The Bible says that in life, we will face trials, temptations and difficulties. The devil is like a roaring lion pounding up and down outside the cave, waiting for the right opportunities to take its first bite. It roars outside the cave to scare its prey hiding in the safety of the cave. But the moment, the prey let down its guard and walks out of the safety of the cave, the lion will pound on the prey and eat it up alive.

In life, we are like the prey, hiding under the safety wings of our Father until we choose to walk out of His safety and rely on our own judgements and strength. There are times when the storms of life rages around us and we feel burden down by events that happen around us. The storms are just like the lion roaring loudly, making as much noise as possible to show its power. Similarly, the devil will create situations; use people around us to discourage us into a retreat or to make the wrong decisions allowing him the opportunity to destroy our life.

But blessed are we the children of God. The Bible tells us that we are not left alone in the world to face the devil alone. In fact, we have the Holy Spirit who empowers us to be victorious. Then, why are we not victorious in our life? Why are some Christians living in fear, panic and worries? Why are some burdened down with defeated thoughts even before fighting the battle? Why are there negative people who pour cold water down your head and discouraging you? We complain. We bitch our way through. We blame everyone except ourselves. Why? Reason is simple. These are people who are already defeated in their mind before they begin anything. They give up. This is the easy way out. How then can we walk victorious before the battle begins? It all begins in the MIND.

The mind is the most mysterious and powerful organ created by God in our body. Even today, scientists are still waiting to figure out how our mind works. God creates our mind with the ability to contain lots of information but it is more than that. The Dictionary.com defines the MIND as the part of a human being that thinks, feels, and wills. It has the high intellectual ability to reason and distinguish. This means that our mind has the ability to control our thoughts, our emotions and our actions. It also has the ability to distinguish what is right and wrong as well as to reason its way out to a decision.

With such a dynamic ability, Jesus wants us to renew our mind everyday (Romans 12:2). It is not a one time process. It is not a one day action. But it is a constant motion that we have to do everyday, every time, everywhere. We are not to conform to this world, but “to be transformed by the renewing of your mind” and the word “renewing” is a continuous tense which means keep doing it. In another words, when the Bible tells us to renew our mind, God is telling us to change our thoughts, emotions and actions. We are to change our ways of distinguishing and reasoning to reach a decision. How do we do this?

Let us take a look at Caleb and Joshua in the Bible whose minds were renewed and focused on God and His ways in the next part.