Dear Friends and Intercessors,

I wanted to update you on our upcoming schedule.

February 26-27 we will have prayer but no teaching.

March 4-6 we will have our Phone Purim Gathering of the Eagles! Purim is the season of reversals, as intercessors, we will seek the Lord on behalf of our nation!

Join us for this important time together.

Blessings & love,

Ricci

I concluded last week with the importance of learning discernment in this hour.

The Greek for “discern” is diakrisis, meaning a thorough judgment, a discernment (conclusion) which distinguishes "look-alikes" or things that appear to be the same.

Diakrisis is a gift, one we must actively pursue as it designates the God-given capacity to separate, evaluate, and reach sound conclusions about what is true, right, or spiritually authentic. This enables us to view the events in front of us, through the lens of the Lord.

Diakrisis also enables us to digest the meat of the Word of God. As we mature, Diakrisis will continue developing within us in greater measure.

With our quest for discernment at the forefront of our thoughts, today I want to talk about the mind, because this is the ultimate battleground in our path to maturity.

As Christians, what is our ultimate goal? To be like Christ—to have the mind of Christ. I think we can all easily say that we would love to see and respond to events as He did when He walked this earth. We long to understand and have the capacity to unpack and apply the Scriptures as He did every single day. It would be incredible to see through people’s responses and straight into the heart behind their actions just as Christ did when He walked this earth. He saw pain, He saw grief, He saw rebellion, he understood the heart of man. In John 8:3 when the leaders brought the woman caught in adultery and threw her at Jesus’ feet, He looked through this supposed adulterer and into the hearts of those who threw her at His feet. He instantly knew they had an ulterior motive. How? Apart from the fact that they’d been trying to entrap Him for a while, He knew the Scriptures and according to Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22, if she had really been caught in the act of adultery, both the man and woman would be brought out to trial and then stoned. If convicted, the accuser, the one who made the first accusation, had to cast the first stone. Why? As a nation, they bore responsibility for eradicating sin from among them, yet, it was not a light issue, it was heavy and carried with it the burden of having cast the first stone should the person be convicted. Roman law would not have allowed the stoning, but their motive was to test Jesus in this manner and see how He responded.

He did not get carried away with the chaos, nor did He fight or argue with the accusers. Why? He saw through to their hearts. He had the discernment, the diakrisis, to see through it all and respond in a manner completely opposite to what they were expecting. They were willing to shame and even sacrifice this woman on the altar of their sin; He had come to take that burden upon Himself in both life and death.

With great wisdom, He made the simple statement that would pierce through the layers of their hardened hearts, “let him who is without sin among you, cast the first stone.” With just a few words, He forced them to look inward and when they did, they had no other option but to retreat.

What about us? In our pursuit of a life of Christlikeness, discernment coupled with the mind of Christ enables us to see through the anger, bitterness, and pain of those we encounter almost instantly. This enables us to address things in such a way as to pierce their hearts with truth, calm their overwhelming fears, melt even the hardest of hearts, and love them enough to embrace them in their pain. It’s difficult to embrace a 20-year-old who is screaming profanity at you, but to love them right where they are, amid their greatest efforts to be unlovely, takes maturity on behalf of the believer.

This should be one of our highest goals and it is what our youth today desperately need.

How do we do this? How do we get to the point where we are no longer reactive to what we see in front of us and instead, can take a step back and view the events through the lens of the Lord and become responsive to that which is in front of us? This takes maturity and a recognition of the battleground.

We are going to thoroughly study this passage today.

The Greek for mind is nous. It appears 24 times in the New Covenant; all but three of those are in Paul’s writings. (If you count Luke, which most scholars agree is Paul’s Gospel, then it’s all but twice.)

The mind: noús noun – the God-given capacity of each person to think (reason); it is the mental capacity to exercise reflective thinking. For the believer, (noús) is the organ of receiving God's thoughts, through faith.

No wonder it’s such a fierce battleground.

There are two components here:

The world believes the mind is to gain knowledge for our own gain. However, the mind was created, designed to be a transmitter of heavenly desires, it transmits wisdom, brings forth understanding, and unpacks revelation that will flow into the depths of the heart of the child of God.

