Renewing Your Mind..Craig Denison Ministries

 Renewing Your Mind

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

Why should we spend time alone with God? Why is meeting with God in the secret place so important? Until we gain an understanding of the immense value and availability of encountering God, we will never consistently engage in this foundational, vital practice. As we discover God’s heart to meet with us in order that we might experience the depths of his love, I pray that your life would be marked by a new grace to consistently and powerfully encounter the living God.

Scripture: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

Devotional:

Your mind is the battleground on which the war for your emotions, purpose, effectiveness, and fullness of life is won or lost. It's your mind that is attacked daily by the enemy. It's your mind that the world is trying to influence for its own benefit. And it's your mind that the Lord desires to renew daily in order for you to live in abundant relationship with him. So if the mind truly is a battleground, how do you come out the winner? How do you come out victorious over Satan and his schemes?

Scripture says clearly that to achieve victory over your mind it must be continually renewed by the power of God's word. Romans 12:2 states “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God puts conforming to the world and being transformed by the renewal of your mind in opposition. There is no grey area. Your mind is either being won for the kingdom of God or lost to the world. You are either thinking pleasing thoughts to God or not. You are either experiencing the abundant life Jesus made available to you or not.

For a long time, the idea of renewing my mind felt exhausting. Honestly, reading the Bible was incredibly boring for me. But I discovered that the Bible is only as life-giving to me as I am willing to be transformed by it. Until we actually sit down, open our hearts, and allow ourselves to be transformed by God's word, we will never experience the life that comes from victory in our minds. The thoughts that plague you—the thoughts that rob you of freedom, peace, and joy—will never leave you until you allow your mind to be renewed by God's word.

To ignore the war being waged around us is to lose the war. Our enemy longs for us to become complacent against his attacks. He longs for us to believe sinful thoughts, wrongful attitudes and lies are just a part of life on earth. He knows he has no power against the ability of God’s word to transform us.

So, how do you renew your mind? Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Set your thoughts on the things of God. Begin every day by setting your mind on the wonderful character of the living God and your new identity in Christ. If you will allow God’s word to be the foundation of your thought life by spending your first moments meditating on Scripture, the battle for your mind will be won for the kingdom. The negative thoughts and insecurities you face daily will flee from you in the glorious light of God's truth. That's God's promise for you today and every day. 

Take time today to meditate on Scripture and experience the transformative power of grace over your thoughts as you enter into guided prayer.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Repeat it over and over again, even out loud. Put yourself in the Scripture. Declare over yourself, “I am in Christ and a new creation. The old, sinful me has passed away, and the new me in Christ has come.” Allow the truth of Scripture to impact the way you see yourself and your world.

2. In what way do your thoughts or life not line up with the truth of 2 Corinthians 5:17? In what ways do you see yourself as anything but a new creation? In what ways do you identify with your sin rather than the freedom afforded you by the blood of Jesus?

3. Journal what God shows you. Take these areas of your life and submit them to the truth of Scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see yourself as he sees you. Allow your perspectives to be changed by the Lord in order to see yourself as he does.

God's word is truer than how you feel, and if you will align your life with the truth of Scripture it will begin to powerfully affect your emotions. Emotions are the result of the way we think. We feel loved because we believe we are loved. We feel joy because we believe there is cause for joy. In the same way, when we believe a lie from the enemy our emotions are powerfully impacted. When we believe we’ll never get victory over a sin, that no one loves us, or that we’re not good enough, our lives begin to bear the fruit of those lies. But there is power when we root ourselves in the word of God. Transcendent joy and peace come when we establish God’s word as our basis for truth. May your day be marked by a new freedom as the result of renewing your mind. 

Extended Reading: Colossians 3:1-17

Freedom from Rules..Meg Bucher

 Freedom from Rules

By Meg Bucher

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

Parents quickly understand the necessity of rules in order to keep their children safe. When toddlers, the rules are simple but often life or death! Rules like don’t run out into the street; don’t touch a hot stove; don’t run into a burning campfire; don’t jump into the water without a life jacket before you can swim …don’t get lost. When they reach school age, the rules include manners- respecting their teachers and other adults in their lives; and honesty, studying hard for tests instead of peering over another classmate’s paper. As they grow older, the rules become a more tangled mess of morality we, ourselves, struggle alongside our kin to maintain. At any age, rules more often allow us to become the best version of ourselves rather than inhibiting us from experiencing life to the full. 

