Hope you read part one of unlocking the calling.
In the previous blog, we saw the first key to unlocking the calling—seek the kingdom of God first and live by the word.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 2
According to Romans 12:2, the second thing we need to do is renew our minds and be transformed. This statement might look vague, but living by this word will open up the call of God to us. Surrendering our hearts to Jesus when we accept the salvation of Jesus is the simple part of Christianity. Finding the call of God after salvation by surrendering both the heart and mind is the hard part we often forget. Although it seems too easy to surrender the mind, it isn’t. Derek Prince, a bible teacher, says it like this—the mind is the bottleneck that prevents the revealing of the fullness of the Spirit in us. That is the truth. The mind blocks us from living in the spirit and being Christ-minded. This is why Paul says that the ones who live by the spirit set their hearts on the spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Romans 8: 5
How do we renew our minds? A question that only torments us. It’s not like we don’t know this truth already, it’s just that we don’t know how to do it. We know that the mind is the culprit behind the thoughts we wish we never had. But we don’t want to confront the mind, as it just makes us insecure. It’s easier for us to sin rather than face the truth. It’s easier for us to yield to the flesh and its desires than to bring the changes that might question our presumptuous identity. To escape the guilt of our unyielding spirit, we casually use phrases like—I surrender, self-denial and give in to the Holy Spirit during church services and prayers. Do these phrases even mean something to us? Have they even brought the slightest change in our lives? It was a big fat NO in my life. When the Holy Spirit asked me all these questions, I felt like I had a slap to my face. If you would listen to what the Holy Spirit taught me, you can escape the hackney of life. You can be free from the deleterious guilt haunting you.
The mind is the best slave but the worst master. The mind is a part of the soul associated with the brain in the body. It is a link between the body and the soul. Since we are all born of sin, our natural way of thinking will lead to sin. The mind, if left on its own, will only decide to sin rather than bring genuine change. This is why we need transformation through the renewal of our minds.
We make our decisions based on what we receive from the mind. So, if we need the mind to be renewed to think of spiritual things, we need another input to make our decisions instead of the mind. The Holy Spirit is that input to the soul, the one you received when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. We often forget that the God of all creation dwells in our hearts. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. We have trained ourselves for all our lives to make choices based on our minds. Changing that isn’t easy, but we have grace and God to help us through it. To make choices based on the spirit, we needn’t stop the mind, we just need to allow the spirit to do His work in us.
How do we allow the spirit? By praying about things first and letting God do the fighting instead of trying to take control of every situation. By speaking in tongues, if you have that gift, allow the holy spirit to take control of your body and life. If we try to stop the mind, we are going to go crazy before we know it. We need to show ourselves that God does a better job at this than us. Once this truth becomes real to us, we will automatically start focusing our minds on things of the spirit. It doesn’t come by fighting with the thoughts, but by saying yes to the spirit.
As we do this, we will fail miserably a time or two. Because, like I said earlier, we are used to doing it by the mind for a really long time. But don’t lose heart. Keep giving in to the spirit even if you haven’t yet seen results. We come to the wrong conclusions based on one failure. That’s not the way to go. We come to that conclusion and go back to the old way of thinking because we can’t deal with the guilt of having failed God. But, it’s only us judging ourselves that’s causing the guilt and not the Holy Spirit causing that. It’s time to give yourself more grace, as Jesus has all the grace you need. He isn’t afraid or affected by your failures and mistakes. He is a sovereign God, who can turn all things for your good.
Give God and yourself a chance to bring the transformation that will help you realize the calling that was in you all along. You don’t see it, because the sin and grief of guilt cloud you. You’re blinded by your mistakes when you can live in freedom. The easiest way to give yourself grace is to root yourself in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way to holiness and purity. You can never be right in the sight of God. The blood of Jesus makes you righteous. Jesus paid it all on the cross. He is now with you, inside of you, helping you to become more than a conqueror. As you consistently do this, you will see your life transformed from being conformed to this world.
When we seek the kingdom of God first and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice from the heart to mind, I am sure that we will know the call of God in our lives. We often think both these keys are something we think is to be followed by only those in the ministry. The Bible tells us that in the first-century church, the basic criteria even for serving tables were these 2. I know that this is a standard we don’t live by, but what if we did? What if the church of God got back to the original standards set by God to live a life full of the Holy Spirit and dead to the flesh? That is the true path to lead us to the call of God.
All that I’ve said today will not come in a day, and more so, the devil will not let you even try this out. I implore you to try it. You will live in freedom and peace that you have never experienced before. The moment you yield to the Holy Spirit, you will see Jesus living through you, helping you do even the impossible.
And you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.