Luke 1:45 “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.” (NIV)
If you have known me for any length of time, you know that I am always teaching, speaking and, some would say, preaching about the need for Believers to change the way we think and how we interpret not only God but, also the world and our place in it. I unequivocally believe that it is our thinking that either propels us into living out our calling or stagnates and paralyzes us to the point that we retard and impede the building of the kingdom.
Now, before you get angry and want to stop engaging and interacting with PC, I need you to understand that I am someone who is constantly working on my thinking. Continually trying to shed the burdens of my past that have created the environment where my stinking thinking resides, grows and flourishes.
Yes, I am one who has had and still does negatively impact the growth of the kingdom! How? Because God has told me to do something and I refuse. Refusing to submit, trust and obey can and has, potentially, kept someone from hearing something or coming into contact with something that I have that could have changed their relationship with the Creator and increased their faith. See, there is someone who needs to hear the exact words or feel love in precisely the way that I’m, you are, able to deliver. However, due to my, our, negative thinking about who I am, I missed the opportunity to be a Kingdom Builder, living out loud being the Chief Heavenly Ambassador.
As I have become more and more acquainted with God’s word, I’ve come to understand that Jesus not only came to redeem and restore us, but He also came to return us. Yep, return us to our originally intended selves, as God created us. If you haven’t read my first blog, now is a good time to do so. All of us, in the beginning, were created in the image and likeness of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We were created in perfection! Yep, you and I have perfection all in our DNA. Yep, it is part of our makeup to look like and act like Jesus. However, with the induction of sin, our minds, personalities and behaviors were altered and deformed. This one act of disobedience deformed our character in such a way that it impacts the way we think and thus behave.
Remember in Genesis when Adam ate from the forbidden tree (yes, I know that Eve presented Adam with the fruit, but he didn’t have to take it! I’m just saying, get off Eve!) Immediately, their eyes were opened and they began to experience shame, guilt, and a need to engage in what I call the blame game. These are emotions and behaviors that they’d never experienced before. Their thoughts about themselves and each other were forever altered, thus changing the way they behaved and interacted with each other and with God. They began to hide. They believed differently about who they were. No longer did they see themselves as being worthy of being their true and authentic selves with each other and with their Creator. This one act changed the way that they thought, changed their beliefs, changed their lives and the lives of every generation to follow!
Above demonstrates that our thoughts and beliefs, are so important. It is how we think that sets the foundation for our beliefs and it is our beliefs that dictates our behaviors which then determines whether or not we will live an abundant life full of joy and peace or whether we will be tormented by the possibilities that we never took advantage of. This bears repeating!
- How we think sets the foundation for our beliefs,
- Our beliefs dictate our behaviors,
- Our behaviors determines whether or not we will live an abundant life full of joy and peace,
- By negating our ability to live abundantly, we will live a life tormented by regret about the possibilities that we never took advantage of!
Yep, that’s tight but it’s right! If I believe that I am not worthy, ready or equipped to do a work that I’ve been called by God to do then I will fail to live the life that God has willed for my life. If I continue to think about my inadequacies and inabilities, I will not step into that “thing” that I was created and destined to do. I will stand still, not move, succumbing to the fear, missing the opportunity to be blessed and to be a blessing. Just out of a thought of being inadequate, because I am focused on the lack of something rather the possibilities of something else, I missed an opportunity to please God. Instead of having elevated thoughts I allowed my mind to wallow in the gutter of fear and now I must live in the reality of regret. All because of my negative thoughts and disbelief.
In Luke 1:45, Elisabeth proclaims the benefits of elevating our thinking, changing our minds and embracing God’s calling.
This verse follows the interaction that Mary, the mother of Jesus, has with the angel who proclaims that she has been chosen to deliver the child who will be the deliverer of the world! How awesome is that? Wait, how awesome and yet terrifying is that!? Mother of the one who has been sent by God to save the world? Really, me? I don’t know about any of you, but in that moment, my mind, because of my thoughts and my beliefs, would have been flooded by all of the things in my past, my character and my credentials that made me totally unqualified and unfit for the job.
