Kenneth Copeland Ministries has been publishing the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine for more than 40 years. Receive your positive, faith-filled magazine FREE each month, subscribe today at www.freevictory.com.
Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1465384
But, as a believer, you aren’t under the rule of the devil! You’re under the lordship of Jesus, and He came that you might have abundant life. Having been born again of Him, you are not of the world anymore (John 17:14). You’ve been raised up and seated in the heavenlies with Him so that you can live above the evil in this world: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4). Notice those verses say it’s by God’s exceedingly great and precious promises that we partake of His divine nature. It’s by His Word that we learn to think, talk and act like Him. As we saturate ourselves in God’s Word, we increasingly operate on the outside like who we are on the inside. Our flesh comes under the control of our spirit, so worldly lusts can no longer dominate us and bring destruction into our lives. In other words, we escape the destruction that is in the world through lust as we do what Romans 12 tells us: “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (verses 1-2). We can’t overcome the world while remaining conformed to it. To live as world-overcomers we must renew our minds to God’s higher ways. Instead of feeding all the time on the world’s information, we must feed on God’s information. We must reprogram our minds so we live our lives here on earth not like the world but like God. “Gloria,” you might say, “I can’t go around acting like God. That would be hypocritical!” No, it wouldn’t. A hypocrite is someone who acts on the outside like something they’re not on the inside. You are like God on the inside! In your spirit you’re a “new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). As you feed on God’s Word and spend time fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit, your true identity comes forth. You begin to grow up spiritually and cast off things that are not like God. You lay aside sinful thoughts and habits, and worldly ways that have dragged you down. Like dearly loved children naturally imitate their earthly father, as you renew your mind by beholding your heavenly Father in the Word, you just naturally follow His example, and His likeness becomes increasingly apparent in you. A mind renewed by the Word of God is an amazing thing! It will reject the data the world puts into it as fast as a computer rejects faulty commands, and it will readily accept the commands and leadings of the Lord. His ways are so much higher than the world’s ways, an unrenewed mind tends to reject them. It tends to dismiss them as foolish. When your mind has been trained to think like God does, however, His higher ways make perfect sense. So, instead of resisting or even dismissing the promptings of the Holy Spirit, your mind becomes receptive to them. BVOV : 29