Tag: knowledge

Renewing Your Mind the Easy Way

Yvette Conatser2 Comments

Heart and Brain

In Romans 12:1-2, the bible talks about presenting your body a living sacrifice. It talks about renewing your mind, and it talks about knowing the perfect will of God. We all desire as Christians to be led by God, to hear His voice, and to follow Him. We look at these scriptures, and it looks like they are saying if you will present your bodies as a living sacrifice and renew your mind, then you will know the perfect will of God.

What we’re being taught a lot of times is that to renew your mind is to do. You read your bible. You pray more. You make confessions. You fast. It’s all about “you do.” That’s what the scripture sounds like it’s saying, present your bodies a living sacrifice.

If you’re a person with a problem with commitment, laziness, sticking with certain things–especially spiritual things–if feels like it’s impossible to change. It’s impossible to get your mind renewed. It’s impossible to know the will of God or to be walking in His perfect will.

Yet, the bible says that’s all of our destinies. We’re thinking it’s impossible for me to get there because I can’t even step up to the plate. I want to present mind renewal in a different light and in a different way.

First of all, it’s not manual, meaning it’s not by your works. Your being consistent reading the word. Your being consistent in prayer. Your doing anything consistently if you have a problem with that. You can still achieve being led by the Lord because it is the Lord who changes you.

The bible says the Holy Spirit leads you into all truth (John 16:13). He will lead you into a stronger walk with the Lord, a more committed walk with Him.

Renewing your mind happens when the Lord shows you where you’re believing wrong, and then He presents to you the truth. Then you have the choice–and the power–to make the choice for good. Then you follow that thing. When you do, boom, you start to get free.

Either you get free instantly from whatever it is that challenged you, or over time He gradually leads you more and more into freedom from that thing.

An Example of Instant Mind Renewal

I’ll give you an example of an instant change.

I used to be afraid of the dark outside. I was terrified that someone would jump out and get me. I live in a great neighborhood, so that thought was just silly and unlikely to happen. I had that irrational fear, and I couldn’t shake it.

One night, I was reading the bible, and Jeremiah 23:24 jumped out at me. The scripture talks about how God fills the entire earth and that no one is hidden from Him. That scripture jumped out at me that night, and I had such joy and peace in my heart as I read that.

I knew God was speaking this word to me. That’s all I knew. He gave me these warm and fuzzy feelings over it. I enjoyed it. Thank you, Jesus. Oh that’s wonderful. Hallelujah. It feels so good. Thanks. Then the feelings faded, and I went on reading the bible.

Two or three days later, I was outside and coming home from church. That same terror of being outside after dark came over me. I ran up to my door and jammed my key into the lock. Then I froze.

I closed my eyes and thought of that scripture I had read just days before and how God illuminated it to me. I said, Lord, you fill this entire earth. You fill this whole neighborhood. You fill my whole house inside. As soon as I said all of this, the fear broke. After that night, I was never again afraid to be outside after dark.

That’s an example of an instant change. That’s an example of a mind renewal. It wasn’t something I did. I didn’t pore over that scripture that talked about God filling the earth. I didn’t meditate endlessly over it or read it again and again.

That’s not to say I haven’t meditated on scripture and gotten results, because I have done that several times. What I’m talking about is when you’ve got a problem in your thinking or in your mind when you can’t seem to be devoted to doing something yourself. The Lord renews your mind.

Getting over that particular fear is an example of how God renewed my mind Himself. He presented me with the truth. A few days later, I experienced the fear, the area where my mind wasn’t renewed. I remembered how He had revealed the scripture to me, and I chose the truth.

In that moment, I had the knowledge of the truth and I had the power to choose the truth. In that, my mind was renewed, and I no longer feared. That’s the of renewing the mind we’re talking about. That is how your mind gets renewed when it’s not manual.

I’m presenting this information to you so you’ll realize that if you’re that type of person where you can’t be devoted, you can’t seem to stay in the word, you can’t pray as much as you think you should. You just can’t be consistent. There’s hope.

