Be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds. Let this mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you. You have the mind of Christ. Okay but what does that look like?
Currently, we are studying the full armor of God and taking a closer look at the helmet of salvation. The helmet is the part of the armor that is worn to protect your head which houses your mind. It is the center where we make all of the decisions and where our core values are stored.
We are allowing our minds to be transformed so we can become more like Christ and benefit from all the thinks that He died and rose again to make possible for us.
God has to give us this armor because we are totally helpless to fight against “the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12) on our own.
Satan, the leader in all this warfare, is a spiritual being who led a revolt against God as seen in (Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28).
Now he spends all his time trying to hurt God. Since he knows he cannot hurt God directly, he is coming after us and any work that God is trying to do on earth. Keep in mind his name means adversary and he is totally adversarial towards the things of God. And, his main emphasis is to weaken the faith of every Christian so we won’t be willing to put in the time to become transformed in our thinking.
Part of his ploy is to offer you the world (whatever you want) just like he did to Jesus in Matthew 4. However, he knows that he can’t deliver anything of lasting value, because his days are numbered and coming to an end. Revelation 20:10 – “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Satan will offer you whatever you want as long as you will serve anything other than God. Click To Tweet
Right now: he is very powerful over us. Remember we are not to be ignorant of his tactics (2 Corinthians 2:11). He pawns himself off as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) and he is a liar (John 8:44 – “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.).
So far, we have put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of peace. We are now working on the helmet of salvation.
Side Note: Isn’t Bible study exciting? One would think that you could just write a quick article – this is what a helmet is, this is why soldiers wore one, put yours on and get going. But the Word is living and God wants to be in relationship with us, so He won’t let us have a static relationship with Himself or His Word. So I found myself following many different turns along the way and wanting to share them with you.
Let’s buckle up our seat belt and see where God will take us.
Last week we saw that character is very important. It is who we are deep inside of ourselves. It’s how we conduct ourselves. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. And we know that what comes out of our hearts is regulated by how we think.
The mind is where we think. And the mind is in our heads, that is why God has given us a helmet to protect our heads.
Our minds encompass our thoughts (imagination, reasoning, and intellect), our emotions and our will. In simple terms “I think (thoughts) I feel (emotions) and I want (will).
Guess what? The mind is our battlefield. It’s where we determine our will and the purpose for our lives. And, our enemy knows the best ways to destroy us is to get us thinking negatively about ourselves and about God and about our situations. A direct attack on our relationship with God, with ourselves and with others.
God’s answer is for us to have the renewing of our minds by submitting ourselves to His working in our lives.
Strongholds are defeated by bringing every thought captive to obedience in Christ. Click To Tweet
PART OF BEING TRANSFORMED
We are to think on these things:
We have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16).
We are to develop the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
And we are to become holy as He is holy (something only those indwelt by the Holy Spirit can attain). (1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44-45).
GOD IS DEVELOPING HIS CHARACTER IN US ONE TRANSFORMED THOUGHT AT A TIME.
