*.......Our Greatest Challenge....Thinking God Thoughts
I think perhaps, that when God invites us to sit in heavenly places, it’s so that we can be so removed from everything in this life, that we can begin to think as He thinks... to allow our thoughts to be overridden by how God sees things and desires them to be....
*........Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith 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”.
One of the gifts and functions of the Holy Spirit is to allow God knowledge and wisdom to flow and operate through each believer. The purpose is to move us into the level of His ways and His thoughts.
*........James 3:17 “The wisdom from above is first of all pure, and peaceful, courteous, not self-willed, full of compassion and kind actions, and free from favoritism and all insincerity”.,
*........This and many other scriptures challenge every Christian to strive and be open to think as God thinks. Our daily prayer and goal is to ask that the Spirit of God give to us that illumination and insight!
Thoughts lead to actions, and as we seek to be elevated to God’s thoughts, we begin to enter into God’s ways....and what a view we have from there...
*........I’m sure you know that if you strike a tuning fork, and it begins vibrating at a certain frequency, it produces a sound which is the pitch of that frequency.
*.......If you put another tuning fork next to it, that tuning fork will begin to vibrate at the same frequency and produce sound, like the first.
So, like the tuning fork, we must have a close relationship, and be in close proximity for God’s thoughts and God’s ways to transfer through us and cause us to move in harmony with Himand produce His sound.
For the second tuning fork to vibrate in the same frequency as the first, it must be similar to the first, or in the likeness of the first. Likewise, we must yield ourselves to God’s Spirit, and allow our minds and our hearts to come into harmony with Him and be formed in His likeness, to begin to operate in His thoughts and His ways.
*........Romans 6:13 “Do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”
This means to each of us, that at the moment of salvation, arethe recipients of the miracle of becoming a new creature in Christ, our slate of sin wiped clean, and we become partakers of His holiness, but we also begin a process of being conformed into His image, and His likeness.
*........Our Spirit experiences that immediately, but our minds must be renewed by being immersed in the word of God. His Spirit transforms our Spirit, but we must make the choice to have our minds renewed. We have to keep doing this because our minds want to revert back to old patterns and old ways....Read God’s word and then take time to let Him speak it into your spirit.....
*.........Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And He (Holy Spirit) that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He (Holy Spirit) makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
*........Also look at...Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”
This scripture begins with the word “Let” which is an action verb, and means this is something we must act on and choose every day....
The word of God is the language of God which we as believers choose to speak. So if we as followers of Christ want the thoughts of God, we must choose to be saturated with and speak in the language of God, which is the word of God. And the language of God will bring us into harmony with the ways of God, for His ways are not our ways.
If the devil throws you a punch, only the word will come out!!
*........Look at one instance where Jesus is teaching Peter to think in the language of God, and at the moment, it is beyondPeter’s ability to think and act in that way, but the word is going into his spirit. *.............In Matthew 18:21-35, Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered Peter, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” While Peter thought seven times would be more than enough, Jesus told Peter to forgive so much that you would lose count of how many times you had forgiven. In other words, Jesus told Peter to be like the Father, to make his thoughts and ways like God’s by practicing abundant forgiveness. Now it was up to Peter to choose God’s thoughts and God’s ways, or continue in his thoughts and his ways.
*......My daughter Karen, saw a moving truck with “Sala” on the side and liked the sound, so she would go around saying “Oh, Sala”.... well we found out that Sala is the Hebrew word for God’s forgiveness. It means *.........(to remove every trace). According to the Lexicon of the Old Testament, the only individual in the Old Testament that is capable of this level of forgive, is God. This means that it is only God’s Spirit that can allow us to forgive God’s way, by thinking God’s higher thoughts than our thoughts.
*........The word “salah” occurs 50 times in the Old Testament, and that’s significant, because the number 50 is the year of Jubilee. In the 50th year, all debts were completely forgiven and liberty proclaimed to everyone..
*.........Leviticus 25:10 “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.” Oh, Man, forgiveness is a huge celebration that God commanded... Perhaps we don’t celebrate forgiveness as we should!
Look at something else here....while we’re on the topic....
*.......Romans 8:28 says it well (you all know it)... let’s say it together....
“And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love him, who have been the called according to his purposes”.
