Sunday Message Summary, 22 October 2023
The things that we ask from GOD, and the things that we believe GOD for are determined by our thoughts (i.e. what we are able to think up in our minds). Ephesians 3:20 NKJV – “Now to Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,” – read with Isaiah 55:8-9 – “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, said 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.” – tell us precisely how far above removed GOD’s thoughts and ways of doing things are from ours. There is clearly a massive disproportion, disparity, and imbalance between what we ask of GOD and what we believe GOD for versus what GOD can do or deliver. The Scriptures tell us that GOD is infinitely above all that we can come up with in our minds.
This means that in almost all circumstances, we under-ask from GOD and we under-think what GOD can do for us; And why is that? The answer is simply that it is a symptomatic characteristic of the human mind to reduce – the human mind can never comprehend, fathom, process, or compute “the exceedingly abundantly” into a relatable quantifiable concept and thus reduces it. We set the boundary (and thereby set a limit) on what we ask from GOD because we ask GOD according to what we think is possible, not according to what GOD says is possible. This is insulting to GOD because as believers we should know that our lack of faith (and unbelief) limits GOD. The disparity, that causes us to under-ask and under-think what GOD can do, puts us in situations where we miss out on what GOD has promised because “so as a man thinketh, so he is”. The enemy of faith is the mind, an unrenewed mind.
A renewal of the mind (a transformation of the way we think) must happen for us to fully understand and possess the promises of GOD and the will of GOD for us [Romans 12:2]. An unrenewed mind is carnal, fleshly, and worldly [Romans 8:7], and it is the enemy of GOD as it is hostile to and resists the things of GOD, it resists GOD. The spiritual realm knows no limitations; limitation exists only in the mind of a believer. Mark 11:24 illustrates how our faith is connected to the mind, and we are prompted to ask ourselves – Firstly, do I believe GOD for whatever things (all things) or does my mind rationalize what I ask from GOD? Secondly, since I am the one doing the praying, am I determining and limiting the extent of what I ask from GOD according to what I pray for? And lastly, since prayer and faith are personal and intimate, what am I asking GOD for and am I believing GOD for it?
GOD has unlimited us in what we can ask when we pray and believe Him for it, but the mind always gets in the way because the mind is limited to the senses, to what it knows, and to its own experiences. The mind clearly does not comprehend the things of GOD because if it did, we would ask GOD accordingly. A renewal of the mind means that the mind is opened up to and re-educated on the spiritual truths, spiritual realities, and spiritual landscapes it has never known. When the mind is opened up to see what is there in the spirit, it becomes receptive to the ways of GOD. A renewed mind will be able to assimilate (integrate) the spiritual truths and realities into our way of thinking so that we can manifest the perfect will, purpose, and plan of GOD for our lives according to Romans 12:2. This will not happen any other way, and the renewing of the mind is not an event, it is a process. A renewed mind sees in the spirit and will surely possess what it sees.
The things of GOD and the Holy Spirit are not natural, recognizable, or understandable to the mind and as a result the mind readily rejects them. The mind will actively sabotage you whenever you try to believe GOD for anything because faith is unnatural to the mind. This is why Peter sank into the water, after walking on it. His mind kicked in when he saw the strong winds and the waves and he became afraid. At that moment, Peter moved from the supernatural to the natural when his mind (the flesh) intercepted his faith (the spiritual), and his fear set in [Matthew 14:28-31] – this is exactly what happens to us as well. Much like Peter, we also become afraid to walk by faith when the flesh kicks in and we begin to rely on reason and thereby abort the miracle that GOD had begun in our lives.
Faith always poses a challenge to the mind because it requires you to step into the unfamiliar and the mind always resists the unfamiliar. When faith takes you out of the familiar, the mind will fight you to take you out of your faith (the unfamiliar) back into the familiar because faith is abnormal to the mind – except when that mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit and acclimatized to the unfamiliar. Likewise, the actions of a faith-driven person come across as eccentric to the unrenewed mind.
Faith always requires patient endurance and persistence from you when you attempt to do the supernatural, because from the point when you begin to believe GOD for something until you receive it, that place in between is where and when the enemy attacks you by sowing doubt, fear, and anxiety into your faith through the mind. The attack is intended to make you reason yourself out of what you believe GOD for. That place in between is where and when your faith will be tested, it is unavoidable. And it is when we are in that place and time that we need to be like the woman who bled for 12 years in our stance – we can also defy the mind in the same way that “she said to herself” despite all the cacophony and noise, inside her mind and all around her, telling her of all the reasons why she should not believe that her healing was in her touching the fringe of Jesus’ garment [Matthew 9:20-21 NKJV]. If we can think ourselves out of a miracle, we can just as well think ourselves into a miracle that we are believing GOD for. We need to make a conscious decision to believe and to persistently keep our faith intact, silencing and defying anything in the mind that would detract us from our faith.
When faith takes you out of the familiar, the mind will fight you to take you out of your faith (the unfamiliar) back into the familiar because faith is abnormal to the mind – except when that mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit and is acclimatized to the unfamiliar
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