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In the Old Testament, God speaks to the Israelites rather harshly and warns them of some "heavy" things to come. In Hosea 4:1, he says, "Hear the word of the Lord...for the Lord hath a controversy [a contention] with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy [love], nor knowledge of God in the land."1
I believe the very same thing can be said of today. The Way of Agape addresses how, in the end times "the Love [Agape] of many shall grow cold."2 This book will address how many, again in the end times, will not walk in the truth.
First of all, we must understand what "truth" is. Truth is where our words and our deeds match and become one. Jesus, of course, is the Truth. He is the Word who became the Deed. He also "lived the truth." His Words (promises) always matched His Deeds and His Life actions.
In 3 John 3, the apostle John comments on how important it is that we "live the truth." He says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."
Why does seeing his "children walk in truth" bring him so much joy? John says this brings him joy because it shows that we are genuine and authentic Christians (with our words and deeds matching). There are no "masks" or "facades." We’re truly showing forth God's Life in our actions and thus, the Gospel can be passed on.
I believe "walking in truth" is God’s Will for every one of us. And I believe God’s heart must be grieved as He sees this not occuring in the Christian body today. I think this is also one of the main reasons why so many non-believers do not want to come to the Lord. They see so many "phoney" Christians whose deeds don’t match their words and they don’t want any part of it. Why should they want something that doesn’t seem to work for us?
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Leo Tolstoy wrote the famous Russian novels, War and Peace and Anna Karinna. I recently picked up his autobiography (called Confession) because I had heard that he had become a Christian.
Tolstoy is probably one of the most reknown writers of all time and yet, he says in this book, that when he reached the prime of life (after all the fame, fortune, prestige and power he had attained), he came to the conclusion that life was meaningless. So he set out on a personal quest to find the meaning and purpose to life.
He studied everything there was to learn about philosophy, science and every avenue of knowledge. When he exhausted these things, he came to the conclusion that they had no answers either and that faith alone, had to be the only thing that provides mankind with reasons to live.
So, he decided to investigate "religion." He quickly ruled out Islam and Judaism and zeroed in on Christianity. First, he turned to his own peers--all the Christian believers in his own circle (the learned, the aristocrats and the theologians).
But, he quickly saw that their lives were no different than his own. They feared poverty, suffering and death, just as much as he did. They seemed to live only to satisfy themselves, just like everyone else. So, he concluded that they really didn’t have the answers to life either, and that they were only deceiving themselves.
Tolstoy finally found "true faith" in the lives of the Christian peasants of his day. He said these people genuinely lived their faith. They weren’t afraid of dying, sickness or poverty. They truly lived the truth and their lives were full of peace and joy.
Tolstoy grew to love these people very much. After many years befriending them, Tolstoy chose to leave his position, his wealth and his family and live among these Christian peasants for the remainder of his life.
His wife, tragically, never accepted his new beliefs. She remained with his children on his estate, and ended up inheriting all his money and prestige. Tolstoy, however, had found the true meaning of life (Jesus Christ) and he also had learned to live the truth!
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I think this is a fascinating story because I think this is exactly what God is trying to teach each one of us as Christians. How to make the words of our mouth (where we say, "Jesus is the answer to all my problems; He is my life; I trust Him in everything," match and become one with our actions.
In reality, is Jesus the answer to all of our problems? Is He really our life? Do our actions portray that we trust Him in everything? 1 John 3:18 says, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but [love] in deed and in truth."
Years ago, when my daughter was away at a Christian camp, she often would write home and tell us of the tremendous changes that were going on in her life. In her letters, she made very specific promises as to how she was going to act in the future. She always qualified her statements, however, by saying, "Mom and Dad, I know these are just words now, but I'll show you in my actions when I come home, that they’re true."
I had to smile, because she was just parroting back to us what we’d taught her ever since she was a little girl. "What you say with your words, must match what you do in your actions, in order for it to be the truth!" "Truth," I would tell her, "is where the words of your mouth match and become one with the deeds of your life."
After meditating on her letter for a while, I began to realize that that's exactly what God is trying to do in each of our lives--teaching each of us how to "live the truth."
Our words are so very easy, but to act out those words in our lives is a completely different thing. This is the area that I believe God is most concerned with in all of our lives. He wants what we say and what we do to be one, so that we can be genuine representatives of Him and we can live the truth.
"...If we say [with our words] that we have fellowship with Him, and [yet] walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth." (1 John 1:5-6)
God is saying here in 1 John, that He wants the supernatural Life that He has already placed in our hearts (if we are believers), not just to remain in our hearts (and be words only), but to be shown forth out in our lives. He wants us to genuinely walk in His Love and Truth, not just talk about it. Then others will see God’s Life in us and want what we have. "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have Love one to another." (John 13:35)
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John 10:10 tells us that the purpose of our being called as Christians, is so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
Whose "life" is John talking about here? Does he mean our own "natural, human life?" Is this what we are supposed to live abundantly? I don't think so. It's not our own human love, wisdom and power that God wants us to show forth, but His supernatural Life.
