Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to our ongoing study of spiritual Transformation. For the last two weeks we have looked at the seven destructive veils that smother our spirits.

Today, which is the eleventh part of our series, we are moving on to a new topic and aspect of the transformed soul: the transformed mind. Let's set the stage by reading the first eleven verses of Paul's second letter to Timothy, with the emphasis on verse 7. We'll be using the New King James Version (NKJV) throughout this morning [1]:

"Paul, an apostle of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) by the will of Elohim (God), according to the promise of life which is in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus), to Timothy, a beloved son: Grace (unmerited favour), chesed (mercy), and shalom (peace) from Elohim (God) the Father and Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus) our Master (Lord).

"I thank Elohim (God), whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with simcha (joy), when I call to remembrance the genuine emunah (faith) that is in you, which dwelt first in your [maternal] grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of Elohim (God) which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For Elohim (God) has not given us a spirit of fear [2], but of power and of ahavah-chesed-agapé (selfless, sacrificial, covenant love) and of a sound mind.

"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Master, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the Besorah (Gospel, Good News) according to the [spiritual] power of Elohim (God), who has saved us and called us with a qadosh (holy, set-apart) calling, not according to our works (deeds, doings), but according to His own purpose and grace (undeserved loving-kindness) which was given to us in Messiah Yah'shua (Christ Jesus) before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Deliverer Yah'shua the Messiah (Saviour Jesus Christ), who has abolished death and brought chayim (life) and immortality to light through the Besorah (Gospel, Good News), to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles" (2 Tim.1:1-12, NKJV).

In this important passage in which Paul addresses the young evangelist Timothy, we are reminded that the remedy for ungodly fear - slavish fear - consists of three things and, we must also presume, in the following order:

• 1. [Spiritual] Power;
• 2. Ahavah - Sacrificial, Selfless, Covenant - Love; and
• 3. Sound-Mindedness.

Up until the 1980's, to then be followed, first, by Modernism, and now in our era, Postmodernism, the world basically followed the the rationalist principles of the Enlightenment. The kind of boarding school that I attended as a boy was one of the last bastions of Enlightenment thinking which placed the emphasis on sound, logical, rational or right thinking. Though Modernism has been around now for some time, it really didn't come into its own until the early 1980's, nor Postmodernism until the 21st century, so I have witnessed three secular philosophies existing side-by-side with, first, Modernism supplanting Enlightenment ideas, and, then, Postmodernism (or 'Wokeism' to use the common vernacular) replacing Modernism (or 'Political Corectness'). As in any transition of thinking streams of opposing ideas run in parallel until one dominates and replaces the other. Thus to take Europe (and latterly the West in general) as an example, we find, in very simple terms, the philosophical and religious landscape looking something like this:

It's of course more complex and uneven than this with typically more than two philosophies coexisting and there being more than one form of a difefrent philosophy (like different forms of Christianity, different forms of rationalism, etc.) but this will suffice to illustrate that complex processes are continually at work in society. Even long after a particular philosophical or religious system has to all intents and purposes been expunged from society, there is often still what Peter Hitchens calls an 'afterglow' that survives unconsciously in behaviour. The Christian 'afterglow' has survived the Enlightenment, Modernism and the early stages of Postmodernism but it has, in our day, been almost wholly extinguished. The same march against rationalist, Enlightenment thinking is happening too, in nearly every country, and by the time Satanism gets a whole, its afterglow will also be snuffed out as rationalism is whooly replaced by existentialism.

To put it another way, it used to be said: 'I think, therefore I am,' but that is rapidly giving way to, 'I feel, therefore I am.' Thinking is being supplanted by feeling in our postmodernist age as I have been warning people about for decades:

The demonic hydra which is the world system has many heads and the beast won't finally be killed until Messiah return. Our societies are undergoing rapid transformation in the direction of pure evil.

