Day 23: Relentless Mind Renewal

Today's Reading: Romans 12:1-8

What might make you uncomfortable:

It can be uncomfortable to discover we have believed a lie.

Today's Devotional:

Earlier in the book of Romans we discussed sanctification. Sanctification is the process through which the Holy Spirit works out salvation in believers, making them holy like Jesus.

As we discovered in Romans 8, "the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." The main battle for sanctification occurs in the mind of the believer. The Bible describes satan as the "father of lies" (John 8:11). When satan causes a Christian to believe a lie, he has effectively stolen the power of the gospel in that Christian's daily life. Although we are saved by grace, many of us are still living under the power of darkness because we believe satan's lies.

Romans 12 says this:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

As followers of Jesus, we must commit to relentless mind renewal. Many of us need to break off the old patterns of our former lives - old ways of thinking, behaving, believing, and acting - and embrace the new life we have as new creations in Christ!

Romans 12 gives us a great template for mind renewal:

• Do not conform to the patterns of the world - We must actively choose to resist worldliness in our lives. 1 John 1 says that we are tempted by the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. The draw we have to lust, sinful desires, and pride must be fought by living differently than the way our culture presents.
• Be transformed by the renewing of your mind - The way to renew your mind is to begin thinking like God. I've got good news for you... God wrote a book! If you read it with faith, it will transform your mind to think like His. All Scripture is God-Breathed and profitable for all things (2 Tim 3:16). The Bible is our tool for mind renewal.
• Live in God's will - We are to test our lives to insure that we are in God's will. We are also to display God's will to the world. Our exploits of preaching and healing, the transformation we bring society, the joy and health of our families - these things prove and display God's will to the culture around us.

Application

There are many Bible resources that have been helpful to believers in the past desiring to renew their minds. One powerful tool, the "Who I Am in Christ" sheet has helpful thousands combat lies and discover God's truth about themselves.

Download the sheet here and declare it aloud in a time of prayer.