A rule, as a noun, is defined as a principle or regulation governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement, etc. As a verb, to rule means to control or direct; exercise domination power, authority, or influence over; govern. The heading before today’s verses, in the NLT translation of the Bible, reads: “Freedom from Rules and New Life in Christ.”   Jesus didn’t come to abolish the necessary growth we obtain through following rules; He came so that we would benefit from complete obedience, even though we cannot obtain perfection this side of heaven. Christ Jesus makes up for our lack.

Freedom from Rules.

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” Matthew 5:17 NLT

Freedom from rules, through Christ, releases the pressure of a burden we can never live up to. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, willing to walk out the will of His Father to free us from the burden of our own sin …and lack. Though our hearts are often in the right place as we wake each day to follow Jesus, we carry with us an entanglement of sin that trips into our daily lives and rolls over into our confession of them in the next. Grace-filled and unfailing in love for us, God made a way for us to be forgiven and a chance to repent …to change. 

A seedling planted in the ground makes its way up through the soil and breaks through to see the sun. Our lives are a continual process of blooming where we are planted. “Paul uses the illustration of our being rooted in Christ,” the Life Application Bible explains, “Just as plants draw nourishment from the soil through their roots, we draw our life-giving strength from Christ. The more we draw our strength from him, the less we will be fooled or entangled by those who falsely claim to have life’s answers apart from Christ.”

New Life in Christ. 

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” - Romans 8:1 NLT

Today’s verses encourage us to keep straining for the light and to let our roots grow down into him. Plants that return year after year spread out each time they come back to life in the Spring. I like to plant things that tend to grow and spread out without my lack of a green thumb to hinder them. What begins as a spacious garden soon overflows with fresh wildflowers. I love giving nature a space to take over in my yard and plodding out to pick fresh blooms each day as more and more cut through to the light of the sun. 

Our lives are new every day, just as God’s mercy is new every day. He is faithful to complete His promise of our new life in Christ. We are a new creation in Him, and it doesn’t happen overnight! A bulk of the change occurs progressively over time, season after season, and year after year. “New life in Christ starts and continues when we acknowledge him as leader over all we are and do,” the Life Application Study Bible explains, “Then we must accept his leadership daily by being rooted, built up, and strengthened in the faith.” 

Intersecting Faith and Life:

“He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who where near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Ephesians 2:17-20 NLT

Today’s verses talk of overflowing with thankfulness as a result of the truth we are being taught. Gratitude is a natural by-product of knowing God. It’s impossible to know Him and not be able to grasp gratitude, even in the worst and hardest of times.

Today’s beautiful verses, written by the apostle Paul, remind us of the amazing gift we have as we embrace life within the love of Christ. If ever we feel burdened by rules, we can be assured the guilt is not rooted in Him! But freedom is. We are free to admit our weaknesses, run to Him in our lack, and know without a doubt He sacrifices His perfect life so we could live ours to the full. He is with us, always. Let’s release the pressure, follow Jesus, allow our roots to grow down in Him, and our lives be built on Him. Let’s embrace the promise Paul penned: Then our faith will grow strong in the truth we are taught, and we will overflow with thankfulness. 

Further Reading: 

• Romans 12:1-2
• Colossians 3:16
• Acts 1:8
• Galatians 2:22

A Prayer to See Christ as Protector..Chelsey DeMatteis

 A Prayer to See Christ as Protector

By Chelsey DeMatteis

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 15-17

Recently I found myself in deep thought, pondering all the attributes of Christ and how I could share with my 5-year-old son to paint a clear picture of who Christ is to him. The first on my paper was Christ our protector. To follow was Christ our guide, Christ our Redeemer, and of course, Christ our Savior. 

As believers, it can be easy to recall all of the ways that Jesus called us to live in this world, love those around us, and how to do ministry where He’s placed us. What I’ve found is in the day-to-day, it takes a lot more effort to recall all that Christ is to us. Partly because it’s hard to wrap our minds around the incredible gift Christ is and all that endured on our behalf, but the main cause is we often want to take on the roles of Christ. It seems easier in the mundane to think of all I can do rather than what Christ does do.

We want to be the sole protector of our people and our circumstances, we want to be the guide of our life, we want to be the redeemer of hardships we face, and we want to act as Savior.

This reminds me of what Jesus spoke to his disciples in John 14. He promised his followers the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise now meant Christ will dwell in us!  And with this gift, He dwells in us to protect, guide, convict, and redeem. O’, what a wonderful Savior!!!