In Luke 24:45, Jesus unpacked the Scriptures to those walking with Him after His resurrection. The Bible tells us, “He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.” This word “understanding” is nous. He unpacked the Scriptures into their minds that they might know how He fulfilled every prophecy written of Him through His birth, life, death and resurrection. This revelation, would then go down into their hearts and the revelation of everything they’d learned as good Jewish boys, would fit together and their eyes would then see the fulness of the Truth set before them.

The days of conforming to the outside influence were over, they were being transformed by the renewing of their minds. Why is this important for us? Let’s read it again:

Understanding the mind of Christ enables us to prove or dokimazo, meaning “to discern what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.” If you want to know what the will of God is, pray this Scripture over yourself every day and ask God to unpack it for you and make it real to you.

When Adam and Eve fell, they conformed to the world. They handed their authority over the earth to Satan. The battleground was thus established. The enemy will always press you to conform. The more you comply, the further you will get from His will.

Paul said, Romans 12:2 (KJV)

“Conformed” is suschématizó and it means to fashion alike, to conform to the same pattern as, to identify with, to have the outward shape that mirrors an existing model. We can either model the pattern set before us by Christ, or we can pattern ourselves after the world. Paul is telling the Christians in Rome not to conform to the world around them. They’d grown up as Gentiles, but in Christ, and with the mind of Christ, they were no longer supposed to conform or mirror themselves after that Gentile world. Neither are we! We are no longer supposed to follow the same pattern as the world in our thoughts, in our walk, in our ways. It’s in us, genetically you know, but we literally, actively, must resist the pull to conform.

I’ve shared this before, but I never met my father, but I still have his genes. I have his olive skin coloring, his brown eyes, his long limbs. I have several of his mannerisms. Not because of an experiential knowledge, but because it’s in my genes.

The worldly stuff is like that; it’s in us because of the fall. We can conform to it, or we can allow the Lord to work it out of us. If we embrace cultural changes and begin to act like the world, the world will pull us away from God. This involves an ongoing conscious choice to reject one and embrace the other. This is not reactive; it is a proactive decision one makes to reject the world and a proactive decision we must make every single day to transform and fashion ourselves to the model set before us by Christ, “be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed…”

I remember when my daughter was young and I noticed a change in her. It was subtle at first, but then I noticed there were conscious decisions she was making in a direction I knew they would be harmful to her. I did not know where it came from so I could intervene. My concern increased every day. One day, I received a call from the principal of her school who shared with me the nature and character of the person she saw my daughter hanging out with. She watched the impact of that person’s influence on those around them, and she did not want to see my daughter get sucked into this darkness. I immediately sat down with my daughter and discussed with her how the ways the world would pull her down. It always begins subtly, externally, but it will make its way into our heart and mind and transform us into its image. She had to make a conscious decision to not conform to the world but to be transformed to Christ.

The battleground is in our mind; we must take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) and filter it through the Word of God. If we do not heed the warning to actively resist the devil (James 4:7), he will pursue us from every angle possible. The more we resist, however, the weaker his grip upon our minds becomes.

Remember, the world is and never will be our friend.

Renewing: anakainoo involves two Greek words, and means “up, completing a process to make fresh and anew. A complete change for the better.”

This is a renewal achieved by God’s power through the heart-cry and pursuit of the believer. It calls for a continuous transformation in our thought life, our values and our conduct. This works in our mind—our nous—and as our mind is renewed, changed for the better, it enables helps us to have a Biblical worldview.

Many liberal scholars today teach a worldly Biblical view, meaning they view the Scriptures through the lens of the world instead of the other way around. They feel the Bible is a collection of stories meant to “guide us” on our path rather than the God-breathed, inerrant Word of the Living God! They teach that the Red Sea did not part for the Israelites, Daniel was not saved in the Lion’s Den, that David did not slay Goliath with five stones and a slingshot, and that Jesus, was a good man, a prophet even, but not the Son of the Living God. When you view the Scriptures like this, it’s difficult for renewal to occur in the mind and it’s next to impossible to have a Biblical worldview.

This compromise has led to new politically correct versions of the bible which diminish the deity of Christ, of God, even creating a feminine or gender-neutral version of God, and incorporating a LGTBQ narrative throughout the passages, especially among the disciples. There’s not much renewing going on there and without renewal, the opportunity for transformation is obsolete.