Honestly, Mary, due to her inability to think big, when the angel announced how God was going to use her in His plan of reunification of the Creator with His creation, she informed the angel that her calling would not be achievable because she was a virgin. All Mary could see was the barriers. Just like Mary, we will quickly, because of how limited we are in our ability to comprehend who God is and what He is able to accomplish, we limit and dwarf the potential and the possibilities. How does being a virgin limit our God?! The one who created our reproductive system can certainly manipulate it so that His plan can be accomplished. However, Mary was encumbered by her low-level thinking which then impacted her ability to believe.
Because of Mary’s reluctance to buy into the plan that God had for her life and subsequently, for all mankind, the angel had to instruct her about God’s plan, encourage her about her abilities and provide her with a mentor or an example to show her that God is able. In verse 35, the angel reveals the plan, in verse 36, the angel informs Mary about the miracle that God has performed on behalf of her cousin Elizabeth who was up in age and pregnant and reassures her that God is in control and He never fails to deliver. It was at this point that Mary was able to see what was possible and changed her mind. In verse 38, Mary comes into agreement with the plan, the will of the Father, stepping boldly into her calling as a willing participant.
But what was required for Mary to make the transition and the decision to elevate her thinking and ultimately change her beliefs:
- She needed to be reminded that God has a plan and she has a calling. Throughout God’s word He reminds us that He has a plan for our lives, that we have a calling and an expectation to serve Him by actively participating in His will for our lives. The plan is not contingent on our present circumstances. In fact, God’s plan has nothing to do with our reality and everything to do with His love and His power being activated in our lives. God’s word reminds us that His plans are for us to prosper, and that His plans will be beyond our comprehension and understanding. He will put us in situations that will cause people to wonder how & why. It is at those times that the door opens where we can shine the light on the Creator, on His goodness and on His greatness.
- She needed to hear the testimony of God working in the life of another Believer. Here’s what is especially illuminating to Mary – the testimony that the angel provides is also about God moving miraculously in a way that defies logic. The angel shares that Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, who is beyond childbearing years, is pregnant. Again, God is doing what man believes is impossible and does the inconceivable. Look at God! He can bless you over here while blessing others over there, miraculously. By hearing the testimonies of other Believer’s our faith is strengthened and it is enlarged. Sometimes we need to hear or see God moving. Providing evidence that He is still in the blessing business. Thus, we are encouraged. We then can embrace that thing that we felt was so far from us. That God can and will use us even though we are flawed.
- She needed to listen to wise council. The angel reminded Mary that God never fails. Unfortunately, many Believers will not seek nor will they listen to wise council. Too often we are attracted to those who say what we want to hear, confirm our low-level thinking, that don’t challenge us to think differently and that allows us to remain stuck in our present rather than transcend into the abundant life that God has intended for us. We too have the opportunity to access needed council. God puts people, situations and circumstances in our way that can be used as an encouragement to our growth and to our accepting God’s will. Regularly, God provides people and experiences that pour into us and keep us focused or to refocus us on thus saith the Lord. Sometimes their counsel will test us, sometimes it will correct us, sometimes it will confirm and other times it will encourage. However, wise counsel will be in alignment with God and His word. It won’t pamper you, but it will prepare you for bigger and better.
So, because Mary embraced the plan, listened to the testimonies of God’s greatness and recognized good counsel, she was able to reshape her thinking, change her beliefs about what was possible, broaden her perspective and anticipate the movement of God on her behalf. Then Mary was able to redefine her future. By partnering with God, she could boldly proclaim in verse 38,“I am the Lord’s servant,” and “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
See what happens when we reshape our minds and we embrace an elevation of our thinking? When Mary walked into the room with an elevated mental disposition, with a changed mind and with a stronger belief, her presence was able to change the atmosphere! In v. 41, the baby in Elisabeth’s womb jumped with excitement with what was going to occur! Mary, who once only could see her limitations, now allowing her mind to conceive the impossible as a certainty, changed her identity from a virgin bride in waiting to an exalted mother of our future Savior! Look, when we agree to boldly live in the will of the Father, regardless of what the world believes to be so, everything must recognize the power of our God and His ability to change what seems to be illogical into the miraculous! We now can wait with hope and secure anticipation of what is to come!
When we change our thinking, resulting in the broadening of our beliefs, people will be able to recognize that God is great and we are blessed. People will proclaim, unequivocally, that the Lord has His hands on us and that we have our minds focused on Him and His wonder working power, resulting in abundant blessings beyond what we can think and comprehend!
To God be the Glory!
Much Love,
Lady T
Chief Heavenly Ambassador
