We all love receiving a prophetic promise from God but not the process attached to it. We envision the promised future and wish it’ll come without a journey of transformation.
However, all prophecy initiates process – a journey that will take us from where we are now to where we’re supposed to be.
The question to ask is – what kind of person do we need to become to inherit the promise? Many are touched and inspired by a prophetic word but stop short of being transformed into the person that the promise calls for.
The key to change into a new man or woman is in the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2).
God speaks to release faith and shed light on the disparity between where we are now and where we must be to step into the fulfillment of the promise. Our response must include changing our current mindset into the new one to live in the land of fulfilled promises.
If our mindset is unchanged, then we’ve not learned and progressed. We love the new but cling to the comfort and security of the old ways of doing things.
However, the Bible tells us that, when God pours Himself out on the old, it inevitably breaks apart. A new wineskin is required to accommodate a new momentum of the Spirit.
Going to the altar in response to God is our initial acknowledgement that we need Him and that things must change in our lives. Yet, the true test comes after that initial response.
We need to adjust and open our lives to a deep transformation. So often in my life, I realise that lasting transformation happens only when I align my thinking with the mind of Christ. We’ve all squandered too much of God’s grace without being changed for the better.
Some things must change, or the new will dissipate. It’s simply not possible to grow in the new if we remain stuck with the old.
How does an encounter with God look like in this new season? What fresh perspective is God giving me about Himself and where He wants to bring me? What does a fresh move of the Holy Spirit look like in my life? How can I prepare? What is the new way of thinking that the Lord wants me to have to accommodate this fresh move? These are questions I ask to get unstuck.
Renewing the mind involves not just learning new perspectives but also unlearning old ones. Jewish leaders during the time of Jesus’ ministry were set in their ways, thinking, and interpretation of Scriptures.
They thought that, due to their study, they knew everything there was to know. Yet, academic knowledge without a relationship with Christ only serves to puff us up.
Identifying what we need to unlearn sets us up to learn more powerfully. It interrupts the religiosity that can hinder our faith and relationship with the Lord.
Learning starts with seeing from a new perspective of who God is for us and therefore who we’re becoming in Him.
Our perspectives shape how we think and creates a new mindset. What we think about God is the most important thing in the world. We cannot be transformed unless we’re aligned with the mind of Christ. With Christ-like thinking, problems can now become possibilities.
Jesus said time and again in the Gospels, “You have heard it said but now I say unto you.” Often, when we’re stuck, it’s because we’ve not unlearned the old. We become double-minded until we let go of the old.
Usually for me, it’s something I believe about myself and my circumstances but it’s a belief that God does not share.
Jewish leaders had to unlearn the old practices of Judaism to have a completely new experience of God. They had to unlearn the interpretation of Scripture learned since their childhood.
Unlearning occurs when we engage God with questions that challenge our status quo. We’ve to leave behind the lies that bind us, and embrace a new identity, perspectives, thoughts, and language that God is giving to us now.
Unlearning is an exciting process. It’s the start of coming into alignment with God in that particular area of our life.
We’re all on a journey of unlearning and learning. What’s some unlearning that you’re going through in your own life? What were some things you once thought you ‘knew’ but turned out to be things you needed to leave behind?
Transformation comes by the renewing of our minds so that we may prove the good, acceptable, and perfect, will of God for us.