Transformed: metamorphoó verb meaning “transformed after being with” This is used four times in Scripture, two of those refer to the transfiguration of our Lord. The more time we spend with Him, the more we know Him, the greater our transformation into the same image (the consummate excellence that shines in Christ). When we study His Word—which He is—and cry out for the renewing of our mind wherein His Word, His will, His ways are transmitted from our mind down into our hearts, it turns us from a child who reflects the world, to a child who reflects the living God!

Scripture treats the mind as a dynamic battleground where allegiance to God or rebellion against Him is decided. It’s a powerful organ, a gift, and we must not take this lightly. The only way to fight the war we are in, is to actively pursue God while at the same time, actively resist the enemy.

This is why we, Christians, must refuse to conform and pattern our lives after this world. We must press into the renewal, allow Him to change us for the better. We must pursue with all we have, to live a life reflective of one who has been given the capacity by God to not only receive His thoughts, but act upon those thoughts. This is the active pursuit of the Mind of Christ.

This is what Paul talks about when he says, “when I was a child, I thought like a child, I spoke like a child, but when I became a man, I gave up childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11) Immaturity works really hard to fit the Bible into our worldview. We leave out Scriptures, take them out of context, accuse the Bible of being outdated and so on.

I remember when I was doing some editing for Mom, this was over 20 years ago so don’t hold this against me. She was addressing some cultural issues that concerned her and I called her and told her we cannot say things like this, it’s not politically correct. She came down on me so hard it cut like a knife. But it was the love of a mother and spiritual leader that compelled her to rise up and cut off the cancer that somehow made its way onto my mind. She knew the danger this politically correct ideology would present if it was left unchecked and she loved me enough to tackle it head on. Was I offended? Absolutely! However, as I walked away looking for bandage for what felt like a gaping wound, the Lord brought passage from 1 Corinthians 13:11 to my mind. He said, “stop thinking like a child.” Ouch.

Through this the Lord took me on a journey to call me into maturity in my thought pattern. Prior to this, my life had been spent working on my internal growth, inner healing, and letting God’s Word have its way in me. However, looking outward, to really apply what I studied in the Word to then view the world through the lens of the Lord was, unbeknownst to me, very new. I applied it in my interaction with others, but when it came to impacting my nation or the future generations who would occupy this nation until He comes (Luke 19:13) or any other nation for that matter, I simply did not fully understand the role God called us to play. It was a journey that prepared me, and those around me, for the season in which we live today. My mind was a dynamic battleground for years as the Lord took out the old to put in the new.

Let’s take this to an even deeper level. Nous comes from the root of Ginosko. Ginosko means to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance). This takes the mind from nous an organ that can transmit the messages of God into the heart of the believer to a whole new level.

Let me give an example:

As I said, when I was a child, I did not know my father. I did not even know his name. When Mom became pregnant, he wanted nothing to do with either of us. It was just me and Mom, but we had each other. As I grew up, unaware of his real feelings toward me, I felt this ache to know him, it was more than an ache it was a gaping hole in my heart. Mom tried to protect me from this for years. When she finally shared the full story, the rejection hit me like a brick.

God in His mercy sent me many father-figures who loved me deeply, they sowed into my life with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. They walked me through tremendous inner healing over the rejection by my father. They were and are amazing. Still, over time, even with God’s healing, I felt a need to meet my biological father. The man who rejected my mom and me decades earlier.

In 2005, arguably one of the most painful seasons of my life, I finally received my father’s name and address. It took me another two years to finally get the courage to write and ask him to meet. I honestly feared being rejected, again but the need for closure in this area of my life was very real. I sent a letter, which he had to personally sign for. My letter as a no-strings attached invitation. Days and weeks passed by with not so much as a peep.

