This morning, we continue our series, “The Miracles of Jesus.” Before we get into the miracle, let’s look at the foundational scripture I will share with you all year.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us. I pray you get refreshed and restored as we study each miracle.
(Read Mark 8:1-21)
In Mark 8, Jesus fed 4,000 people with seven loaves of bread. Later, He and His disciples boarded a boat to head to the other side of the lake. Once in the boat, the disciples realized that they only had one loaf of bread. This caused an argument about who was supposed to bring the food. Jesus said, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see? Are you not able to understand? Do you have eyes that can’t see? Do you have ears that can’t hear? Remember what I did before, when we did not have enough bread? I divided five loaves of bread for 5000 people. How many baskets of food were left over?” The disciples answered, “12 full baskets.” Jesus continued, “And when I divided seven loaves of bread for 4000 people, how many baskets did you fill with the leftover pieces?” They answered, “Seven full baskets.” Then Jesus said to them, “You remember these things I did, but you still don’t understand?“
I shared something yesterday about the subconscious mind that I want to piggyback on today.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. Understanding the difference between your conscious and subconscious mind.
You must understand the difference between conscious and subconscious beliefs.
— What you believe consciously, you are able to articulate. You can say, “This is what I believe,” and then go on to explain it. But that is what you consciously believe. In other words, you are articulating what you are consciously aware of concerning your belief system.
— When the disciples were handing out loaves of bread and the bread was multiplying in their hands, I am sure they were conscious of what was happening, and they would tell you that they consciously believed that God, through Jesus, could multiply food. It happened with the 5,000 and the 4,000.
— Just minutes after they fed the 4,000 with seven loaves of bread and had seven baskets of food left over, the disciples were complaining about only having one loaf of bread to eat for 13 grown men. This happened because their subconscious minds had not been transformed yet. A few minutes earlier, they were aware of God’s power. But “just like that,” they slipped right back to their subconscious programming (their internal belief system).
— While what you believe consciously, you are able to articulate, but what you believe subconsciously is what you demonstrate in your natural behavior. It’s what you DO, not what you SAY, that reveals your subconscious beliefs.
— Jesus was frustrated with the disciples because their actions kept revealing to Him what they believed deep down in their hearts. It does not matter what they said. Jesus was looking at what they did. They were arguing over not having enough food, and it drove Jesus nuts!
2. Your subconscious mind is your autopilot.
— Your subconscious mind is the autopilot of your life! It is responsible for your habits, beliefs, and emotions.
— If you ever want to get to the point where you will naturally flow with the Holy Spirit, you must put in the effort to renew your subconscious mind.
Pastor Bill Winston said, “Inside every one of us is an image I call an “invisible fence,” which dictates how far we can go and what we see ourselves doing and being. It is an invisible wall between you and God, holding you back and keeping you from stepping out and doing what seems impossible. If you attempt to go outside this fence, your subconscious mind brings you back.”
I agree with what Pastor Bill Winston said. He calls it a fence. I call it your “autopilot.” Think of a plane. Once the plane has the autopilot engaged, the autopilot will keep the plane set in a certain direction and elevation. Now, the pilot can grab the yoke and override the plane for a few minutes. He/she can change the direction and the elevation, but as soon as the pilot releases the controls, the plane will GO RIGHT BACK to the direction and elevation it was “SET” to. Why? Because it was PROGRAMMED that way!
If you can understand that, then you can understand how your soul is your autopilot or invisible fence. It is designed to keep you on course with your self-image. Now, like the pilot who takes over the controls for a few minutes, you can SEE and BELIEVE beyond your self-image (the internal programming of your soul) for a few minutes when you are in church or for a few minutes when you are in your prayer closet. These experiences may cause you to get excited and emotional, but if your internal programming (your soul) does not change, when the emotions wear off, your life will go right back to your autopilot. WHY? Because you are programmed that way! Your soul contains your programming.
Said another way, you will never routinely go beyond your level of thinking. You may get pushed by God or someone else, or you may even push yourself from time to time. On those occasions, you will venture out beyond your invisible fence, but if your soul is not renewed and transformed, your autopilot will bring you back before long.
