About a week and a half ago the Lord began to deal with me concerning my mind. Romans 12:2 says, “to no longer conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of the mind…” My Pastor has often said that the place of your greatest stronghold will be the place of your greatest anointing and up to a week and a half ago my understanding was clouded. My understanding was that I would go from “deliverance” to ministering to people that deal with the same stronghold helping come out or stay out. I failed to understand the transformation that must take place in me, first. The anointing is for you first and then for the lives of others so the place of your greatest stronghold must be transformed to God’s glory. The impure must become pure. My greatest stronghold was sexual perversion and everything that came with it. Some associations with that include: done in secret and no one else knows unless revealed to them, done late at night while most are sleep, in strange places where other people wouldn’t, done to relieve stress, it takes the mind off of everything else, it became a natural response or routine. Now we must understand that intimacy in the flesh leads to sex and the like, while intimacy in the spirit leads to worship.
In order for this transformation to take place the unclean must be done away with. As I was studying, God took me to Daniel 4 with King Nebuchadnezzar and his dream. In his dream he had a vision of a tree that was cut down to a stump and this was symbolic of what would happen to him. The stump represented him before all the stuff and that God would rebuild him from that stump. In understanding the before place based on Jeremiah 1:5 there is a place in us that was pure and holy. When we came in to this world we took on the 1st Adam’s sinful nature and began to become tainted. We must keep that in mind in the transformation of our minds. The deliverance comes when we allow God to chop us down to a stump in those impure areas so that he may rebuild us to bring him glory. The stump is the lowest point of a tree, without it being completely destroyed.
God has been chopping me down to that stump in the area of intimacy because that’s the root of sexual perversion. I know I have come a long way and am almost to that stump. The other night in prayer I asked God why I would have these random impure thoughts that would come out of the blue. It’s not that I dwelt on them but they catch me off guard because I thought I was past most of them. This is what he shared with me: “It’s the residue; you’ve dealt with the big stuff and now its time to do a deep cleansing. A complete renewal of the mind means that it is pure to its core so not even a remnant of impurity is to remain.” At that my flesh began to doubt saying that no one’s mind is completely pure so you’re alright where you are. But immediately the Holy Spirit posed the question as he did to Abraham, “is anything too hard for God? You’re almost at the stump; don’t settle for good when greatness is within reach.” As I was sharing this last part with E last night the Holy Spirit spoke, “pressure washer”. The purpose of a pressure washer is to get the stuff that the regular flow of water could not get, the residue. It’s the same water just with more pressure and intensity. What he was saying was that I must turn up the force in which I intake the word of God in order to get rid of the residue because we understand that our minds are transformed by the word of God.
Remember, earlier when I was sharing the associations that I went with sexual perversion, well in a transformed mind those impure things become pure. Now let’s looks at the evidence of my mind transformed from sexual perversion, understanding its root is intimacy and its pure or holy form is worship. I worship in a secret place out of view of men, done late at night when most are sleep, in strange places where other people wouldn’t, done to relieve stress and take my mind away from everything else, it becomes a natural response or routine (lifestyle).
Don’t settle for good when greatness is within reach. God desires to completely transform your mind, give him those strongholds so he can show you there intended purpose to bring him glory. A transformed mind is that foundation of our relationship with Christ so we can build on a faulty foundation, make it a sure foundation.
God Bless!
