And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Great peace have those who love My Word. You are honoring what your attention is on. If your attention is on your sins, your failings, your offense, your anger, your flesh, your personal glory and advancement, and the negative things others have done to you, that is what you are honoring as worthy of your focus in your life.
And that is a negative flow that is not of the Kingdom of light and it will destroy you. The one who seeks only himself brings himself to ruin, but the one who seeks the Kingdom and My way of righteousness first will have everything needed for life and godliness added. It comes in the heavenly flow, for every good thing given and every perfect gift, including the renewal of youth, comes down from Me from above for I am the Father of lights. I alone give light to each of your lamps (spirits) with My own light, which is the light of life.
In the last lesson I warned you about being careful about with whom you live and fellowship, that is, the one you spend most of your day with, and not getting pulled into a negative and evil flow that robs you of walking in the heavenly flow where you receive the good things.
But the person you live with all the time, and indeed forever, is yourself. You are with yourself and listening to yourself all the time. You cannot move away from yourself no matter how much you run. So if you are in a negative and evil flow that is what you go with through your days and nights. And it will not give you joy and peace, but the contrary. And that is why many people hate their lives. They may blame others such as parents, siblings, spouses, children, their boss, or co-workers and live in anger filled with bitter roots. And this will age you. A depressed spirit dries up the bones and gives you pain in your body.
And actually they cannot blame anyone for being trapped in a flow of grief and anger but themselves. Most of the Israelites I redeemed out of Egypt fed their minds with that flow and they died prematurely and missed their promised land, but Joshua and Caleb, in the exact same circumstances amid an angry and bitter people that held them back, did not get in that flow. They stayed in the flow from heaven and they took the promised land and had the joy of all My promises being fulfilled. And they were healthy and strong with their youth renewed until they left earth for paradise. And now they are enjoying the Kingdom with Me.
So, remove grief and anger from your heart and put away pain from your body. Ecclesiastes 11:10.
What causes you to walk in a negative and evil flow? Your mind, the thoughts of your mind are running the course of your life. As the mind goes, so goes the man.
But the good news is that you can control your mind and put it into the right flow so that your days are all good days and you have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, which is the flow of Heaven and draws in every good thing given and every perfect gift.
Renew your mind and renew your youth. Return to youthful vigor—the gleam in your eye and the bounce in your step, ready for every good deed and work. And all that comes simply by renewing your mind.
How do you renew your mind? The answer is simple but profound because most people are not careful about what they hear, say, and allow their mind to dwell upon. They do not think that what they permit their minds to dwell on is their very life and give it no importance at all. But whatever you allow your mind to dwell upon is what your mind is feeding upon. The flow you are in is determined by what you are feeding your mind. You must be intentional about what you are letting into your mind and what you are doing with every thought or piece of information that comes in.
“Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” Mark 4:24-25.
Remember, man does not live on bread alone but on every Word that proceeds from My mouth. You are what you eat, not only in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense.
Many people today are becoming health conscious about their bodies and are seeking whole, natural foods that feed their bodily systems with fuel for optimum function but if you neglect your mind and are in a negative flow you cannot sustain health just by physical foods.
What are you feeding your mind? Devil’s food (the dirt, filth, and godless philosophies of the world) or heavenly bread (My Word)? Remember, the children’s bread (Covenant bread) heals.
If you are feeding your mind spiritual food, and My Words are Spirit and life, the Words of everlasting life, your born again spirit will dominate your thought life and that will lead to what you say and do and this can give you days of Heaven on earth. This is true no matter what your circumstance for a strong spirit overcomes all. But no matter the circumstances, once you get in the heavenly flow the Blessing goes to work making a garden of Eden out of your waste places. That is what the Blessing does once you release it by your words and actions.
Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians from a dark, unpleasant prison cell but he wrote that he was overflowing with joy and had learned the secret of being content in every circumstance he found himself in, whether surroundings of praise and abundance or persecution and lack, because he could do all things in Me for I strengthened him. And he also knew that I delivered him out of them all and would continue to do so until he was safely home with Me to receive his great reward.
John on Patmos was exiled on a barren island of exile, but in the spirit he was not trapped by his circumstances, he instead walked right up into the Kingdom of light and received messages of such magnitude that he was not permitted to reveal them all to you. And the same happened at another time and place with Paul. If you eat enough spirit food you will begin to have great revelations and see things others cannot because they cannot bear it. The more you renew your mind the more revelation and vision I can pour into you and trust you with. Daniel was the same.
How do you know what your mind is feeding upon so you can stop it from eating junk that you do not want in your healthy mind? By your joy and peace level. If you are disturbed, frightened, depressed, anxious, and pitying yourself you are feeding on lies that should not be allowed into your head. These emotions should set off an alarm in your spiritual immune system that there are thoughts that need to be expelled and replace with the truth of My Word.
A renewed mind is what walking in the Spirit is all about. And unrenewed mind is what walking in the flesh is all about. And a mind set on the flesh is death and fear, and a mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
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, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Romans 7:5-9.
