E27 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Renewing the Mind
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #27
Title: Renewing the Mind
Date: November 8, 2021
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verse(s): Renewing the Mind – Key verse: 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.’
Intro: Why do you think Paul warns Christians, ‘do not be conformed to this world?’ First, he means the world's belief systems, practices, and customs when they oppose GOD and His Word.
Second, the world’s systems belong to a malevolent being, Satan.
And by the way, one of the ways Satan operates is to minimize his presence and influence in the world. He does this by using humor. When many people picture Satan or the Devil, what image comes to mind? Yes, a man with a red suit, small horns, and pointy tail, and a pitchfork.
But he is a highly intelligent being with much experience at deceiving and destroying people. However, I don’t want to get off on a tangent here.
It’s better to focus on renewing our minds according to GOD’s design and using the Bible as our guide.
Devotion focus: Our mind’s focus determines renewal or not
What we allow our mind to focus on determines our outlook on life, shapes our decisions, affects our reactions.
If I focus only on negative thoughts (think national/world news – politics, etc.) it wouldn’t take me long to slide into depression.
But if I focus my mind on positive, healthy thoughts such as GOD’s sovereign power over all creation, including controlling the destiny of nations; if I think about GOD’s love which He declares in Romans 8:38&39:
Romans 8:38 – ‘For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
Romans 8:39 - ‘nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ then I’m less likely to fall prey to destructive thoughts.
My experience with renewing my mind has involved counseling in the past. I learned through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to replace negative, toxic thoughts and self-hatred with positive truth about my position before GOD.
And then, understanding my position led me to understand better my identity within GOD.
I’m going to cover just a few verses to help with the process of renewing your own mind if this is something you want to do. They have to do with something Jesus said in John 15:9; what He prayed in John 17, and Paul wrote about in Colossians 3:3.
John 15:9 - "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
John 17:9 - "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
John 17:16 - They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
John 17:20 - "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
Colossians 3:3 – ‘For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’
If you and I could only believe these verses alone, we could face most anything in life that comes against us. Of course, it would take not only belief, but also we must study each verse in-depth to get the full understanding of what each one declares.
Let’s go over each one briefly:
John 15:9 is my life verse, but even then several years ago it took me 18 months of reading it first thing each morning and the last thing every night before I began to believe it deep in my heart.
In this verse, Jesus tells us His Father (GOD) loves us the same as He loves Him, Jesus. Take a moment later and think on this some. GOD’s love for each one of us is exactly the same degree (infinite) of love He has for His Son.
How is this possible? Because Jesus’s death provided atonement, payment in full, for all the sins of the human race. Pardon from sin is available when we ask forgiveness and trust what Jesus said we must be born again.
This birth, new birth, gives us life as GOD’s child. Listen to John 3:3 – ‘Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
And John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 - “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
This is a fantastic declaration of Scripture: John 1:12 – ‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…’
I don’t have time to go over every verse declaring us as children, but here are a few if you want to look them up later:
· Romans 8:16 – ‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,’ Romans 8:17 – ‘and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.’
· 1 John 3:1&2 – vs 1 ‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!’ vs 2 – ‘Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’
· 1 John 3:10 – ‘In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God…’
These verses and others explain how GOD can and does love each one of us the same as He loves His Son. Furthermore, what Jesus prayed in John 17:9, 16, & 20 reveals our standing as children is a result of Jesus’s prayer, made possible by His death on the cross. When He took our place.
And now, listen to Colossians 3:3 – ‘For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’
Again, if we study this verse in-depth it will reveal deep truths about you… and about GOD.
‘For you died,’ this means spiritually and by faith placed in Jesus’s atonement, His payment for your sin, you ‘died’ to the law of GOD requiring your death for sin, but you died in Jesus. These are all spiritual realities. In Romans 6:4 Paul writes, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.’
Our newness of life involves being so much one with Jesus that we are called His body, His bride. This is how our life is ‘hidden with Christ in GOD.’
This means among other things, we are eternally safe after placing saving faith in the Son of GOD.
Summary: To renew our minds takes an intentional effort to read GOD’s Word over and over until we gain a deeper understanding of it that we cannot get by skimming through it while in a hurry before rushing out the door for whatever is demanding our time.
Action to consider: A great practice is to pray GOD’s Word back to Him. Here’s a couple of good verses to start with, then look into the Bible’s treasury on your own to discover others:
This is a portion of a prayer Paul is offering for the Ephesians and we can pray the same for ourselves: Ephesians 1:18 – ‘…the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…’
Likewise, Paul prays this for the Colossians:
Colossians 1:9 – ‘For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Colossians 1:10 – ‘that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Colossians 1:11 – ‘strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy…’
Next week’s devotion: The Bible – GOD’s Eternal Word