When I was young in the 1960's and 70's books, magazines, newspapers and movies (because this was before the age of the Internet) poured out a steady stream of articles and features on the subject of right-mindedness in the pot pourri of Christian, Enlightenment (rationalism) and the then emerging Modernism. I basically escaped (mercifully) modernism living in the Malaysia which was far more conservative and family-oriented, and was buffered against it in the British public school system (which is now thoroughly 'modernistic' and rapidly catching up with the surrounding culture and going 'woke'). The Christianity I was exposed to was heavily influenced by the rationalism of Enlightenment thinking, both for good and evil. Yet all of this emphasis on 'salvation by thinking' (prior to the modern 21st century 'salvation by feeling') has served only to leave us with more disrupted, confused and dysfunctional people than ever. And the reason for this, even back then - and it is still true today, is that you cannot bring about great changes of the mind until first there has been a change in the spirit. And therein lies the problem: it is the invisible spiritual influences, which the majority of people are insensible to, that birthed atheistic rationalism, modernism and postmodernism. Add to that is the incessant pressure to abandon thinking altogether and to wholly define reality in terms of feeling only. So the contemporary world has a double burden that it needs releasing from, a double handicap for those being raised in the chaos of our time. But let's stick with the mind for now.

The reason the world remains largely in ignorance of the truth is that it either denies the existence of a spiritual realm altogether (atheism) or it is under the thrall of a corrupt spirituality on account of false religion. Our spirit is the motivating centre of our personality - it is the part which the true Elohim (God) specifically reserves for Himself, and until He inhabits it, and dwells in it, then it cannot be said of us that we are properly integrated persons. The human design specification does not include there being no Elohim (God) and so the hunger for Him remains in those denying that He exists which they unsuccessfuly try to relieve in other things. And there may, as I already said, be false occupants in that space designed for Yahweh-Elohim alone, whose authenticating signature is the Person of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). 'Any old god' will not do - it has to be the True One, the Creator. That space can be occupied by false occupants whom people have invited in because their minds were not formatted and populated with correct ideas. Dark forces gain access to our thinking by our believing in lies [3].

Once we surrender out spirits to Elohim (God) - to Yahweh, the true Creator and Author of our existence, through Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) (His identifying or authenticating mark) and to the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) (the agent of His spiritual, transformative power in our dimension), and allow Him to come into our being, and take up His rightful abode in our souls, the process of central integration begings. Without Elohim (God) at the centre, trying to hold life together through the mind (let alone the chaotic world of our feelings) is like trying to build a brick house without cement or a wooden house without nails and bolts. Let us be perfectly clear about this: self-knowledge does not bring self-integration. Only one thing does: self-surrender to the true and living Elohim (God), Yahweh, who can only be known through His Son, Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ).

A psychiatrist, who found Christ, said: "The method of trying to change ourselves through the mind without first letting Christ have our spirits is like trying to lift ourselves up by tugging at our shoelaces. When we surrender to God (Elohim), we rise out of the swamps of self-despair as if by magic. Not self-knowledge, but God-knowledge, lifts me out of what I am, to what I want to be." Thus a transformation of the mind into the image of Elohim (God) cannot take place until there has first taken place a transformation in the spirit, and only then can we turn our attention to the development of right mental attitudes under the tutelage of the Torah or the Law and Teachings of the Creator. Until there will only be confusion, frustration and (over time) despair. Once the centre of our personalities has been handed over to Elohim (God), we can begin to work on the cultivation of thought processes that are in harmony with the Scriptures. So what's it like trying to cultivate an unsurrendered self? It's like sitting on a box, the lid of which is constantly being blown off by the explosive force of an unsurrendered and unmastered self which is within.

Let's take a look at a helpful biblical text in this connection by turning to the 23rd chapter of the Book of Proverbs, beginning at verse 7 which is the verse I want to highlight or emphasise:

"For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. 'Eat and drink!' he says to you, but his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, and waste your pleasant words.

"Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words

"Do not remove the ancient landmark (boundary marker), nor enter the fields of the fatherless; for their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you.

"Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.

"Do not withhold correction from a child...[but] deliver his soul from Hades (hell).

"My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice -- indeed, I myself" (Prov.23:7-15, NKJV).

