Changing Our Way of Thinking — Zac Poonen

More Than Conquerors in the Christian Life

The Christian life is one where we are always to be more than conquerors, no matter what happens. They couldn't do that in the Old Testament. I mentioned to you yesterday about the book of Joel. Did he preserve a pure testimony?

Job’s Blamelessness and God’s Impartial Love

Let's look at that for a moment. God could boast about him. The first book of the Bible writes about a man whom God could boast about to Satan. Blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from evil.

And he was rich. Some of God's people are rich. We don't seek to be rich. The love of money is the root of all evil. But some Christians feel that if you're wholehearted you'll be poor. Usually because they themselves are poor.

And then they can become jealous of spiritually minded believers who have more than them. There are people in our country who are very fine believers, perhaps better than many of us. Who do not have the money to travel from their town to Bangalore for a conference.

And that's why they can't come. Do you think they're going to miss out on God's plan and purpose for their life? Just because they don't have 200 rupees to travel here? Impossible. There's no partiality with God.

He'll probably bless them in a way that none of us will get blessed. God loves his children. They're all equal to him. Think if you had children and some of them you had to isolate them in a room because they were sick.

Wouldn't you care for them? You'd probably care more for that child than the others who are healthy. God is like that. He's a father. He's a mother. He says, even a mother may forget her sucking child, but I will not forget you.

In my early Christian years, I never lived with that assurance. I was always tossed about. I didn't know whether God... I always felt God was looking at me with a frown and saying, you're still not good enough.

I lived under that misery as a child of God for many years. And the trouble with that is, listen to this. We become like the God we worship. There's a verse in the Psalms that says that those who make idols become like them.

It's in the Psalms. Those who make idols become like them. We become like the God we worship. So if you've got a God who's always frowning at you, do you know how you're going to look at other people?

So when you see some person who's supposed to be a believer frowning at you, don't get angry. The poor guy is worshiping some idol in his mind. Not the real God of the Bible. Not the Lord Jesus Christ, whose face shines upon us.

The Priestly Blessing and Hearing God’s Voice

You know, there's a blessing that the Lord told... It's a beautiful verse. Let me turn that first. Numbers chapter 6. The Lord told Moses, Tell Aaron, verse 22. Read the Bible slowly. You get so many blessings by reading the Bible slowly.

I found that. I'm not in a rush. I've said this many times. I'm not in a rush to go through the Bible 50 times in my life. If the Bible goes through me once, that'll do. So, what do you get from this verse?

The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to Aaron. That's all. Just that much. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to Aaron. What do you get from that? What I get from that is that the Lord can speak to some people like Moses, but he cannot speak to other people like Aaron.

So he has to tell Moses, Listen, that guy is spiritually deaf. Go and tell him. The elders in Laodicea, in the Revelation chapter 2 and 3, they were deaf. They couldn't see their true condition. God had to send a prophet and an apostle like John to say, Go and tell those elders, this is your condition.

Were they under the old covenant where God had to speak to them through a prophet? No, they were in the new covenant. This is 65 years after the day of Pentecost. New covenant believers unable to hear God speaking to them about their real condition.

I believe there are multitudes like that. Why do you have to wait until you come to a conference or a meeting to get your real condition exposed? Brothers, sisters, there is a better way where you can hear God showing you your condition every day.

It's like getting a free scan of your inner life every day. It's much more serious, these spiritual problems, than cholesterol and blood pressure and diabetes and other problems that scans can show you.

We are so careful about all these things. People say, after you cross a certain age, you must have a checkup every year, etc., medical checkup. I want to say, as soon as you are born again, you should be having a checkup every day.

Every day. Because there are things more serious than blood pressure and high cholesterol and diabetes, etc., that can destroy us much more than those things. So, we need to hear God speak to us. We shouldn't have God to say, Okay, God is to tell somebody, go and tell so and so.

Why should He tell him to tell you? Okay, read the Bible slowly and you get some challenges like that. Speak to Aaron, anyway, saying, This is the way you must bless the sons of Israel. The Lord bless you and keep you, and the Lord make His face shine upon you.

