Be Not Conformed
Romans 12:2
And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good,
and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
My Experience, Strength & Hope
Today was yet another level of victory for me and
I am so excited to share it with you. As one who was almost 100 pounds
overweight and certainly weighed down with all of that in spiritual baggage,
today I reached a new milestone – glory to God. I have reached a weight I have
not seen since my early teen years. How did I get here? God is the one who gave
me the word to follow – His perfect will for the situation. Then, when I
stepped up to the plate (pun intended!) and did what He told me, the miraculous
happened. People seem to think that it is all up to God. But it isn’t. We have
to do the work, plain and simple.
How did I do my part? Well, to begin with, I had
to be conformed to doing things God’s way – not the world’s way. If I had continued to
do things the way the world does them, I cannot even imagine how much I would
weigh today, if I were even still alive. I was digging an early grave for
myself, and I was using my fork as the ‘pitchfork’ to do it. That’s how the
world is doing it. They are trying to find relief from their inner pain at the
end of a fork, a needle, or at the bottom of a bottle among other things. When
they get to the bottom and the stuff or the food is all gone, they still have
the pain, the hurts, and a new set of problems to deal with on top of what they
already had.
It
doesn’t take long for a hurting person to find a ‘partner in crime’ who is
handling their difficulties the way the rest of the world does. But with faith,
every Christian can be transformed – changed into handling things the way God
tells us to. This is His perfect will for us, all detailed out in His word.
Doing things the God kind of way brings winning results.
What does it really mean to renew our minds? It is to change
the way we think about things according to the word of God. For a person who
has had several addiction issues, the word gets right to the point and shows us
exactly how we should be responding to the desires of our flesh. The world
is all about the flesh. They are looking to satisfy their fleshy desires every
chance they can get. They will invite anyone they can to join in.
How did I get to the weight goal I am at now? I had to put on Jesus’
mind, His ways – think like He does, focus on what He focuses on – heavenly
things, not the things of this earth. The more I thought about my Savior and
His words to me, and the less I focused on food, and the greater my victory
became. Hallelujah!
Has it been hard on my flesh? At times, yes – very much so. But those
were the times I was focusing too much on what I couldn’t have, (a lot like Eve
in the garden) rather than on what I already did have in Jesus. The week I
wrote this, as I further modified my eating habits, I have had to keep
reminding myself not to think about it. I cannot afford to make provision for
even the thought of it to linger in my mind.
I had to be changed by changing the way I think about food – or not.
Thinking about the thing we got hooked on is what will keep our flesh screaming
out for it. To renew one’s mind is simply that – changing how we think about
things. God promises that we can have our minds – the way we think, changed by
meditating on His word and how He says to approach the situations we face. His
word is all inclusive. It hits on every cylinder that we need to run on in this
life – leaving nothing out. When the thought comes that says, “Gee, I really
miss having this or that for my meal”, I just have to toss it out and remember
that food is only a tool used to keep my body alive and functioning at maximum
capacity.
This is just like a toothbrush for the teeth or a razor to shave with.
These are all tools we need in our everyday life. Food is the same. Other
addictions are in a different category altogether because none other than food
is needed to sustain life.
Making a provision for the flesh all starts in the mind. The desire
comes up and we have a choice right then and there. What am I going to think
about right now? What will I say about this right now? And the best question
is, “What does God’s word say about this?” Friend, as always, I encourage you
to apply God’s word by faith by renewing the way you think as you spend more
time in it. Saying it out loud over your life will bring results. I am telling
you the truth about this. I never saw the kind of success I am seeing now until
I really started to focus more heavily on the word and decree it out loud over
my life. Once I did that, my thinking really did get renewed – glory to God.
Be encouraged. Don’t let your flesh tell you what you are going to do.
You have the power and the authority to tell it what it is going to do.
Meditate on and speak the word my friend because it really does work when we
grab hold of it.
Scriptures from This Message…
Keys for
This Discussion – Look at these definitions…
·
To not be conformed
·
To be transformed
·
To renew our minds; aka, change our thinking patterns
·
To know God’s perfect will, purpose and plan for our individual lives
According
to the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:
Conform
To make like, in external
appearance; to reduce to a like shape, or form, with something else; with to;
as, to conform anything to a model.
More generally, to reduce to a
likeness or correspondence in manners, opinions or moral qualities.
To comply with or yield to; to live or act according to; as,
to conform to
the fashion or to custom.
Think of a butterfly and the changes it
experienced as it went from a caterpillar to a butterfly as we study the word
of God…
Romans
8:29
For whom he
did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Philippians
3:8-16
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is
of God by faith:
That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto
his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for
which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be
thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by
the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
What does
it really mean to “renew” our minds?
Romans
8:5-6
For they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the
Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace.
1 Corinthians 2:16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he
may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
Ephesians 4:17-24
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their
mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Who being past feeling have given themselves
over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have
not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by
him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness.
Colossians
3:2
Set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth.
1 Peter 1:13
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
Philippians
4:8
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Things to Consider on Your Own:
·
List
some of the ways you have conformed to the pattern (ways) of this world where
the addiction issues have been concerned.
·
Now
think about ways you can change those patterns so that your life can be
transformed into the image of the Master.
·
List
some ways that you can change your perception of the things that held you in
bondage.
·
What
does the word tell us about how to think in this message so we can think like
Jesus?
·
Will
you make it your aim to please Him by meditating on this lesson over the next
week? Will you continue to speak His word out loud over your life in faith,
regardless of how things may seem right now?
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