As a man thinks, so is he. Someone once astutely put it this way: 'You are not what you think you are.' Rather, 'What you think, you are.' There's a big difference. Today people are suffering from major delusions. Gender dysphoria is one of them. They are obsessed with imaginary genders. And so the licentious mind, ungoverned by either logic or truth, is leading people to mental crisis and self-destruction.

If you think positive thoughts, you'll be a positive person. If you think weak, negative thoughts, you will be a negative person. A management engineer who takes weak and ailing businesses, and puts them back on their feet, says that he always commences his task by interviewing the executives. He usually discovers that the sick business is the result of sick thinking by the board of management. One of his techniques is to get them used to saying the word, 'Yes', making them on some occasions repeat the word a hundred times. Now we Brits who live (or have lived like myself) in the United Kingdom, and operate under a less competitive system than our American friends on the other side of the Atlantic, have found this approach a little difficult to understand because of the way our temperament has evolved, but since life is designed to be ongoing and positive we must learn to face it with a 'Yes'.

Now, of course, none of this means that we must say 'Yes' to wrong-doing, for that would be decidedly foolish, lawless and un-Scriptural. We must say 'Yes' to all that is creative, positive, purposeful, and is in harmony with Yahweh's will - and 'No' to all that is not. That's key.

Which brings me to our third passage of Scripture, the first chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, beginning at verse 13 with the emphasis on verse 20:

"For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end (as also you have understood us in part), that we are your boast as you also are ours, in the day of the Mater Yah'shua (Lord Jesus). And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit -- to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? But as Elohim (God) is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. For the Son of Elohim (God), Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ), who was preached among you by us -- by me, Silvanus, and Timothy -- was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of Elohim (God) in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of Elohim (God) through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is Elohim (God), who also has sealed us and given us the Ruach (Spirit) in our hearts as a guarantee. Moreover I call Elohim (God) as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your simcha (joy); for by emunah (faith) you stand" (2 Cor.1:13-24, NKJV).

A talmid (disciple) once asked his teacher, 'What is the one ultimate word of truth?' The teacher replied, 'Yes'. The talmid (disciple) asked the question again, and the teacher replied, 'Are you deaf?' The ultimate word of truth is 'Yes', but not a random 'Yes' that links itself to anything that comes along. It should be a 'Yes' that is linked to the long range victory which Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) alone can achieve.

There are many who have taken up the theme of 'Positive Thinking' - some of you may have heard of Norman Vincent Peale who was popular when I was younger - but they are not quite sure to which ends their positive thinking is tied. You see, the Christian/Messianic defines his or her 'Yes', and always defines it in terms of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). I like the way the Moffat version of the Bible translates verse 20 of the passage I just read you in the New King James:

"The divine 'yes' has at last sounded in Him, and for in Him is the 'Yes' that affirms all the promises of Elohim (God)" (2 Cor.1:20, Moff.).

"Every promise of Elohim (God) finds its affirmative in Him (Yah'shua/Jesus), and through Him can be said the final 'amen', to the glory of Elohim (God)" (JBP).

Men and women were not able to say a meaningful 'Yes' to life until they saw it revealed to them through the Incarnation of Yah'shua (Jesus), as we carefully examined in our three-part study recently. When they saw the meaning of life in Him then they could say 'Yes' with no inhibitions - or hesitations. When we think, affirm, say, and act the 'Yes' of Yah'shua (Jesus) then life itself becomes a 'Yes'. You are then affirming something which the universe affirms and thus you come into harmony with life, the universe, and the Creator Himself.

We finish now with our fourth and last Scripture from the 4th chapter of Ephesians, chapter 4, beginning with verse 11 and highlighting verse 23:

"And He Himself gave some to be shlichim (apostles), some nevi'im (prophets), some evangelists, and some roehim (pastors) and morim (teachers), for the equipping of the qadoshim (saints, set-apart ones) for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Messiah, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of Elohim (God), to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the emet (truth) in ahavah (love), may grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in ahavah (love).