In order to clarify, let's establish some definitions. When I say "God's supernatural Life," I mean His supernatural Love (Agape), His supernatural Thoughts and His supernatural Power to perform these in our lives.3 When I say our natural life, our human life or our "self-life," I mean our own human thoughts, emotions and desires (that are usually contrary to God's) performed in our lives by our own human abilities. Sometimes this is called the flesh.
[Please refer to Glossary at the end of this book to understand and help clarify the thoughts that lie behind the important words and phrases that I use thoughout this study.]
Adam had abundant life originally. He experienced God’s supernatural Life in and through him. But, when he fell, God’s supernatural Love and Wisdom became "...hid from the eyes of all living..." as Job 28:20-21 tells us. Jesus came expressly for the purpose of restoring that "sight" and that wholeness to all of us. When we ask Jesus to be our Savior and we become "born again," God comes into our hearts and, once again, restores that supernatural Life.
God, however, doesn't want this supernatural Life to remain in our hearts. He wants His abundant Life to be shown forth out in our lives (our souls) so that all can see it and desire it. He wants us to be those "open vessels" living His Life, not just talking about His Life. He wants us to be "Life imparters."
Constantly, we are to relinquish our self-life to Him, so that His Life from our hearts can freely come forth into our souls. This is what Galatians 2:20 means when it says, "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." And also, what Paul means in Philippians 1:21 when he says "For me to live is Christ."4
This is Christ’s Life through us. We are to moment by moment set aside our life, so that God’s Life can come forth. It’s sometimes called the "exchanged life." We give God our life--He gives us His.
John 12:24 validates this, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
This Scripture exhorts us to become "emptied of self," so that we can be "filled with Him." Now being emptied of self does not mean becoming some sort of mindless robot, or a non-entity with no personality (no individuality) of our own. Quite the contrary, when we surrender ourselves to God, He takes our own unique personality, our own individual temperament, our own make-up and then fills it with His Love, His Thoughts and His Power.
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The next question becomes, "Okay, that sounds great. I want to live Christ’s Life. I want to live the truth. I want my words and my deeds to match. But how, on earth, do I do this? How am I emptied of self-life and filled with God's Life? How does Christ become my very life itself?"
The answer is Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed [how?] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove [in your actions] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (emphasis added)
This Scripture tells us that a renewed mind is the "key" to our transformation. Transformation simply means an exchange of life. It means taking off "self" and putting on "God." A renewed mind is the "bridge" or the "link" between our being emptied of self and being filled with God. In other words, it’s the mechanism (or the instrument) by which Christ’s supernatural Life in our hearts can become our life in our souls.
Ephesians 4:22-24 explains what a renewed mind does: "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (emphasis added)
Being transformed into Christ’s Image is the basic goal and purpose for each of our lives as Christians. God wants us to show forth and reflect His Life in our souls and not our own. This, to me, is what Romans 8:28-29 means when it says, we are to be conformed into the image of Christ. When we allow God to do this, then we’ll be able to live the truth and our words and our deeds will match and the Gospel will have a chance to be passed on.
So, a renewed mind is the key to our transformation and our living the truth. You talk about important subjects, this one is critical.
A renewed mind takes God’s Life that is already resident in our hearts (if we are born-again) and sees to it, that that Life doesn’t just remain in our hearts, but is manifested in our day-to-day living. Only then, will we have the freedom to drop our masks and facades, be real and transparent and yet, still reflect Christ.
When we don’t choose to renew our minds, however, (either because we don’t know how or because of hurts, fears and insecurities that we hang on to), then we’ll end up quenching God’s Spirit in our hearts and blocking His Life from coming forth. Consequently, the life that is shown forth in our souls is not going to be God’s Life as it should be, but self-life. And this is what causes us to be those "phoney" and "hypocritical" Christians, saying one thing with our words and yet, doing something else in our lives.
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Satan, of course, is dedicated to preventing our transformation into Christ’s Image in any way he can. He knows that if he can just keep us ignorant as to how to renew our minds and what the Mind of Christ is, then we'll go on depending upon our own self-centered thoughts and emotions and end up being conformed to the world's image and not Christ’s, as God desires.
This is why it's so important to pray each time you pick up this book. Satan does not want you to learn these things. He wants to keep you ignorant and blinded as to the real freedom that’s in Christ. And he will do that by simply keeping you in bondage to your own habitual and emotional way of thinking. That’s the "key."
