Faith fact number two: The more you train yourself in righteousness thinking, the easier it is to receive from God.
What is righteousness thinking? To start with, it’s the opposite of unrighteousness thinking. We are all too familiar with that sort of mindset, which sounds like: “I don’t want to bother God with my little problem.” “I don’t deserve God’s blessings.” “I don’t have enough faith to get healed (or be prosperous or successful.)” “I have low self-esteem.” “When I become a better Christian, then God can bless me.”
Many times these thoughts are not in our conscious minds but lurking beneath the surface. Though unseen, they put up impenetrable barriers keeping us from receiving God’s best in our lives.
Righteousness thinking is training your mind to see yourself as God sees you – in Christ – despite what you feel like or how you perform. The Apostle Paul said we are to no longer view one another, or ourselves, according to the flesh, but rather in the spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:16)
If you are going to get another image of yourself, it won’t come easily!
It will be paddling upstream until you jar yourself from the old ruts in your thinking. The good news is that you are not just wishing you are different – you really are! On the inside, the real you, there is a new person. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Our God is a “making new” kind of God. He doesn’t leave things or people the way He finds them. We had a complete makeover on the inside when God came into our lives, and that’s what God wants us to relate to, instead of the old man with whom we are very familiar.
If you are down on yourself a lot of the time, the reason is that you are looking at the wrong you! If you could see yourself the way God does, you would get excited. The real you is created in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24), has the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), stands without blame in the center of God’s love (Ephesians 1:4), is accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6), has an incredible inheritance (Ephesians 1:11), reigns as a king in this life (Romans 5:17), and that’s only the beginning! The entire New Testament is filled with Scriptures that tell us who we are in Christ, what we have in Him, and what the Father has done for us in redemption.
“But that doesn’t seem real to me,” you say. If your emotions are more real to you than the Word of God, you can reverse that. Your feelings change more quickly than Missouri weather, but the Word of God stands forever, so what do you think you should put your trust in?
Make a decision to renew your mind with the new thoughts found in God’s Word. You will soon begin thinking and feeling and acting like the new person you have been created to be.
Confession: I am a new person who is created to receive God’s blessings, including healing.
Scriptures for meditation: Ephesians 1:1-12; Romans 5:17, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
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Copyright © 2007 by David Hagni. All rights reserved.