“Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Many people are trying to follow and obey God with unrenewed minds, and this leaves them in a constant battle against themselves. They know and desire what is right, but are unable to do it because they believe they are a slave to sin. People who don’t know who they really are in Christ, and are trying to do the right thing without actually renewing their minds through God’s word end up exhausted, burn-out, and dry.

You can outwardly mimic good behavior, but be conflicted inside because you still see through a dirty window. Freedom in part comes from discarding the lie and embracing the truth of God’s word.

When we believe the devil’s lies we are submitting to his influence over us. When our thoughts are twisted up in believing the deception of the enemy, obedience to God becomes more of sweaty wrestling match with sin. It’s a striving battle between two conflicting thought patterns and not the out-flow of true kingdom faith.

When you believe you are filthy and are doomed to sin no matter how hard you try to avoid it, but you also believe you ought to obey God you find yourself stuck. The first belief enforces and ignites a desire to sin, but the second belief of knowing God wants purity stirs up a craving for righteousness. These two desires are now at war, and you find yourself locked in an endless internal battle. The only way out of this double minded mentality is to discard the lie that you are only human, filthy, and are doomed to sin, and embrace the truth that you are more than human, made righteous by His grace, a new creation in Christ, and that the old has gone and the new has come.

We need to realize the power of repentance. Our actions will begin to change when our mind changes. God says we are holy, and so when we agree with His declaration of reality – our mind is renewed – the Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers that word, and then the flow of our actions change. Again our behavior is a manifestation of our inner-beliefs. If we believe we are sinners, we will obey that lie and live accordingly. If we believe and receive God’s word about how He sees us through the cross (holy, righteous, and pure), we then can live as the free-people that He intended.

If we believe we are dirty sinners saved by grace, then we will live like hell till we get to heaven. We will sin by faith! But if we start to believe what God’s word says about our identity in Him, then by faith we will live righteously. A renewed mind empowers obedience.

Under the old covenant we had to do to become, but under the new covenant we start from the finish line. We are not obeying to earn salvation or to become holy, but because we are saved, and made holy as a gift. We are simply living according to our design. Purity is the overflow of our new identity in Him. We start from favor, holiness, acceptance, and the Father’s love, and we obey from the out-flow of those realities. Living from the Father’s free gift of acceptance and approval, ignites our hearts, enables passionate obedience, and keeps us from striving self-effort and backsliding.

If we are living towards righteousness then we will never arrive, but if we live from righteousness, then our behavior will cut a radically different course. I am righteous, therefore I live righteous, I am holy, therefore I live holy, I have been crucified with Christ and have been set free from sin, and therefore I live as a dead man in regards to sin. I’m not climbing in, i’m already brought in and am exploding-out what has already been deposited inside. It’s a matter of identity, because what ever we identify with will determine our behavior. Believe you’re an addict, and you’ll live like an addict, believe you have anger issues, and you’ll battle that demon indefinitely.

Our core beliefs are like a factory assembly line that continually and consistently reproduce the thing we believe we are. Again we must return to the God’s declaration of reality (the gospel) and re-frame our thoughts through His word alone, and only then will we experience true lasting transformation.

Scour the word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to highlight where you may be living in error, and closely examine your core beliefs. Submit your mind to the instruction and authority of the word of God and watch the transformation begin.

His word has answers for every area in our lives, look for truths that you can exchange for any lies you may believe. When something in your life doesn’t line up with the scripture don’t bend or water-down the word in order to justify your behavior, but humble your heart and choose to turn away from the compromise.