We ended part 1 with these words - "Okay. I can already hear the cries of the religious audience saying “Wait a minute! Satan is powerful”. I never said he wasn’t powerful. I’m simply showing you where he gets his power from. He was given that power by man." Then I challenged you to study Luke 4:6,7. Here it is.
6 I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them, the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please.
7 I will give it all to you if you will worship me.
You notice that Jesus didn’t argue that point with the enemy, but responded with “The Scriptures say, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”
Man had all dominion and power and authority. So that’s where the devil had to get it from and he continues to do that today by lies, suggestion and accusation.
He got Adam and Eve to agree with him in opposition to God thus empowering him. He is still doing the same thing today. Religion, legalism, and deceit are rampant in the church today.
Again, he is successful in this method because most Christians do not know who they are in Christ and who He is in them. They have wrong believing stemming from an un-renewed mind.
The key or access to the supernatural realm with any kind of regularity is the renewed mind. Without a renewed mind, the enemy will have a field day convincing you that you have to perform or follow the rules of man or tradition in order to convince God to accept you. That kind of thinking will do nothing for you other than wear you out and bring you into a state of depression.
The supernatural realm is only accessible to the measure with which your mind is renewed. That part of your renewed mind will give you entrance into the supernatural realm where miracles are normal. The voice of the enemy will be silenced. Your mind being renewed to the truth destroys the enemy’s ability to accuse you, suggest works to you, or condemn you for perceived failures.
The key to spiritual transformation is the renewing of the mind. If your mind is not renewed all of your behavior comes out of the old mind of the world system.
You’ll be bound by the patterns of your previous thinking. The rules and standards you have set for yourself or let others set for you. Logical thought patterns of law, religion, legalism, the old man thinking. You won’t be set free from the tyranny of others nor the tyranny of yourself.
It’s not who you now are in Christ. You are a new creation. You are righteous. You are totally redeemed. You are an heir and joint heir. You are complete in Him who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col 2:9,10).
Renewing of the mind is not simply memorization of scripture. It’s not just focusing on the written word. It takes a revelation of the truth that’s written. It’s a supernatural knowing not a mind or natural knowing. It’s when a truth becomes so real to you that it brings supernatural transformation. It’s what allows you to pursue what others ignore.
God’s plan has never changed. He intended for man to have rulership over the earth. He intended for man to pursue this forever. Those who do pursue this will be castigated by those who do not have their minds renewed to the truth and are more comfortable ignoring the freedom found in the truth of the gospel of grace.
Nothing is stopping the miraculous in our life except the absence of right thinking and a renewed mind. The problem is that the only place the renewed mind does not exist is between the ears of most believers.
Listen…listen….listen. “Jesus could not heal the sick, nor deliver the tormented from demons, or raise the dead”. I didn’t make that up. Scripture reveals this to us. John 5:19 reads “So Jesus explained, I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does”.
This was a self imposed restriction. He had to perform all the miracles he did not as the son of God, but as a man in right relationship with God so that we would have the same privilege.
If he did them as God they would be unattainable to us. His humanity had two basic distinctions. First, He had no sin to separate Him from the Father. Secondly, He was completely dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him.
A.W. Tozer said “If the Holy Spirit were taken away from the new testament church, 90% of what they did would have come to a halt. But if the Holy Spirit were taken away from today’s church, only 10% of what it does would cease”. Now that’s a sad commentary on the church.
I believe it was Bill Johnson who said “It’s hard for fruit to be produced in our life like it was in the early church when we are more committed to a book they didn’t have then we are to the Holy Spirit they did have”.
I like what Graham Cooke says. “One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to utterly convince you that you are completely, compellingly loved by God regardless of how you are showing up. That means to God it doesn’t matter, in that sense, whether you are doing well or doing badly. He has already chosen how He is going to be towards you, and He doesn’t change.”
If we would just renew our stinking thinking, and renew our minds to these truths, we would then have the drive to pursue what others ignore. We would enter into the supernatural lifestyle where miracles become simple.
But what about our humanity? Well we were sinners, but cleansed by the blood of Jesus. As such, we have no sin to separate us from the Father. Through His sacrifice He has successfully dealt with the power and effect of sin for all who believe. Nothing now separates us from the Father. There remains only one unsettled issue, how dependent on the Holy Spirit are we willing to live.
Grace and Peace.
