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The Lord has been working on my mind lately, showing me how to have a renewed mindset (A renewed mind-set). And for me that looks like walls of lies being torn down and clarity in what I actually believe which becomes clear by examining my actions and thoughts.
I mean it is one thing to hear something all your life and know it to be true vs really understanding and knowing in your mind the truth of the matter. Specifically, if someone were to ask me "What do you have to do for Jesus to love you?" I would say "nothing" he loves you as you are now, where you are. This is true, God doesn't say "make yourself better before coming to me", instead He says come (Matthew 11: 28-30). AND if I were to be honest with myself, I would say that my actions don't correlate with what I know to be true, which tells me my mindset on the matter is faulty. For example, the question was posed to me " What do I do that makes God happy?" The first things that came to my mind were: being kind to others, praying, reading the Word, going to church ect... These are all great and lovely things AND.. Jesus loves me without the other stuff added. How do know I this? Because the Bible says God loved the WORLD that he gave his son to die for my sins and I can only love Him because He FIRST loved me (John 3:16-21;1John 4: 19). Where was I when God said He would give his son to the world because He loved me? I wasn't even thought of, hadn't even done good or bad, AND YET God said he loved me. I mean, that is just AMAZING. The living God who gave breath to my lungs thought of me before I was even thought of!
So lesson number one for me is knowing and understanding Jesus Loves me , He isn't in love with me because of the things I do, He is just in love with me!
Story time in lesson number one.
--I run early in the morning. One morning I thought to myself "Ooo the sun is starting to come up maybe I can go out on the pier with my worship music and do a devotion ". Then in my mind the Holy Spirit said " You know you are loved now, not just with the sunset coming up and your devotion out". That thought made me giggle a little and at first I was kind of like "yea, of course" but then that statement really made me re-think. You see my mind was thinking God loves me when I spend time with Him. This is true but his love is not based on what I am doing, His love doesn't wane because of my actions. I am loved by Him PERIOD. So you see I was running on an early morning, hot, sweaty and jamming to my disney playlist and I was hit with the realization Jesus loves me even now! Whattttt sweaty old, disney listening, thinking about work old me on this early morning? The answer is YES! God loved me in my running AND he loves me the same when I am worshiping Him AND he loves me the same on days I miss out on reading his Word.
Because I have said yes to Jesus, yes to surrendering what I thought I knew, yes to the uncomfortable, I can rest in the truths and promises of the Word. Romans 8:15 tells those who have accepted Jesus as Lord that we didn't received a spirit of religious duty but rather full acceptance. ~" we did not received the 'spirit of religious duty' leading you back in to the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the 'Spirit of full acceptance', enfolding you into the family of God" See, I have been called into the family of God without first having to do the "things". AND because I am made part of the family of God I qualify to share in all of Gods treasures and inherit all that Christ is and all that he has (Romans 8:17).
So whether you are exercising , on the couch paying bills, volunteering, cleaning or maybe you have been running from God. I want to tell you, you are loved! Right now, where you are, Jesus loves you! You don't have to work for His love! Where ever you are, who ever you are I want to remind you of Zechariah chapter 3. Zechariah was given a vision from the Lord. In this vision Satan was standing next to a priest (Joshua) ,in the presence of the Lord, accusing Joshua. The Lord's response was this " I the Lord reject your accusations. Yes, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you!. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched form the fire. " Joshua was standing their with filthy clothing BUT his filthy rags were taken off and new fine garments were placed on him. Then the angel said "see I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you fine new clothes ~See here, God didn't call Joshua to fix himself up, or check off all the boxes to be good enough. He was pulled out of the fire and his filth was traded for what was good. The lies of Satan are rejected! AMEN I no longer live a life with a blinded mind but clarity through the Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 3: 1-10) And it is not too late for you, you don't have to get yourself together before coming to Jesus, and you don't have to work for His love.
Thank you Lord for your grace! Thank you Father for sending Jesus to dress us in majesty! Thank you Holy Spirit for being the revealer of truths and one who guides and directs us into the deeper parts of who God is. Lord I pray for every mind, that revival in the minds will stir up. In Jesus' Name Amen.
A resource to check out: Walking Deeply with Jesus