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This morning we continue our series “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing to look at the importance of renewing your mind in order to accept and experience the grace of God. I am not going to focus in on any particular verse or passage today. Instead I will discuss the overall concept of mind renewal.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. You don’t come to God with a blank slate. When you come to God you come with a certain mindset. On the day you were Born-Again your mind was already shaped and programmed to think a certain way. Chances are that your mindset coming into your relationship with God was not conducive to living the life He wants you to live.
2. Your mindset was not changed. The day you were Born-Again your spirit was made new, but your soul — comprised of your mind (the way you think), emotions (the way you feel) and will (the way you make decisions) — was not made new.
3. Learning and unlearning. Somethings you must learn, because you were never taught about them. But others you must unlearn, because you were taught, but the teaching you received did not line up with God’s Word or His ways.
4. If you don’t change the way you think, you won’t change. You can be Born-Again, and have God Himself living inside of you, and still live a defeated life, if you don’t change the way you think to line up with God.
5. Closing the gap. When you come to God there is always a gap (distance) between the way you see yourself and your future, and the way God sees it. Renewing your mind closes the gap and it helps put you in alignment with God’s plans for your life.
6. Don’t be afraid of losing anything. Some believers are reluctant to give up what God is leading them to give up, because they are afraid of losing out on something. Listen, if God is leading you to let something go, then you want to let it go. You don’t want anything God does not want you to have, and anything you give up for God will become a seed. He will make sure the harvest you reap is far greater than the seed you planted.
7. Renew your mind to truly accept the grace of God. Before you came to God you probably thought you had to work hard for everything you were going to get in life and that you had to do most of it on your own. While you still need to work hard, because God does not bless lazy people, the message of Grace teaches you that you DO NOT need to do everything on your own. The more you renew your mind to die to self, the more God can flow through you and the closer you will be to becoming the man/woman God has destined you to be.
8. Accept God’s dream for your life by grace and pursue it by faith. You will not experience what you are not expecting. The more you die to self, the more you will find yourself dreaming God-sized dreams and actually expecting those dreams to come to pass. Not on your power, but by God’s grace.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for Your amazing grace. You love me with an everlasting love. You made plans for me before the foundations of the world. You freely plan to give me Your best by Your grace. However, You do require me to renew my mind. The day I was Born-Again my spirit was made new, but the mind was not. My mind must be changed to think the way You want me to think, in order to become the person You have called me to be. By faith I declare that I submit to the process of mind renewal, and that I will get to the point where I see myself the way You see me, and I freely accept all You want to do in my life by Your grace. I decrease that You may increase in me. I die to self, so that You can freely live through me. And the more I do, the more You bless me to dream God-sized dreams. I accept the dreams You fashion by grace and I pursue them by faith. As I do, my testimony is: I am who You say that I am, I do what You say I can do, and I will accomplish all You have destined me to accomplish in this earth before I die. Not because I am so good, but because You are. Not because I am worthy, but because of Your grace. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
