Doing the Impossible part 3

This week, we got deeper into what it takes to change the sub-conscious mind (of the heart of man). Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word will help reveal the thoughts and intents of the heart – the things that are causing you to continue to repeat the same patterns in life. Not only will it reveal these things, but the Holy Spirit will also show you HOW (and in what order) to fix them. You see, God is not going to reveal ALL your junk at once. He reveals what you need to work on right now. Matthew 3:12 says that Jesus (the Word) goes into your heart with a winnowing fork and divides the good from the bad. When you let Him do the dividing, it is less painful and more effective. You will get rid of things that truly need to be removed, and you will also clean up things that you might have thrown away otherwise. Sometimes the Word will show you that a quality about yourself is not bad but just needs to be refined and re-directed.  God knows the best way to move you toward your destiny in Him and the life He wants for you. 

Your sub-conscious does not know the difference between what is real and what you are choosing to truly believe in the conscious mind.  This is not just confession, although it starts there, but it also involves true belief of something new.  This means we start visualizing and picturing ourself doing the things God’s word says we are going to do.  This is a big key to this change.  You need a massive amount of new information (the Word getting in you), in order to get out of the big “ruts” you are in and form new ones.  We need to develop a new path to the way the Word wants us to think and act. 

In Romans 7, Paul talks about the struggle we all face to change from the sinful nature that causes us to do the things we know we shouldn’t do and that we don’t want to do into the nature of the Spirit that leads us in all truth and goodness.  Paul is clear that the sinful is not us but is simply with us as we seek to do God’s will and follow Him in our lives.  When you read it closely you find that it is the mind in which the desire for the sinful nature resides. The mind is what needs to be renewed. You ARE Spirit when you are born-again. But you still have a sinful nature that is trying to control things. It is your mind, the sub-conscious mind, that is automatically making wrong decisions for you. Renew THAT and the battle is won!

 In 1 John 3, John talks about how, if we keep on sinning, we cannot be children of God. We know he can’t be talking about any and all sin because then none of us could be considered “saved.” In verse 10 he shows us the sin that is most critical – it is that which is in relation to loving others. You see, when religious people try to use this scripture to point at someone’s sin and call them “unsaved” or claim they must have never been saved, they are defining sin using a very short list of behaviors, like smoking, drinking alcohol, or going to R rated movies. But, if we read what John said, we find that the one who is making that judgment is in a more precarious position than the one they are judging, since their sin involves not loving someone else. Ouch!

 

Then we went back to Romans 8. Paul reminds us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. If the only way to be in Christ was if you had no sin, then you would have no need to worry about feeling condemned, would you? Otherwise, even Paul would not be considered to be saved. He just got done admitting he continues to sin.  It is not the sin so much that God is concerned about, but the junk it produces in our lives.  He wants the best for us.  Sin will not produce the abundant life He wants for us.  When we set our minds on the Spirit, then we will change the sub-conscious.  We have everything we need to change our hearts and sub-conscious mind and move forward from it.  What is important is to be led be the Spirit. You may still sin from time to time, but you do your best. When you fail you realize, as Paul did, that it was not YOU (Spirit) that sinned, but your old sinful nature. And the mind that allows itself to be controlled by that old nature is being renewed.

 How is it renewed? By constant input of the Word. The sub-conscious seems strong, but it has an Achilles heel. You see, it cannot differentiate between reality and what you speak and believe. Just saying the Word over and over will not change the heart. That will only happen when you truly believe what you are confessing. It may take a lot of confessing to get to that point. When you do, look out! Change is coming. You will begin to automatically make good decisions and produce good things in your life.


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/.