Jesus was talking about renewing your mind when He told those who believed in Him, “If you continue (abide, remain in, keep) My Word, you are truly My disciples, and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32.
Free from all that would hold you back and hinder you from living in the good and the pleasing and the perfect plan I have for your life.
I reveal much about renewing your mind in My Word and by My Word made flesh. I told Joshua the way to do this, the psalmists, the prophets, and my apostles, especially My servant Paul.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2.
These are the steps to a life of joy and peace where your mind no longer torments you but, receiving its input from your spirit, transforms you into the new creation you have become in Christ, no longer held down by the old man who walked in the flesh.
First, you offer your body as a living and holy sacrifice to Me. What am I telling you to do? Simply put, you are to no longer live by your flesh but by your spirit. You no longer use your dominion authority over the earth to carry out Satan’s evil plans but you now put your earthly authority to use to promote the Kingdom upon the earth by submitting to My Word as truth.
Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7.
And I have made this possible for you by your new birth by My imperishable Word in Christ so that your spirit is again alive to Me and dead to sin. Now if you sin, your own spirit rises up to convict and stop you from sinning. For I have put My Spirit and My Law in your heart. I am in you to help you to will and to do the perfect and pure, you have only to work it out and realize when Christ died to sin, you died with Him, and when I raised Him to new life, I raised you with Him and seated you with Him in Heaven with Me.
Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20.
But to do this you must also wash your mind of the uncleanness of the old man with My Word and then renew your way of thinking, the way you look at things, the way you respond to things, and the things upon which your thoughts dwell by My Word.
Renewing your mind with My Word is feeding your mind with My Word and growing in your faith thereby as well, for faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word.
How do you feed on My Word? The same way I told Joshua:
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Joshua 1:8.
And the way I told Moses to tell the people:
These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9.
And like I told Solomon, the wisest man on earth of his day,
My son, give attention to My Words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all their body. Proverbs 4:20-22.
And the more you feed your mind the Spirit food of My Word the more and more you grow to be like Me and share My thoughts and ways and as you shed off the layers of the “old man” the more you are transformed until you reach the point when you have died to the “old man,” that is, your old mindset of the flesh, and been transformed into the “new man” formed again in My image and according to My likeness. And you are ready to soar with eagle’s wings.
Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:30-31.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2.
In the Greek language in which the various epistles of Paul were first written, the word translated “transformed” is the word “metamorphoó: μεταμορφόω,” which is also translated elsewhere as “transfigured” when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain before Peter, James, and John this was the same word. Metamorphoo means to transform, transfigure. Metamorphóō is the root of the English terms “metamorphosis” and “metamorphize.” It is from metá, “change after being with” and morphóō, “changing form in keeping with inner reality.” In a fuller description morpho means to form, fashion, shape, mold, essentially taking on the form that properly embodies a particular inner-essence.
And this is the process by which a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. I have set an example of metamorphoo in nature so you may understand the spiritual. Jesus taught you spiritual truths from considering birds, flowers, farming, and the like so now learn from the caterpillar.
A butterfly lays its eggs by sticking them to the bottom of green leaves. They are hidden from predators but there is another reason for this, they are born to eat until they are full enough to transform to a totally different creation. As soon as they come out of the egg, they begin to eat all day and all night as they crawl about and cling to the leaves.
Jesus told you that man does not live by bread alone but every Word that comes from My mouth. Jeremiah found My Words and devoured them for they were the joy and treasure of heart. And as I set forth above, I told Joshua to feed on My Words by meditating on them day and night, letting them never be out of his mouth, walking according to My Words and not deviating from them. The righteous man meditates in My Word day and night. And I told Moses to tell My people to write My Words upon their doorposts and in the their homes, to speak of them when they got up, when the lay down to sleep at night, and while they walked along the way. I told them to keep them before their eyes and write them on their hands. These Words of Mine are not idle words they are your life.
The baby caterpillars eat and grow thereby until they are too big for the outer skin (exoskeleton) encasing them and then they shed (molt) it and underneath is a new and bigger skin. The more Word you fill your heart and mind with, the more you grow thereby. 1 Peter 2:1-2. And I enlarge your heart as I reveal to you more and more layers of richness in My Word. Psalm 119:32 (‘I shall run the way of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.”)
The encumbrances of sin begin to fall off and you expand your knowledge of My Word. Hebrews 12:1. You are molting until you are full enough of My Word that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in My image and according to My likeness has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:22-24.
And the caterpillars eat until they outgrow the next layer and again shed it as they molt to a bigger one. The caterpillars repeat this eat-shed-eat process five times until they reach a size where they’re large enough to undergo metamorphosis. Five is the number of grace. The number five is depicted by the fifth letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet and it is the letter hei (ה), of which there are two in My Name of יהוה. Of My fullness you have all received, grace upon grace.
