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What we truly believe shapes what we think, and what we think shapes how we live. The Bible has much to say on this, and it has real consequences for how we experience our faith, our work, our family, and our everyday life.

Why Mindset Matters So Much

The Apostle Paul makes this plain in Romans 8:

"For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace." - Romans 8:5-6

A mind focused only on natural things, human strength, earthly resources, and what we can see and measure, is cut off from the way God thinks and works. But a mind set on the Spirit is connected to God and able to receive life and peace even in the middle of chaos.

Paul echoes this again when writing to the Corinthians:

"But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to Him; and He cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." - 1 Corinthians 2:14

Paul was not writing this to unbelievers. He was writing it to Christians who were still thinking and living like nothing spiritual was happening in their lives.

How Does Belief Actually Change the Way You Live?

Think of it this way: you cannot believe something you have never heard. Once you hear it and truly believe it, it becomes a governing thought. And governing thoughts determine how you live.

If you hear something but do not really believe it, it will not change your behavior. But when belief goes deep, it shapes everything.

A simple example: Allen shared about growing up with a father who lost His eye in a childhood rock fight. While everyone assumes the rule of not throwing hard things at anyone's head, it is mostly ignored as a suggestion. Growing up his home it was different. He was raised to know that children should never threw rocks at anyone's head with a very visible understanding of the consequences. It was not just a rule in the house. Subsequently, his own children a generation later, grew up with a deep belief rooted in real consequence that affected how behaved around physical altercations and particularly rocks . They believed it, so they thought it, and so they lived it. That is the pattern: hear, believe, think, live.

What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?

In John chapter 3, a respected religious teacher named Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, afraid to be seen. Jesus told him something that stopped Him cold:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God." - John 3:3

And then again:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." - John 3:5-6

Being born again is not a box to check on a religious to-do list. It is a radical transformation. Jesus came to create a new kind of person, one who is alive to God from the inside, able to perceive and participate in His kingdom.

When you gave your life to Jesus, something unprecedented happened. You became a new creation. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, in Christ you are a new creature. You now have a living connection with God that was not there before.

What Are You Born Into:

You Are Born Into the Care of God

Just as a newborn child is not responsible for raising itself, you are not responsible for raising yourself spiritually. God is your Father, and He has taken on the responsibility of raising you.

Galatians 4 says you have been adopted as sons and daughters, made heirs, and given the Spirit who cries out "Abba, Father." Psalm 23 reminds you that the Lord is your shepherd--- sheep do not lead themselves. Your heavenly Father is The Good Shepherd! 

Jesus addressed this directly in Matthew 6:

"Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on... Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" - Matthew 6:25-26

And then the well-known conclusion:

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33

Be about His business, and He will be about yours. That is the promise.

This challenges a common way of thinking: that your spiritual growth depends entirely on how well you perform. That if you had a rough week, God must be disappointed. That is not how a Father thinks about His child.

You Are Born Into a Body

You are not meant to walk this out alone. You are born into a community of believers who need each other. There is an automatic fellowship among those who belong to Christ, even with people you have just met. Each part of the body serves a function, and each person is needed.

You Are Born Into Warfare

You did not choose the battle, but you were born into it. Christians and the God they serve are hated by the ruling spiritual forces of this world. Notice that Jesus is the one name that consistently draws hostility. Every other religion tends to be tolerated. This is not an accident.

Knowing you are in a spiritual battle changes how you interpret what is happening around you. Not everything is just natural. Some of what you face has a spiritual dimension that requires a spiritual response.

Where Does God Actually Grow You Up?

Here's something to consider - there is no distinction between the sacred and secular in God's growth plan. He does not stop working when you leave the building on Sunday.

God grows you through everyday life. The difficult boss. The hard professor. The financial pressure. The marriage that exposes your selfishness. The kids who somehow mirror your own struggles back at you. These are not interruptions to your spiritual life. They are the places where your spiritual life is actually formed.

You were not made to just survive the week and then come back to church to recover. You were made to bring the supernatural into the natural. You carry God with you into every room you walk into.

The Real Ministry 

Many people are waiting for their ministry to begin, imagining it looks like a stage or a platform. But ministry is what happens when you take Jesus to work with you. It is what happens when you pray and something dark lifts from your home or your workplace. It is what happens when you lay hands on someone who is sick and they get better, even if you are the lowest person on the organizational chart.

There are no "just" people with God. Not just a housewife. Not just a janitor. Not just a student. Wherever you are is your mission field. Wherever you are -- that is where your ministry starts.

God watches over every difficult situation for you. The hard co-worker, the challenging season, the financial hardship--- He's right there! He is not spoiling you because He knows the spiritual world you live in is more rugged than the natural one, and He is raising you up to navigate rugged terrain with Him.

The goal is to become someone who thinks about life and God together. Not God on Sundays and real life the rest of the week. Its responding to the truth of God internally through the week and letting it affect how I live daily life. The pattern remains the same: hear the truth, believe it, let it become a governing thought, and watch it change how you live.

Life Application

This week, choose one area of your life that feels purely natural and stressful, whether that is your job, your finances, a relationship, or a challenge you are facing, and intentionally invite the Holy Spirit into it. Pray specifically about that situation before you walk into it. Ask Him for a divine idea. Expect Him to be present and active, not just on Sunday, but in that moment.

Ask yourself these questions as you go into the week:

  • Do I actually believe God is present and working in my everyday life, or do I only think of Him in a church context?
  • What governing thoughts am I carrying about my situation, and do they line up with what the Bible says God's heart is towards me?
  • Is there a difficult person or circumstance in my life right now that I have been viewing as purely natural, when it might actually be a place where God is growing me?
  • Am I waiting for some future version of ministry to begin, while missing the mission field I am already standing in?

You are a new creation. You are connected to God. You were made to bring the supernatural into the natural. Here's your invitation to expect the glorious work of God you were born into.