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 15-17

As you and I find ourselves trying to navigate this world and all that comes along with passing through this place before we reach eternity, I pray we recall what Jesus promised. Through recalling this promise, I hope it would cause us to trust the leading of the Holy Spirit, look to Christ as the one who protects us every step of the way, and share the good news of this gift to all we encounter. 

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank you for the promise of your Holy Spirit. I pray that in the moments I begin to do things in my own strength that I would recall who You are
 in my life. My only protector, my only guide, my only Redeemer, and my only Savior. Help me choose to live from this place, clinging to and sharing the Good News we’ve received because of the cross.In Jesus’ name, amen.

Are You Feasting on the Bread of Life?..Lynette Kittle

 Are You Feasting on the Bread of Life?

By Lynette Kittle

“I am the bread of life.”-- John 6:48

So much about life is focused on food today, of making sure you eat certain food to receive the most health benefits to grow stronger and to live longer.

Entire television networks, publications, websites, and festivals are devoted to food, instructing people how to buy it, prepare it, serve it, and eat it.

As well there are heated debates over which foods to eat and which foods to abstain from, similar to the discussions mentioned in Scripture between believers over which foods are okay to eat.

Yet no matter how much care you may take in putting food into your mouth, Jesus said not to put your focus on earthly food as your source of life.

Just like health organizations like to give their “Seal of Approval” on foods they believe are of higher quality, Jesus encourages to, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval” (John 6:27).

To help give a better understanding of what He is saying, Jesus refers to the Israelites time in the wilderness, “Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven” (John 6:32).

Psalm 78:24 describes how the bread from Heaven, called manna, was given to the them. “He rained down manna for the people to eat, He gave them the grain of Heaven.”

Scripture explains that, “Human beings ate the bread of angels; He sent them all the food they could eat” (Psalm 78:25).

As well, John 6:33 explains it like this, “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Jesus took great effort to teach this truth by comparing the manna from Heaven that sustained the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years, to how He is the bread of Heaven who will sustain you, so you’ll never go hungry (John 6:35).

Rather than focusing your life on earthly food as the sustainer of your life, Jesus asks you to look higher to Him stating, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48).

As God wanted the Israelites to look to Him for the bread of life, Jesus explains in John 6:51 how He wants you to look to Him stating, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Jesus is the bread that came down from Heaven and whoever eats His bread will live forever  (John 6:58).

Spiritual Growth for the New Year..Skip Heitzig

 Spiritual Growth for the New Year

by Skip Heitzig

Christmas is over and the new year is here, and if you're like a lot of people, you might be thinking of resolutions. But let me suggest that you start with your spiritual growth before turning to diets and exercise plans.

Growth—including spiritual growth—is a normal part of healthy living. In these final days of the year, I encourage you to meditate on John 15 as we look at three things that demonstrate your growth—or lack thereof—in the Christian life.

The first demonstration of this growth is being fruitful in life. Reading through John 15, you'll notice the word fruit comes up over and over again. That's because Jesus used the analogy of fruit growing on a vine to describe Christian growth: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (v. 5).

There are a few obvious characteristics of fruit—namely, it's natural, noticeable, and nourishing. You don't have to have an advanced degree in botany to tell that a vine is growing grapes—and the vine doesn't have to sit there straining hard to produce the grapes. It's a natural unfolding of life that brings nourishment to others. And so it is spiritually.

Though each believer's output of fruit will vary, at some point the fruit will show, whether it's the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23), people you win to Christ, living a holy lifestyle, your giving, or your praise. All of these things visibly demonstrate that growth is happening in and through you as you abide in Christ and seek Him.

The second demonstration of growth is being powerful in prayer. As John 15:7 says, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." With a promise like that, it's a wonder more Christians don't pray! Could it be because we just haven't seen results?

I believe there's a reason for that: there are conditions to this promise. First, you must abide in Christ; second, He must abide in you; and third, His words—Scripture—must also abide in you. It's then that your desires will become His desires, and then "you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."

Here's the third demonstration of spiritual growth: being joyful in spirit. "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full" (vv. 9-11)—turned up to the max, cranked up to ten. True, lasting, authentic joy is one of the things this world craves the most—and it's the very thing Jesus promises you. The question is, are you willing to go God's way to get it, growing and abiding in Him?

In closing, here's the thing about spiritual growth I want you to understand: you can grow as much as you want to. All the resources you need have already been given to you, and you can either employ them or let them lie dormant. As 2 Peter 1:3 says, God's "divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us."

I pray that the truths of John 15 would soak into your heart and flow through your life today, and that in this new year, you would be as verdant as the man described in Psalm 1—"planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (v. 3).