100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing (23 page)
Read 100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing Online
Authors: Joseph Prince
Father, thank You that true repentance simply means a change of mind that is based on right believing, and this leads to the transformation of my heart. Thank You for showing me that the change of heart I need to be free from all bondage is to know that You have already forgiven me and see me righteous in Christ. Help me to realize that when wrong thoughts come into my head, those thoughts don’t belong to me. I believe that as I fill my mind with Your thoughts and living Word, You will help me to win the battle for my mind. Amen.
“You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD.… So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things… and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the L
ORD
.”
E
XODUS
28:36, 38
I
n the Old Testament, Aaron was the first high priest of Israel. The high priest of Israel is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our permanent High Priest today. God instructed that the golden plate of the miter (headdress), which has the Hebrew words
Kadosh Le Yahweh
(“Holiness to the Lord”) engraved on it, should always be on the forehead of the high priest so that all Israel would be accepted before God (see the illustration).
What this means is that even when Israel failed in their
thought life
, they were still accepted by God because He judged the nation of Israel based on their high priest. If the high priest was accepted, the entire nation was accepted.
The high priest wears a gold plate bearing the words, “Holiness to the Lord” on his forehead.
Today we have a perfect High Priest in Christ. It’s not your thoughts that qualify you to be accepted by God. Under the new covenant of grace, God is no longer judging you based on your thoughts. God judges you based on His Son. If He is righteous, God sees you as righteous. If He is blessed, God sees you as blessed. If He is under God’s unclouded favor, God sees you as under His unclouded favor. If His thoughts are always
perfect and filled with holiness unto God, God sees your thoughts as perfect in Christ!
Today when the devil comes to torment your mind, point him to Jesus. Jesus’ thoughts are always holy. Remember how the golden plate is always around the forehead of your High Priest and His thoughts are always filled with holiness to God. Look at Exodus 28:38 again: “It shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the L
ORD
.” Therefore, even when your thought life isn’t always perfect, know that Jesus’ thoughts are
always
perfect. And it’s because of His perfection that you are always accepted in Him before God. God will never reject you because your thoughts are imperfect. He is looking at Jesus, and as long as His thoughts are holy, you are accepted!
When the devil comes to torment my mind, I will simply point him to my representative and High Priest, Jesus, whose thoughts are always holy.
Father, thank You that Jesus is my perfect High Priest and that my acceptance with You is based on Him. I acknowledge that my thoughts can waver, but Jesus’ thoughts are always perfectly holy. And because He is my permanent High Priest, You will never reject me even when my thoughts are imperfect. I believe that because of Jesus, I am always accepted and approved, and I declare that in Christ I will always win the battle. Amen.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.… Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
E
PHESIANS
6:10–12, 14–15
O
ne of the greatest struggles people face in the battle for their minds is the wrong belief that God is angry with them. The devil knows that if he can cause you to believe that God is mad at you, he can keep you trapped in fear, defeat, and bondage. I want to expose this lie from the devil and show you from God’s Word that God is not mad
at you
. He is mad
about
you! God loves you passionately, and He wants you to be fully assured and confident of His love for you.
To be victorious in the battle for your mind, it’s important you believe with all your heart that God is for you and not against you. When you use the weapons of right believing to prevail against the wiles of the devil, the Bible calls this being strong in the Lord. Let’s go through the whole armor of God (see Eph. 6:10–20) and observe how right believing in all that Jesus has done will always lead us to victory.
The apostle Paul begins with the belt of truth. When the devil comes against you with his lies about you, gird your waist with the belt of truth. The devil cannot deceive you if you are established in what God’s Word says about you. He can only make inroads into your mind when you don’t know or are unsure about what God’s Word says. That’s why I encourage people to study God’s Word for themselves and to listen to messages that are full of God’s
grace and truth. Fill your mind and heart with truth and you’ll surely defeat the enemy.
Secondly, we already know that the devil will try to attack you with all kinds of accusations and condemning thoughts to make you feel guilty and lousy about yourself. That’s why when you are established in the gift of righteousness, his attacks against you will not prevail. All of the devil’s fiery darts of accusations are ineffective against the breastplate of righteousness that guards your heart from all fear, guilt, and condemnation.
Now, the enemy will also come in to try to steal the joy you have because of the gospel of peace, which is depicted as shoes here. But when he comes, know and believe that the God of peace will surely crush Satan underneath your feet.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the rest of the armor of God. Rest assured that when you believe right, there is no area of your life in which the devil can prevail against you.
To be strong in the Lord is to use the weapons of right believing to prevail against the enemy. God is not mad at me, He is mad about me!
Father, thank You for providing me with Your armor and the weapons of right believing that help me to stand successfully against the wiles of the devil. Thank You for the belt of truth found in Your Word and for the breastplate of righteousness that guards my heart from all fear, guilt, and condemnation. Thank You for the gospel of peace with which You crush Satan beneath my feet. I believe that You are not mad with me today but You are for me. I choose to live by this truth. I believe that believing right about what Your Word says about me and my situation will always lead me to victory. Amen.