“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. Matthew 5:8 MSG
Mindsets either minimize or maximize our potential. They either limit potential or they cause the potential to be limitless. Mindsets are powerful and they control so many aspects of our lives. Mindsets either restrict or expand our opportunities to become better and to experience more. And before anything really ever changes in our lives- our mind has to change first. Your mindset in many cases determines what you see, how you think, what you hear and how you respond. Your mindset also determines how you see scenarios and handle problems. Mindsets are powerful! They are limiting or they are liberating. When adjusting your mindset to believe, receive or achieve what you desire, you must realize that most things of value are usually met with problems. For example, in most cases there will usually be a problem that needs to be solved, surrounding a promise from God. However, your mindset will determine what you see and how you respond to that problem. And, your mindset toward that problem will determine the peace of mind that you have and it may also determine the promises that you obtain.
However, when you are pursuing a new way of thinking, you must remember that old mindsets can’t be carried into new territories, that is, if you desire to experience something to be better or different. Don’t miss what God might be wanting to do in your life, just because you can’t wrap your mind around something different or new. The children of Israel had to be delivered from Egypt (a place of bondage). But, they had to die in the desert (a place of letting go of the past), before they could ever dominate in the promised land (a place of taking new territory). There’s always a sequence when it comes to your destiny. The children of Israel left Egypt, but they wandered in the desert before they possessed the original plan of the promised land. I’m seeing in my own life that the desert is the most significant place on the way to a destiny or in obtaining the promised things of God. The desert is a place where things die! And some things may have to die before you possess what you desire! Mindsets have to change before new things can become obtainable. The dessert is a place of limited resources. A place where relying on the things that we are used to, that bring us comfort, are scarce. It’s a place where we have to think differently. It’s a place where we have to think strategically. And most of all, it’s a place where we to learn to totally rely on God!
God’s plan was to lead the children of Israel out of bondage, but the desert was necessary so that Egypt’s mindset (a place bondage) wouldn’t be brought in to the promised land. Mindsets matter! They affect us and they in turn, affect others around us. Mindsets affect the atmosphere that surrounds us as well. Mindsets that are set in the wrong direction will produce the wrong results. 1. The children of Israel FLED Egypt. This was something that happened in a quick manner. 2. They DWELT in the desert. This is something that took more time and process. 3. They POSSESSED the promised land. This is where they began to receive and dwell in the promised things of God. T.D. Jakes says, “It took 40 days to get the Children of Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of the children of Israel.” What did he mean? I believe that what he was saying is, the dessert is where their mindsets had to change. The old way of thinking had to go. The identities of the past had to change. Their mindsets (the old way of thinking) had to die in order for them to possess the promise land and the promised things of God. Some things have to die in order to experience something new and most of the time it is our mindsets (the old way of thinking) that must die first!
The way that we think about ourselves, others and even God may need to change in order for us to experience more or for things to ever be different. Most of us have a thinking problem. That’s right, we don’t think properly. We think too much. We think too little. We think the worst. We think about the wrong things. We need a new soundtrack in our mind. We need a new mindset! We need to begin to think differently. I will admit to you that the biggest problem that I have is not with you, the devil or someone else- the biggest problem that I have is with my mouth and my mind! My mindset is how I think, but many times it also determines what I say. My mindset always has to change first, before my situation ever does. Mindsets are important and when I think about mindsets I usually think about the story of Lazarus- Mary and Martha’s brother that had physically and literally died. And, when Jesus arrived 4 days late, but right on time, He called Lazarus forth and he came forth bound hand and foot with a grave cloth around his eyes. Was he still dead? No! But, was he stilled clothed with the grave clothes. Yes! Sometimes we are alive, but still bound.
Nonetheless, Jesus spoke to the grave clothes that bound Lazarus and said, “Loose him and let him go!” And the grave clothes- those things that were put on by someone else. The grave clothes- those things that went on one way, they had to come off the opposite way. You see, sometimes what you have learned or what you have believed- those “mindsets” that hinder you and keep you bound, those things that people have put on you with their words or expectations, they have to be unlearned and disbelieved in order for you to be completely freed. They have to be taken off in a way that is opposite of the way that they were received or put on you, so that you can experience the promised things of God. You have to think differently. You have to establish different patterns. You have to think, do and say the opposite of what you have learned and rehearsed for so long! Just like the grave clothes came off of Lazarus the opposite way that they were put on- so does your thinking! It has to be the opposite of your existing negative mindset. You can’t think, do or say the same things that you always have and expect different results! You must think differently in order to have peace and in order to receive what God has in store for you.
To repent means to turn. It means to go a completely different direction. It means to say what God and His Word says about you. It means having a change of heart that creates a change of mind that produces a change of direction. It means to think, say and do the opposite of what you’ve been thinking, saying and doing. Jesus shed His blood, tasted of death and came out of the tomb- providing a way for you to be in right standing with God. He provided a way for you to become a new creation in Christ Jesus. He made a way for you to be different and to also think differently. The Bible says, “Let this mind that is in Christ Jesus- be in you.” It says that we are a new creation in Christ- the old has passed away and we have been made new. Many reading this have become new creations- but you have the same old mindsets. You still think the same way. Like Lazarus you are alive, but you are not free! You are bound by negative thoughts and debilitating mindsets that hinder you and limit you in so many ways. I want to see you set free to think differently. I don’t want to see you miss out on anything- because your mindset limited you.
I don’t want to see you limited like Lazarus was when he came forth from the tomb of death. Just like Jesus spoke to the grave clothes of Lazarus, I believe that He wants to speak to your mindset and say, “Loose them and set them free!” Jesus, like Lazarus was wrapped in grave clothes. But, the Gospel of John tells us that the grave clothes that clothed Him were lying in a pile, while the cloth that was around His head was folded. Here’s the passage from John 20:1-7: 20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.
Life had conquered death and Jesus had been freed from the grave clothes and the cloth that was around His head had been folded and He came out of the tomb victorious! He didn’t come out bound, like Lazarus. He had left the grave clothes behind and came out of the tomb victorious. He made a way so that we may be set free. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Now, it’s interesting that the the cloth that was around His head had been folded. It was separate from the other grave clothes. He had conquered the things of the mind. He had made a way to be set free from the old ways of thinking and from the patterns of the mind that will lead to bondage and destruction. It’s time to think differently! It’s time to embrace a new way of thinking. The children of Israel had to be set free from a bondage mindset and from a slave mentality. What do you need to be set free from? What mindset do you need to change? What has been put on you by people’s opinions or your own insecure thoughts or perceptions that needs to change? Here are some mindsets that will hinder you and hold you back in life and in your spiritual journey with God if not dealt with in a proper and timely manner:
1. The mindset of unworthiness.
2. The mindset that says, “Things will never be any different.”
3. The mindset that says, “I can’t and I won’t.”
4. The mindset of being the victim.
5. The mindset of doubt.
6. The mindset of pride.
7. The mindset of stubbornness.
Prayer: Lord, let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Heal me and help me to be set free from my own debilitating thoughts and from those mindsets that hinder me and that keep me bound. I believe that I am healed and whole in Jesus name! Give me the grace, the desire and the strength to maximize my thoughts and to think in a way that is pleasing to you and a blessing to others. I believe that I can be set free from those negative thoughts and debilitating mindsets that keep me from experiencing all that you have for me. I believe that whom the Son sets free is free indeed- I believe it and I receive it now, in Jesus name, amen.