"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Master, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of Elohim (God), because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being past feeling (conscience), have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Yah'shua (Jesus): that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to Elohim (God), in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph.4:11-24, NKJV).

We need to remember as we look at all these scriptures that at root we have to make a choice - Yahweh will not make it for us, someone else cannot make it for us, be it a parent, husband, boss at work, government official, or anyone else in a position of authority - and that choice is saying 'Yes' to life, not just any old 'life' but the only kind of life that matters. This choice may, moreover, mean the difference between a creative life and an uncreative one, between growth and stagnation...or worse, 'unlife'. So begin by going over your vocabulary and start eliminating words, and thoughts, such as, 'I am worried sick', 'I'm afraid of that', and 'I can't do it'. Such thinking is self-inhibiting, even self-destructive. Such might be seen as 'sick' thinking because it won't be long before your whole personality turns sick.

There was once a schoolteacher who lost her job three times. On the third occasion she lost it because of self-condemnation. She said, 'I continually wonder whether I have sinned here or there, until it becomes an obsession with me. My whole problem is my relationship with Elohim (God).' The minister she was telling this to replied, 'No, that's not your problem. Your problem is not so much your relationship with Yahweh, but rather your relationship with yourself.' You see, Yahweh is always willing to forgive us our sins once they are confessed and brought out, but even Yahweh, the Creator of the universe, is hindered from renewing a person's life when that person refuses to accept His Elohim's (God's) 'Yes' and continues to live by a 'No'. Just as you cannot live by denying yourself food, so you cannot live spiritually or psychologically on a 'No'. It must be a 'Yes'.

Learn, as the Scriptures tell us, to be a 'Yes' person in the fullest sense of the word, by affirming a positive acceptance of all that Yahweh wants to do in you, and through you, by the person of His Son. When you say 'Yes' to Yah'shua (Jesus) you are affirming something which the universe affirms, and echoing something which the whole of creation echoes. In Christ, life is good, creative, and open-ended. Say 'Yes' - and start linking yourself which the creative purposes of Elohim (God) as expressed through Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). It's as simple as that. And by the way, this message is as much for me as it is for you or anyone else because in this we are all dealing with the same issues. We're on a level playing field.

Let's pray: 'Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for the plainly spoken and written Davar (Word) of Your Scriptures which provide me with an accurate map for creative and fulfilling life and living. One touch of Your healing hand, and all parts of my personality are drawn toward health and wholeness. Thank You for giving me the inner freedom to start moving toward the goal of being the person You want me to be. Teach me to be an affirmative person - affirming Your promises in Scripture, in the universe, and in me. What an amazing thought it is, that when I affirm that all the promises of Elohim (God) in Yah'shua (Jesus) are 'Yes' and 'Amen', that the universe affirms me and my way, and gives glory to You. Father, just as Your divine 'Yes' sounded out so clearly through Your Son, let that same 'Yes' be sounded out, just as clearly, through me - this day and every day, in Yah'shua's (Jesus') Name. Amen.'

I pray that you will all find renewal in spirit, mind, heart and body this coming week and that you will unhesitatingly affirm these things and let go of those things which hinder them. There is only one way to Life Eternal, and living Eternal, and that is to be in the Eternal; and the only way to be in the Eternal is to make a sincere, heart-felt 'Yes' declaration to Him, and everything He has said and is saying in the here and now. So be blessed and flourish this week and may His protecting hand be over you all. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] All non-Messianic versions have been cosmetically changed to reflect messianic terminology though the original Protestant or catholic terminology is also included in (parentheses) at least once
[2] Also see, Learning the True Fear of Yahweh
[3] See the Deliverance page for help in discerning between true and false spirits and in how to expell the false ones

Acknowledgments

[1] Selwyn Hughes, Every Day With Jesus: The Transformed Life (Crusade for World Revival, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK: 1979)
[2] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volumes 7-8 (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts: 2014)

Comments from Readers

[1] "Wow, I know nothing of this. I'm going to try and catch up on this teaching. Thank you so much!" (HLY, USA, 27 August 2021)