(Read Matthew 16:23-23)
This morning continue our overarching series, “Grace that is Simply Amazing” by continuing with our mini-series entitled, “Grace Based Success (Prosperity)”. We have been studying the life of the Apostle Peter and our study brought us to Matthew chapter 16. We spent the last few weeks in this chapter. It was here that Jesus basically ‘tested’ the disciples to see how they were thinking. He asked them, “Who do people say I am?” After the disciples gave their response Jesus asked, “Who do you say I am?” Jesus wanted to know if the disciples’ thinking was any different from that of the world. This is very important because your mind is basically the control center of your life. While the real “you” is your spirit — for your are a spirit, you possess a soul, and your spirit and soul live in a body — it is your mind that gets to decide which world you will allow yourself to be influenced by.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
- God is a Spirit and He communicates with you Spirit-to-spirit.
- The world is sensual, not spiritual, and it communicates with you through your body and its senses.
- Your mind sits and the center of your being. The mind is the control center of your life. It is in your mind that you choose to either be influenced by your spirit (where God communicates with you through the Holy Spirit) or your body (where the world communicates with you through your senses).
- Your mind has been programmed and if you want to change it will have to be deprogrammed and reprogrammed.
- Every day both God and the world are attempting to influence you. God’s influence is coming to your mind from your spirit. The world’s influence is coming to you through your senses. Your mind must then decide. It is the control center of your life. In your mind you decide to either be influenced by God or the world.
- The influence you receive through your senses is often easy to receive because it “makes sense”. The influence you receive from God does not come through your senses. Therefore, Godly influence will often defy logic and not “make sense”. Your mind must then choose between the things that are common to this world and make sense, and the things that are common to God’s world and require faith.
- When Jesus told the disciples He was going to die and subsequently be raised from the dead after three days, He was saying what He received from the Father. Jesus was saying something that did not make sense in this world. However, it was something very logical in God’s world. Jesus was able to accept what God was saying, but the disciples were not. They were living by their senses and Jesus was living by the Spirit.
- Your must condition your mind to routinely accept the things of God, even when they don’t make sense.
- You know your mind is renewed when the supernatural or impossible seems logical to you!
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith. I am a spirit, I possess a soul, and my spirit and soul live in this body for now. My body relates to this world through my senses. My spirit relates to Your world through the Holy Spirit. My mind gets to decide which influence I will accept. My mind is the control center of my life. By faith I declare that I am influenced by by Your Spirit. I refuse to life my life as a mere human. You did not call me to live my life based on senses alone. I appreciate the information that comes in through my senses. I take in that information to make informed decisions. However, I live by faith. This means I live by the revelation I receive through my spirit. I accept what You say, even when it makes no sense at all, and I believe it by faith. Your Kingdom has come, Your will shall be done, on earth, as it is in heaven, through me, every day, because I am led of Your Spirit in all things. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
