Renewing of the Mind

[joannbkkpr]

RENEWING OF THE MIND
A Mindset Book For Spiritual Warfare And Victorious Living
By Lynn R. Davis

“Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2: 4)
Ever feel like your faith is failing or not working? I can relate. From the age of three until age 18, I spent practically every day in church. But, when I left home for college, even with all of that churching, it still took a while for me to understand the significant difference between living by faith and living by going to church. I was going through the religious motions, but my mind wasn’t renewed. To live by faith we must possess a particular mindset. I will refer this frame of mind as the faith mindset. This state of mind not only believes all things are possible through Christ, it knows it without a doubt.

Living by faith goes beyond your daily religious activities and church affiliations. There has to be a mind and body spiritual connection. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the physical activity that we neglect the mental piece, but a faith mindset is the glue that will keep you from falling apart in a spiritual battle. We can’t just memorize scripture, we have to believe it. We can’t just go to church, we have to be the church. Being requires believing and that means you have to adopt the mind of Christ. Even after I’d spent hours in church, I still hated my life. I was still stressed and depressed to the point of tears. See, I’d lifted my hands in worship. I’d taken notes during the sermon, but I had not changed my mind about what I was going through. I was bitter, blaming, and resentful. In my mind, I had every right to be all those things and more. My marriage had ended. My mom had just died and in my mind life sucked. I was a victim of life. I’d gotten a raw deal. That was my mentality. My praise came from the perspective of a victim. My prayers were from the perspective of a victim. I’m here to tell you, if you are still thinking from the perspective of a victim and have not yet adopted a faith mindset about what you are facing, you are not living by faith. You are instead living by fear. Fear today produces more fear tomorrow. Worry today produces a harvest of more worry in the future. Feeling like a victim today, sets you up for a harvest of being victimized down the line. You know the saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink? Well, all the books and sermons in the world were leading me to faithful living, but because I didn’t deliberately change my thinking, I was just standing there, staring at healing waters, choosing to be powerless. What if the blind man had just sat down in front of the pool of Siloam and never washed the clay from his eyes as Jesus instructed? He’d still be blind. Jesus directed him toward his breakthrough, but it was up to him to do the rest. He had to do his part. He had to have a faith mindset. Many of us are still blind in the area of faith because we’ve only done part of what the Word instructs. We’re consistently angry, frustrated, and doubtful. We are going to church, serving in groups, but we haven’t developed our minds or changed our thinking. Then we wonder why we still feel blind in certain areas of our lives. God has placed men, women, and ministries in our lives to help direct us, but that’s all they can do. The rest is up to us. We have to take the steps to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We have to develop and practice a faith mindset. Thankfully, after years of grace, mercy, and spiritual growth, I’ve grown spiritually and developed a faithful mindset. I still have problems arise, but they don’t overtake me. I learned to do my part. It wasn’t enough to hear the Word. I had to become a doer also.
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. But be ye doers of the word” (James 1: 22)

I am writing this in hopes that it will strengthen you. Perhaps something in this brief book will strike a chord with you and change your faith life forever.

“But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22: 32)

I don’t want your faith to fail. Faith works. It really does. People can doubt it, deny it; try to dispute it, but I’m too far gone to believe otherwise. Too many Scratch-my-head and throw-up-my-hands circumstances have been worked out in my life and the lives of those I love for me to have any doubts about the power of faith and its ability to move mountains. My Assumptions As I write, I am assuming: (1) you are a saved Spirit-filled believer. (2) You believe in the power of faith and prayer (3) you believe God has given you the power to be victorious and (4) your heart’s desire is to be a spiritual warrior. I don’t want to take number 1 for granted though. Romans 10: 9-10 says, “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” If you are reading this and you desire to live by faith, take this opportunity to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Say this prayer: Dear Lord, I repent for my sins. I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you are the son of God and you died on the cross to save me. I ask you to take control of my life. Come into my heart. I receive you now and make you Lord over my life. Amen. All of heaven is rejoicing at this very moment (Luke 15: 7).
If you don’t do anything else with this book, it has served its purpose in your life. You have received the gift of salvation by grace through faith. Welcome to the family! (2) If you want to believe in the power of faith and prayer read on. Prayer works. Faith works. I’m a living witness. (3) Now that you are part of the family, you have spiritual weapons available to you. You need them because your enemy is not physical. Sure he works through people, but there is a spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6: 12) that you now have the authority, by Christ Jesus, to pull down.
With those assumptions in mind, not everyone is the same. Your modality of faith may be different from mine and that’s okay. God is not static, stagnant, or rigid. He is living in, loving and forgiving us all at every stage our spiritual walk. The Faith Strategy We all received a measure of faith (Romans 12: 3) at the time of salvation. Whether you feel like it or not, you have enough. Faith mixed with action and endurance can overcome anything. I’m going to share a personal faith “system” with you. The steps I take in a faith fight. I’ve never been led to share this message before.