You know, this is... He said, this is how you must bless the sons of Israel. What about today? Is the Lord's face shining upon me right now? I believe that. You must believe it, brother, sister. But you say, Oh Lord, I'm such a bad person.

Well, you know, you're aware of that, because you have a sensitive conscience. It's that other guy who thinks he's a good person, on whom perhaps the Lord is frowning. But you have a sensitivity in your conscience that says, Lord, I feel so guilty about little things I do.

Praise the Lord. I pray that your sensitivity will increase to even smaller things. To little words and little attitudes that disturb you. Because you want to be a burning, pure, burning bush for Jesus.

And it's not always by convicting, convicting, convicting, that we get spiritual. We first need to see that the Lord's face shines upon us. That He is really... He loves us and He rejoices over us with singing.

It says in Zephaniah 3, 17. He rejoices over us with singing. Have you seen sometimes mothers singing to their little two-month-old babies who can't understand one little word of what the mother is singing?

There are doctors who now encourage mothers to sing to the babies inside the womb. And there are mothers who do it. Sing to the baby. Put your hand over the womb and sing and pray and talk to the baby.

And I believe they hear. And can you... When the Bible says God's like a mother and a father, I believe He sings over us. He rejoices over us. The favorite picture I have in my mind of God now, not in the old days.

In the old days, I had this frowning God looking upon me. But the picture I have now in my mind when it says, Can a mother forget her sucking child? Isaiah 49, 15. Even they may forget, but I won't forget you.

Is the picture of a married woman who never had children for 15 years. Picture this in your mind. A woman who had no children for 15 years. Faithful, seeking, praying. Something like Hannah in the Old Testament.

Praying, praying, praying. And I can imagine when Hannah got Samuel, baby. How do you think Hannah looked at Samuel? This child, I call him Samuel. I asked of the Lord. I asked the Lord and He gave me a child.

She picked up Samuel for the first time after many years of having no children. How do you think Hannah looked at? Guess. Like that, seriously. She was so excited. And she probably said so many things to him which Samuel couldn't understand.

She was so excited. That's how God looks at me. And believe it or not, that's how God looks at you. You have heard so many preachers tell you lies. About how God looks at you and you believe them. And on top of that, when those preachers tell you lies about God frowning at you.

The devil comes along and says, that's right. I remember the years when I always used to feel that God's only message to me was. You're still not good enough. If you want to destroy your children. I'll give you a prescription.

Don't take it. I'm just warning you. How to destroy your children quickly. Whatever they do, say, still not good enough. You'll destroy them in no time. And by the time they're 18, they'll run away from your home.

Never to come back. And probably it's good they don't come back to a home like that. God is not like that. God is not like that. If you're unfortunate enough to have a father and mother who only told you, you're not good enough.

Or to say, nothing good will come out of you. I want to tell you, God is not like that. He's very different. I remember once. I've had a few dreams in my life, which were from the Lord. Very few. Every dream is not from the Lord.

Maybe 1 or less. My dreams are from the Lord. And one day I had a dream, many years ago. Where I had been speaking in a meeting. In the dream. And I was walking back to the room where I was staying.

That conference site. And I had poured out my heart at the meeting. To this conference meeting. It wasn't here, I think. In the picture it was in some other country. And I was walking back. And as I was walking back.

And I felt really. I poured out my heart. And I heard a voice behind me saying. In the dream. That wasn't good enough. You could have done better. My heart sank in my dream. And I said to the Lord in my dream.

I said, Lord, why is it when I talk to you face to face. You always encourage me. But when I hear a voice coming from behind me. It's always so discouraging. And the Lord said to me in my dream. Turn around and look and see who it is.

I turned around and looked. It was the devil. Imitating God's voice. As soon as I turned around. He fled. I learned a lesson that day. God spoke to me through a dream. He does speak through dreams sometimes.

