Day 15 - Consecrated Thinking

Tuesday August 7

We live in a world today that is obsessed with image. Image is everything, perception is reality –Facebook or MySpace have elevated image creation to an art form.  Everywhere we turn we are bombarded by marketing and hype and promotion.

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Information we have in abundance; truth and reality are in short supply.  Without realizing it skepticism and cynicism have crept into our souls. Especially among the younger generations, “approach everything with suspicion” is the new mantra. 

Merriam Webster defines skepticism as 1: an attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object 2a: the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain

Doubt? Incredulity?  Put simply – we’re dealing with an epidemic of unbelief. 

As believers this pervading mindset is subtly gnawing away at the foundation of faith in God’s unchanging nature and unalterable Word.  Like the frog in the pot of water, the enemy just keeps turning the heat up a little bit at time so we don’t notice until it’s too late.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. 1 Peter 5:8-9

Sometimes we think that the battle for our souls ended when we accepted Christ; but the truth is there is a battle raging around us that is both timeless and unending.  It’s the battle for our faith and the fight is all about image: who God is and who we are in Him.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

Most of us read this verse and when we see unbelievers we think “those who aren’t saved”.  But the Greek word here is not “heathen” or “Gentiles” it is simply “those without faith”.  It’s the same root word translated “unbelief” in Hebrews 3:18-19 “And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. “

And what is the blinding that the enemy is trying to do?  He is trying to blind us from the light – the revelation of the truth of who Christ is – the very image of God.

Our faith is anchored in the person of God as how He is revealed to us.  So every area where we struggle with unbelief is because we are lacking a revelation of the true nature of God.  For example, if I struggle believing God will meet my needs financially it’s because I don’t have a revelation of Him as the God who is my provision.  Or if I struggle with fear about my future, it’s because I don’t have a revelation of Him as the God who has all my days in His hands (Psalm 31:15)

This is why Paul prayed for the Ephesians

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Ephesians 1:17

Our knowledge of who God is determines how we position ourselves – how we walk in our lives. Let’s look at a natural example.  If you were alone at home and you knew a thief was trying to break in through your back door, you would probably have a hard time going to sleep, right?  But if you knew that there was a police officer standing in your back porch with a gun trained on the door, you would feel a lot differently, wouldn’t you?  

It is the same thing in the spirit – if our faith is founded on a revelation that God is the All-Powerful Mighty God, who frames the heaven and the earth by His word, we will be able to rest secure in the knowledge that He is able to take care of all that concerns us.  But if through bad experiences, hurts, wounds, disappointments, the enemy has gained access to bring accusations against the character of God, how we position ourselves in our lives will be different. 

That’s we believe in this season where God is wanting to bring our lives into fully into alignment with Him, He wants to consecrate wholly our thinking to Him. 

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

Do you know how a marionette (a puppet) is controlled by strings?  Well imagine a big pair of scissors coming and cutting all the strings.  That is what God wants to do in this season – He wants to cut the strings, silence any voice that controls us that is not His voice – voices of fear, voices of unbelief, voices of worry.  These are the “arguments” and “pretensions” of the enemy that dare to set themselves up against the knowledge of God.

We believe at this time, when God is wanting to roll away the shame and reproach of the past, He is opening a window of grace to shine His light into our lives both to expose the lies of the enemy and to give us the revelation of who He is.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. Ephesians 5:13

So how do we come to this knowledge of God?  By revelation.  Revelation is that which you cannot figure out in your own natural thinking, it has to be spoken by God to your heart or revealed to you through His word.  It’s a sudden realization that comes from His spirit to our spirit, which then in turn gives illumination to our minds that will shatter the lies of the strongholds/siege works of the enemy.

How can we position ourselves to receive revelation?  By spending time with the Lord and spending time in His word.

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.   Hebrews 4:12-13

The Word is what divides between the thoughts of the soul (the mind, will, emotions) that can be affected by the enemy and the thoughts of the spirit, which are our direct channel from the Lord. 

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.  1 Corinthians 2:11-14

If you would like to commit in this season to ask the Lord to align every area of your life to a purer and fuller revelation of who He really is, please pray this prayer.  “God, I come to you now.  I know that nothing in all creation is hidden from Your sight but everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  God I know that you are light and that in your there is no darkness.  My longing is to be as You in this world God, so I ask you to flood my being, my heart, my soul, my mind, with Your light.  Father I ask you to give me a deeper revelation of Christ, who is the radiance of Your glory and the exact representation of Your being.  I want to know you God and be known by You.  In Jesus Name I pray, Amen!