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A RENEWAL OF OUR MINDS

The average brain weighs about three pounds. It contains about 12 billion cells. Each one of these cells is connected to 10,000 other brain cells, totalling 120 trillion brain connections. Dr. Duane Gish has observed that “the human brain is the most complex arrangement of matter in the universe.” Some have compared the brain to a sophisticated computer, but technology still has a long way to go before it can duplicate the brain’s capabilities. The brain is not only the most complex mechanism in the world; it is the most influential organ in your body. It accounts for your ability to think, remember, love, hate, feel, reason, imagine and analyze. Everything we see, hear, touch and smell is recorded on the lobes of the brain. Your brain elevates you high above the animal kingdom; it literally sustains your life. If you are brain dead, you are dead because the brain supervises everything you do from the involuntary beat of your heart to the conscious decisions of daily life. It also houses your intuition, your conscience and your sexuality. It both houses and actually constitutes the mind. Proverbs 23:7 summarizes so well the over-arching significance of the mind as far as YHVH is concerned in this poetic declaration: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he….” We may rightly conclude that the human mind is the single most important entity in Creation for as it goes, so goes the person and the society in which he or she lives. Who and what we will be then must have its origin and sustenance in the mind. What we sanction or suppress mentally determines whether we take the high road less travelled or the low road which is far more popular. The degree to which we attain the mind of Moshiach will determine the quality of life we enjoy as well as the eternity we will experience. When we train our minds to become like the mind of Moshiach Himself we will find ourselves well on the way to personal renewal, because we will begin to think, act and do things like Yeshua Himself. “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 YHVH.” (Romans 12:2) The point of this is simple; the pattern of conformity to the world is broken and a person’s life is transformed only if and when the mind is renewed. Whether this renewal of the mind will take place depends upon our daily mental discipline. Unquestionably and repeatedly the thought life is identified in Scripture as the very source of godliness or worldliness; holiness or unholiness. Our thinking may be dominated by Ruach HaKodesh or the evil one. We make the determination, we give the permission and we exercise the control. Our thought life is the real battleground and it is in our thinking that the most basic spiritual struggle takes place. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, the government of the mind is the condition which brings about spiritual transformation at the deepest level of a person’s being and determines whether we are holy and pleasing to YHVH. There are two basic areas that we need to really concentrate on, so that we can truly experience personal renewal.

1.) THE GOAL: TO OBTAIN THE MIND OF MOSHIACH:

We have read about personal renewal through Ruach HaKodesh and through Vision; now is the clincher, if I am going to be thoroughly and completed renewed, my mind must be like Moshiach’s mind. I want to spend the rest of my life developing the mind of Yeshua Moshiach. There are three things I need to do continuously for that to happen:

A.) I NEED TO KNOW MOSHIACH: When Paul writes to the Corinthian church He mentions the deep secrets of YHVH and quotes the prophets to show that no one can really know the depths of YHVH’s mind, yet there is one exception to this rule; those who have the Spirit of YHVH can understand the mind of YHVH. He puts it like this: “For who hath known the mind of Adonai, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Moshiach.” (1 Corinthians 2:16) This “mind of Moshiach” that Paul talks about is able to discern the things that YHVH Himself is thinking. This, to me, is one of the most astounding statements in the Scriptures; that I, a mere human being, have the ability to understand what YHVH is thinking. This promise is not made to just anyone, but only to those that know Moshiach through the indwelling of Ruach HaKodesh. In fact, just a couple verses earlier Paul stated this: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of YHVH: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) While the concept here is profound, my point is very simple; to possess the mind of Moshiach we begin by knowing Moshiach through the salvation experience. If you are a Moshiach follower you can have the mind of Moshiach.

B.) I NEED TO SURRENDER CONTROL: I have been mentioning this control issue frequently. And that is because I know this is probably the biggest hindrance to most of the believers experiencing personal renewal. We allow many things to control us; sin, our schedules, our friends, our culture, but for some reason we have trouble allowing YHVH to control us. If we just cut to the chase here, we need to recognize that someone or something is going to control our minds and it is up to us to decide who or what it will be. There are really only two choices: our sinful nature or YHVH! “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6) Notice the contrast here; it is between the sinful nature and Ruach HaKodesh. The first leads to spiritual death and the second to life and peace. Until I surrender control of my mind over to Ruach HaKodesh I will not be able to possess the mind of Moshiach in all of its fullness. This mind of Moshiach that the Bible talks about is something that seems to move in and out of our possession in varying degrees. Let me put it this way: When I am fully surrendered to YHVH I am able to discern His will and His way with clarity and precision. When I am not fully surrendered to YHVH, the things of YHVH are no longer clear to me and I am not able to understand His will for my life and might even begin questioning YHVH’s intentions for me and the world in which I live. Many of us live life trying to live right dab in the centre of this. We allow our sinful nature to control us most of the week and let YHVH take over on Shabbat or when we are at some type of worshipping function. But I cannot hope to obtain and continuously possess the mind of Yeshua Moshiach on a part-time basis; if that is the case I will always be torn between having my way and letting YHVH have His way. YHVH cannot bless us unless He has us. When we try to keep within us an area that is our own, we try to keep an area of death. Therefore, in love, He claims all. There is no bargaining with Him. If I am going to exist in the heavenly realms, thinking heavenly thoughts and being able to discern the heavenly mind of YHVH, I must give up the sinful nature which is controlling me. I do that, when I let go and let YHVH take over.