This molting in the caterpillar’s growth is known as an instar. Growth can be measured during each instar. It is also a way to describe a caterpillar’s development. And after the fifth time they of molting they have now eaten enough to transform so they spin a cocoon of silk or molt into a shiny chrysalis from their own bodies and roll themselves up in it like a burial shroud. And that is the end of the old life, I am doing something new. When they hatch from the cocoon, they come forth as a new creature. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
And inside the cocoon or the chrysalis, the caterpillar is transforming into a new creature. This requires that the old caterpillar body be broken down and turned into something new. Enzymes are released and literally dissolve almost the entire caterpillar into a nutrient soup. Only a few other things remain: the nervous system, the breathing tubes, and the imaginal disks.
You may be wondering what are the “imaginal disks.” This is very significant.
When they are born caterpillars, I have put something very special inside of them: imaginal disks. These “disks” are just small clusters of cells that match up with the structures they’ll need as adults. The adult form that is the butterfly. There’s one imaginal disk for every adult body part—wing, eye, leg, etc.
Before they just remain hidden but in the cocoon, as the caterpillar dies to its old manner of life, the imaginal disks are free and they start to rebuild the caterpillar into more than you could ask or imagine. The disks move to the correct positions where the legs, wings, eyes, etc. should be, and the cells in the disks start to absorb the nutrient soup to grow and multiply. The new creation is formed from the old. Wings sprout where there were none, and their senses develop as better antennas rise up and large eyes appear, their mouth changes and it sucks the sweet nectar of flowers instead of the chomping on leaves. Butterflies cannot chew or bite, they use their proboscis to drink sweet nectar from flowers. Nectar sometimes resides deep within a flower and the proboscis allows the butterfly to reach this sugary treat.
I put in your mind and heart the power to imagine, to see visions, to dream dreams of great and mighty things. See yourself healed. See yourself prosperous. See yourself in the mirror of My Word. I show you things, visions and dreams, I give you plans, write them down and run with them by faith.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, hung onto the dreams of greatness and I gave him, in the time of his slavery he would meditate and ponder on them. And when his life had gone through thirteen years of death to himself, suddenly he rose anew to new heights of promotion and joy. A new creation based on the vision of two dreams I had put in his heart.
Caterpillars can barely see; they are close to blind. Their simple ocelli eyes can only decipher light and dark. They’re unable to see a clear picture of what’s in front of them. “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.” Proverbs 4:19. Those who trust only in their flesh are like barren bushes in the desert that do not see good when it comes.
Different from the caterpillar of their old life, I give butterflies amazing eyesight. Their visual fields are larger than other insects. Butterflies sense colors better than any other creatures and see colors on the spectrum that are beyond what most perceive by their physical senses. Butterflies can have up to fifteen different types of photoreceptors and thus can perceive lower wavelengths as well giving them the ability to perceive ultraviolet light.
When you are born again you get spiritual eyesight and insight. Revelation light. And you receive gifts from the Holy Spirit which let you perceive things you would not otherwise know—the Word of wisdom, the Word of knowledge, the discernment of spirits.
You can see not only what you perceive with your physical eyes, but things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. To see them takes spiritual sight. I enlighten the eyes of your heart that you may know the hope of My calling for your life, what are the riches of the glory of your inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of My power in you who believe. Ephesians 1:18-19. I draw back the veil of the flesh and let you see things that are not of this world but of the Kingdom.
Even though the entire caterpillar goes through this whole process, some things do stay the same. Butterflies can remember things from way back when they were just caterpillars. This shows that even though the body is rearranged, most of the nervous system remains intact. Just because you are born again and become a new creation, does not mean you do not remember your past. But be like I am about you when you are born again. I only remember the good and none of the bad. Your sins and offenses I remember NO MORE. How can that be? I put them all on Jesus and they are not yours anymore.
By the time the transformation of the caterpillar is complete, the new butterfly is fully-formed within its cocoon or chrysalis. It then hatches for the second time in its life. The new creation will pause to get its bearings and test its new body; its wings and antenna unfurl and harden. Then, it’s off into the air to start its new life full of sweetness and colors and light!
How about you? Keep your eyes on resurrection life. I have placed the symbol of the butterfly behind your eyes deep in your mind. It is the sphenoid bone. A central bone within the skull, it has a very complex shape, in appearance just like a butterfly with a body and two sets of wings—the lesser and greater wings—as well as two pterygoid processes (protrusions that descend from where the wings meet the body).
The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones that make up the orbit (the space that holds the eyeball), its large gap allows nerves associated with vision to pass through, and helps make up the floor of the middle cranial fossa, the butterfly-shaped depression at the base of the skull that houses the temporal lobes of the pituitary gland and the cerebellum. The cerebellum, which means “little brain,” is primarily involved in coordinating movement and balance, voluntary actions such as walking, running, dancing are all coordinated by the cerebellum. It can also play a role in cognitive functions like language and attention. The muscles also attach there that have to do with chewing and speaking.
If you see with renewed eyes and mind you will find many symbols and signs of resurrection life. Be transformed (metamorphoo, turned into a new creation) by renewing your mind in My Word. You will not be the same.
You are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, you are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Ephesians 4:14-16.
I love you. Renew your mind and renew your life. Renew your life and renew your youth. It is time to soar with eagles’ wings.