Tag: think

Transformative Prayer

Justin Hibbard

One evening I talked with my daughter Annalia about hearing God’s voice. Just before I put her to bed, I instructed her, “Just listen with your heart Annalia, and you’ll hear Him talk to you.”

A little while later, I heard Annalia crying hysterically in her bed. I ran upstairs to see what was wrong. “I can’t hear God talking to me,” she said amidst the tears.

In my eagerness for her to hear what God was saying, I forgot to teach her how to hear Him. It made me think of my own prayer life and ask, “How did I learn to hear God? When did that begin in my own life? Do only a few people have that gift, and if so, why does the Bible emphasize heading to God’s instruction? If it is for everyone, how do I teach others not only the importance of hearing God but how to hear Him?”

That’s my focus for today in continuation of these reflections on intimacy with God, and I want to begin this discussion by talking about your mind. Our minds are powerful circuit boards. There’s so much that goes on in our brain that affects what we perceive and how we act. In fact, our minds are so powerful that Jesus tells us that we could commit adultery or murder within the confines of our thoughts. So my question is, if our minds are that powerful to make us guilty of heinous crimes (even though we physically didn’t commit them), how powerful must they be to help transform us to be more like Jesus?

Have you ever had a day where you were really wrestling with your mind? Maybe lustful thoughts popped into your head all day, or you struggled with guilt and self-esteem. At the end of the day, how did you feel? If you’re like me, you felt worn out and spiritually maimed. You may have never said a word or committed an action, but your brain took a beating from the forces of darkness.

Is it any wonder why out of all the armor of God, we’re told that our salvation is best represented by a helmet. In Romans 12, we’re instructed to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If we want to act differently, we have to think differently. Last week we saw this with Isaiah when we studied his encounter with the Lord in chapter 6. Once Isaiah saw himself atoned with the blazing coal, he thought differently. He no longer cowered in the shadows of his own fallen state; he raised his hand and said, “Here am I, Lord; send me.”

As I began to learn how integral the mind is to our lives as Believers, it helped me to give some instruction to my daughter. “Annalía,” I said, “I want you to close your eyes and picture and sense Jesus. Do you see Him? What does He look like? Now, what’s He saying to you.”

As I left the room that night, I said, “Whenever you get scared, I want you to close your eyes and see Jesus.” Annalía interjected, “You mean, you want me to imagine Him?”

Ooh… imagination. Is this what I’m talking about? And when I say “imagination” do all sorts of red flags go up in your mind? When people start talking in terms of thinking, sensing, feeling, perceiving, imagining many people sum it up to either psycho-babble or some eastern religion type of therapy.

If that’s the case, then what did David mean when he wrote, “Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night?” What does it mean to meditate? Might it be similar to what Paul instructs in Philippians 4:8, “whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we’re told, “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Take every thought captive? What about Satan? When do we take him captive? Perhaps taking control of our mind is one way we take control of Satan and his stronghold. Maybe Paul is giving us a clue that many of the battles of spiritual warfare are fought on the fields of our mind.

In Colossians 3, we read, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” When you incorporate your imagination, your mind, your senses in prayer, you are doing just that. Instead of letting your mind drift to all sorts of dark places, you are controlling your mind and surrendering it to the Lord.

Can you see now how Isaiah 6 can be a reality for your life? You too can see the Lord. You can ask Him to show you His glory. You can close your eyes, even right now, and meditate – imagine, sense, see, perceive, and be washed by visions of glory. This is where prayer becomes transformative.

Living Sacrifice Day 22 – A Fresh Start

Justin Hibbard


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Begin by reading Hebrews 12:1-13

Being in the IT field, I’ve had people bring their PCs loaded with their problems to me for help. However, the problem I hate dealing with the most is a computer infected with a virus. Having similar experiences myself (before I converted to Mac), it can be the most annoying and difficult problem. Why? Well, depending on the virus, it can really affect the machine. It can cause it to do things involuntarily, keep it from connecting online to prevent you from solving the problem, it can slow down your computer to a crawl, and in general, it just makes your life miserable. Because viruses come out all the time, the anti-virus programs struggle to keep up with them. So, to solve the problem, you first have to find the virus and then hope the anti-virus is up-to-date enough to kill the problem. But depending on the virus, it can be tricky and could take hours to try to figure out if you’ve gotten everything. So, what’s the best solution? The best solution is to reinstall Windows and give your computer a fresh start. As annoying is it is to back up everything, reinstall the operating system, and reload all the programs, it’s amazing at how quickly the computer will run. I’ve had people tell me, “it’s like you gave me a brand new computer.”

