Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
In a dream, the Lord Jesus came into my room and prayed for me. As He prayed I felt, heard and saw what I can best describe as the wisdom of the ages. I heard communication; it was knowledge and insight being communicated concerning diplomacy, politics, economy and leadership of nations as God had designed it to be. I heard voices; it was the voice of wisdom for the most complex problems we face on earth such as energy, agriculture, water supplies, disease, finances, climate and so on. I saw mathematical formulas that solve highly complex problems related to emerging medical breakthroughs and new technologies.
Somehow I understood all this as He was praying for me. It felt exhilarating and the purity and cleanness of it was nothing like I have ever experienced. This all happened in an instant and it was symbolic, of course, because the only man in existence who can contain all of this is the Lord Himself. Yet, it is His plan to make His wisdom known through the church (Eph. 3:10).
This dream spoke to me about our mindset, we have to get out of a mindset of lack and into a mindset of abundance (Matt. 13:12). However, it cannot be an abundance focused solely on our own little world. If you look at the Bible as a whole you will realize it is not just about our vertical spiritual life and personal prosperity, but about fulfilling God’s original commission to man to expand the garden of God into all the earth (Gen. 1:28). God has never withdrawn the commission and over the course of history individuals would emerge and experience the hidden wisdom of God (2 Cor. 2:7) and would impact nations and history. Daniel is an example of such an individual.
“This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Daniel 5:12
I see Daniel as one of the Old Testament types and shadow of what the church is to become. We have an extraordinary Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and I believe the key to receiving that knowledge and wisdom like Daniel did is having the mind of Christ (2 Cor. 2:16). Several years ago the Lord began to teach me how to tap into His mind in a practical way.
As a pastor I am frequently called upon to help people with issues and problems they are facing. I quickly learned that my opinion, psychology and cookbook answers do not produce biblical level results. Over a period of time the Lord taught me to do what I call grace counseling. Just before I would meet with someone I would surrender to the Lord my opinions and thoughts about the person and their situation. I would then simply listen to the person and as they talked the Holy Spirit, who is the Counselor, would point out things to me and I would just tell the person what He was revealing. If the person cooperates there is success, because His love never fails. I called it grace counseling because I was laying down my opinion and the knowledge of man and receiving by faith the mind of Christ. I knew it would work, because God loves people and wants to help them.
I took what I learned in receiving His mind while counseling people and began to apply it to other areas of my life. I will admit it has been an uphill battle at times, especially when it comes to things that affect me personally, but through faith and patience I have been able to tap into His mind more consistently than at any time of my life. One of the outcomes I am beginning to experience is a shift from a mindset of lack to the mindset of abundance.
Briefly, this is how I tap into the mind of Christ. Jesus told us to repent because the kingdom was at hand; repent means change the way you think. We change the way we think by ceasing judging and making decisions apart from Him, and then by faith we can access His thoughts and the knowledge of His ways (Matt. 5:17). So our minds are renewed as we surrender our thoughts and opinions and exchange them for His thoughts and opinions. It is a divine exchange – ours for His.
Many Blessings, BW