Introduction
In life, there are moments, different kinds of moments, some of victory and some of loss, some are joyous and some are sad, some make us a better person while others bring out the hidden monster within us. But whatever determines that end result, always and I really mean always starts with a thought. Then your thoughts turn into words and what you say is eventually what you end up doing. We need to guard our minds. Thoughts take birth in the mind. The Apostle Paul instructs us in Romans 12:2 that we should renew our minds. Let’s have a quick look at this scripture verse:
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Romans 12:2 (MEV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
But renew about minds with what? You probably guessed the answer by now. Yes, renew your minds by the Word of God. It is the only solution. I’m afraid we Christians have no other choice so please learn to reconcile with this Biblical fact. This is the first Biblical fact so please digest before you read the next line.
Another hard to swallow fact is that we are made in the image of God. Just like God is a triune being, so are we. We are a spirit being who lives inside a body and has a soul. The spirit is the real person, the real you who is eternal and continues to live after the body dies. Paul calls the spirt the inner man or the real person on the inside. Peter calls the spirit the hidden man of the heart. The word “heart” is synonymous to the word “spirit” in the Bible. The body is made up of our five senses and the flesh. The soul is the mind which consists of our conscience, thoughts, intellect, feelings, emotions, reasoning ability etc. When we are born again, it is the spirit man that is reborn, not the soul or the body. Let’s see a scripture verse that talks about this:
2 Corinthians 5:17 (MEV) Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Look, all things have become new.
It is obvious to every Christian that you did not receive a new body when you received Christ as your Lord and Savior, neither did your mind suddenly turn all holy. The part of you that was born again or made new was your spirit, the real you. As for the body, we are all familiar with the phrase, “from dust you came, to dust you shall return”. Now that we have established these two facts:
- The Mind needs to be renewed by the word of God daily.
- The Spirit is the part of man that is reborn, not the body or soul.
Let us now have a look at a very common event in the Bible. It’s about the twelve spies sent out to search out the promised land. I know, I know; you may be thinking what this event has to do with the mind and spirit but we will get to that part soon so please be patient with me.
The Twelve Spies
We are all familiar with the Bible account of how Moses led the Hebrew children out of the land of bondage that is Egypt towards the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Of course, it’s not to be taken literally but it’s used in a figurative form to mean a land that is full of all sorts of resources. Upon getting close to the promised land, Moses is instructed by God to send twelve spies to search out the land. Moses sends one leader from each tribe of Israel. There were twelve tribes just in case you forgot that. Let us have a look at the scripture that talks about this event:
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Numbers 13 (MEV) 1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men that they may explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers you will send a man, each one a chief among them.”
These next verses talk about what Moses instructed the twelve spies:
Numbers 13 (MEV) 17 Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up to this southland, and go up into the mountain. 18 And see what the land is, and the people that dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, few or many; 19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities are that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in fortifications; 20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it or not. And you be courageous and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.
So, my friends, after forty days of searching the land of Canaan, the twelve spies return to Moses and their people. Here’s a scriptural account of what they said:
Numbers 13 (MEV) 26 And they returned and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the assembly of the children of Israel, to the Wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them and to the entire assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They reported to him and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. 28 However, the people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are fortified and very great, and also we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the edge of the Jordan.”
30 Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are able to overcome it.”
31 But the men that went up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people because they are stronger than we.” 32 They gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come from the giants, and in our eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”
This is a very interesting report. Actually, it’s two different reports. Two spies are fully convinced that they are able to go into the promised land, overcome the people there and possess it while ten spies are literally scared to death at this very thought of victory. They are fully convinced that they are no match for the people living in the land of Canaan. Think about it: The Twelve spies saw the same things in the promised land but brought back totally two different reports. Two of them talked about an end result of victory while ten of them talked about an end result of defeat, loss and death. Whatever the twelve spies saw in the promised land, first entered their minds as thoughts. Yes, that’s what I said, thoughts; thoughts of victory or thoughts of defeat; thoughts of win or thoughts of loss; thoughts to overcome the enemy or thoughts to run away in fear. It all starts in the mind. The mind is the battleground. We need to put the right thoughts in our mind. I will go one step further and say that we need to put God’s promises in our mind; it should not only populate but fully contaminate our minds. We need to continuously put God’s word in our heads so that it takes dominance over every other word; over every other thought. I want you to pay attention once more to the following verses. I know I am repeating these verses but please understand it’s for your benefit:
Numbers 13 (MEV) 1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men that they may explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers you will send a man, each one a chief among them.”
Please pay particular attention to verse 2 which I have bolded and underlined. It says that God told Moses to send men to explore the land of Canaan which he is giving to the children of Israel. Let me repeat the main point: God is giving the Land of Canaan to the Children of Israel. That which God gives to you, no men can take it away unless you are the men who is not convinced God is able. We see this pattern again and again in the Bible that people who failed to believe God at His word failed to receive His promises; failed to receive his blessings; failed to receive the victory. All these end results started with a thought; a thought of defeat, a thought of loss, a thought of failure. And of course, once your thoughts are polluted, they pour out as curses out of your own mouth, negative statements based on a negative mindset. And believe me when I say this, your words in opposition to God’s word are easier for people to believe. The final result is that people act upon what they hear, believe and say. The children of Israel went around and round in the desert for forty years because they failed to believe the promise God made to them. We do the same thou many of us would not testify to that. I would like to move to my next point which is a little hard for many to digest. Please read on.