This is a good analogy for our lives as Christians. Even in our redeemed state, we are always susceptible to the virus of sin. It can so easily creep into our hearts and cause our whole selves to malfunction. Once sin is in our hearts, our actions can follow suit. What’s inside eventually comes out. No matter how hard you try, sin just doesn’t stay bottled up.

In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us to be different, to renew our minds. Sometimes, we need a fresh start. If we’re really struggling with a particular sin, sometimes we need to get away. That getting away may be in the form of repentance; prayer, meditation, or fasting; encouragement from other believers; or perhaps counseling. We, in a sense, need to be rebooted. When God redeems us, He makes us a new creation. But until we reach heaven, we’re always going to be struggling with the temptations of sin.

In my job, I’m constantly telling people how viruses and spyware work and how to avoid them. “Be careful with what sites online you visit,” I explain. “And when something pops-up, don’t just click on it. In fact sometimes the button that says ‘close’ is a button that will deploy the spyware.” A lot of times, this helps the user from making the same mistake again.

Similarly, Paul tells us to rethink about ourselves. Because when we see ourselves as God’s redeemed, we begin to recognize the traps that Satan uses. We start seeing the places where we are susceptible to his snarls and start to avoid them. I think we will be shocked at what God can do through a creature who is committed to being a living sacrifice. When we’re not slowed down by the viruses of sin, we can run the race marked out for us.

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Living Sacrifice Day 21 – Free Your Mind

Justin Hibbard


Prefer to listen to today’s devotional? Click here.

Begin by reading Philippians 2:1-16

The Matrix, one of my all-time favorite movies, is about a world within a world known as the Matrix. While the Matrix exists, few people know about it and are simply satisfied with living in the outer world in ignorance. The movie is about a man named Neo, who is invited to see and live inside the Matrix. The rules of the Matrix are different, but he struggles with being confined by the rules of the world he was so used to. Neo’s trainer Morpheus challenges him to stop thinking like a human being and instead tells him to “free your mind.” As the movie progresses, we are dazzled by Neo’s ability, combined with neat special effects, to defy laws of gravity, run up walls, and do all sorts of super-human moves that defy the limits of a human being.

The Matrix has a number of obvious parallels to Christianity, and Neo’s transformation into a new creature inside the Matrix is one of them. Paul tells us, Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Why does the transformation happen by the renewing of your mind?

Here’s why. We’re used to acting a certain way because we’re used to thinking a certain way. When we were an unbeliever we didn’t give credence to God, His divinity, and our place in the Kingdom. If you recall, the first challenge was on getting to know God, and the second challenge was to know our place in His Kingdom. Like Neo, we have to relearn how to act based on our new identity.

There’s a non-smoking commercial campaign airing that depicts people struggling with quitting to smoke. They are so used to lighting up when getting in the car or drinking a cup of coffee, that they struggle to do those activities without a smoke. The point of the commercial is to relearn how to do the other activities like driving and drinking coffee without the crutch of a cigarette.

Being a Believer is similar. We may be used to using bad language, losing our temper, or thinking lustful thoughts. These can be difficult habits to break. Paul is telling us that in order to break these habits we must renew our minds – rethink about who we are and why we exist. This is not easy. If we have lived years losing our temper when things don’t go our way, we have to stop and think about the Lord and who we are as soon as we’re faced with something troubling. If we’re used to thinking a lustful thought every time we see a coworker, then we need to retrain ourselves to honor God with our thoughts.

However, if we can at every moment say, “I exist to glorify God,” then when the temptation arises to revert back to sinful habits, we are more likely to fight it. This isn’t a self-help regiment. This is living up to a standard, up to an identity – we are emulating our Lord Jesus.

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