When we don’t know how to renew our minds (and how to put off the "junk" in our thinking), then we not only give Satan things to grab ahold of in our conscious thinking, but we also allow him to establish "strongholds" in our hidden chambers or our innermost part as Scripture calls it.
In this book, we are going to talk a lot about the things in our lives that we don’t deal with, either out of ignorance or disobedience, but simply push down into the secret recesses of our souls. These are the things that eventually can become the hidden motivation for much of what we do.
As God begins to teach us how to renew our minds, we’ll see that we can be set free, not only from our conscious negative thoughts and emotions (which are often only the symptoms of our problems), but also all the secret, hidden faults within us--the doubts, fears and insecurities, that are often the real root causes of our problems.
Psalm 19:12-13 speaks to this, "Who can understand his errors? [his mistakes, his strayings, his wanderings] Cleanse thou me from secret faults {hidden, covered, not discerned]. ...let them not have dominion over me."
Satan, of course, is dedicated to preventing this renewal in our lives in any way he can.
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Here’s an example of the extremes that Satan will go to to keep us from hearing how to renew our minds.
Three or four years ago, I was invited to do a Be Ye Transformed seminar up in the mountains of Southern California. The ladies were absolutely precious and so very hungry to hear what God had for them. Of all the seminars that I have done, however, this weekend was probably one of the most "spooky."
I had previously gone over the details and plans for the seminar with the leaders before the first session began (where to set up the screen, where to put the overhead projector, the chairs, etc.). Everything seemed to be understood and in order.
However, the first session turned out to be a "nightmare." When all the ladies arrived, for some reason the screen and projector were at the wrong end of the room and the chairs were facing backwards. I don’t understand why someone would have thought to do that, but neverthless, I had to postpone starting the session until everyone had picked up their chairs and turned them around to face the screen. It seemed like such a strange beginning!
After taking 10 minutes or so to rearrange the chairs, we began again. Right in the middle of an important point that I was making, the woman video-taping the seminar stood directly in front of my line of vision towards the audience. Now, again, I thought we had covered all of this in our preplanning meeting. However, since she was causing such a distraction not only to me, but to everyone in the audience, I stopped lecturing again and politely asked her to move.
I began again. About 15 minutes into the presentation, the entire wall of decorations in the back of the room collapsed. The leaders of the group had strung up a clothesline to hold all their handmade decorated items for the weekend. The clothesline mysteriously broke and everything fell to the floor. We stopped the lecture and everyone helped clean up the mess.
I have never experienced such confusion and such distraction in all of my teaching days. We all laughed, and once again, I began to teach. Not two minutes later, a lady in the front row bolted out of the room holding her mouth (as if she was going to vomit). One of her friends immediately followed her. We stopped the lecture and all of us prayed for her.
The final thing that alerted us as to what was really going on, was that an entire shelf on one side of the room displaying antique cups and dishes (again, a part of the girls’ decorations) came crashing to the floor. All the cups and plates broke into a million pieces. The shelf, as it careened to the floor, hit several of the ladies sitting close by. None of them were seriously hurt, but the class was in total chaos!
At this point, we all realized who was behind these blatant attacks. Satan was trying to keep these precious ladies from hearing how to renew their minds so their lives could be transformed. Immediately, we went to battle in prayer. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)
After that prayer time, the seminar went smoothly. Many of the ladies came to know the Lord in a deeper and more intimate way. Many were freed from "baggage" (hurts, bitterness, resentment, etc.) they had carried around for years; and many began to understand how to, moment-by-moment, renew their minds. God blessed us abundantly with His Presence.
So, we must all be aware of Satan’s schemes. He does not want us to learn this material and he will stop at nothing to confuse us, disarm us and discourage us. Always remember, however, "...greater is He that is in [us], than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)
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1 Corinthians 2 tells us that as Christians we all possess the Mind of Christ in order to get God’s Life from our hearts out into our lives. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; [why?] that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." (verse 12) "...For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the Mind of Christ." (verse 16)
Most of us, however (even as believers), have been completely ignorant, not only as to what the Mind of Christ is, but also what it does and how it works. And because of this ignorance, we have not been able to use this incredible gift that God has given us. As a result, we've gone on depending upon our own thoughts and our own emotions and again, played right into the enemy's hands.
This is exactly what happened to me for the first 20 years of my Christian walk. I desperately wanted to show forth God’s Life and live the truth. But I just didn’t know how. One day I would be "up" and living the Christian life because I felt great, my circumstances were good and others were being sweet to me; but, the next day, I would be down in the dumps and completely miserable because these three things were intolerable. So, my life was a continual emotional roller coaster. I call it the Christian Yo-Yo Syndrom--constantly dependent upon our emotions, other’s responses and our circumstances.