There are other areas in my life when I felt mental limitations. Like for example, we all have the mandate to go out and tell the world about Jesus. Let’s say you’re shy. You can’t seem to make yourself do it, and you’re wondering how you can renew your mind so you’re not shy. Regardless, you can’t do this or that because you’re also inconsistent.

Your Inner Workings and How God Changes You

The Lord is the one who renews your mind by presenting you with where your thinking is wrong–your believing in your heart is wrong. Actually it all starts in your heart. Whatever you’re believing in your heart, your mind will follow after. Whatever your mind is thinking on, your actions are going to follow that. The diagram below gives a good illustration of your makeup and how God works on you from the inside out.

Christian-Belief-System-Diagram

When you think you need to present your body as a living sacrifice somehow but you can’t seem to make yourself do it, it’s because it hasn’t started in your heart yet. When it starts in your heart, you will make yourself a living sacrifice. You will be devoted to the Lord. You will be consistent. You will keep following the Lord.

It starts with that commitment in your heart. The Lord even helps you do that too. He helps you to make that commitment. All you need to do is ask Him, talk to Him. Lord, I want to make that commitment to You in my heart because I know it starts in my heart. Then He will, and you’ll find yourself committed.

When I found out that I needed to make a commitment to God in my heart to follow Him and to be led by Him, I knew I didn’t have the commitment in my heart. I was saved. I was a Christian. I never doubted that or was wishy-washy about it. The commitment to follow after Him and to hear His voice and to be led by it, I knew that commitment wasn’t there.

Previously, I had learned to gauge the atmosphere of my heart. I mean I could look in my heart and “see” whether I had the commitment. At that time, I opened my heart to Him. I was willing for Him to show me and help me to make that commitment. A few days later, I looked inside again and there it was. I’m not even sure when it happened.

This wasn’t even a manual thing with the commitment because I just said, Lord, I want You. I want that leading.

The Power to Pray You Already Have

You can look at Romans 12:2 where it talks about knowing the acceptable, good, and perfect will of God and say to the Lord, I want that in my life. Teach me how to make myself a living sacrifice. Teach me how to be committed. Show me those places where I’m believing wrong, Lord, where my heart is not aligned with Your word.

Guess what? He will do that. It’s not a work of your own. It doesn’t start out as a work of your own. When your heart believes right, the works follow. This is really powerful.

When your heart is believing right and in alignment with the will of God, and what He spoke in His word or to your heart, you will act on it. It’s not something you’re going to have to force yourself to do. It’s not something someone has to tell you to do. Go talk to someone about the Lord. No one is going to have to tell you to do when your heart is in alignment.

If you find that you’re not doing something, it’s because there’s a misalignment in your heart. But it is the Lord who illuminates that to you. It is the Lord who renews your mind on these things. All you need to do is turn to Him. Lord, I want to make that commitment. I want You to get these things right in my heart. Let’s work on it together. He’ll start doing it.

The decision to talk to the Lord and ask Him these things is already within your grasp. You already have the power to do that much. It is an instant thing you can do. You already have the ability to turn to the Lord and say, Hey, Lord, I need You. It’s You. It’s not me doing something. It’s not manual. It’s You who brings these things to my attention so we can work on them, so I can change.

Reading the word more, praying more, consistency will come. For now, don’t feel guilty. Don’t feel like you have to be the super disciplined person when you know that’s one of your biggest challenges.

Start right here, where you are right now. Talk to the Lord. Ask Him about that commitment thing and helping you to make the commitment. Then let Him lead you into the mind renewal. He will do it. That’s how we start having these experiences that the bible says we should have. It’s not our manual doing.  It’s for Him to show us the way.

The Holy Spirit leads us into truth.

———–

Please check out my book Simply Led. I tell the story of how I learned to hear God’s voice and talk about my journey toward a closer walk with Him. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Check out some of our other teachings on this website to gain a better understanding of what God is like and how He made you to be. You can also watch us on YouTube, where we share videos on a weekly basis.

 

*Some of the above links are affiliate links, which means if you purchase after clicking through, I will receive a small commission. This at no additional cost to you.

