Renewing our minds

God has a divine connection for the people He has called.

Separation will begin with a renewing of the mind. Africa needs to be transformed, and the best place for this to begin is by renewing of our minds. Everything has to do with the way we see things, perceive and think. 

Romans 12:1-8

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Serve God with Spiritual Gifts

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Paul was speaking to a Roman church, one with a Gentile background. Paul wanted them to know that they could not bring their cultures and backgrounds into the Kingdom of God. 

God may not be able to that much with you, until you are renewed in your mind, until you are able to prove that good, acceptable and perfect will of God. 

Moses sent 12 spies over into the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:1-13). 10 of them decided to see things as people see them:

Numbers 13:26-29

Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

Numbers 13:31-33
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men ofgreat stature. 33 There we saw the giants(the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

We need spiritual eyes to perceive spiritual things, to help us see things the way God sees them. The 10 spies saw giants, and a country that consumes its own people. The minds of Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, had been transformed by God. This is why they saw things with the eye of God, heard with the ears of God and thought with the mind of Christ: 

Numbers 13:30

Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Numbers 14:6-9

But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

You may not be able to understand the good and acceptable will of God, until you renew your mind. 

In the story of the 4 lepers (2 Kings 6 - 7), the 4 lepers chose to change their minds, though they had been rejected. They refused to reject themselves, or be cast away in their thinking. We are better than those in the world as we have Jesus, while they don't. We are better because we are out of sickness, poverty, out of the world. 

The children of Israel had been delivered from their land of slavery (Egypt), but their minds were not renewed. It is dangerous when your mind is in bondage. God works with people who have a believing mind. It does not depend on your situation. Do not joke with someone who has a renewed and believing mind. 

In 2 Kings 7, there were people whose mind was not besieged, though the rest of the Israelites had been besieged (the 4 lepers). These are the people that were used to bring salvation to the children of Israel. People with renewed minds will not only be empowered to prosper, but also to remember the destitute, like the four lepers did. Kenya will be helped by somebody with a renewed mind. The tribal mind is the unrenewed mind. 

The people of the world help those who help them; people of a renewed mind help those who may not be able to help them back. 

You do not have to have a degree or be driving for God to use you. As long as you have a renewed mind that can perceive the good, reasonable, acceptable and perfect will of God, God can use you. 

The blind Bartimaeus decided to change his mind, and see Jesus through his spiritual eyes, ignoring the ones who were telling him to shut up. You can renew your mind by anchoring yourself on the Word of God, and allowing your thinking to be influenced by the Word. This is when you will be able to sing with the Psalmist:

Psalm 103:2

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:

You need to saturate yourself with the Word of God. The mind of God does not believe in or see impossibilities. 

You will not be victorious or successful until you have a changed and renewed mind. 

Amen. 

~ Pastor Joseph Kagunda. 

(3/02/13 Sunday Service Sermon, Africa Transformation Mission. Pramukh Plaza, 6th Floor). 

Pastor Joseph Kagunda is an anointed servant of God and a dear friend to the Africa Transformation Mission Visionary, Apostle Dr. David Karanja. He currently lives in China and on this date he came to share with us the powerful message from God of separation and taking a step of faith.