Renewing Your Minds For Success in 2025—
Renewing Your Minds For Success in 2025—
Ephesians 4:23 (NLT) — 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.
Jesus is all truth and if we haven’t arrived at all truth, then we have some error. We must be open to write our theology in pencil and be humble enough to use an eraser as we grow in our knowledge of God. While Holy Spirit does not violate the Scriptures, He does invite us to be renewed, refreshed, made new, or receive greater understanding. This can only occur if we are open to repentance or changing the way we think. As our minds are changed by Holy Spirit renewing, we are transformed into the likeness of Jesus.
The next thing on God’s heart and mind is not the rapture of the Church but to unveil/or manifest a mature people on the earth who represent Him. If we go to the last book of the Bible, we notice that it is titled Revelation which means an uncovering or bringing to light that which had been partially or wholly hidden. The first five words are “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” and these words declare the mindset of Holy Spirit and the required mindset of the reader who desires to understand the message of Revelation and the entire Bible. It is not the unveiling of a one world government, it is not the revelation of the antichrist, or the mark of the beast, or of a defeated church leaving the earth in the rapture before a victorious satan.
Jesus is going to be revealed through His victorious people (i.e., Christian believers) on this earth. They will bring heaven to earth (Matthew 6:10). It is the revealing, the unveiling of Christ in you. This is why after your new birth experience; you are left here with the goal of maturity so as to walk upon the earth as Jesus did in His earthly ministry and yet doing even greater works on the earth (John 14:12). Jesus came to create a new race on the earth that are just like Him.
Romans 8:29 (TPT) — 29 For he knew all about us before we were born and he destined us from the beginning to share the likeness of his Son. This means the Son is the oldest among a vast family of brothers and sisters who will become just like him.
We must submit afresh to Holy Spirit to have our minds renewed and our hearts submitted and in sync with Holy Spirit so we can enjoy the Lord in 2025. He wants His children to walk in victory, abundance, and triumph on the earth.
1 Corinthians 15:57 (NKJV) — 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 2:14 (NKJV) — 14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
It is time to be over this “there are giants in the land mentality” that paralyzed a generation that came out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron and kept them in the wilderness where most of them died without receiving all God wanted them to have on the earth. This was a generation that left Egypt with God but retained the mindset of Egypt and refused to embrace God and His Words to them.
The Bible teaches us that we can be Christians and grieve or sadden Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). We are also told we can quench, suppress, or put out the fire of Holy Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19). We typically think of grieving Holy Spirit in the context of thinking or doing unrighteously (e.g., disobedience to the word of God) and we think of quenching in the context of not doing righteously (e.g., giving to others, speaking to others, or praying for others) when prompted by Holy Spirit.
The word antichrist means against the Anointing or against Holy Spirit. When we grieve or quench Holy Spirit we are being antichrist. As I was sitting before the Lord to prepare this message, it became clear to me that the biggest antichrist problem I have is me.
Many raise fears about other people who have yielded to antichrist spirits, yet as we will surrender to Holy Spirit within us, then we shall not have a problem with the antichrist spirits and activity through people who knowingly or unknowingly submit to these spirits without. Perhaps the reason we are fearful of antichrist activity in our community, is because we have been unwilling to confess our own disobedience and admit that at times we fight against Holy Spirit who lives in us. This is why He groans within us 😊 (Romans 8:26).
The unsavory spiritual issues without us are not the problem.
Luke 10:19 (TPT) — 19 Now you understand that I have imparted to you all my authority to trample over his kingdom. You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses. Absolutely nothing will be able to harm you as you walk in this authority.
1 John 4:4 (TPT) — 4 Little children, you can be certain that you belong to God and have conquered them, for the One who is living in you is far greater than the one who is in the world.
The devil and his fellow antichrist spirits are not increasing in strength. They are only have strength when we give it to them by listening/obeying them rather than Holy Spirit. However, we can be thankful that many believers have been listening and obeying Holy Spirit and now we are seeing the manifestation of the wicked and the end of their influence. We are called to be filled with Holy Spirit and destroy the works of the devil through our worship and obedience (Acts 10:38; I John 3:8). In the grace of God, the tide has turned in America.