That I'll never forget. That the voice that says. You're still not good enough. You think it's the Holy Spirit. Challenging you to press on to perfection. Like it says here. This is the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Challenging me to press on to perfection. But doesn't it discourage you? It's not the voice of the Holy Spirit. What is the meaning of a deceiver? The devil is called a deceiver. A deceiver is one. Who tries to imitate the currency note exactly like that.

Or if he's trying to speak to you on a phone. He will try to imitate the voice of your husband or wife. Who loves you so much. Or your father or mother. Imitate it so you think it is your father. It's not your father.

It's the devil. We need to identify the voice of the devil. For example a voice that says. Come on do it quickly. Don't wait. Don't wait. Obey God immediately. It is always the devil. God never speaks like that.

He gives us time. To be sure. If you're not sure. You're not disobedient. I hope that will liberate many of you. I'm not doing what God has told me. Are you sure God has told you to do that? No brother Zach.

I'm not sure. I'm still considering. Then don't do it. When you have perfect peace in your heart. That's the time you know that's really the Holy Spirit. You consider a course of action. And you don't have peace in your heart.

A little disturbance. It's not the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit telling you that's the wrong way. He disturbs us in our heart. Because there's a beautiful verse. Remember this Romans 8 verse 6. The mind of the Holy Spirit is always life and peace.

The mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace. It's a beautiful verse. That's how we know the will of God today. In the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit was outside people. He came upon people from outside.

So he spoke to people from outside. And so they had to hear God through this year. But the wonderful thing about the new covenant is. That the Holy Spirit has come inside. So once he comes inside. He doesn't speak through this year.

But speaks from inside. So if somebody comes to me and tells me. Sometimes you read testimonies like that. And they are true. Like the Apostle Paul on the Damascus road. I heard the audible voice of God with this year.

I say great. But I've got something better. I hear the voice of God inside. There are many people who think. That to hear with this year is better. Than to hear inside. You really believe that? How many of you believe that it's better to have the Holy Spirit outside you.

Than inside you? You've got to be off your head. To think that it's better to have the Holy Spirit outside you. Than inside you. Now why in the world do you think. That the Holy Spirit speaking outside you.

Is better than the Holy Spirit speaking inside. I'll tell you. When you hear the voice of God. If ever you hear it. By the way I've never heard the voice of God with this year. And I'm not so keen on hearing it either.

One day I will. When I see him face to face. But when I hear somebody saying that. It doesn't excite me.

When I was young and immature. And I thought like a child. I said boy I'll be great.

Usually that feeling comes. So that I can get up and give a testimony. I heard God with this year. So that I'm a big man. A lot of things is for testimony. It's for the honor of men. Forget it. If you forget about seeking the honor of men.

You'll know the will of God pretty quickly. So the Lord. Make his face shine upon you. Lift up his face upon you. And give you peace. Number 626. That is how we know. We're going in the right direction.

Peace in our heart. Confirmed in Romans 8 .6. The mind of the spirit. Is peace. And that's why when it comes to finding the will of God. It says in Romans 12 .2. That it's by the renewing of our mind.

The Renewing of the Mind and True Spirituality

That we are transformed into the likeness of Christ. I want to read Romans 12 .2 very slowly with you and explain it. I don't want to be conformed to this world. I want to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

And how does that happen? By the renewing of my mind. Now that verse teaches me some things. It teaches me that being conformed to this world is in the mind. My brothers and sisters. Please understand this.

When a sister dresses in a worldly way. Copying the models on television. And in the movies. Her problem is.

Not her dress. Her problem is her mind.

You can change her dress and force her to wear some modest clothes. You have not made her spiritual. You have just made her a better Pharisee. You've got to change the mind. Because worldliness. Read this verse.

Don't be conformed to the world in your mind. But be transformed in your mind. It's the mind. And the devil is not after your dress. He's after your mind. If he can get your mind he can make you worldly even with modest clothes.

You know I once shocked people in CFC by saying I would rather have in our church a number of sisters who wear jeans. Short hair. Don't cover their head. And sleeveless blouses. And lipstick and mascara and rouge and I don't know what all the other things they use nowadays.

There's a few things they use in the olden days. I'm not up to date in these things. Whatever it is sitting there. But who never gossip. Never backbite against others. Who are helping the poor. Caring for others.