C.) I NEED TO WAGE WAR WITH EVIL: Some in our modern culture have trouble accepting the fact that there really is a satan and that there really is a demonic army that exists in the unseen world. I even hear believers sometimes making light of these things as if they are too sophisticated to take such a view of the supernatural world. Those who deny these beings exist, are the most vulnerable to their attacks. The most volatile battle zone in which Satan wages war is the battlefield of the mind; the last thing that he wants is for us to possess the mind of Yeshua Moshiach. He attacks us through images that make us lust for sex, power and money; he attacks us through words that cause us to doubt our YHVH Elohiym we worship; he attacks us through circumstances that leave us vulnerable and weak and sometimes his attacks are successful and cause us to give in to his purposes. “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank YHVH through Yeshua Moshiach our Adonai. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of YHVH; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:23-25) Paul describes his internal struggle as a “war with my mind.” It is a war that we are all too familiar with but what can we do? How can we overcome? How can we win when Satan is bombarding us? Let me give you a simple strategy: when a sexual image, lust or greed of some kind enters into your mind, do not give in for even five seconds before mounting a counterattack with the mind. I mean that! Five seconds! In the first two seconds we shout, "No! Get out of my head!" In the next two seconds we cry out: "O YHVH, in the Name of Yeshua, help me. Save me now. I am yours." Good beginning but then the real battle begins. This is a mind war. The absolute necessity is to get the image and the impulse out of our mind. How? Get a counter-image into the mind: Fight, Push, Strike and do not ease up. It must be an image that is so powerful that the other image cannot survive. For example, have you ever in the first five seconds of temptation, demanded of your mind that it look steadfastly at the crucified form of Yeshua Moshiach? I am going to use an example here with men in mind, but you women can apply your own areas of mind attack in its place. Men, let us say you have just seen a see-through blouse inviting further fantasy. You have five seconds. "No! Get out of my mind! YHVH help me!" Now, immediately, demand of your mind, (you can do this by the Spirit) demand of your mind to fix its gaze on Moshiach on the cross. Use all your fantasizing power to see His lacerated back. Thirty-nine lashes left little flesh intact. He heaves with His breath up and down against the rough vertical beam of the cross. Each breath puts splinters into the lacerations. Adonai gasps, from time to time He screams out with intolerable pain. He tries to pull away from the wood and the massive spikes through His wrist rip into the nerve endings and He screams again with agony and pushes up with His feet to give some relief to His wrists. But the bones and nerves in His pierced feet crush against each other with anguish and He screams again. There is no relief; His throat is raw from screaming and thirst. He loses His breath and thinks He is suffocating and suddenly His body involuntarily gasps for air and all the injuries unite in pain. In torment, He forgets about the crown of two-inch thorns and throws His head back in desperation, only to hit one of the thorns perpendicular against the cross beam and drive it half an inch into His skull. His voice reaches a soprano pitch of pain and sobs break over His pain-wracked body as every cry brings more and more pain. Now, I am not thinking about the blouse any more, I am at Calvary. And I am winning the spiritual battle because through YHVH’s help I have replaced the sinful image in my mind, with the image of the one who defeated sin on my behalf.

2.) THE OUTCOME: PERSONAL RENEWAL:

This is what I have been writing about; when we are filled with Ruach HaKodesh and we are in agreement with YHVH’s Vision and are in possession of the Mind of Moshiach, we will experience personal renewal at a level we have never even imagined before. And what is the result? Three things I am going to write you in short:

A.) SATAN IS DEFEATED: Through personal renewal, relying on YHVH’s power, I can completely and utterly destroy the work of Satan in my life. That does not mean I will not be tempted, but the temptation will not be given into because I am now experiencing something much greater than anything Satan has to offer me.

B.) GUILT IS REMOVED: “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” (Psalm 19:13) How would it feel to go through life with absolutely no guilt on your conscience? We can know exactly what it feels like when we have been renewed. YHVH promises us that not only will every sin be wiped from our record, but that the guilt will go out the door right along with it.

C.) YHVH’S WILL IS DISCERNED: The closer I walk with YHVH, the more I know YHVH, the more I know YHVH, the better I understand YHVH, the better I understand YHVH, the more I think like YHVH and the more I think like YHVH, the more able I am to discern His will. With the mind of our Moshiach, I am free to be the person YHVH created me to be!

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