OLD MIND SETS

Inside every one of us is a picture of God formed by what we have read, what we have been taught, our personal experiences and our past memories and feelings. We can actually have two pictures of God – what we learn we should believe about Him and what we actually do believe.

What you learn about God has to filter down through the existing beliefs in your MIND. This fact is not always understood and many people assume scripturally correct teaching will automatically clear up any wrong ideas someone might have about God. Theoretically, scripturally correct teaching on trust, love and faith should enable anyone to trust and love God with complete faith. And it will – eventually.

The problem is, even correct truth cannot always penetrate a soul that is filled with strongholds. God can sovereignly impart revelation knowledge any time He wants to, but I believe His work of renewal occurs within the framework of our minds, wills, emotions, memories, experiences and beliefs. He does not change, bypass or override. He just keeps offering His love and truth until we finally become willing to exchange our old beliefs and ideas for them.

An unrenewed mind, rigid in mind-sets formed from wrong sources, can distort the most beautiful spiritual truth. There needs to be a continuing process of washing in the Word.

Most minds come into the state of salvation stubbornly filled with old attitudes, wrong patterns of thinking and often some pretty strange ideas. Many of these old ideas and attitudes will be protected by self-erected strongholds.

The key to receiving renewal as fast as possible is to tear down the strongholds around these wrong mind sets. Unfortunately, some never accomplish this, instead, they spend their entire lives trying to intermingle their concepts of God with His truth.

Many people have formed their concept of God from old ideas rather than the truth. This is why some believers never seem to get past believing that God accepts them only when they measure up and angrily turns away when they fail. There are untold numbers who have never truly accepted God as a nurturing and loving parent, loving them unconditionally, and always ready to encourage their development. Rather, they picture Him as saying, “Nope, that’s still not good enough.” This does not come from God. It comes from an old mind-set that keeps them from receiving the truth.

Liberty Savard - Shattering Your Strongholds