Serving others. And praying for God's work and burden for the work of the Lord. And who never speak evil of others and who have overcome anger. I would rather have a hundred sisters like that than all these holy sisters who come covering their heads and wearing modest clothes and go home and backbite and gossip and lose their temper and read romantic novels and all that type of stuff.

Any day. Any day. Those are Pharisees who would judge these people like that. Of course I'm not saying that I we should dress like that. I'm comparing that it's like saying if I have to lose one hand I'd rather lose my left hand.

Because I use my right hand much more. Of course the best is to have both hands. I say the best is if you are dressed modestly and well also but the mind is fundamental. I hope you understand this. True spirituality is in your mind so often.

That's why Jesus said never judge a person according to his outward appearance. Do you know what is the most, according to my understanding, the most disobeyed command among spiritually minded believers.

Not among all believers. The most disobeyed commandment among legalistic believers let's say. I'll show it to you. John chapter 7 and verse 24. John 7 verse 24 where Jesus said a very clear do not but believers do.

Do not judge according to the appearance but judge with righteous judgment. I am convinced that is the most disobeyed commandment by holy legalistic believers who are doing everything right on the outside who look so holy and always talk holy words but who judge by what they see.

Jesus said never do it. The same God who said do not commit murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not judge according to the appearance. Now which of these commands are important and which are unimportant?

You got to be a conceited snob to think that you can determine which do not of God is important and which is not important. How many of you would go and commit murder when God said do not commit murder?

How many of you would commit adultery if you say don't commit adultery? How many of you would judge according to the outward appearance? You who judge another person for committing adultery. You say the commandment says do not commit adultery.

He can turn around to you and say the commandment says do not judge according to the outward appearance. Your mouth is shut. He who is without sin let him cast the first stone. You know why we don't see these things?

Because we don't read the Bible slowly. People fight about versions. Which version is important? You take any version that says don't judge according to the outward appearance. It's a crazy thing. You know how the devils got Christians fighting about versions instead of disobedience.

Disobedience. I've had arguments with people who talk about King James Version in the United States. I said do you know that in India we have 20 at least major languages and 300 dialects and Bibles in many of those languages and none of them are King James Version.

What do you do? Tell them not to read the Bible? None of them are from the same manuscript as the King James Version. Not even one of those translations. The trouble with a lot of people who argue about these things is they've never lived in India.

They've never lived in a third world country. They never know the problems here. If you go to the Bible you'll realize that obedience is more important. Obedience. There are many Old Testament verses quoted in the New Testament.

Compare them. You'll find they're completely different. You say, hey this doesn't look like that Old Testament verse. That's right. Because this verse is not quoted from the original Hebrew. It's quoted from a translation called the Greek translation of the Old Testament which is about 120 years before Christ.

And from that they quote and sometimes there's a difference and the Holy Spirit takes it. There are some people who got terribly upset with me because I used some paraphrases like the Living Bible and the Messianic Bible.

I tell you the tribe of legalists will never die in Christendom. They'll always be there. Who are occupied with versions and versions and instead of being occupied with obedience. Obedience. Which version says you should not take up the cross?

Which version is there which says you can follow Jesus without dying to yourself daily? Show me one in any version in the Bible. Every single version says you cannot follow Jesus unless you deny yourself every day and take up the cross every day you cannot follow Jesus.

I mean that's one of the most important commands of Jesus. And so we got to be very careful about these things. It says about Jesus in Isaiah chapter 11. Beautiful verse that many times comes to me that teaches me what is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit and what is the mark of the fear of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit, Love, and the Fear of the Lord

These are two very important things. Let me show you from Isaiah chapter 11. Because a lot of people say speaking in tongues is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I beg to disagree. Jesus never spoke in tongues and great men like D .L. Moody and Charles Finney who were baptized in the Holy Spirit never spoke in tongues.

I speak in tongues but that's not the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm thankful for it. But I say that's not the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, Romans 5 .5 to me is the mark of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The love of God is shed abroad in your heart. You love Jesus with all your heart and you love other people like Jesus loved them. Then you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise you're not no matter which tongue you speak in.

