How to Let God Change Your Mind
Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Intro: I believe we can all agree on one thing. We need God to change us.
We need a total and complete transformation in every area of our life.
Tonight, we are only going to focus on one area. That is the area of our mind.
We have been studying the Biblical truths about unity and being together.
We have already referred to several verses in Philippians 2 in the past few weeks.
Verse 2 teaches us to be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
So, who’s mind should we all be like, if we are to be likeminded?
The answer is in verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
So, for us to have the mind of Christ, it goes without saying, we need God to CHANGE OUR minds.
We also need to notice the word LET in this verse.
This speaks of our need to cooperate with what God wills and desires.
We see this word several times in the previous verses.
Verse 3 uses the word twice.
God wants to change our mind; He will change our mind; He will help us have the mind if Christ – if we let Him.
I believe with all my heart that if God can change our minds, He will have no problem changing everything else that needs to be changed.
The Bible is filled with verses and illustrations of the importance of us having the right mind.
Let’s look at a few select, seemingly random passages that all have this one truth in common.
1. Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Question: Is it possible for us to love the Lord with all our mind in its natural state?
Obviously not. So we need God to save our soul and change our heart and our mind for that to happen.
2. The demoniac of the Gadarenes had a life-changing encounter with Jesus.
Notice one of the first things the Bible states occurred as a result of this encounter.
- Luke 8:35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
What can we assume from this verse?
Obviously, before meeting Jesus, he had the WRONG mind.
Jesus changed this man’s mind.
3. Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Can a man receive the word of God will all readiness of mind without God’s help?
- 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
4. There is a war raging in the mind of man against God.
Romans 7
- 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
- 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
5. Our minds need to be renewed by God.
- 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.
I. Forget Preconceived Ideas
Everybody in here has preconceived ideas about a lot of things.
The dictionary defines PRECONCEIVED IDEA as an opinion formed beforehand without adequate evidence
The Bible says this:
- Proverbs 18:13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
The Bible and the ways and will of God is no different.
It is amazing how powerful preconceived ideas can be.
We have another word in our vocabulary that deals with this concept. It is the word PREJUDICE.
It comes from the idea of pre-judging.
Definition of PREJUDICE – an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason; any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
We think if this word in connection with racism, but it is far more widespread than that.
Selecting a jury is difficult because of this issue.
They cannot select someone to try a case that has already been exposed to certain elements or news reports.
People are prone to make up their mind before they ever hear all the facts.
PERSONAL ILLUSTRATION: I had preconceived ideas about the call to preach.
There are several examples in the Bible of people that had strong feelings about things that were completely untrue.
Those feelings were so strong that they acted on them without any fact to back it up.
These decisions were life changing.
1. Eve had preconceived ideas about the forbidden fruit. Genesis 3:6
2. The children of Israel had preconceived ideas about going into Canaan. Numbers 13:32
II. Forsake Personal Inclinations
So many people allow their personal wants and desires to taint the truth about a lot of things.
What they want dictates what they believe about many things.
- When we allow our lusts to dictate our moral compass, we are in a world of trouble.
- When we allow our deceitful heart to dictate our doctrine, we are going to be in a mess.
- When we allow our own inclinations to set the tone for what we do, what we believe and how we live, we’re in trouble.
Jesus set an amazing example in the Garden of Gethsemane.
- Luke 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
We can all agree, humanly speaking, He did not want to go to Calvary.
He didn’t want to experience the pain, the suffering, the shame and the separation that He would face.
But He was willing to suppress His own will that God’s will be done.
He didn’t spend an hour in the Garden praying for God to change His mind.
He didn’t ask the disciples to join Him in praying for God to change His mind.
He allowed the will of God to be done and He was willing to forsake His personal inclinations.
- Philippians 2:3 teaches this by saying, “…in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
It goes on to say in verse 4, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
III. Follow Providential Instruction
The main key to allowing God to change our minds is to simply submit to the Word of God.
David had this to say about his decision to put God’s word above everything else.
- Psalms 119:128 Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.
What God has said should supersede everything and anything else.
What we think, how we feel, what we want, what we wish for, how we were raised, how we were taught, etc.
The instruction and teaching found in the pages of God’s Word is able to change our minds if we let it.
- John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
- Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
If we embrace this mindset, we can easily be persuaded to change our mind about anything and everything.
- Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;