You cannot afford to think thoughts that God is not thinking about you - Bill Johnson
From the previous bulletin we handled forgiveness and the need to accept God’s forgiveness, seek forgiveness from others and extend same to others. We'll now set on this foundation an all-important truth that will prepare us to inherit God's promises. As the breeding ground of all human thoughts and motives, the mind is the control center for our actions and outcomes. Thus, we must give it the necessary focus and ensure it is prepared and conducive to usher God's best into our lives.
We are all products of the way we think. Our thoughts define who we are and they either make us or unmake us. The outward behaviour a person puts up to a large extent is as a result of how his mind has been shaped and set. What thoughts easily come to your mind and take your attention? Are they thoughts that inspire and center on hope, truth, success, peace, goodness, love, joy and the sure promises of God? Or are they the converse of these, thoughts that weaken your confidence in the nature and promises of God?
On the subject of childbirth, for instance, what thoughts dominate your mind? For some who have struggled to conceive or deliver safely, the thoughts that flood their minds are: I don’t think I can get pregnant; I am too old to conceive; this pregnancy may not get to full term; if so-and-so happens like before I may have a miscarriage; I may have another bad dream and eventually things will go south. Why such thoughts? Their minds are simply functioning in the direction they have been programmed in over time. And the truth is we cannot get something different from what we have incubated in our minds.
Physically, we may appear alright but when our mindsets are wrong, they eventually show in our actions towards God and men. Though we may take the important step of praying about childbirth, it is possible to have a mindset that sabotages the very thing we are praying about. So the big question is: "Are you thinking the thoughts that God is thinking about you? What is God saying about childbirth to you in particular? Do you believe it? Are your expectations aligned with his thoughts concerning you in this regard? We have seen over and again that God is willing and able to do this, but if you do not believe and expect a full-term pregnancy, it will not happen.
Your outcomes in life are to a large extent dependent on the ideas and beliefs you hold. That is why Romans 12:2 says, “don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect" (ERV). Meaning, God wants something for you - good life, peace, joy, children, prosperity - but until the old way of thinking is done away with, this will not materialize. If you are not transformed inwardly to think the thoughts that God thinks about you, you will conform and continue to experience the counter patterns of the world.
These patterns in the natural world may look like reality, but can you align your thoughts and expectations with the realities of God's word. Jesus prayed that the Father sanctifies (purifies, cleanses, and set us apart) us by His word because His Word is truth (reality) - (John 17:17). Would you conform to the norms and standards in the natural that dwell on age, health conditions, past experiences, family history and the likes? Or would you allow His Word to shape, and align with the possibilities and realities in God?
“ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11, NIV.
Abraham and Sarah had both passed the time for childbirth in the natural. Any hope of having a child of their own went out the window with their ages. They were weak, menopausal, worn-out, and "good-as-dead" yet they responded to the word of the Lord and believed him. It is one thing to be told you are something and it is another to start seeing yourself that way. Myles Munroe said, “the picture that we have of ourselves will always determine how we respond to life.” What God has said about you, what you are asking of Him, will only happen if you can see it in your mind and believe it. No wonder Jesus said: “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours."(Mark 11:24). Receiving is linked to believing, and this is connected to your thinking.
Sadly, many of us see ourselves through the reports and tags of people. Oh, a specialist in the field, an expert, the scan, the family history says so-and-so but what does God also say? Sarah believed she was long past the age of having children or enjoying the pleasure of sex. But when God's Word came, she and Abraham started seeing themselves differently. How did they do that? They changed their names to align with what God has said about them. Is it not surprising that Abraham, whom Sarah testified was dead , married again after the death of Sarah and had more children. What changed? He started seeing himself the way God saw him and thought of him, as a father of many nations. Can you see yourself fruitful, carrying your children and having children?
