MIND
Mathew 16:23”…for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
WORLDLY-MINDED: Jesus rebuked Peter and told him not to set his mind on the things of man, but to upgrade his thinking on God’s interests. Amen. Worldly people are unable to comprehend the things of God, therefore Jesus had to rebuke Peter, likewise today a huge gamut of people do not understand spiritual things and thus they forsake church, God and His Word, they would like to leapfrog and be successful without actually following and obeying God, they fail to understand that blessings come through obedience to God and not through smart life, anybody listening to me? Apostle Paul said, 1 Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
One particular smart guy came into my office and told me angrily that he has no time to read the Old Testament since his office work keeps him busy, in the next few months he lost his job and that same guy came into my office and told me, ‘if I don’t get a job immediately then I would sink because my EMI’s are mounting.’ People have no mind to sow into the work of God and His Kingdom but without winking an eye would go for an extravagant vacation, such are the worldly-minded people. Apostle Paul said: Romans 12:2 ESV “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.”Amen.
WORD-MINDED: How can one set his mind on a high level? By filling the mind with the Word of God, anybody listening? Hebrews 8:10”.. I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Let me explain this, after my salvation experience which happened during the birth of my second child, I got total transformation of my mind, which was awesome, I cannot articulate my feelings in words. I had been to a jewelry shop with my entire family, my mom and sisters were also there, this was a huge showroom with gigantic neck chains and bracelets on display. All my other family members were going around the shop trying to pick something of their choice; however, I was nonchalant to the whole issue, I felt like a fish out of water – I had no interest. Period. I do wear gold ornaments even now, but just limited, I have no yearning towards it but this CHANGE was miraculous because before salvation I would wear 10 rings on my ten fingers and my bracelet alone was 5 sovereign of gold, none of them are with me now. Am I a monk? No, but I am a lover of Jesus FULLY sold out for Him. Amen. Nothing lures me more than my Savior! How did this happen? Immediately after the birth of my son Joshua, I started drinking the word of God day and night, literally I read it through the night. I read it diligently, I checked the author of each book, delved deep into the writer’s life and while I was doing this, God divinely sent people into my life who gifted me with expensive Bible commentary books which further took me deep into His Word and shaped me for the assignment that God planned for me, to be His writer, preacher and teacher. Glory to Jesus! Seek and you will find!
Apostle tells us in Colossians 3: 1 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” Isn’t this awesome? God doesn’t reveal Himself at one go, slowly as you get closer and closer, He unfolds His magnificence little by little…
WORRY-MINDED: People like Martha are the worry-minded people who have no time to sit at the feet of the Lord and get saturated in His glory like Mary, Jesus said, Luke 10:41"Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
God is not interested in busy-bees but He is looking for people who are Kingdom-minded. One particular father of my students, three of them study in our school, told me, ‘I don’t want lot of money, I just need enough to take care of my family and never would I miss church for anything and they have church every evening, yes, you heard me right – EVERYDAY. There should be no room for the devil in your mind, once you give him a foothold then he would capture you, therefore do not miss your Bible study, meticulously meditate the word of God. Apostle Paul said, Philippians 4: 8..”whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Amen.
We got to understand the goodness, greatness and largeness of God and keep our mind buckled on to His Word so that perfect peace fill us. Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
CLOSED-MINDED: We got to be godly-minded people and walk in the ways of God and not closed-minded people who refuse to accept Jesus and His ways. The pagan worshippers do not understand the true God because they mind has been darkened with idols.
Ephesians 4:17-18 “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
EVIL MINDED: Proverbs 11:20 “The Lord hates evil-minded people, but loves those who do right. “ Do not ape the world to do evil and follow their corrupted ways, but remember you are washed in His blood and always stay in the right track with God. Though Judas Iscariot was with Jesus; yet, he filled his mind with evil because he lost track of God and allowed greed for money to defile his thoughts. It is very important that you stick with God’s people so that you be like-minded with them. Boaz advised Ruth, ‘don’t go away anywhere else but stick to your people and stay in this field.” (Ruth 2:8)
GOD SHOULD OPEN OUR MIND: When we seek God earnestly, He would open our mind to understand spiritual things. Jesus said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. – Luke 24:44-45
There were days that I would fast and read the Bible for more revelations and for one particular fire camp where I had to preach on all the four days, I read the book of Philippians 75 times in order to get a better and deeper understanding.
