Doing the Impossible--Part 2

We continued the “Doing the Impossible” series this week. We talked about how we have two “minds” that need to be brought into agreement in order for the Word to truly work in our lives. We have a conscious mind and a sub-conscious mind. Usually the sub-conscious is where our problems come from.  Experts say that 70-80% of our decisions are made automatically from the sub-conscious. We have beliefs, attitudes and perceptions about ourselves and life in general that mold and shape what we say and do. Those thoughts and actions will continue to produce the same results. 

In Judges 6, God speaks to a man named Gideon about leading His people. Gideon was hiding from the Midianites, who were oppressing the Israelites.  He calls Gideon a mighty warrior, which is what the name Gideon means. There are many other places where God would change someone’s name in order to help them change the way they looked at themselves. In this case Gideon just needed to be reminded who he was.  That is what we sometimes need. You see, we are Christians. We are IN CHRIST. Sometimes, other ideas and thoughts have taken hold in our sub-conscious minds that cause us to end up living a far cry from the life God wants for us.  Gideon’s response was to question what was said to him.  The God simply gives him a command and didn’t even dignify his accusations.  God doesn’t want us to live in fear.  He wants us to live in line with His word.   Why doesn’t this always happen in our lives then?

The word of God is not the most powerful thing in the word.  The most powerful thing is belief in the Word.  The Bible is potential energy until it is believed (and acted upon per James).  We looked at Ephesians 1:18 and Mark 6, which resonate the fact that without faith God can’t do anything.  The conscious mind sows seeds into the sub-conscious, and then the sub-conscious makes numerous decisions based on what we have experienced in the past, without any conscious sense that they are being made.   Once something is in the subconscious, it will keep going until changed.  In Genesis 1:11, God established that things produce after their own kind.  So we have to change our “kind” in order to produce different results.  2 Corinthians 4:18 encourages us to focus our “vision” on the things of God rather than our circumstance.

In John 7:38, Jesus says that out of man’s heart will flow the rivers of living water (or other things depending on what is in the heart). The heart of man is the same thing as the sub-conscious. It is the inner man. The King James Version of that scripture refers to it as man’s belly.  Sometimes we don’t seem to get the Word past the conscious level and get frustrated. 

Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word will reveal the thoughts and intents of the heart. You see, sometimes we intend to do the Word and become Christ-like. But, if the sub-conscious is not in agreement, it will continue to produce its thoughts and intents – contrary to what your conscious mind is wanting to produce.  So, what is in your heart? Listen to your words. Jesus said in Matthew 12 that the bad words that come out of your mouth are just a symptom of the bad heart. I’m not talking about cuss words. I’m talking about the way we talk about our life circumstances (especially bad ones, and especially when we are under stress).  Do you speak words of faith, or do your words and thoughts go to expectations of horrible things occurring? What is in your heart comes out.  We will stop attracting and perceiving rejection when our heart believes we are not rejected any more.  We will stop attracting abusive relationships when our heart believes it does not deserve to be abused.

So, we need to change what is in our hearts. Both need to be in agreement with the Word – no matter what you see. James 1:6-8 says that a double-minded man should not expect to receive anything from God. You may be making conscious decisions to connect to the Word, but if you don’t change the attitudes in the sub-conscious, you won’t see that Word produce.  James 1:5-8 shows us that if our conscious mind and subconscious are out of agreement, we are double-minded and still receive junk as if the subconscious and conscious agree to receive it.  Our subconscious is like a computer:  it has been programmed with information over time.  It can only do what it has been programmed to do.  We can’t expect it to do something else until we give it new information.  The subconscious initially thinks that new information contrary to what it thinks is a problem.  It sets up something like a firewall or virus program.  This is a problem when we are trying to change wrong thinking.  We need to click the “allow” button to begin to change the program in our subconscious.  It takes a very conscious effort to allow those things to plant in the subconscious. 


To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.