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Majority Report Can Be Wrong
According to the voting system in many countries, the majority vote wins. In a way, we are quite satisfied with this system as it gives each person to have a say in who they think qualifies the best for a particular seat or role which can range from a mayor to a governor to a prime minister to a president. As a matter of fact, voting is one of the major rights of every citizen. Of course, they have to be of eligible age. What is interesting is that a study of history proves that majority people can choose the wrong person for the job depending on things such as worldview, culture, race, religion etc. In a way, our minds can be crowded with wrong ideas which may be coated with a skinny layer of truth. After all, it is hard to jump upon a person in an open field. The twelve spies divide into a team of two against ten. At this point, it did not matter what God said. What mattered is what the majority of spies were reporting to the Hebrew children. The majority report prevailed and the people wept all night long. Here’s what the scripture says:
Numbers 14 (MEV) 1 And the whole assembly lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 All the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “O that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! 3 And why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should become prey? Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 And they said one to another, “Let us select a leader, and let us return to Egypt.”
It is important to note that the majority report failed. Now I would like to clarify a point here so that I do not leave you confused. I am not saying the minority report is always right neither am I saying that the minority report is always wrong. What I am trying to put on the table is the fact that the minority report was in harmony to what God had instructed and promised. It was taking into account the fact that God was on their side. God was the initiator of the promise and he was keeping His end of the bargain. I am sorry to say that the children of Israel had lost faith in God after the majority report was given. The Hebrew children were fully convinced of how great their enemy was but they failed to see how much greater their God was who had delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians and demonstrated His power and majesty through so many signs, wonders and miracles. Sometimes even the greatest miracles cannot convince people of how great their God is. They are so blinded by what they hear others say that failure and disaster seem like the norm. I’m sorry to say that even God can’t help them. The only solution is that they renew their minds by the word of God before it’s too late.
Whose Report Will You Believe?
There are three places I found is the Bible where the exact same statement is used and that statement is: WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? This is an amazing remark written by three totally different people namely the prophet Isaiah, the Apostle John and the Apostle Paul. Now keep in mind that John and Paul are quoting Isaiah which is a book in the Old Testament in the New Testament. Here are the three scripture references:
Isaiah 53 (MEV) 1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
John 12:37-38 (MEV) 37 Though He had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in Him. 38 This fulfilled the word spoken by Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Romans 10:15-17 (MEV) 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring good news of good things!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
All three scriptures above are talking about a report given by Godly men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, many failed to believe it since it was a minority report. In the world we live today, God’s report is a minority report which is captured in the many pages of the Bible. There was a time when the Bible was a guide, an answer book, an instrument for living a holy life. But times have changed and people have grown up. The Bible has taken the same rank as any other fairy tale book for many people. Today I would like to lay in front of you two reports. The first one is from the Bible and the second one is from outside the Bible. The first one contains more than seven thousand promises of God while the second contains what intelligent people of this world have put together. It is not a battle between the Bible and science but is a question of trust, a question of believe, a question of your faith. One thing the Bible is very clear on is the fact that cursed is the men who trust in men. Why? Because history surely proves the fact that people are hard to trust thou we continue to make the same mistake over and over again. There is another point that God pushes to the surface that is blessed is the men who trusts in God for he is like a tree planted by the rivers of living water. Yes, not just any water but living water. Jesus said that if any men is thirsty, let him come to Him and he will give him rivers of living water. Surely God would not lie about a truth as great as this. We are left with a choice either to trust the word of God or to trust the word of men. It’s not a competition. Surely men are in no position to challenge the very creator who gave him the ability to reason. God made you in His image and gave you the ultimate gift that can be used to make good choices and also to make bad ones. That gift is called free will. We have abused this gift but there are some who have chosen to believe the report of God in spite of their hopeless, dead situations. So, should we call them fools or wise? I will let God be the judge. One thing remains clear from the story of the twelve spies. If you were to continue to read the rest of the account, you will quickly end up discovering that the ten who refused to believe God and provide a negative report failed to enter the promised land. What’s surprising is that the two spies who believed God and provided a positive report thou they were really old did enter the promised land. Not only that but they defeated many enemies and possessed it. Today if you have a Bible, pick it up and read through the pages and underline every promise written in it. There are over seven thousand promises in the Bible. Think about how many you are living in today. Start speaking out those promises and saturate every thought of your being with it. Speak them out day and night and claim them as yours. Why? Simply because the Bible says so. When you do this, something amazing happens. What you think, say and do reconciles as one and the result is the manifestation of God’s many fold promises, blessings, goodness. So once again let us go to my initial question: Who’s report will you believe? Say it loudly: I believe the report of almighty God which says that by the stripes of Jesus I am healed. It says Christ has redeemed me from every curse of the law. It says that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. It says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It says I am more than a conqueror. It says I am victorious. It says I am prosperous and successful. It says I am a citizen of heaven. It says I am a child of God. It says I am the head and not the tail. It says no weapon formed against me shall prosper. It says my God is able and the list goes on and on. So please, go to the word of God and make every promise yours today. The word is life and spirit. The word is active, alive, living and powerful. The bottom line is pretty simple; The Word Works! Amen!
Remember this that by filling yourself with God’s word, you are feeding your spirit. As your spirit grows stronger, it puts the flesh underneath. In other words, the flesh submits to the spirit. This will make your spiritual life a lot easier for the spirt of men desires or thirsts for the things of God since it is born of God. There is always more to write and learn but I would like to finish off this article here and pray that all who read this will be blessed. Amen!
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Category: WHO