It is time for us to shut down the narrative of the ten spies in the church who said we cannot receive the promises of God on the earth because there are giants in the land that God didn’t know about when He made the promises. These ten spread rumors among the Israelites in Numbers 13:32 saying that the land God is giving to us devours those who live there, it doesn’t produce enough food for those it doesn’t devour. In addition, the enemies anointed with an antichrist spirit are stronger than us when anointed by Holy Spirit, so we shall lose.
The report of the ten spies was filled with lies that taught people to reject the Word of God, to rebel against God, and they slandered the character of God. Unfortunately, the bad report was believed by the multitudes and millions of people died in the wilderness outside the promises of God because of dysfunctional thinking that was opposed to the Word of God and the Will of God.
Without this story in Numbers, our initial thought may have been that antichrist thinking and antichrist spirit activity would be outside of Israel. However, this story reveals that this thinking was given a voice through the lips of Israelites. Unfortunately, like Adam and Eve, the antichrist voice was believed by the multitudes in that generation. If we study the story of Israel in the Old Testament or the Church since Pentecost, we discover that antichrist thinking and actions within the camp are what defeats us.
We are challenged to let (remove any hindrance) Holy Spirit renew our minds or change our thinking. If we are going to have the mind of Christ, which is the mind of Holy Spirit, then we cannot expect to receive it from social media, television, or worldly-minded people. We have to position ourselves, to cooperate with Holy Spirit, to receive this renewal in the word of God, by setting our minds on God in worship, and by taking any problems to Him in prayer.
The first time we find the word mind used in a sentence where Jesus is teaching the disciples to hear what Holy Spirit is saying. The word used here means to ponder, to set one’s mind upon, exercise the mind, to entertain or think upon.
Matthew 16:23 (ESV) — 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Jesus tells Peter (and us) that earlier you were speaking for God when you gave your mind to God in response to my question and used your voice to reply (Matthew 16:15-17) about who I am. Those words agreed with Holy Spirit. When you spoke those words, I and all your fellow disciples here knew they were the words of God. I commended you because I want all of you to learn to hear and discern what Holy Spirit is saying. Now your words are not in agreement with Holy Spirit. They didn’t carry the anointing of Holy Spirit, and your words gave a voice of the chief antichrist spirit, satan, which means they were antichrist or against Holy Spirit. How did this happen? It was because you set your mind upon men and/or their opinions, rather than setting your mind upon God.
Romans 8:5 (NLT) — 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
This is why it important to read the Bible in its entirety and ask Holy Spirit to guide you in your Bible reading and study. Psalm 1 says we are to meditate on the words of God. The Bible is a record of the mind of Christ, the words Holy Spirit wanted recorded for us so that our minds could be properly renewed, and then experience transformation (Romans 12:2).
I would like to take a moment to examine two verses in light of what we have written previously.
1 John 2:18–19 (NKJV) — 18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
John says you have heard that an antichrist or a person who embodies the antichrist spirit will come, but I want to give you some clarity on this topic. Many antichrists (people who have chosen to yield to antichrist spirits/demons) have come and we have just experienced a season where many were among us. The manifestation of the antichrist intentions has occurred, so we know it is the last hour. We read in verse 19, that upon exposure many refused to repent and left the assemblies of believers.
Now this letter was penned about 2000 years ago and we have to ask ourselves the question as to whose last hour was John speaking?
Was that the last hour for Christians on the earth?
Was it the last hour of the earth before it is destroyed by the devil?
Or was it the last hour for a large group of people who have yielded to antichrist thinking and spirits?
If we consider the outcome of the ten-spy mindset, while their sins were forgiven, the ten spies died by plague and those who believed their report from twenty years of age and up died prematurely in the wilderness and never entered the promised land. Yet we find that Peter agreed with Jesus’ correction in repentance and went on to become an international apostle in his generation. Unfortunately, John says here in I John that there were some in the church in his day and sphere of influence that didn’t repent. The last hour was not for the believers, but it was the last hour for those who embraced the antichrist spirit.
Proverbs 2:21–22 (NKJV) — 21 For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.
Conclusion:
Let us determine to allow Holy Spirit to renew our minds and be led by Him in 2025. If we do so, it will be our best year ever.
Prayer:
We invite You Holy Spirit, we give You permission to search our hearts, and free us from antichrist thinking. Forgive us for grieving, quenching, or resisting You. Help us to love You, to be filled with You, and obey You. Amen.