This topic has been on my mind for almost a year. I’m only now sharing it because it won’t go away. Usually, when a message persists, that means it’s for more than just me and I have to write about it. Someone reading this has been praying for answers. Somewhere in this book, God will give them to you. I pray those drawn to these pages will receive their breakthrough in faith. I’ve narrowed the Faith Strategy steps/ stages to the following:

1. Quarantine The Issue
2. Go Before The Throne of Grace
3. Assemble The Tribe
4. Suspend Your Doubts
5. Make Peace With The Outcome
6. Demonstrate Your Faith
7. Wait and Know
8. Rehearse Your Celebration

Whoever you are, I want you to know that God loves you so much that He inspired these pages and led you to them. Open your heart and mind. You will find the answers you seek. The Faith Mindset Defined I took a moment to look at these various definitions for Mind-set and Faith to help better explain my perspective of a Faith Mindset.

Definition-Mind-set: (1) a mental attitude (2) a fixed state of mind.

Definition-Faith: (1) complete trust or confidence

Synonyms: trust, belief, confidence, conviction, optimism, hopefulness, hope

Based on the definitions above and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, my definition of a Faith

Mindset is: A mental attitude of complete confidence and trust that the power of God that dwells within and without, will always prevail, and produce a harvest of victory, especially in cases where physical evidence of said victory is non-existent. Isn’t that powerful? Aren’t you ready to live a life a spiritual life void of doubt, fear, anxiety and stress? You can. All you have to do is get rid of the negative BS.
It’s Time to Change Your BS (Belief System) You are where you are because of your B.S. –your belief system. The way you’ve thought over a long period of time contributed to decisions that led to this very moment. Your BS is the reason you chose certain friends; your mate; your career; etc. All decisions can be traced back to your BS. Earlier, I described a faith mind-set is as a state of mind that knows all things are possible through Christ Jesus. This sounds good, but let’s talk more about the characteristics of a faithful mind so that we have a clearer picture.

1. A faith mind-set is unmovable and stands

1 Corinthians 15: 58, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Colossians 3: 2, set your mind on things above and keep it set!

2. A faith mind-set believes in the unseen.

Hebrews 11: 1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

3. A faith mind-set is sober.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5: 8)

4. A faith mind-set is sound.

Second Timothy 1: 7 says, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind!”

5. A faith mind-set knows God-inspired labor is never in vain.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15: 58)

You have to replace your negative BS with a faith-mindset. To do that you must continually saturate your heart and mind with the Word. You surround yourself with faith-minded people. You unfriend negative drama kings and queens. You operate from a faith mindset on purpose until it become automatic. You decide from this day forward, No more negative BS.

From Faith-Mind to Faith-Mode

When you have a Faith Mindset, and a problem occurs, you automatically go into Faith-Mode. You on purpose take actions consistent with biblical principles. In the beginning it may be a challenge because you’re fighting against your “normal” or your pre-programmed response. The good news about programmed responses is that you can change them. You don’t have to yell and scream every time you get angry. That’s a preprogrammed response. You can change that with prayer and practice. You can live by faith, but it will take prayer and daily application. I promise to share this information in the only way I know how: simple, down-to-earth, relatable, and to-the-point. I asked God a long time ago if I should try to write longer more in depth books and immediately I heard, “write the vision and make it plain.” So now, unapologetically, that is what I do -K.I.S.S- Keep it simple and spirit-led.