 

 

 

 

 

Addicted to Pain Pills

Yvette Conatser2 Comments

I was addicted to over the counter pain pills until a supernatural encounter with the Lord started me on the road to freedom.

Now, before you click away or yell at your computer screen, saying to yourself over the counter pain meds are not the same as being addicted to prescription medication, I will say you’re probably right. But a big proponent of being addicted to any substance is the mental part.

What you believe you are addicted to or what you believe is your weakness that’s your weakness. As soon as your belief changes, you get free.

Related:
How to See God
Pulling Down Strongholds

Let me tell you about what happened to me. For many years, I had migraines, and it was probably due to certain health issues I had. I didn’t know they were migraines. I just knew I had severe headaches three or four times a week, every week for a long time.

I didn’t go to the doctor to find out what’s going on. I looked for over the counter pain meds and started taking them. I discovered Excedrin Migraine. It worked. I became so fearful of the pain of the migraine to the point that I started taking the medicine every single day.

Then I upped the dosage. Not because I needed to or because the pain wasn’t gone. I upped it because I started to become addicted to it. The pills had become my trusted friend. I felt like I needed it.

I took three pills a day every day. I started to feel I couldn’t live without taking three pills every day. Not because of pain but because like I said I trusted them. I felt a sense of being okay if I had three in my system. If I took two pills, I would feel desperate to take that third one, and I would take it.

I kept talking to the Lord, telling Him I hate this. I don’t like being attached to these pills. I knew they weren’t good for me. The warnings talk about liver damage if you take too many or take them too long. There was also the possibility of rebound headaches from overuse.

Whenever I tried to get off the pills, I would immediately get a migraine and immediately have rebound headaches. So I would get right back onto the pills.

One day, I was sitting on the side of my bed, communing with the Lord and worshiping Him. All of a sudden, the Lord said you trust in those pills and not in Me. At the same time He told me that, He showed me the degree of my trust was in the pills.

I had the sudden sensation of being in space, hanging on nothing. For a flash of time, God took away my dependency on the pills. He took away my trust in the pills. If I had both trust in God and trust in the pills, when God took away my trust in the pills, I should have been left with trust in God.

With the trust in the pills gone for just a flash of time, I had the sensation of floating in space, hanging on nothing. It was the most terrifying, shocking feeling I’ve ever had. It only lasted for an instant, but it was so jarring.

Immediately, I was so heartbroken that I could completely trust in the pills and completely not trust in God. Now, I had trust in God in other areas of my life, but in this area, I had zero trust in God.

There’s nothing wrong with trusting God for your healing while taking medicine to relieve the symptoms of your sickness. There’s nothing wrong with trusting God for healing while going to the doctor. I’m not talking about that here. I’m talking about a position I was in where I totally trusted in the pills and not in God.

When God showed me I didn’t trust Him at all in this situation, I cried. I repented and asked for His forgiveness. I asked Him to help me to get off the pills. Asked Him to help me to learn what it meant to trust in Him.

I didn’t get complete freedom and deliverance right then. In that flash where God took away the trust in the pills, He was just showing me where I was. God doesn’t want to force you to trust Him. He wants you to willingly trust Him, and that’s what He wanted for me.

When God took away my trust in the pills, He was doing it for only an instant to show me where my trust truly lay. It lasted just a flash of time, an instant, and it brought it all home. After that, I thought I would be free and I could just lay the pills down. As soon as I did, the same symptoms came back. Not only the pain returned, but my longing for the pills themselves.

Over the following months, I quit and picked up the pills, quit and picked them up. There were times when I would look in the mirror and hold those three pills in the palm of my hand and I would say, “Lord, I know you didn’t give me that experience on the side of the bed for nothing. I know you’re going to deliver me from these pills.”

I would say that but not every time I took the pills, just now and then. Sometimes I would say it and acknowledge the Lord. I know it. Maybe right then I didn’t trust the Lord, but I said to Him I know He was already in the process of bringing me to that place of freedom.