Friends would tell me, "Nancy, just read the Bible more." I did and still there was no change. They would tell me, "Just pray more." I did and still nothing changed my life. They would tell me, "Go to church more." I did and still nothing. "Go to this seminar." "Go to that seminar." But, still, there was never any lasting life transformation. Until I learned how to daily, moment by moment, renew my mind--put off the junk and put on Christ.
It’s very much like those fad diets we so often go on. With each diet, we lost weight, but over time, we always seem to gain that weight back and sometimes, even more. The reason is, our basic eating habits have not been changed. And, it’s the same thing with our spiritual lives. If our basic thinking patterns are not changed, then our lives will not change either, no mater what we do.
Isaiah 59:10 graphically describes this, "We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men." Eye in Scripture is often referred to as our mental vision or our mind. And it’s true; we do "grope for the wall as if we had no eyes" because we don’t know how to put off our old thinking and put on the Mind of Christ...our new "eyes."
So, maturity in Christ is not knowing a bunch of Scriptures, going to church regularly, attending prayer meetings, leading Bible studies, writing books or even being on T.V., but simply knowing how, moment by moment, to make the proper faith choices to renew our minds, so that God’s Life from our hearts can continue to flow.
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Now, besides ignorance there are a couple more reasons why many of us, even as Christians, are not using this incredible gift that God has given us (the Mind of Christ), but instead are continuing to depend upon our own emotional way of thinking.
One of the most common reasons why we tend to see things through our own understanding and not the Mind of Christ is that many of us are not even aware that our own thinking is any different from God's.
Even though Isaiah 55:8-9 plainly tells us, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts,"we still continue (even as Christians) to depend upon our own way of thinking.
Isaiah tells us here that our own natural thinking is not only different from God’s, but usually completely opposite from God’s.5 Haven’t you found this to be true? You will have just figured out in your own mind how God is going to work out your circumstances. Then He goes and accomplishes His Will in a totally different way than what you thought.
It’s critical that we realize that just because we’re Christians does not mean we automatically have God’s Thoughts in our lives. We don’t. Just as God’s Love can be blocked and quenched in our hearts (by our own emotional choices), so God’s Thoughts can also be withheld.
So, it’s critical to realize that our own natural thinking is completely different than God’s thinking, and that His Mind (just like His Love) can operate through us, only when we are open and cleansed vessels.
Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
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Another reason why many of us continue to depend upon our own thinking rather than God’s, is that we seldom "...take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," as 2 Corinthians 10:5 exhorts us to do.
How many of you do this? Most of us, even after we’re Christians, just react naturally. Very few of us stop and think before we respond.
Now, when God says, "take every thought captive," He doesn’t mean "examine" every single thought that we have. He means stop and take a good, hard look at the anxious thoughts, the hurtful ones, the doubtful ones, the frustrations, the anger, the pride, and all the other "emotional" and self-centered thoughts that take away our peace. Lack of peace is a good "barometer" for us to see which thoughts God wants us to deal with. Romans 14:23 says, "...whatever is not of faith is sin." So, any thought that is "not of faith" and takes away our peace, is a thought that we need to deal with.
Now, the reason our thoughts are so important to God is that our thoughts are the first to be triggered in the chain reaction of our souls. Our thoughts stir up our emotions; our emotions then cause our desires; and our desires produce our actions. This is why our thoughts are so critical. If we can catch our negative thoughts when they first occur, then we’ll stop the whole chain reaction of our souls before it even begins. And, we might even be able to prevent some of the sin before it occurs in our lives.
What happens, however, when we don't "take every thought captive," is that we end up being carried on by the "tide of emotion" (that chain reaction), quenching God’s Spirit, and His Life in our hearts is not able to come forth.
So yes, as Christians we all have the Mind of Christ, but we won’t be able to use this incredible gift, unless we recognize, first of all, that our own emotional way of thinking is totally opposite from God’s and recognize the importance of taking every thought captive.
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What I pray the Holy Spirit will remind each of us throughout this book, is the critical importance of setting aside our own natural, emotional way of thinking and beginning to think with the Mind of Christ. If we can learn to do this, Romans 12:2 tells us we will be transformed into God’s Image.6
Transformation is God’s Will and His goal for all of us. He wants us constantly taking off "ourself" and putting on "Himself." He wants us living the Truth and walking in His Love. The only way this is possible, however, is by the constant renewing of our minds.
"Therefore, I beseech you brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And, be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed [how?] by the renewing of your mind, [so] that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2, emphasis added)
Endnotes:
- Isaiah 59:14; 2Timothy 4:4; Amos 8:11; Jeremiah 7:28
- Matthew 24:12
- Romans 5:5; Hebrews 8:10; and Galatians 4:6 (the dunamis power of God means "power to reproduce itself")
- Colossians 3:4
- Job 28:20-21; Jeremiah 10:23; Isaiah 40:28
- 2 Corinthians 3:18
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