I will never forget the moment I came to accept the fact that he will never, ever want me. I had pushed my emotions down for months, but one day, I went into my prayer closet and the pain just poured out of me. The last vestiges of that wound emptied out onto the floor and then the Lord began to fill that wound with Himself. It was not days, or hours, it was moments. I saw and felt how He’d replaced the hole in my heart with Himself. When the work was complete, I met My Heavenly Fatherly and I felt, for the first time, the depth of His love. I felt His Fatherly presence in and around me. The memories I so desperately wanted to have with my biological father were replaced with memories of the many times my Heavenly Father had been there for me. Memories that I knew were in my head began to pour down and enter my heart at experiential level, I didn’t just have a knowledge of Him, I experienced the Father.

Even as I share this, I feel the presence of my heavenly Father—not just near me—but in and around my heart. It’s like a hug from within. It’s the same experience I had as a child when I came back from church camp. I’d see my mom and run to hug her because I missed her so much. My heart would be filled with an experiential love of this person who’d loved and cared for me my whole life and I felt like my heart would burst if I did not squeeze her right then and there!

I did not realize how much my Heavenly Father valued me until I was once again rejected by my biological father. My biological father did not know me, nor did I know him, I had no experience with him but pain and rejection. My heavenly Father, however, spent every morning with me, pouring Himself, His life, His love, and His Word into every nook and cranny of my being.

This is Ginosko, it takes the relationship beyond acquaintance, past a knowledge of, through the understanding of, and into a revelatory comprehension and knowing that you cannot understand until you experience it yourself. Ginosko makes the revelation real, tangible, it becomes a part of you, who you are, what you do, how you think, how you see the world, every experience and encounter is filtered through the lens of the Lord.

Ginosko means to be aware of, to experientially know, it comes from a knowledge grounded in personal experience. This expresses a knowledge obtained by proximity to the thing known. In other words, it is an acquired knowledge viewed as a result of prolonged practice with the thing known. So, if we are referring to having the Mind of Christ, it is deeper than our thoughts, it’s a revelatory knowledge of how He thinks that comes from being in His proximity. This is what shapes our thoughts, our emotions, our actions. When I talk about viewing history, past, present and future, through the lens of the Lord, we cannot possibly do this unless we are in His proximity, at His feet, downloading with our nous—our mind—to then transmit down into our heart (which is the seat of our emotions) the thoughts, the emotions, and the historical perspectives directly from Him. The more we pray over those issues, the more we are given to ginosko, experientially know God’s heart on an issue. His heart is deposited into our heart.

The same holds true if we are seeking an understanding of heavenly things. If we are to ginosko, or gain a knowledge of divine things, we must be at His feet, learning the lessons and the revelation He brings us through that personal experience with our Lord. He will unpack Himself, His ways, His love, and His Kingdom into our hearts. This involves both study of the Word and prayer. Mom always told me, prayer takes the Word from your head to your heart. That is Ginosko!

In other words, God knows every little nook and cranny of we are, we try to hide it from Him, but He already knows. There’s never been a tear we’ve shed or a toe we’ve stubbed, that He was not explicitly aware of the date, time, and emotion we felt in that millisecond. The lgtmore we pursue Him, the more we come to know—ginosko—Him, experientially through our proximity with Him. We know His laugh, His correction, His heart-smile, His grief. We feel Him and we look to Him for His approval more and more because our mind is being renewed, transformed, into an organ useable for and by Him to transmit His heavenly will here on earth.

As intercessors, we bear the responsibility of eradicating sin from our land to make way for His Glory to pour out over the earth. We do this through identificational repentance.

We are a prophetic intercessory ministry. The Lord gives us the prayer points; we each seek Him longing for the mind of Christ on the issues. We don’t want to come here with our ideas, because in the natural, that’s easy to do. We want to have His heart on the issue, we want to pray according to His heavenly will, because as He taught us, the goal is to bring His heavenly will here on earth. Maturity helps us become effective prayer warriors influencing the nation in which we live, with the Kingdom of Heaven.

It’s easy to see why the mind is the ultimate battlefield. If the enemy can weasel his way into our thoughts, he can intercept God’s plans through us and stop the intercession over the nation. As diakrisis—or discernment—increases within us, we become increasingly adept at catching his efforts to intervene in our prayer times and we become proactive at stopping him. The truth is, we were created to be an unstoppable force in the earth for the Kingdom of God. If we can win the ultimate war for the battlefield of our minds, we can all fulfill that call.

Blessings & love,

Ricci

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