Now Isaiah 11 it says here about Jesus the Spirit of God being upon Jesus in verse 2. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon, it's referring to Jesus in verse 1 from the stem of Jesse who was the father of David and Jesus called the son of David.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him. There's the Spirit of Wisdom. It's a seven-fold Holy Spirit described in Revelation. Here is the seven-fold Holy Spirit that you read of in Revelation. The Spirit of Jehovah, Spirit of Wisdom, Spirit of Understanding, Spirit of Counsel, Spirit of Strength, Spirit of Knowledge, Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.

Then you have all seven. These are all characteristics of one Holy Spirit.

And then he expands on the last characteristic.

The Spirit of God brings, if you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it will bring within you a tremendous fear of God, tremendous reverence for God. And when a tremendous reverence for God comes upon you, here is one way.

To know it. He will delight. He will.

Delight in reverencing God. A man who is filled with the Spirit will delight in reverence for God. He will not be moved by all these flippant choruses.

Written by half-converted cowboys. This.

Emotional type of, oh Lord Jesus, hold me close, and all that type of stuff. He'll delight in reverence for the Lord. And then, one mark of his life will be that he will not judge anything by what he sees or what he hears.

Verse three. But he will still judge. He's not a zombie walking around saying I don't have any opinions. He's got some very strong opinions. Jesus had strong opinions. He called the Pharisees a generation of vipers.

Sure. He called Herod a fox. He wasn't a man without opinions. When I say it's no longer I. My thoughts have died. Christ lives in me. Christ will have some opinions. The Christ who lives in me will look at certain people and see that they are a generation of vipers.

He will look at certain people and see they are foxes. He will tell me don't throw your pearls before swine. He will tell me who the swine are. I won't call them that. But he'll tell me to avoid throwing my pearls to them.

He'll tell me don't give that which is holy to the dogs. And then he will show me who the dogs are. I won't call them dogs. No, that's not my business. But I won't give what is holy to them. I don't go around giving holy things to people who don't appreciate them.

Now what's the use of putting a Bible in front of a dog? He'll just tear it apart. It's useless giving the word to people who don't appreciate. So it says here that he will judge righteously but it will not be by what he sees and hears.

Rejecting Prejudice and Learning to Love the Truth

Now let me tell you brothers and sisters. I'm talking about having a pure testimony. This purity has to come from inside. And it comes with a reverence for the Lord. It comes by not judging according to what we see and hear.

A lot of pollution. A lot of pollution that prevents the bush from burning is because we are judging with the wrong system. You know they say if you put red glasses everything looks red. Even the grass is red.

Because your glasses are red. You take it off and then you will see properly. And we are all born as children of Adam with sort of colored glasses. We look at everybody with prejudice. We can never believe that anybody does anything with a good motive.

We can never believe that a preacher doesn't, that there are a few preachers in the world who are not interested in money. I know the number of accusations I have.

Faced when I.

Say we never ask for money. We never send reports. And I never made my needs known to anyone in 70 years. And we have never made our needs known in our church for 35 years. People can't believe it. It can't be true.

There cannot be such human beings in the world. They always believe the worst about others. If you will look into your mind you will see that you prefer to believe something bad about someone than something good.

You rejoice to hear something bad about other people's children. Not about your own children. Other people particularly some people you don't like than about your own children. Because we have this corrupt thing called the flesh in which dwells nothing good.

You hear some little rumor about something happening in some group and you say, and you spread the story before the day is over. There's a worldly proverb that says lies and errors go right around the world while truth is still putting on his shoes.

Hasn't even started walking but lies and errors have already traveled the world by the time truth is put on his shoes. So this is how it is and the race of Adam is like that because they talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and most of their talk is some gossip they heard about somebody else which doesn't help them to become holier doesn't help anybody else to become holier.

And to have try and have the worst possible opinion about believers whom you don't like. You know what you need brother? You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. All your speaking in tongues is garbage.

