“…be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
There is an old saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Actually, you can but it is an arduous task. Likewise, it is very difficult to change long-standing patterns in the human mind. When we talk of the Kingdom ideology, this requires a change in how we think. When corporations seek new managers or high-level officers to hire, they try to get individuals that think along the same lines as the vision and philosophy of their current business plan. In spite of the skills, talents and abilities a person may possess, they understand that it is better to have an individual who thinks like they do, than to have someone with a lot of talent and who’s going in the opposite or wrong direction.
Jesus Christ modeled this principle. He did not recruit from the religious order of the day but rather He chose individuals who had a good and a simple work ethic. Jesus Christ recruited fisherman and tax collectors rather than individuals layered in religious traditions and formality—a group that constantly questioned Him on almost everything they observed Him doing. Jesus needed someone who would be open to faith and His vision for the Kingdom.
In order to receive His vision for the Kingdom today, we must be open and willing to change our old mindset and adapt to His revealed principles.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:5
If we are going to move into the next dimension of where God wants to take us, we must gain a “God consciousness.” It is imperative for the people of God to become sensitive to what God wants and be directed by the Holy Spirit. Listen to Paul’s heart as he wrote to the church in I Corinthians 2:11-16:
“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
If there are some things about your church or your routines that you were asked to change for the better, would you do it? What if it was to advance the Kingdom of God? What if it was a mandate of God? If we are going to be effective, we must rethink the way we do business. If we are going to be anointed, we must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. If we can change our minds to become Kingdom-oriented, we can shift the paradigm by which we operate. But, again, the challenge is to actually change our minds. A compassion for the things of Christ places us in a posture to accept change.
An excerpt from “Possessing the Kingdom Anointing” by Lyle Dukes, pgs. 15–17