God had prepared a ready inheritance for the Israelites but majority of them held the wrong beliefs about themselves. Of the twelve spies sent to inspect the promised land, ten said they were like grasshoppers in their sight of the Canaanites. Only two saw themselves possessing the land by God's and indeed, only these two entered the promise land. Exodus 23:26 says "None shall lose her young by miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days (AMPC). Do you believe this? Does your partner share the same view? In Genesis 16, we see that Sarah believed Abraham was capable of giving birth but not her. She had ruled herself out of the promise God gave them in Genesis 15. True to her expectation, Abraham did have a son but she did not share in it. So when God appeared in Genesis 19, he exposed Sarah's unbelief and emphasized Sarah's inclusion in the promise. Since childbirth takes two, it is vital that your views and vision as a couple are aligned with God's.
Our environment plays a key role because it often determines what we see, hear, believe and act on. I grew up in Tema Newtown, a fishing community in the city. It's a place where one enters someone’s house without even realizing, as a friend had jokingly remarked. But from my youth, people have often challenged the fact that I was raised there because they could not identify me with the patterns of behaviour from such communities. They believed I was nurtured in a rich residential area because of my demeanour. Once, I went to an NGO in the community to make an inquiry and got to indicate my residence. When I pointed to my house, the man blurted out that I can't possibly be living there from my looks. Though physically in a somewhat rural setting, I was influenced by foreign songs, literature and public figures and these made me stand out. In the same way, if you can cut out the negativity in your space and feed your inner man with the life-giving Word, your outcomes will violate the norms.
One thing to address are your initial concepts about conception and childbirth because the the law of first mention could be at play here. As Kris Vallotton puts it, “this principle states that the first time you hear information about any subject, it becomes the way in which you view that topic from that point on. In other words, the information you receive first about something creates the lens by which you view that subject.” Perhaps, from the outset of your marriage and initial attempts at conception, you received a negative report that is influencing your expectations. It's probably easier for you to think in that direction now as your brains use the least amount of energy to get to this conclusion. It would take a deliberate repeated intervention to divert your thoughts from this neural pathway unto a positive path.
An illustration is found in Peter's outlook. As a Jew who believed certain unclean animals were forbidden as food, nothing but God could help him break that mindset. While messengers from Cornelius were nearing his house, Peter fell into a trance. “He saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.” “No, Lord,” Peter declared. “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.” But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”
The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven." (Acts 10:11-16, NLT) This vision and Cornelius' angelic visitation collapsed his long-held belief that "unclean Gentiles" are not accepted by God. Many of us, like Peter, choose our traditions, hearsay, expert reports and other people 'spiritual opinions' over the promises enshrined in God's word, the sure word of prophecy. It is time to take a stand. Whose report will you believe?
For Abraham, God moved him from the environment that constantly fed what he heard, saw, believed and practised. In Genesis 12:1 while he was in Haran, "the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. AMPC” Did God not want him around family? No, that is not the point. He wanted to set him apart and expose him to new ideas, beliefs, and vision that aligned with His plans for his life. I believe on this 21-day journey God is setting a similar process of transformation in motion in your life.
Renewal of the mind will require you spending time with God’s word, meditating on his promises and imbibing them to transform us from inside out. As Joshua 1:8 says to be prosperous and successful in anything God has planned for you, you must keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. As you allow God's word to dwell richly in you by continually hearing, reading, speaking and thinking on it, it exposes the non-conformities in your thoughts and actions and purges them out of your life. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12)
In this season, God will bring you knowledge and revelations through books like what you're reading, sermons to counter the wrong thoughts and beliefs you have about yourself and your situation. Partner with Him by consistently immersing yourself in His promises and testimonies of what He's done specifically related to childbirth. The Scriptural examples we've been reviewing provide a good starting point. Supplement these with recent testimonies from our day - search for them, archive them, play them over and over again, until you see yourself testifying too.
Kris Vallotton proposed a question list for checking mindsets which I will like us to apply. For our objective, let's pick your mindset on childbirth. Ask yourself these questions. Are you:
1. Confident and thankful in your situation?
1. Hopeful in your situation?
2. Living in peace, not worrying and having positive expectations?
3. Believing the best about yourself and others (your spouse)?
A renewed mind doesn’t just think differently; it also believes differently. You may probably have ideal beliefs about what God can do. But in your current situation, what core values are revealed by your current thoughts and attitude? Do they align with God's word and promises concerning your life?
Scripture Reading:
Proverbs 23:7, Romans 12:1-2, Numbers 13:1-33