John Bevere - How to Renew Your Mind
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Hey everyone, welcome to lesson eight. I am so proud of every single one of you for staying the course because the best lessons are yet to come. We’re going to talk about the mind and focus on how important it is for our complete, full deliverance from pornography and lust. I want to begin this lesson by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Paul said, «Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.»
Not only is God interested in your spirit, but He’s also interested in your soul and your body. You have to remember that the moment you gave Jesus Christ the lordship of your life, your spirit became one with God. Your spirit is righteous; it will never be more righteous or more holy. Your soul is being saved. James makes the statement, «Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls,» and he was speaking to Christians. That is a process, and that is what we’re dealing with—the renewing of the mind. Your body will one day be redeemed; that is when Jesus returns, and we will get our heavenly physical bodies just as His body was.
Now, Galatians 5:16–17 is so important, and I’m going to read this and what we’ll be talking about in this lesson. Paul said, «But I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.» Okay, I’ll read it again: «But I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.» The desires of the flesh would be pornography, to look at nude people, or to engage in pornography-assisted masturbation, etc. If you walk in the Spirit, you won’t fulfill those desires. I’ll never forget the time I was walking on the beach in Hawaii, which was literally covered with people, many of whom were wearing very skimpy bathing suits. The minister I was with, who was a bit more experienced in ministry than I was, made the statement, «Man, it would be so easy to get in the flesh around here if you weren’t in the Spirit.» I’ve never forgotten that statement. I thought, «Wow! By walking in the Spirit, we displace—the word is important—displace the desires of the flesh.»
A lot of people try to change their behavior using scripture by saying, «I can’t look at that person; I’m not going to be in fear; I’m not going to be sick,» instead of replacing it with, «I’m going to see that person through the eyes of God; I am healed by the stripes of Jesus.» In other words, we must displace what is wrong with the truth. It’s so important that we understand this. Walking in the Spirit is the key to our freedom. The war against porn is fought in the battlefield of our mind. Victory comes by learning how to yield to God’s word. Again, 2 Corinthians says, «The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.» But remember, it’s casting down thoughts, imaginations, reasonings, and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It’s all happening here. Are you seeing this? So, the word brings every thought captive into the obedience of Christ. This is an amazing word. The term «captive» in the Greek means to lead away at spear point; it means to lead away captive as a prisoner. I love that! So you literally have to lead it away. And how do you lead it away? Again, I’m going to say it repeatedly: by displacing it.
Okay, how do we gain complete control over thoughts that are contrary to the word of God? We replace them with right thoughts. It’s so easy! Romans 12:2 says, «Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.» Right now, this world is so inundated with pornography, and here’s God saying to you and me, «Don’t copy the behavior or the customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.» Man, this mind has a lot to do with our walk with God. We are changed into a different person by changing the way we think. Again, it’s all about the neuroscience I was talking about in previous lessons. «Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.»
I also want to read Ephesians, which aligns closely with Romans. Paul said in Ephesians 4 that you put off—now hear the word «put off"—how do you put off concerning the former behavior, the old man, which grows corrupt according to deceitful desires? And be renewed. Paul said, «Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.» There’s that epigenetic truth— I believe Paul didn’t know how to name it like we do. Well, actually, I shouldn’t say that. The name hadn’t been invented yet. When Paul says «the spirit of your mind,» I believe it’s the epigenetic pattern. So be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man. How do you put on the new man? By renewing the spirit of your mind with the word of God.
Here’s the deal: we displace our thoughts rather than engage in the frustrating task of trying to eliminate wrong thoughts. I’m going to say it again: we displace the wrong thoughts rather than enter into the frustrating task of eliminating those wrong thoughts. Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him (this is John 8), «If you abide in My word"—abide means you live there, you dwell there, you think about it—"you are My disciples, and the word disciple simply means you are the ones who learn from Me. You are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.»
So let me give you an illustration of what Jesus is saying here: Imagine that I have, right now, a glass of water, and let’s say all that water represents bad thoughts. There are two ways I can get rid of that water: I can pour it out—that would be instant deliverance, right? Jesus did that with people in the Bible who were instantly delivered. I mean, the demoniac full of demons meets up with deliverance, and the Bible says he was clothed and in his right mind! That was instant deliverance. Now, that’s a form of getting free, but there’s a higher form. Jesus said, «You’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free.»
Okay, if I’ve got this glass of water filled with wrong thoughts, I can pour it out. That was the demoniac who was clothed and in his right mind. Or I can take something and run it into that glass. I can take my fist and run it into that glass. What’s that going to do? It’s going to displace that water. That’s the highest form of deliverance because if I poured out, what happens? Well, when the enemy comes back, he finds the house empty, swept, and put in order, right? Then he goes and brings seven more demons more powerful than himself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not invalidating what Jesus did with that demoniac. It’s just that he had to get into the word right away because he was empty, swept, and all made in place. But when you shove your fist in—now what happens? You’ve just displaced it with the right thought.
So here’s the thing: here I am, delivered from pornography. Let me explain again what it was like for me before I got delivered. I was a Christian, but I would get so frustrated because there would be a billboard with soft porn, and I’d go right to it. I’d be in a store with all kinds of magazines and books, and my eyes would go right to the pornography. It was like pornography and I were a magnet; if there was pornography anywhere in my vicinity, I was drawn to it. When I went through that deliverance in that condominium in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 6, 1985, now pornography is broken off of me. I wasn’t like I was attracted like a magnet.