That word “All”, covers a lot of territory, a lot of circumstances, a lot of obstacles, a lot of storms, a lot of persecution, a lot of contrary purposes, a lot of sickness and disease, and a lot of opposing people, as well as principalities, and powers, and rulers of darkness in high places....
That means God can get you to where He wants you to be, from right where you’ve been, where you are now, and where you’re going.... which means He’s the same yesterday, today and forever, like He said....
It means He is able to take what Satan meant for evil and turn it for good, it means He doesn’t need to check with the doctor, the psychiatrist, the banker, the city council, your boss, or your calendar, when He gets ready to accomplish His purposes! He makes a way where there is no way!!
*........Joni Erickson Tada, an inspirational speaker, author, and singer, is a quadriplegic who has been confined to a wheelchair for more than 40 years. I’ll just quote what she says.... “God will work through what he hates in order to accomplish what He loves.” All things may not be good but God can use them to work out for good!
Joni’s life and ministry are a stunning testimony of how God can use a tragedy like a paralyzing diving accident to position one woman that has impacted the lives of millions. *.........The challenge is, to put pressure on the problem until it proclaims God’s purpose… To put demands on the difficulty until it declares God’s desireand design… *........A surfer has learned to put demands on the difficulty, and harness and ride upon the very thing that has the power to overwhelm and crush him….He has learned to put a demand upon the wave and use it’s force to propel him forward….You may have been knocked down, but you can choose to get back on that wave and ride it to where God wants to take you.....God said that You shall be above and not beneath, you shall be the head and not the tail, if you follow the voice of God within you which comes by the Holy Spirit.
*.......John 16:30 says, “The Spirit will guide you into all truth.” So even if I don’t have a definite answer and a clear direction, I can trust that the Holy Spirit in me, is coordinating with the Father, to provide what I need, in order to make any decision that needs to be made with clarity and a steadfast, trusting heart, that knows, “God’s got THIS”!!!.
*....... You may feel like you’re trying to put the puzzle of your life together with a blind fold on......You want to know God’s will for you in the mess you’re in, in the trouble with a capital “T”, that you’re facing. Get ready, now, cause this is life changing, and it will launch you into higher thinking and move you into God’s higher way!!!
*.........1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus!!” ......
Why, because it changes the atmosphere and creates an atmosphere for the miraculous to take place....It will keep you on the right path, from earth to glory.... It will keep you in God’s purposes, and you’ll land right in the middle of His very best that He has planned for you!!
Rejoice. Pray. Give thanks. These three actions will cast aside all the distractions, clear all the debris and road blocks off of the path to your destiny! It will break through the gloom and despair, the doubt and unbelief, and keep you on the King’s highway!!!
So, are we going to believe God, or believe the problem.... *.........that’s like believing that chickens have lips! Because some of the things Satan has us believing are about as crazy as chickens with lips..... They have no validation, and it takes more faith to believe that, than it does to believe the God of miracles. *.........Go ahead, break the power of all the what-ifs that fill up your mind.... Be seated above the thoughts of the 5 family members before you, who died with the same thing you are struggling with now.... Take your place above the words of the sister who said, “yeah, I had that and all my life has been miserable every since!
*.........REJOICE, GIVE THANKS, PRAISE HIM!
His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts!
“Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God. Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon His word.
*........I remember when we left Key West at the End of 1989, during our 3months, between churches, which is what God told us, with no income, and no idea of where we would end up, we never missed a meal. Our family had a place to live, our needs were met, and we had friends who surrounded and supported us through it all. God works in ways we do not know. And we don’t need to worry about how it will all work out, we only need to trust God through it all. You see before we left, God had given us a prophetic blueprint and we never consulted with any man...As we drove out of Key West, God showed me a 3 bedroom parsonage, tri-level ranch, brick and aluminum siding, with a den on the first floor with a big fireplace, a kitchen, dining and living room on the 2nd floor, and bedrooms upstairs. A big yard on a cull-de-sack.. and a big bay view window in front.....all we needed to do is be faithful.... And He caused all things to work together for good.....It was the house we lived in during our time at First Assembly inRichmond....
*.........Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.
When the enemy is saying you’ll never win, God’s ways are higher than our ways....When your own mind is reeling and nothing makes sense, God’s ways are higher than our ways....When everyone walks away and you’re standing there all alone.....God’s ways are higher than our ways...
