“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.” Romans 12:2
What we need to come to understand is our mind set dictates how we live for the good or bad. No man in the flesh can change their mind set, it takes the truth to change it. And most of us think we are good the way we are and not willing to change. This is the main message the Lord was showing me today.
With what he showed yesterday and what I wrote about, I told of how my wife is coming into righteousness with the Lord and how amazing our relationship is becoming. To make a quick point, when we got married, my mind set was that our marriage would be great and perfect from the beginning, similar to how it is now. At the time we got married because our marriage was from the will of God. My belief was it would be great from the beginning, but it wasn’t. The test came and tried my faith and my belief system.
It did not shake my faith because I remained in the marriage no matter what without even one thought of ending it ever. My wife, not so much. So with this test or example, it is about your mind set. The renewing of your mind, changing your mind. That is what the Lord does. He shows you the truth, a better way to think, and the way you think is what changes your outcome or allows the outcome to remain the same if you do not change. Keep in mind you reap what you sow. If you sow the same thing (do the same thing) you will reap the same results. And whatever the results are, they are never good enough for the Lord. Never can be on your own way of thinking and believing. They must be renewed or changed to think like the Lord expects you to think.
So a couple of stories the Lord showed me. The first one is something my wife did a number of yours back. Because of something I said, she hit me in the mouth, hard. So hard and more than once that it left scares in my mouth. That’s not the point, because I really did not care, and even told her at the time, go ahead and hit my right check also, and she did, even with more force and more anger.
But here is the point, she told me all these 9 years. I will never apologize for that and would do it again if… But just last week (and the reason for this message now). She did apologize, her mind is being renewed and she is seeing things from the eyes of God, and not of her flesh. This is the point. We all, in the flesh, do things very wrong in the eyes of God, and then make up excuses or make our points as to why, when they are not of God at all. They are 100% of the flesh.
Second example from my wife. A few years ago we had an airbnb renter in one of our homes. They got robbed (or so they said, although we are not sure). My wife happened to leave her phone in the house and was in the swapmeet when these renters called, so I had to deal with it in the best way I could. I caught them lying about a few things long story short. But there were also a few things I had been telling my wife to fix or change, like having a lock on the front door with a code to give the renters. She never did it. In our conversation I told the renters this and my wife was pissed because in her mind I was not supporting her 100%.
She told me after this one that she would never forgive me once again, and she seriously considered leaving me over it. But once again, she eventually did forgive me and all is good today.
It is written in the bible “do not let the sun go down with anger” which speaks to these stories exactly. We hold anger in our heart because someone did not do things exactly how we think they should have, instead of realizing we all have different ways of thinking and reacting. And we also do not give any room for God in these tests to teach us so we learn. But once we do give room, then the Lord can change our mindset so we see things differently. Because the simple truth is what difference does it make if I speak truth to the airbnb renters? It affected nothing, they still said they got robbied and it did not affect the outcome. Who cares what they think of Cinthya?
We must allow the Spirit of God to do these things in us, change our mind set. Allow circumstances to be what they are to test us and then give us insight into how God wants us to think and work. Because as an example I did not mean to say anything that would hurt my wife, nor did anything I said hurt her in any way except what these renters thought about her. Which how important is that? I only spoke truth.
These two stories are two examples of how God renews our mind if you let him, instead of letting the sun go down on your anger. He does so in many other ways also, always speaking truth to you and showing you things in you that need to change, if you let him.
Which is the judgment of your salvation. If you let him show you and then change to conform to his truth, then salvation is yours. However if you do not listen and do not change to conform to his truth, then no salvation. This is why the church system does not affect your salvation, they cannot. They do not push this type of relationship with the Lord, and do nothing to truly renew your mind. No man can renew your mind, only God can.
Which brings me to the next point the Lord showed me. If you really want a great relationship with your family, wife and kids. You must allow the Lord to change your way of thinking to be like this. There is an old saying “don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff.” We make it big, but it is not. satan is very good at doing this in our minds.
Here is the next point the Lord showed me. Because if I was like this in my first marriage, would it have worked? The short is no. It takes two to make it work. Cinthya is slow in her change, but she is changing and our marriage is becoming amazing because of it. My ex would have never changed, nor do I see where she ever would. If she did change then my older daughters would come to me and have a relationship with me, because of her change. God knew this from the beginning of time. And when I decided to allow him to take control of my life, it has all changed in me. But it also requires the people in your life to be the same.
Which brings me to something else the Lord showed me today. Which involves a relationship I was in for 6 years with a lady from Minnesota. In those days I was early on in my relationship with God, barely started to hear him speak to me and growing, but had a long way to go to be broken to where I am now. Anyways, I asked for the Lord to do many things for me. And he did, for example one day we wanted to go out on the lake on our jetski, but it was raining, and supposed to be all day. But I prayed the Lord would stop it. He said, Ok at 11:15 (or something like that). And immediately it started to rain harder, testing my faith. A few hours passed with heavy rain and then it started to clear, so I looked at my phone to see the time and it was 11:15. We spent most of the day on the lake and it was sunny the whole time, and when we discussed heading back to the house, immediately we heard thunder. So we mounted up on the jetski and headed back. I put it on the trailer, jumped in my car and within seconds it was pouring rain.
We drove back to the house and it stopped, so i put the ski away and walked in the house, and as soon as I got in it started to pour again. A true story, nothing made up about it. So tell me that is not Gods favoritism? I have many more similar stories like one time in Cancun where it was raining and cold. We wanted to be outside, so I prayed again. And the most amazing thing happened where the clouds opened up right above us but only where the sun was. It was cloudy on all four sides of the sun, but sunny over us. It was like that all day.
But here is the real point, I showed all these miracles to the lady I was in the relationship with, but it did not affect her. It did not not make her think, like wow, amazing. This guy has something with God that is amazing and unexplainable. Instead she stayed in her ways and thought process and eventually left me because of how I thought. To her and her church people I was the crazy one.
Now put this in context with the stories of Yeshua’s miracles and how the Pharisees did not pay any attention. Yeshua told them, “if you do not believe me, believe in the miracles I do.” But they did not.
So the point, to tie these stories together is… It depends on you, do you decide to seek the Lord and see his “way” of viewing things? Do you seek his truth instead of your own lies (which you think are truth)? Do you let his light shine into you and change you so you no longer walk in the same ways as our former life in the lust of the flesh?
I have had three longer term relationships and the first two ended because they did not want to change. They stayed in the flesh and let the anger have its way when I did not act the way they expected. Now in all fitness to my first wife, I did not know God nor his ways, and was every bit as much in the flesh as she was. But I also changed and she has not. In the second relationship I was changing, she saw it. And I called her out of our sinful life, she did not want to change and come out of it. But in this relationship, the one God chose for me. We also went through a lot of things, a lot of changes and growth. But Cinthya is after the same things as me, to be right with God and although her change is slower than mine and a bit behind me, she sees more clearly almost daily. And because we both are seeking the will of God, it makes our relationship amazing. Better than I ever thought it could be and hoped it to be. But then everything in God is way better than you can even begin to imagine.
The ways of God are golden, not only for this life and how you live and enjoy life. But also for your salvation. Without God you cannot have either. You will NEVER have salvation without knowing and obeying God. No matter how many times you go to church, read your bible, give money to the poor… But also you can never have this amazing life without him. Because in order to have it you must have your mind renewed (changed).