However, I found myself, when walking by girls—any girl that was anywhere near good-looking—I actually had to look away and wait until she went by before I could look up again because I thought, «I don’t want to…» especially on beaches. Then one day I started thinking, «That isn’t deliverance; that’s not really what God wants for me. God wants me to be able to look at a woman, no matter how she’s dressed, and say, 'Good morning, ' without an ounce of lust in my eyes.» I started praying, «God, I know it’s broken, but I don’t feel like I’m walking in freedom because I want to be able to look at everyone. I’m thinking about Jesus, you know, alone with the woman at the well. He’s not dealing with lust. He’s got former prostitutes crying and wiping His feet with their hair, and He’s not dealing with it. That’s how it should be for me. I want to be able to look at a woman and genuinely say hello without having any lust in my eye.»
So I prayed, «God, I need to see women the way you see them,» and I thought, «I’m going to find out how God sees women by getting into His word.» That’s the way He’s going to help me view them. So I kept praying, reading, praying, reading, praying, and you know what happened? As time went by, one day a revelation hit me. You may think this is silly, but it was huge for me. This revelation hit me while I was reading Psalm 8, and I realized that, and there’s no other way to say it, other than it just exploded on the inside of me: every woman is somebody’s little girl. I went, «Oh my goodness!» Because Lisa and I had just had our first son, and I knew how valuable that son was to us. All of a sudden, this exploded inside me while I was reading the Bible: every woman is someone’s little girl. I thought, «I reduced them down to a body part, and in reality, that’s somebody’s little girl.»
Then I kept praying. While I was reading Psalm 8, the psalmist makes the statement, «When I consider the heavens.» So the psalmist is saying, «I look at the heavens; I look at the universe.» All right? «The work of your fingers—like you made our sun with your fingers, right? The moon and the stars which you have ordained. What is man?» I almost believe this was like an angel watching God create the galaxies. Here’s this magnificent God that those angels cry, «Holy, holy, holy,» and then he says, «What is man? What are human beings that you are so mindful of him?» What that means is, God, you created this massive universe with all its complexities—what is that? All your thoughts are directed toward man and woman, the Son of Man that you visit him. «For you have made him a little lower than the angels.» It actually means it’s the Hebrew word «Elohim,» which means you’ve made him a little lower than God, and you’ve crowned him and her with glory and honor.
I went, «Oh my goodness! You are mindful of human beings; you have crowned them with glory and honor.» That causes the angels to marvel at creation, and I reduced a portion of that creation down to just a piece of meat! All of a sudden, my thinking was totally different. I started seeing women in a whole different light. As time went on, I began seeing human beings as so valuable to God. Think about it! They’re so valuable that Jesus came and gave His life for them. All of a sudden now, I’m repulsed that I ever looked at a human being with those kinds of eyes. What happened? The word of God is changing those neural patterns. I neglected that path, and I’m starting to machete that new path. Finally, years later, I’ve had pornography flash in front of me because of the way television is in Europe and all that I told you in earlier lessons, but I’m actually repulsed by it now. It repulses me because of how it reduces a human being to a sex object, down to a pleasure. It’s a very perverted mindset!
This is what happens as we stay in the word. This is why David said, «Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.» Let’s think about this: Your word! This is how God sees. This is how He perceives! It’s not just talking about putting actual scripture; it’s the Holy Spirit enlightening you to how He sees things. The real root of pornography is really an intimacy problem because when you get to know God intimately, what happens? You start to see His creation through a totally different mindset. You start seeing them through His eyes. So a person who has pornography issues, they’re bound to pornography; they haven’t experienced that deep intimacy with God. Consequently, they’re probably not experiencing genuine Godly intimacy with their spouse, and they’re also seeing other human beings through a very shallow lens.
Do you see how pornography hurts us? As you renew your mind, what happens is you use the word of God to reshape your thoughts. I want to go through some of the common lies that keep us struggling. Here’s a lie that you may think in your head: «I want pornography, but I can’t have it.» Well, here’s the truth that sets you free: «I am a new creation, and I will submit my desires for right living because I want to see people the way God sees people.»
Another lie: «I’m stuck and can’t get free.» The truth is, «Through Christ, I am already set free, and I am an overcomer. I just need to learn how to choose the Spirit, not the flesh.» Here’s another lie: «I’m eventually going to fall away.» No! Jesus will keep me strong to the end so that I might be found blameless on the day of my Lord Jesus Christ. That’s 1 Corinthians 1:8 and Jude 24-25.
«I’m an addict!» That’s a lie! Though I sometimes struggle, it is not my identity. I am a beloved child of God. «Porn doesn’t hurt me or anyone else.» That lie is broken by the truth: all sin breaks us and those close to us and, most importantly, grieves God’s heart. «I failed; I’m never gonna be free.» That’s the big lie that a lot of people embrace. John 1:8 states, «If I confess my sins, He is faithful to forgive my sins and cleanse me.» Proverbs 24:16 says, «The godly trip seven times, but they’ll get up again.» If you slip, get up again. Confess it, genuinely repent of it, and get up and start walking and start thinking correctly again.
Listen, your mind is not what controls you. You can choose that your spirit controls you. Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of your flesh. In the next lesson, we’re going to address how we get the power to walk free. Where does that power come from? Is it available only for some people, or is it available to every one of us? I’m going to show you that you’ve already got the power to walk away from it in the very next lesson.