Romans 12:2 “And 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.”
We have already mentioned that all believers come into the kingdom of God with a mindset that thinks as this world thinks, which we have also established is a mindset that is in direct opposition to God’s word. And so that is the reason why the apostle Paul in the above quoted passage of scripture, encourages the church to no longer be conformed to this world but rather to be transformed, so that we can experience God’s perfect will for our lives. The method that the Holy Spirit teaches us to employ in transforming our lives is through the renewal of our minds. In other words we are to change the way we think. In another passage of scripture the apostle Paul teaches us to bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). And so we see that if believers are going to experience transformed lives, they are going to have to make a conscious and disciplined effort to change their thinking to line up with what God’s word declares on any given subject.
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.”
So how do we change our thinking? God answered that question for us in the above quoted passage of scripture, when He taught Joshua how to have success in life. God taught Joshua that the starting point was to meditate in His word. Mediation in God’s word means that we are to focus our thoughts on what God’s word says about any given subject. When God instructed Joshua to meditate in His word “day and night”, He clearly implied that His word was to dominate Joshua’s thinking. Every time meditation is mentioned in the bible the onus is always placed upon the individual to do it themselves. In other words God does not force His thoughts into our minds, for He gives us understanding of His word and then He expects us to meditate on that word until we become fully convinced in our minds that His word is true and real. Christians will never become fully convinced in their minds about the reality of God’s word unless they diligently meditate on His word.
Psalms 119:97-99 “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. (98) You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. (99) I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is a prophetic statement made by David the prophet under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so this passage is actually a record of our Lord’s words to the Father when He walked in the flesh. What this passage reveals to us is that our Lord Jesus continually meditated on God’s word when He was on the earth. And so if the Lord Jesus meditated on God’s word throughout the day then we should learn to follow His example, if we are ever going to become fully convinced in our minds about the reality and truth of God’s word, for it is only then that we will begin to experience the reality of God’s power being made manifest in our lives.
James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; (8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
We have seen thus far that unless we become fully convinced in our minds that what God says on any given subject is true, we will never be able to exercise our faith in that word. The apostle James in the above quoted passage of scripture refers to the saint that doubts the reality of God’s word, as being double-minded. So what does it mean to be double-minded? For any given subject there are always two opposing truths, the first truth is the reality which this world experiences i.e. that which is seen and experienced in this life. The second truth however is the reality of God’s word, which declares the exact opposite to the first truth and although it is not seen in this life, it nevertheless has the potential to be both seen and experienced in this life. Saints’ who doubt, look at both truths and therefore become double-minded; for one day they will declare that God’s word is real but the next day they will look at what they can see and what they are experiencing, and declare that that which is seen is real. The key to overcoming double-mindedness is to become single-minded. So what does it mean to be single-minded? To become single-minded is to focus your thoughts on one truth to the exclusion of the other. And so Christians that want to experience the power of God being made manifest in their lives need to focus their thoughts on the truth of God’s word, to the complete exclusion of that which is seen and experienced in this life. That does not mean that we deny the reality of the first truth, it just means that we choose to ignore it and only focus on the second truth.
Romans 4:19-21 “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. (20) He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”
In the previous section we looked at Abraham as an example of one who was fully convinced in his mind that God’s word concerning the birth of his son Isaac was true. The above quoted passage of scripture gives us some insight into how Abraham became fully convinced in his mind on the subject, for it states that Abraham did not consider his own body which was already dead and neither did he consider the deadness of Sarah’s womb. The scripture does not say that Abraham denied the deadness of his body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb by pretending that they did not exist, he simply chose to completely ignore them. In other words, instead of focusing his thoughts on the reality of his existing circumstances, he chose to focus his thoughts on the reality of God’s word. As Abraham continued to focus his thoughts on what God had said, his thinking slowly changed from initially doubting God’s word, to becoming fully convinced in his mind that God’s word was true. Notice that this passage of scripture teaches us that Abraham “did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief”. Doubt and unbelief are synonymous terms, and as we have seen in the previous scripture the apostle James equated doubt to being double-minded. And so we see from this passage that Abraham transitioned from initially being double-minded on the issue to becoming single-minded about God’s word, until finally he was fully convinced in his mind that God’s word was true. When that happened Abraham’s faith was activated and God’s power was released, which caused his dead body to be strengthened by life, thus creating the new reality in his body that could now be both seen and experienced. As we said previously, this transition did not occur overnight, but rather it occurred slowly over a three month period as Abraham diligently focused his thoughts to line up with God’s word.
2 Corinthians 4:18 “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
The context of the above quoted passage of scripture deals with persecution that Christians incur in this life and how we should view it. Nevertheless the biblical principal that the apostle Paul teaches in this passage is the same one that Abraham used. Paul teaches us that we are not to look at that which can be seen i.e. our circumstances, just as Abraham chose not to look at his circumstances that could be seen. Paul goes on in this passage to tell the believer what we should look at, by telling us to look at that which cannot be seen. So what are the things that cannot be seen and how is it possible to look at them? Paul tells us that the things that cannot be seen are eternal, which clearly indicates to us that he is referring to the word of God, for the word of God is eternal and that is exactly what Abraham looked at i.e. the word of God. We look at the word of God by focusing our thoughts on what God’s word says on any given subject. In this passage the apostle Paul explains to us why we look at God’s word rather than that which can be seen, for he tells us that that which can be seen i.e. our circumstances, are temporary. In other words our circumstances are subject to change, whereas the word of God always remains the same. One of the reasons that our circumstances are temporary is because God’s power is able to change them to line up with what His word declares, once we exercise our faith in His word. Make no mistake, what we look at affects our thinking which ultimately affects our faith.
Michael E.B. Maher
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