A Consecrated Mind

A Consecrated Mind

By Pastor Gary Wayne

We have spent at least 3 weeks talking about repentance – changing the way we think. “How do you do that?” Last week I looked at some “How to’s.”
Col 3:2 “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
We looked at “setting our minds” on Jesus. “Polar bear alerts.”
Today I would like to continue with practical steps to “Changing the way you think” by consecrating our mind.

Text: Matthew 11:28-30, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Mat.11:28-30 “…find rest for your souls.”
Most of us carry a heavy soul. Our soul is where we store our memories.
We carry stress, fear, frustration, disappointment and often anger.

The evil one uses the pain and confusion we go through to question, and cast a shadow of doubt over God’s goodness. “If God love you, He would…”
In Eph.3, Paul prayed that they would “be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Rom.12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,…”

Our society, the atmosphere we live in, assaults our minds every day.
Every time we check the news, social media, we are bombarded with information that fights against renewing my mind to be like Jesus.
There is a battle to conform our thinking to be like this society.
We live in a battle for the truth.

Let God Transform you by changing the way think.

In our text - we take control of our thought life – purposely setting how my mind deals with God’s truth to be what my heart focuses on.

What about me needs transformed? What part of my thinking?
Attitudes? Thought patterns? What my mind dwells on?
What fears do I give my faith to? Where I go when my mind wanders?

Ro 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. NKJV

For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set controlled by the Spirit finds life and peace. PT

“For to be carnally minded is death, the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace…” NIV

Focusing on myself, is opposite of focusing on God – it opposes God.

I want to spend time on “Consecrating Our Minds.”
Allowing the Holy Spirit to control my mind leads to life and peace.
We are seeking alliance, agreement, union with God in our mental life.
I consecrate my mental life to Jesus.

Lev 11:44 'For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

To consecrate something means to give it to God, to present it to Him to be especially His. To set it aside for His use, to sanctify.
When we consecrate something to Jesus, it allows those things to come under His protection and provision.

This is beautiful when we think about consecrating our mental life to Him.
We don’t want our thoughts to just wander here and there.
We want our mental life to be under the influence of the Spirit of God, governed by the Spirit, not governed by my flesh.

Let’s pray this right now!
Father, I consecrate my mind to you. All of my mental life.
I give you my thoughts, my focus, and attention.
I give you my memory and recall, my understand and imagination.
I consecrate to you, Lord, my interpretation of events in my life.
I dedicate the life of my mind to You, and to you ALONE.

There is a truth about memory recall I want to visit about.
We believe the story – facts - events - we tell ourselves.
OFTEN our memory of events are totally different then the other people that were there.

Usually my NEED to be right drives me to hold onto my interpretation of events.

Jesus, where have my thoughts begun to wander?
Where have I been worrying or speculating about the future?
Forgive me Lord, I consecrate my mind to you – I renounce speculation.
I surrender the future to you Lord. Teach me to rein in my wondering thoughts.

You can keep Jesus at the forefront of your mind with one simple prayer, and one simple word. “Jesus!”

As you go through your day, simply use the name Jesus as a prayer to turn your thoughts back towards Him.

Let’s practice that before we go. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.