Supernatural Transformation: Change Your Heart Into God’s Heart (34 page)

Throughout this book, we have seen that our beliefs and attitudes are rooted and established in our heart. Consequently, they influence our mind-set and thoughts, prompting our behavior. Additionally, there are ways in which our mind influences our heart and affects its condition. For example, as we have noted, Satan attempts to manipulate our heart by planting bad thoughts in our mind and enticing our sinful nature to rise up in the form of pride, lust, rebellion, and so forth. That is why the manner in which we think and reason, and what thoughts we allow to remain in our mind, are so significant. The apostle Paul wrote,
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ
”
(2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

When our mind is aligned with human reason, our focus is on temporal matters, and the impossible remains impossible.

The Original Mind of Humanity

The word
mind
is defined as “the element or complex of elements in an individual that feels, perceives, thinks, wills, and especially reasons,” and “the conscious mental events and capabilities in an organism.” Our mind is the seat of our knowledge and understanding; it is the intellectual potential of the soul.

We must know what was our Creator’s original intent for the mind of humanity, because we cannot comprehend the nature of the transformation we must undergo until we understand His original design. Human beings were made in God’s image and likeness; and, in His plan, we were created to believe, think, and act as He does. Humanity’s original mind was therefore a reflection of God’s—pure, clear, and unlimited in what it could conceive; it worked in conjunction with God’s supernatural power. Thus, everything the first human beings did was geared toward manifesting God’s will on earth as it was in heaven. Possibilities were the norm to them, because they lived according to the spiritual realm, where everything is possible.

Adam and Eve weren’t contaminated by sin at first, so their heart, soul, and body, while living in the natural world, functioned according to the life of the supernatural realm—above and beyond the physical sphere. Their thoughts were filled with revelation knowledge from God, and that is how they were able to bring heaven to earth. All of creation responded to them just as it responded to God, because the Creator had given them dominion over it. As long as they were aligned with heaven, the creation obeyed them because it recognized divine authority.

Adam’s mind was designed to be aligned with heaven and
to manifest heaven on earth.

Is it possible for us to have that same divine mind today, so that we are enabled to live beyond natural human limitations? Yes, it is possible—as our mind is supernaturally transformed. God’s original mandate of dominion has not changed. We can recover God’s original intent for us—to live in accordance with the mind He first gave us, which is a reflection of His own mind.

Human beings lost their divine mind-set when they rebelled against God in the garden of Eden. Their spirit was disconnected from the supernatural realm, and their mind consequently became confined to the natural sphere—reduced to a state of limitation and subjected to impossibilities. From that time forward, the natural world became humanity’s primary reality. But through Christ’s finished work on the cross, everything we lost in the fall has been restored to us, so that we can once more carry out our true purpose. Renewal of the mind must take place in regard to every area of our life—not as a onetime occurrence but continuously, because transformation is an ongoing process for us. Then, when our mind begins to be transformed, we will no longer think in terms of limitations, as the following testimony illustrates.

Andrew was an orthopedic surgeon specializing in surgery of the hand, arm, and shoulder. He knew God and His Word, but he experienced a hunger to know more of God and to see His supernatural power operate today as it did through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit led Andrew on a journey in which his frame of mind shifted from the natural to the supernatural—to a place where he found the fullness he had been looking for. Here is his story: “I was raised Catholic but slowly turned my back on the church. I accepted Christ into my heart when I was eleven years old through my mother, who had started to attend a Protestant church. After my new birth, I felt I had meaning and direction in my life.

“At a young age, I had been attracted to the scientific field, and I believed that God had used evolution to ‘somehow’ create the human race; yet, when I attended college, I began to see that evolution was a theory without foundation. The complexity of creation speaks of a God who is vastly superior to this theory. Ironically, those who do not believe that there is a God always seem to appeal to the infinite. Those of us who do believe in Him know that He
is
‘the Infinite.’

“As this issue was resolved in my heart, I yearned to know the Creator at a deeper level and to have a closer personal relationship with Him. When I was thirty-eight, I attended a church that was filled with God’s presence, and I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. A new world began to unfold before my eyes. At that church, I learned to love the Word of God and to study it in depth. In time, however, a new hunger awakened in me, and I realized that something was missing. As an orthopedic surgeon, I have learned to help people through natural medical means, but the healings that Christ did during His time on earth challenge natural explanation. Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, I would ask myself why we didn’t see healing in the same magnitude that Jesus commanded during His ministry.

“During that time of searching, I discovered Apostle Maldonado’s teachings. When I heard him teach, my spirit was set on fire. He spoke of his book
How to Walk in the Supernatural Power of God
, and I knew that was what I had been yearning for. Reading about that revelation and hearing it preached by Apostle Maldonado has opened up the Word of God to me in ways that are hard to describe. Now I see God powerfully manifesting through signs, miracles, and wonders. I am learning to be a channel through which He can manifest His power on earth. Jesus’ life is being revealed in me like never before, and I hear Him more clearly every time He speaks to me. I believe that, in no time at all, I will see Jesus once more restoring everyone who comes for healing.”

