THEM TO DEFINE YOUR CURRENT REALITY.)
The mind of the flesh is programmed by the world, and by the culture of this world, which has been deceived by the devil and the powers of darkness. It cannot receive the realities revealed in the Word of God. The mind of the flesh, or the unrenewed mind comes to wrong conclusions, it’s reasoning process is flawed and it’s ability to discern is flawed. Worldly rationale defines truth based upon human experience and research that is based upon limited insight at best. It generally does not take anything spiritual into account and is therefore pre-disposed to deception.
The renewed mind is ‘Word based’, not ‘world based’ and acknowledges that God knows the end from the beginning, has created everything that has been created, that He is actively working all things together for our good, that the Spirit leads us to all true prosperity and success, and that living by faith in Jesus, according to the Word, as led by the Spirit is the true path to life. The renewed mind is a totally transformed operating system that knows that the spirit world is real, and knows how to discern the Holy Spirit’s leading, and the true life application of the New Covenant Word… it also is able to discern darkness, spiritual deception, and counterfeit spirits that present themselves as angels of light, but are in reality devils of darkness… being able to discern spiritual things is vitally important, and only a transformed mind of Christ can do it.
I recently had a conversation with a pastor that leads a large ministry. I asked him if he had received the c-19 vaccine… he replied, “yes I have, you see, I have weak lungs and am pre-disposed to c-19… in addition, I travel a lot, and I don’t like standing in long lines at the airport, so I got the vaccination.” I said, “did you pray about it, or did the Holy Spirit lead you?” He said, “I have weak lungs and am pre-disposed to c-19… in addition, I travel a lot, and I don’t like standing in long lines at the airport, so I got the vaccination.” I asked him again, and he gave a similar answer…
Now, I am not really talking about the vaccine at all, I am talking about HOW we decide things, and WHAT we base our decisions on! Hear my heart… I am only using this as an example, I am not voicing a medical, or scriptural opinion about the c-19 vaccine… what I am teaching, is that to their demise, many believers are making decisions, not with a renewed mind, based upon the leading of the Spirit and the Word of God, but based upon the current world view, fear, pressure, or secular peer pressure. This pastor is full of the Word, but his choices seem to be based on a mixture of worldly logic, fear, convenience, his specific situation, as well as knowledge gained from society at large.
I am sure that he has preached many messages on the renewing of the mind and being Spirit led, yet he demonstrated in his answer to me (at least in this instance) that when it comes to every day living, he is on a different operating system to me… if I am going to do something, I have determined to be Spirit led, Word led, and faith powered, not pressured, circumstance influenced, or fear driven. I am not critical towards him, I am compassionate, but here is the thing… if church leaders are functioning on a worldly operational system in their thinking, leading to their choices in life, while preaching the Word… then scripture remains a boxed religious belief, and never translates into every day living… this leads to continual toxic choices that open the door to unneeded pain and suffering.
An unrenewed mind is condition, programmed and educated based upon the views, attitudes, standards, values and collective opinions of society at large… we are all surrounded and inundated by it, and unless we make a decisive decision to follow Jesus and His teachings, His values, His attitude and His ways with renewed mind, the promises of His kingdom will be out of reach!
HOW TO RENEW YOUR MIND THROUGH SCRIPTURAL MEDITATION
The renewing of the mind is a process that believers enter into as they are coached and trained by Jesus, through the Holy Spirit… Jesus takes us through a total reformational, transformational process, where He transforms the entire operating system of our minds.
This transformational process involves ‘washing’ out the old corrupt deception based information, ‘reprogramming’ our minds with the ‘absolute truth’ of the Word according to the New Covenant, and then activating our new minds to receive revelation and to live by faith according to the Word.
WASHING AND REPROGRAMMING
Ephesians 5:25-26 “…Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word.”
Joshua 1:8 - “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.”
As you continually meditate upon the Word, study it, declare it out loud, pray it, and seek revelation on it, the living Word will begin to wash out the old deceptive concepts, values, ideas and observations, and then instill and impart new revelation and truth… new values, ideas, concepts , attitudes and viewpoints… by the POWER of the Holy Spirit, a total new operating system will be imparted… this ‘new system’ will transform your whole life!
ACTIVATING
Hebrews 4:3 (TPT) - “For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest!”
ONCE YOUR MIND HAS BEEN REPROGRAMMED, ACTIVATE THE REVELATION BY APPLYING WHAT YOU KNOW AS YOU STEP OUT IN FAITH AND DO IT! DOING WHAT YOU KNOW BY FAITH ACTIVATES THE TRUTH THAT HAS BEEN IMPARTED!
Blessings on you, in His amazing love, Nick
