Romans 12:2 (NKJV) 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.
-There is pressure in this world to make you like everything else around you. These are conforming pressures. We are not supposed to conform to this world’s image. We are not supposed to be like everyone else. We are supposed to be different. We are to transform into who God says we are.
-How are we going to transform. Romans 12:2 say we transform by the renewing of the mind. Though God desires to do a major work in us, it requires our involvement. God does not just zap you and you are suddenly changed. We play a big part; we choose to renew our minds.
-Your mind is being conformed to something. Whatever you spend your time thinking about, what you watch, what you listen to, what you read. All these things play a role in how you think. How you think determines what you are conforming to. God needs us to renew the mind to His word so that we can be transformed into what he needs us to be
Transformed: metamorphosis; like a caterpillar into a butterfly.
-Have you ever noticed that you can see with your mind? If you close your eyes, you can still see. This is seeing with your mind. This is seeing the unseen. Your eyes cannot see it, people around you cannot see it, it’s not seen in this outside world, but you see it inside. How you use this sight is very important. In fact this inner seeing is more important than what you see with your eyes. What you see with your eyes is temporary; it’s subject to change at any moment. However, what you see inward is eternal and will affect this outside world.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV) while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
o 2 Corinthians 4:18 Amplified Bible (AMP) So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable.
-If you can see it with the natural eyes, it is subject to change. If all you see are bad things in your life; sickness, poverty, depression etc. it’s time to start seeing with your inner eyes; with the eyes of your spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NKJV) Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
John 8:31-32 (NKJV) 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
-If you spend time in God He will show you complete victory. As we meditate on the victorious life God desires for us we will began to see it inward and its only a matter of time before we see it outwardly. Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
-What you see in your mind is extremely important. If you see failure inside you will have it on the outside. If all you see inside is defeat, poverty or lack, that is all you will have. But, if you see a bright future, if you see victory, if you see healing, success and promotion that is what you will have. It’s important we see nothing but victory on the inside. We need to be looking at the right things. We need to be reading, listening to, and watching all the right things. If you want to stay conformed to this world then keep doing
what they do and watching what they watch. Meditating on what the world meditates on will keep you like the world.
-Worry is looking at the wrong thing. Worry is dangerous because it feeds fears. God wants to get us looking at the right thing so all we see is victory.
How do you know you are looking at the wrong thing? Take note of how it affects you. How is what you are meditating on making you feel on the inside?
Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Romans 8:6 (NKJV) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
-Life and peace will accompany a mind that is meditating on the right things. If there is fear, worry or dread then that means you are not meditating the right thing and you need to change what you are seeing, watching, reading and thinking about.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
-Change happens as we behold the right thing. You don’t see the glory of God with eyes open. You see it inside as you meditate on his word. You behold his glory and this transforms you. Use the eyes of your spirit. Meditate on God. See in His word how he is bigger and stronger than any issue you are facing. Meditate on how Moses was able to lead millions out of captivity, on how Joshua too Jericho, on how David slew Goliath. See Jesus triumph over death in the Gospels. See how Paul laid hands on the sick and they recovered, see how he spread the Gospel throughout the known world. See what John saw in the book of Revelation. See how we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
-We can see victory after victory in the Word, or we can meditate on things that are causing fear and dread and anxiety. What you behold is what you will become.
What must we see?
Ephesians 1:15-18 (NKJV) 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 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,
And: Ephesians 1:19-21 (NKJV) 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
And: Ephesians 1:22-23(NKJV) 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
-This is what we must see. This is a victorious church. God has put all things under our feet and has given us great power. God has given us a rich inheritance. “The eyes of our understanding” must be enlightened to these facts. If all we are seeing is defeat, it is not coming from God.
-It matters what we look at, we become what we behold.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (NKJV)3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Jesus is the image of God.
Genesis 1:26 (NKJV) Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:27 (NKJV) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Man was originally made in the image of God.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (NKJV) 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
-Satan is working night and day to keep people from seeing the light of the glorious gospel. As we meditate on God, on His word, we are being changed into that Image. We are being changed into who we really are, who God created us to be.
-Words produce images. A word means nothing unless it produces an image in the mind. God’s words produce divine images. Before God created man He first had an image on the inside of Him. God had us in His thoughts first then He created us.
-The image exists in the creator or artist before it exits in the natural where you can touch it. We existed in God before we existed out here in the natural world.
Adam was in the mind of God before he was formed from dust. God spoke “let us make man…” then man was formed and came to be. In other words there is a picture first then a performance.
John 1:14 (NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
-God saw it, then he said it, then the spirit of God created it out here in the natural world.
-Only mankind is like God with the ability to conceive something inside, see it with our eyes closed and choose words that are full of faith to speak that image out. We are not the Creator, but we are ruling and reining in this life. We create on a smaller scale than God almighty.
-Satan is not an equal or opposite of God. Satan cannot create anything; he can only twist or pervert what has already been made.
-Many Christians have very bad images of themselves because Satan has feed them the bad images for so long. Be careful what you are beholding. Who’s image are you conforming to?
Thoughts are images or forms of what can be or of things to come.
James 1:13-15 (NKJV) 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
-Image and thought play a big role in James 1:13-15.