If the Holy Spirit is not able to stop you from judging according to what you see and what you hear I would advise you please listen to me seriously, stop speaking in tongues and concentrate on your mind and say Lord I'll start speaking in tongues again after I get my mind and my thoughts right because otherwise you fool yourself that you're filled with the Holy Spirit.

You're not. You're not. Yeah we have problems like that. The problems in churches, problems with elders and problems all because the mind, the mind they think too much of themselves they judge according to what they see, what they hear.

See the entire race of Adam you know all the information that we have today in our mind most of it, not all of it it all comes through our five senses you know by taste and touch but most etc. but most of our information in our mind has come through our eyes and ears I would say almost 95 of the information we have in our mind is by what we see and read and hear.

See that's why television is such a powerful tool much more powerful than radio. Radio never corrupted people as much as television because in television you have sight as well as hearing and hearing is bad enough but sight added to it.

Oh, pollutes you.

Thoroughly and all the worldly advertising media and psychologists and all know that. That's why we got to be very careful about what you watch on television. You got to be careful about watching. You know the commercials that come in between these pure sports programs that you're watching the commercial I tell you two seconds is enough to pollute your mind.

Two seconds because you know people who say I watched a very good movie there was only two seconds of some dirty sex scene. You know twenty years later you won't remember the story in the movie but you will remember that two seconds that you saw.

That's the power of evil. And that's why we got to be careful about our mind. Watch your mind guard it with all diligence. But all the children of Adam have got their information by what they see and what they hear.

I remember very clearly the Lord speaking to me through this verse many years ago and saying if you want to think like I think Romans 12 to be renewed in your mind by the transformation of your mind be transformed by the renewing of your mind you have to deliberately discipline yourself.

It's a discipline. You know discipline is very difficult to get up in the morning and do certain things at a particular time and read the bible regularly or do some physical exercise regularly. It is extremely difficult.

It's a discipline but those who do it they get the benefit of it. You see people are fit and healthy because they keep that discipline. People get to know the scriptures and get to know God because they discipline themselves.

There is no spiritual progress without discipline. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a substitute for discipline because the bible says in 2nd Timothy 1 .7 God has given us the spirit not the spirit of fear but the spirit of discipline spirit of love and power and discipline.

That's one translation of it. God gives us the spirit of discipline and he wants us to cooperate with him in that discipline. And one of the disciplines we need is I see something and I say Lord. I don't know there could be another reason for it.

I don't know I hear something and I say well I don't know if it's true or not. Now I made numerous mistakes in this even as an elder I sometimes acted as soon as I heard something and afterwards regretted it because I discovered I didn't have all the facts.

I heard one side. You know that in every situation or argument there are three sides what one side says and what the other side says. And the truth which is neither what this brother says or what the other brother says.

The truth is somewhere in between what these folks say because we all have a tendency unless you become more Christ. Like when you present your version of a particular problem you had with a brother or with your wife or husband you won't tell a lie but you will only tell that which puts you in a favorable light.

Like if you have two children and they fought with one another and one says Dad he hit me absolute truth. What he won't say is how he hit him first. That part he won't say he didn't tell a lie. He said my brother hit me.

Correct. Then you have to ask him did you hit him first. Yes. You know there are 50 year old believers like that who will not tell the whole truth. And because they don't love the truth God allows them to be deceived in a hundred other areas.

If you want God to save you and make you more Christ like love the truth. I have almost never found a believer in my life. There are a few perhaps but very rare who when they face a problem with another person will come and tell the whole truth.

Brother Zach this is the situation. This is what I did. I want to tell you what I did and what I didn't do which I should have done with the various things. And this is what he did. Boy. I would love to have such brothers and sisters in the church but I rarely find them.

I get emails from even elders telling me all the things that somebody else did. Not one sentence about the wrong they did. They are like God. God is the only one who never does any wrong. And I'm sorry to say I've met some elder brothers who act as if they are God.

Spirit of the antichrist. By the way the antichrist what does he do. He sits in the temple acting as God. John said there are antichrists in our churches. They went out from among us. He says in 1 John 2.