The Need for a Change of Mind-set, “Structure,” and Message

The world around us moves within the framework of certain established mind-sets that resulted from the fall of humanity. Some of its attitudes and outlooks are doubt, insecurity, jealousy, greed, depression, and a fear of death. A change of perspective from a natural outlook to a spiritual one is necessary for the supernatural power of God to manifest through us.

Gaining a new mind-set prepares the way for changes in our “structure.” By
structure
, I mean the way in which a person, group, organization, or country functions or operates, or the way in which an individual carries out a particular purpose. For example, a person under the influence of the fall might live according to an oppressive mental structure that keeps him perpetually in a negative state or causes him to experience one personal crisis after another.

Our mind-set guides every action we take. A change of mentality will therefore transform our “structure”—how we conduct our life, and what pursuits we believe are possible. Let me add here that we cannot try to implement a new structure in an organization unless those involved have all experienced a similarly transformed mind-set that has led them to have a new vision for themselves and the organization. For example, if we were to try to change the structure of a church before the people had been taught—and had accepted—its basis in the Word of God, or before they had embraced a vision for change, the result would be only confusion, fighting, bitterness, division, and separation. That is why people must always be taught the Word of God and be given a demonstration of its reality before change can occur.

Finally, as we adopt a new structure, the message we communicate also changes. Each of Christ’s supernatural acts was aligned with the proclamation of the gospel of God’s kingdom. Therefore, as our mind-set and structure are changed to reflect the supernatural nature of the kingdom, we will go to our families, churches, communities, cities, and nations with the message of a supernatural gospel that transforms lives. Additionally, as we are Jesus’ witnesses in the world, we can also help to transform the institutions of our society—whether familial, educational, judicial, legislative, athletic, artistic, or related to another area. Many of these institutions are infused with the mentality and structures of the corrupt fallen nature. We must take the message of God’s kingdom to people and institutions in all realms of life, so that the lost will be saved, lives will be renewed, the sick will be made whole, the poor will prosper, and the oppressed will be set free.

A change in mind-set will produce a change in structure. A change in structure will produce a change in message. And a change in message will bring about the manifestation of the supernatural
here and now!

The Process by Which the Mind Is Renewed

In the first century, the apostle Paul wrote a letter of instruction and encouragement to the Christians in Rome. At the time, Rome was essentially the capital of the world, a place where political power and commerce were prominent, and where idolatry, violence, and other sins were abundant. Most of the Christians living there had been born and raised in the culture of the Roman Empire; therefore, their mind-set was Roman. Yet, when they accepted Christ and became His disciples, they became spiritual citizens of the invisible realm known as the kingdom of God.

Roman culture, like most cultures and institutions in the world, reflected the mind-set of fallen humanity. Paul wanted to help the Roman believers to put their human culture into perspective so that they could renew their minds by the Spirit of God and begin to live according to a spiritual “culture” based on the nature and character of God.

We, too, live in a society influenced by the fall; and we, too, are spiritual citizens of God’s kingdom. The problem is that we often continue to think and behave according to the standards of our earthly culture rather than our heavenly one. As God’s children, we must recognize that
“our
[true]
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”
(Philippians 3:20). We live in the world, but we are not “of” the world. (See John 17:11, 14–16.) Even though we function within the world’s system, with its temporal culture and values, we don’t “belong” to it; we are members of a realm that has eternal principles and values. Let us learn from what Paul taught the believers in Rome as he explained how they could be transformed to live as citizens of their new kingdom:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind
, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
(Romans 12:1–2)

Let us examine the various parts of this remarkable passage of Scripture.

1. Present Your Body as a Living Sacrifice

Paul’s first request is that we
“present
[our]
bodies a living sacrifice…to God.”
We should present ourselves to Him as if we were a sacrifice on a sacred altar. We won’t be able to experience the transformation of our mind in its fullest sense if we do not first become a
“living sacrifice”
to God. We must make the decision to give God our entire physical body—including our mind—because our body is the vessel through which we do everything on this earth.

In the Old Testament, the priest would present an animal on behalf of an individual as a sacrificial offering to God—perhaps an ox, a lamb, or a goat—often to atone for sin. This animal would be presented on the altar after it was killed. Once someone gave an animal as a sacrifice, he no longer owned it, so he could not take it back.

In our case, Jesus was the Sacrifice who died on the cross to pay for our sin and who was gloriously resurrected to give us new life. Spiritually, we have died with Him and have been raised with Him. Therefore, we are to present ourselves to God as a
“living
sacrifice”
through a voluntary offering of ourselves for His purposes and His glory. A similar principle of ownership applies when we offer our body to God as applied to the animal sacrifices offered—the sacrifice is a permanent decision.

Because Jesus has paid the price for our redemption, our life belongs to the Lord; it is ours no more, and we cannot take it off the altar. When we present our body to God, it is His from that point on. We no longer determine what we will do with it or where and with whom it will go. Instead, we give God the responsibility of maintaining our body and of showing us to what we should dedicate its use. God doesn’t ask merely to “rent” our body but to be its absolute Owner.

The greatest obstacle to moving in the supernatural is having a mind that has not been renewed. And renewal cannot occur until the body is presented as a living sacrifice to God.