S71P4 – What God heals: the mind
Eph. 4:19-24
[The Gentiles] have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
She landed in the foster care system because of very unfortunate circumstances, but it would prove to be her real shot at a normal and safe family life. Being only 7 years old, one of her biggest obstacles was understanding that her prior home life was not indicative of every home life. Where she was afraid of her natural parents, she would have to learn that there was no reason to fear her foster parents. Her emotions, ideas and opinions were once her own secrets, but now she would learn that her voice mattered. This was really a reconditioning of the mind by which she learned how to see home life differently. She had to reach the place of knowing that home and family were good things.
Oh, what a battlefield the mind can be! The enemy will try to use twisted logic, failed reasoning and our own negative experiences to get us to think that the world works a certain way. He wants us to know everything in a physical sense without realizing the spiritual components. He also wants our thought patterns and reasoning to have us arrive at any answer other than God. I cannot count the number of people who have reasoned to me that God cannot logically exist. Those are people whose minds are damaged and wounded, and they are in need of healing. But again, this is not something which occurs in an instant. There is a process by which our flawed thinking and understanding are changed so that we can gain true knowledge and wisdom.
The healing of our minds is truly transformative as it allows us to discern God’s will for us [Rom. 12:2]. We cannot know what is good and perfect unless God allows us to understand those things. It is not just about having a feeling. We must know and comprehend the things of God. When our thinking is renewed and corrected, the same questions which yielded answers leading us away from God will now yield ones which lead us to him. This healing of the mind is really about knowing and understanding what God knows and understands. It is a necessary process if we want to truly know him. Father, we ask You for healing of any flawed reasoning or mindset which remains a stumbling block in our faith, and allow us to help others heal their minds.