Months went by. Sometimes I would quit and I would think this is it! The symptoms would return, and I would fall back into taking the pills every day. I hid the addiction from my husband. I didn’t tell him I was taking so much every day. Not until I started making progress, that is.

Then one day, all of a sudden, the drive–and it was a drive–to take three pills was gone. I still had a drive, but it was less. So I took two pills. I no longer felt like I could not live unless I took three pills and no less. I suddenly felt like that wasn’t true anymore, and I could take two.

So for a few months, probably less than six months, I was taking two pills a day. Then I was thinking, God is giving me some kind of progress. Let me try one. Then something would happen, and I would get a migraine, and I would go back to two pills.

One day I switched to one pill, and I knew this is finally it. This is it! So, I transitioned off the pills very quickly. When you overuse pain medicine you can have rebound headaches. I had rebound headaches every time I went off the pills before my experience with God. I would have rebound headaches day after day until I would break down and get back on the pills.

The information I read said rebound headaches could last six to eight weeks. The last time I tried to get off the pills, I had a migraine for four days when I went cold turkey. Then I couldn’t take it anymore, and I picked them up again.

This time was different. I knew that I was free. I knew the addiction was broken. I transitioned down to one pill, then one every other day. Then I was like I know I’m free, so I’ll just skip another day. Oh, I’ll skip another day again.

I had a rebound headache two days compared to six to eight weeks. And that’s how God delivered me from an addiction to pain pills.

If you have a similar situation, whether it’s to pain pills or any habit, or anything in your life that you can’t seem to let go of, I encourage you to turn to the Lord in your heart. Ask Him to help you. Know that He will help you.

Think of my situation. I had zero trust in God. It’s not you who forces yourself to trust in the Lord. It’s God who teaches you how to trust Him. He shows you His gentle love, and that gentle love draws you in. When you start having encounters with the Lord, when you start talking to Him, and communing with Him in your own heart, you begin to trust him based on that relationship that you’re building.

———–

Please check out my book Simply Led. I tell the story of how I learned to hear God’s voice and talk about my journey toward a closer walk with Him. I think you’ll enjoy it.

How to Receive God’s Wisdom

Yvette ConatserLeave a comment

softmountains-3

Let’s say someone asks you for advice, and you really want to share the wisdom of God with them. You’re not sure what to tell them. You asked the Lord, “Lord, give me wisdom. Give me the words to say to this person.”

You wait, and you’re listening in your heart. You just can’t seem to get anything. You think, maybe God doesn’t want me to say anything, but you feel compassion for this person. You want to share, and you want to help them out. You’re just not sure how to receive God’s wisdom. How do you know when you’re receiving?

What you do in this situation is—you open up your mouth.

It’s as simple as that. You start out sharing what you already know to be true. Let’s say they are a Christian. You encourage the person with something like, “God is with you. God will never leave you. He will always help you out if you will trust in Him.”

You give the person that general type of Truth that you already know. As you’re speaking, because you’ve already turned to the Lord in your own heart and asked Him for His help and for His words of wisdom, as you’re speaking, your wisdom will expound. It will grow. At some point while you’re speaking with the person, your words will cross over from what you know to what God is imparting to you to share with them.

I guarantee if you will trust what I’m saying here, you will get excited. You will start to hear yourself say things that you may or may not have previously considered. As you consider the words either while you’re speaking or later—and you should be considering your words later—you start to see the depth to what you shared.

There is Truth to your words that you never considered. There will be a witness in your heary to confirm your words, that they are from the Lord. That is one way you receive and know that you are receiving wisdom from God.

You open up your mouth and let yourself be a tool for God’s use. If you never open up your mouth because you don’t think you’ve received anything, then you can’t get the wisdom out. God often shares wisdom with us for others in this way.

Just trust God and take a chance and do it. You’ll see. If you have asked the Lord for His wisdom and turned to Him in your heart, what comes out of your mouth will be God’s wisdom in this type of situation.

 

———–

Please check out my book Simply Led. I tell the story of how I learned to hear God’s voice and talk about my journey toward a closer walk with Him. I think you’ll enjoy it.