Isaiah 55:8-9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
As I read this scripture today it dawned on me that I am trying to figure out all of the problems, hardships and difficult situations in my life with my own limited mind and way of thinking.
Maybe I am struggling with my finances, having problems at my job or having stress in my relationships and I am trying to figure out a way to solve the problem. I am thinking about every possible solution and every thought or plan just hits a wall and I am still stuck in the mess. For me it feels like there is no way out. I know some of you reading this can relate to what I am saying and might be in this predicament right now!
Well I have some good news for you! With your and my limited mind and thoughts, we may never be able to figure out a way out of our messes. We need something more. We need something higher than the level we are currently operating under.
In tough times in our lives when our backs are against the wall and it seems like there is no way out we need to tap into the mind of God for our answers. We need to be able to understand His ways and His thoughts. We need to go to God in prayer and listen to what the Spirit of God says!
1 Corinthians 2:9-15
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
I am reminded today that I am not a worldly or natural man, I am a spiritual man and I became that when I gave my life to Jesus and God filled me with the Holy Spirit. I am reminded how easy it is for me to forget my new identity in the face of adversity. I see how easily it is to not remember that I am a spiritual man when the difficulties of life hit me in the face and knock me down. How could I let a worldly and natural problem make me forget the real power and intellect I possess in the Spirit in Jesus Christ?
Then I focus on this scripture.
1 Corinthians 2:16
For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Oh how wonderful is God’s Word. God’s Word is His mind, His thought and His intention and the Word of God says I have the mind of Christ.
Word comes from the Greek “logos” which according to the Strong’s Concordance is as follows:
Strong’s Definitions: λόγος lógos, log’-os; from G3004; something said (including the thought); by implication, a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (i.e. Christ)
When I put on Christ then I have also put on the mind of Christ and through God’s Word I have access to the thoughts of God. I have access to God’s mental faculty which is the power of His mind which is infinite and omnipotent.
When I understand this reality, the problem that loomed so large over me will begin to disappear and grow smaller as I gain confidence and search the Word of God for inspiration, knowledge and wisdom to overcome it.
John 16:3
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
We overcome our problems and difficulties by walking in the victory of Jesus Christ because it is this victory that has given us access to the Spirit of God where the answers to all our problems and difficulties reside.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
In Jesus we are strengthen not only in our bodies but more importantly in our spirit and minds.
Philippians 4:6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Go to God in prayer and search the deep things of God in the Spirit and uncover that which has been prepared for you since before the foundations of the earth were laid. You were created for times such as these to demonstrate the power of God in your life by overcoming life’s problems and difficulties as a witness to the world around you!
Oh Man and Woman of God. Never forget who you are in Jesus and what power you have in the Spirit to solve all of life’s confusing problems and overcome all of life’s many difficulties! I am preaching to myself today. Thank you Jesus!