Open Heavens Christian Centre

Many Christians live in the shallow area of their soul—they live by what they want, think and feel. One could be in this state as newly converted Christians but one cannot stay in a position like this if one is to experience deep relationship with God. We must learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit instead of the dictates of the flesh. This may require God dealing with your emotions, will and mind. Excessive reasoning is a major strongholds that borders on wrong thinking, second-guessing and excessive future planning. God requires you to give this up if you must move from survival mode to secured mode. The conditions of your mind must be attuned with God in trust and obedience. Excessive reasoning is the opposite of trust in a God who CANNOT fail. Stay In Your Right MindThe Bible says that there is a mind of the flesh and a mind of the Spirit. Romans 8:6,7 says that the mind of the flesh is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit; it is hostile to God and will not submit itself to His ways. In other words, the mind of the flesh is heavily into reasoning and thrives on figuring things out on its own. On the other hand, the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; it brings health and peace to ourmind, will, and emotions (see Romans 8:6). How do we have the mind of the Spirit? By having our minds constantly renewed with the Word (see Ephesians 4:23). Little by little the Word washes away the wrong thinking and replaces it with truth. 

So to stay in our “right mind,” we need to be in God’s Word regularly and follow what it says. Anytime we see something in Scripture, or God speaks something to us in our spirit and we refuse to do it, reasoning has somehow gotten involved and deceived us into believing something other than the truth. When God speaks to us through His Word or in our inner man, we are not to reason, debate, or ask ourselves if what He has said is logical. When God speaks, we are to mobilize—not rationalize. Does that mean we throw away all common sense and personal planning? No. It’swisdom to have a plan, and common sense is essential for daily living. But we can’t let our plan and logical reasoning override what God is telling us to do. Proverbs 3:5,6 says, Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. If the Lord is giving us direction, we will have peace about it in our spirit—it may not make sense in our head, but in our heart, we will know it’s right.  Stand Against Second-GuessingOne of the dangers of reasoning is that it can cause us to be double-minded. James 1:8describes the double-minded man as a man of two minds that is …unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. Sometimes God will ask us to dosomething that initially we accept. However, just as we start to do it, the mind of the flesh kicks in and wants to know every detail of the plan. Avoid Being Closed-MindedHave there been times when God has asked you to do something, but your flesh was totallyopposed to it. In your spirit you sensed a peace and a prompting to do it but your soul didn’t want to do it, didn’t feel like doing it, and didn’t think it was a good idea.In situations like these, we must remind ourselves that God’s thoughts and ways arehigher than ours (see Isaiah 55:9). Proverbs 20:24 says, A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? (NIV). Again, this is where we must choose to trust the Lord and line up our will with His. We need to step out and begin doing what He has told us. This is how we exalt God’s Word above what we want, think, and feel. The moment you start doing this, you will begin to see more and more victory in everyarea of your life. Now, it’s okay to ponder something if you need an answer on how to deal with a situation—just ponder it in your spirit and not in your head. In other words, ask God some questions and then be still and listen for His response. Just say, “Lord, I would like to have some clarity and direction on this. Please show me what to do.” If He gives you enlightenment, that’s great. But if you don’t sense Him telling you anything or you start getting confused, stop asking questions. His silence may be a sign that it’s not time for you to know the answer to what you’re asking. And if you get confused, you’ve gone too far and are back into reasoning. A Prayer for Change

If the Lord is speaking to you through this article, then I encourage you to get into agreement with Him—get honest with yourself and accept His conviction. Say, “Lord, I hear You, and I agree with You. I will stop consulting my mind, will and emotions for direction, and I will follow the leading of Your Spirit. Please forgive me for trying to figure things out on my own. I realize that apart from You, I can do nothing, so I ask You to change me, and give me the grace to trust and acknowledge You in all I do. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.”