SO, KEEP ON REJOICING, KEEP ON GIVING THANKS, AND KEEP ON PRAISING HIM!
*.......In Deuteronomy 20:3, it says “…today you are going into battle… Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic… 4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you.. to give you victory."
If it were all up to us, we’d have every reason to be skeptical, every cause to grow disheartened and we might have reason forthoughts of defeat and retreat. But the last time I checked, we were still the people of God, members of His body in Christ,Jesus is our head, and this is still His church, grounded in and upheld by His Word.
*........As the Apostle Paul encountered the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, we see the Lord revealing purpose and vision to Paul. In Paul’s personal testimony to King Agrippa, he said the following is what happened in his encounter with Christ....
*......Acts 26:16 – Jesus said, “….rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.”
Jesus told Paul that he was created so that he could be made a minister of the gospel. This “being made” involves a process. Through a process of time, God began to reveal things to Paulby His Spirit. Transformation began to take place on the inside of Paul’s mind, will and emotions. The religiosity and traditions of men were broken off as the Holy Spirit brought revelation knowledge to Paul. The revelation that he received from God became His message to the Gentiles.
God has not called us to preach what we do not know. He has called us to preach that which has become revelation to us by His Spirit. What we preach must be worked out in us as it comesto us from the heart of God. Now, that will touch hearts and lives.
Through all that Paul experienced, he depended on God’s higher thoughts and His higher ways. God desires to minister His purpose and vision to each of us, so we can experience His higher call in our lives.
*.......God is the potter, I am the clay. He made me and redeemed me, so He owns me twice. As the maker, He owns my body and my Spirit and soul. I will have to face Him with what I did with it... He has the right to do whatever He wants with me. He is not obligated to me in any way to make me the way I might prefer. He created me unique and wants one thing from me, that I give Him pleasure in being who He made me to be. He has one primary reason (and chief end) in my creation and redemption: that I give Him glory and honor, worship and praise.
AW Pink said: "God claims all the rights in the end." I agree. It's already written - just read Revelation. It's been laid out and determined. God knows how it will end. That's how in-control God is. But think of this... God has your today and your tomorrow written out, just as clearly in black and white as He does the end time, it's just not been revealed to you yet! It’s all headed your way, if you Just keep going forward, and all things will work out for good!
Don’t get so caught up with the questions, like why does God allow Christians to suffer? Why does God allow evil to triumph? Why do good people die too soon? .... That you miss the truth that “His thoughts are above our thoughts and His ways above our ways...”
*......I used to know a lot about how other parents aught to be raising their kids, until I started raising kids of my own.... And I discovered that I had a lot to learn!
I thought I knew a lot about other people’s marriages, and I thought I knew enough to teach them about how to have a great marriage, until I got married, and found out how much I had to learn!! *....If you will choose to transform your mind, God will transform your life
The Holy Spirit is challenging all of us, to move on up to a higher level, and watch all things work out for good with God’s higher ways...!
*.......Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world’s thinking, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.
*.......And last of all.....Proverbs 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.
*.........Closing Prayer....Heavenly Father, we come into agreement in the wonderful and powerful Name of Jesus Christ, that where two or more are gathered there You’ll be in the midst of us and anything we agree upon as touching Your will You will surely do it. We come into agreement for all who desire to move to a higher level of commitment with You. As we pray, we know that there are things in our life that have to take less priority and some that have to go entirely. Things that need to be realigned with Your thoughts and Your way in our lives. Our heart and spirit is open before You. *........Father, We are leaning into You completely, until each task in our purpose on earth is completed. We decree and declare that regardless of the opposition, we will stand our ground until the victory is won in Christ. Holy Spirit we ask for you to give us clear thinking, to separate the truth that you are calling us to do, from the lies of the enemy. Help us to stay close to you so we may easily recognize your voice. Give us the strength and peace that only You can give. Extend Your healing power into every area of our lives. *.........Wereceive Your Spirit of freedom and declare that when the Son sets us free, we are free indeed. We pray that we can share the love of Jesus with those around us and may the lies and the schemes of the enemy fail, and not prevail. Lord, we lift before You all those who don’t know you, we pray you would bring many into their lives that can present truth to their hearts and hope for their souls. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen
*........In closing, let me ask, if there are any who need special prayer, I’ll ask you to come forward and ask those who wish to do so, to come and join with them as we pray together.....
