Transformational Mind Renewal, Part One
Transformational Mind Renewal, Part One
By Steve Backlund
Transformation does not result from surrendering our hearts, but from surrendering our beliefs.
For the first fifteen years of our Christian lives, Wendy and I spent much of our time learning to live in Romans 12:1: “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”
We were surrendering our hearts, our wills, our time, our finances, and our dreams to the Lord. “Not my will, but Yours be done” was becoming the foundation of our lives.
That was a vital and important season. I have never done something God’s way and later wished I had done it my way. His way can involve short-term discomfort while producing lasting blessing. Following our own way can feel easier initially, yet create difficulties we never intended.
Then God moved us into the desert in 1991. We pastored for ten years in central Nevada, about four hours from Las Vegas. We went there to pastor a church, but God also intended to pastor our thinking in an astounding way.
From Surrendered Hearts to Surrendered Beliefs
During that season, we sensed the Lord saying, “Steve and Wendy, I love your heart for Romans 12:1, but if you are going to experience transformation, I need to move you into Romans 12:2.”
That verse tells us to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” God was expanding our understanding of surrender. The beliefs we held about ourselves, others, our circumstances, and God were part of what we needed to offer him.
We began to understand that repentance reaches into the beliefs we have accepted as true.
The Greek word translated “repent,” metanoeō, means to change one’s mind. As we turned toward God, we were learning to surrender beliefs that disagreed with Him and embrace His perspective in their place. Truly, God loves to send people to the desert to teach them to repent!
In that season, we sincerely loved God while at the same time agreeing with thoughts that limited our expectation of what He could do through us. Our hearts were surrendered, yet our conclusions remained largely unchallenged. Let me say that again: Our hearts were surrendered, yet our conclusions remained largely unchallenged.
God Made It Personal
Wendy sensed Him asking, “Can you surrender the beliefs that you are shy, inadequate, and unable to speak well in front of others?”
Her response was, “But that’s who I am.” In response to that, she heard,“That’s not who you are; that’s just who you’ve become.”
For years, Wendy had accepted these limitations as permanent facts about who she was. God was inviting her to believe that He could empower her to communicate with confidence and that she had something valuable to share.
My conversation was equally personal. “Steve, can you surrender the beliefs that something is uniquely wrong with you, that you are inferior to other leaders, and that the supernatural doesn’t flow through you?”
“Lord, those things feel so true,” I responded. “Doesn’t that mean they are true?”
I began recognizing that a strong feeling does not establish whether a belief is true. I had repeatedly agreed with inferiority, and then used the resulting feelings as evidence that inferiority was my identity.
God was interrupting that cycle. Even when I felt inferior, I could choose to believe, “God has called and equipped me to influence lives, develop leaders, and see His supernatural power work through me.” I was learning to expect lasting fruit from my life. His truth was becoming more convincing than the limitations I had rehearsed for years.
What Are We Practicing Agreement With?
We are always practicing agreement (renewing our minds) with something. The question is whether our thinking is being shaped by God’s truth or by conclusions drawn from our feelings, experiences, and circumstances.
Much of my agreement had been shaped by disappointment, past failures, comparison, and feelings of inadequacy. I could quote God’s promises while privately believing I was unworthy to expect Him to fulfill them in my life. His goodness seemed available to others, but I assumed something about me disqualified me from receiving it. I was giving those conclusions more authority than what He had said.
In the desert, God was teaching us to practice agreement with what He said. We began recognizing limiting beliefs, identifying truths that challenged them, and returning to those truths in our thoughts and words. His promises were becoming personal, and our identity in Christ was shaping how we approached opportunities.
We Are Empowered to Think Differently
God has given us the ability to recognize limiting beliefs and choose agreement with His truth. When we hear ourselves saying, “That’s just who I am,” we can ask whether we are describing our identity in Christ or a conclusion we have accepted through repetition. A limitation we have lived with does not have to remain the definition we live by.
For Wendy and me, the same yes we had given God with our hearts began reaching our beliefs. We were learning to surrender conclusions we had carried for years and become convinced of who He had made us to be. His truth was giving us fresh confidence to expect Him to work through our lives.
We are empowered to think differently, and each intentional agreement with truth helps establish a new way of thinking. In Part Two, I will dive deeper into transformational mind renewal.
Declarations:
I surrender my beliefs to God as wholeheartedly as I surrender my heart.
God’s truth is becoming more convincing to me than the limitations I have rehearsed.
My identity in Christ shapes my expectations for my life.
I confidently receive God’s goodness because Jesus has made me worthy.
God has equipped me to influence lives and see His supernatural power work through me.
