909: Thinking the Thoughts of God

This is it. I promise, this is the last entry in our "Put Me In, Coach" series. After this, I will being to edit my rough draft of the manuscript, and hopefully, the book will be available in September. Thank you for your encouragement as I wrote that kept me going. And now, for our last entry, let's go back and look at the Apostle Paul's life that is a good example of the put-me-in-coach mentality.

THE MIND OF CHRIST

Paul wrote this to the Corinthians church: 

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12-16, emphasis added).

Paul made the remarkable statement that he and his co-workers had the mind of Christ. Does that mean you and I have it, too? If we do, why are we so surprised, because the Spirit resides in us to lead and guide us into all truth (see John 16:13)? How long does it take to obtain this mind of Christ? Ten years? Twenty years? Longer? It seems that Paul had it almost immediately: 

 

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah (Acts 9:19-22, emphasis added).

 

This indicates that the mind of Christ is only accessible after long periods of study and discipleship. Paul almost immediately (at once) went to work to preach, proving from the Old Testament that Jesus was and is the Christ. Is there a chance that you have the mind of Christ, but have been hesitant to say so because of fear of teaching that has warned you to be careful and not assume what is in you is worthwhile? Then let's look at some insights to help you accept that what you have is from the Lord, and can therefore confidently ask God to put you in the game based on those thoughts.

 

AGREEABLE TO HIS WILL

 

The Amplified Version translates Proverbs 16:3 in these words: "Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed" (AMPC). This process may seem you natural that you suspect it is not spiritual, preferring to wait for a more dramatic encounter with God's will so you will be certain of its source. Yet that is not what occurred in Luke's life when he set out to write his gospel:

 

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us,just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1-4).

 

Luke did not write that the Lord directed him to write or report that he had a heavenly visitation commanding him to write. Luke said, "I decided to write." Luke had the mind of Christ. He put himself in the game of writing, so to speak, and the Spirit inspired his words -- yet he interpreted the experience as his decision to write.

 

Do you have any ideas, something that has been in your mind and heart for a while, or something that is more recent? Have you delayed on the older ideas, hoping they would go away? Have you dismissed the newer ideas because they may be a trick of your own, or worse yet, of the devil himself. Either way, you may be missing the point that you have the mind of Christ and those ideas, old or new, may actually be agreeable to His will. 

 

As we wrap up this series, I hope you are now more eager to be productive by making yourself available to be used by the Lord. I trust that you have seen that fear is our common enemy, and causes us to shrink back instead of move forward with confidence. I will continue to ask the Coach to put me in the game, and I trust that as I go in, I will look up and see you joining me so that we can play on the same team and enjoy our victories together. Until then, I ask you to at least consider that you are thinking the thoughts of God so you can find a reason to act on them instead of sitting on the sidelines while you critique and evaluate them. Have a blessed week!