3. Your subconscious mind is your internal setting, and it must be transformed to think and act like God.
Your subconscious is your internal setting. I just used the example of an autopilot function on an aircraft. Now I will use the example of driving. There are moments when you are conscious while you are driving, which means you are driving with your conscious mind. But when driving home, you often drive with your subconscious mind. You can have a conversation, be on the phone, be listening to music, and be distracted and still make it home. Why? Because your subconscious mind is programmed, like an internal GPS, to your home address.
I lived in Woodbridge, VA, for nine years. A few years ago, we moved to Haymarket, VA. In the initial days after we moved, there were a few instances when I was leaving the church, and my mind took me to my old home and not to my new home. If I was conscious while I was driving, then I consciously drove to my new home. But since my mind had been programmed to drive to the old home for years, if I was not conscious, my subconscious mind just took me to my old home because it was programmed that way. It took a while for my subconscious mind to be programmed to take me to my new home.
It’s like that with the kingdom of God. The Bible says:
(Ephesians 2:1-3 ERV)
1 In the past you were spiritually dead because of your sins and the things you did against God.
2 Yes, in the past your lives were full of those sins. You lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God.
3 In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were.
We were all born in sin and shapen in iniquity. We all lived the way the world does. We were all under the influence of satan. We were all programmed to THINK in ways that DO NOT align with God!
When I got born again, I was 23 years old. I had 23 years of programming that would condition me to think and act like the world. And because of my experiences, I had a poverty mentality. Isabella did too. So it was not uncommon for us to think that we could not afford something. It was not uncommon for us to think that we could not do something. We were conditioned that way. Now, we could go to church and hear a great message, and in the moment, our conscious mind would say, “I can do all things!” But our subconscious was not programmed that way. It took years for our subconscious (our internal programming/settings) to be changed.
Jesus was frustrated with His disciples because He thought he had been with them long enough and that they had experienced enough manifestations of God’s power for the subconscious to be changed. They should’ve never complained about food. They should have never seen a lack of food as a problem. Jesus was frustrated because of all of their experiences. He brought up the experiences because He thought that their experiences should have changed their “programming” by that point.
They would not be concerned with the bread if they were conscious of what God could do. But in their subconscious mind, we’re still programmed to lack and not abundance. Jesus made it clear that God had already proven to them that he was a God of abundance and overflow. But they were still thinking, “lack and need.” This is the danger of only acknowledging God with your conscious mind. Because at that moment, you were giving God mental ascent, but you are not allowing that to change you from the inside out. It takes a constant diet of the Word of God, and it takes meditating a medicating on God’s Word day and night for our subconscious mind to be changed.
This is one of the reasons why I teach long series’. If I came up with a different topic every day, you may enjoy Today’s Word, you may get emotional, and you may leave me some good comments in the chat, but you won’t be changed. It’s hard to change your life with a 30-minute message. Most people need to hear something over and over again in order to truly GET IT down in their subconscious programming.
As I’m teaching this series and we are going over miracle after miracle, my prayer is that your subconscious mind will be conditioned to believe God. Deep down in your heart, even when you are not actively thinking about something, I want your internal programming to be set to things like:
— There is nothing God can’t do!
— I am in God, and God is in me!
— God is ON me, IN me, WITH me, and FOR me! Therefore, I can do all things!
— There is nothing too hard for God, and He is dedicated to manifesting His power in my life!
— The God of miracles lives IN ME!
— etc.
If you believe this way, deep down in your heart, then it will manifest in your conscious mind and actions. Why? Because internal settings have been changed to believe in a God who can do anything. That is my prayer for you!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me!
I am convinced that You love me. Since You love me, Your desire is for me to be successful in life. It is Your will that I prosper. I was not born to fail.
I am also convinced that You can do all things. There is nothing You cannot do. You have all power!
You live in me. You are ON me, IN me, WITH me, and FOR me. Therefore, there is no way I can lose!
I walk with You and You walk with me.
I make a concerted effort to submit to the process of mind renewal. I deprogram my mind from the ways of this world, and I reprogram it with Your Word.
I purposely change the way I think to line up with Your thinking, to see myself the way You see me, and to believe what You believe about me!
I think of my future the way You do. I align my plans with Your purpose. As I see myself the way You see me on the inside, it is only a matter of time before it manifests on the outside.
Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
