Mark 8:17-21 “And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” Today's episode talks about how important it is that we have a renewal of the mind if we want to follow Jesus. We can't look at all Jesus has done through the filter of the world. We need to develop a Kingdom Mindset. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Kingdom Mindset
Mark 8:17-21 “And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?” And they said to him, “Seven.” Then he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
This verse comes after the feeding of the four thousand in Mark’s gospel. Right before this verse the Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus and were asking Him to show them a sign. Then Jesus got on the boat and warned the disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod. They did not understand and were wondering if Jesus was talking about the fact they forgot to bring bread. Jesus hears them talking and this is where the verse picks up. Jesus is upset with them because they still don’t seem to understand who they are with. Right before getting on the boat Jesus fead four thousand people with just 7 loaves of bread. Then they get on the boat and the disciples are worrying because they only have one loaf of bread. The first thing Jesus asks is, “do you still not perceive or understand?” I think this is a really important question. It shows us something that is so important. If we want to follow Jesus we need to have a renewal of our mind. We can’t filter the things we see the Holy Spirit do through our worldly brains. They just won’t make any sense to us.
What we can see in this verse is that the disciples haven’t quite developed what they called in my class the “kingdom mindset.” Jesus even asks them, "Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?” The disciples just saw Jesus feed 4,000 people and yet they didn’t really understand what they saw. They weren’t able to understand it as well as they could if they let go of their worldly mindset and took on a kingdom mindset. In our worldly mindset we understand that some things can and can’t be done. We understand the laws of nature and we honor them. We know from experience and everything we have been taught that some things are just impossible to do. We know this to be true. A kingdom mindset is one where we understand nothing is impossible for our God. When we have a kingdom mindset we understand that God can do more with less. He can feed 4,000 with 7 loaves. He can feed five thousand with five loaves. God can do the impossible. He can heal the leper and cure the blind. He can solve any problem that comes His way.
A kingdom mindset is not something that is easy to develop. It is something we can work towards and it is also a gift from God. First, I say we can work towards it because we can spend time going over the miracles Jesus performed, not just Jesus, but the disciples too. We can read and reread them so that we know them like the back of our hand. We can read them so many times they seem normal to us, because that is the thing. When you have a kingdom mindset, when you are with Jesus, a supernatural lifestyle is normal. You will see miracles everywhere you look once you are able to see them. Once your eyes are opened and the film is removed from your eyes you will be amazed at all the things God is doing in your life and the lives of those around you. Secondly, I say it is a gift from God because Faith is a gift from God. We can read about more and more miracles and that will definitely increase our faith, but to get the kind of faith we need to move mountains, that is not something we can manufacture on our own. That mountain moving faith is a gift from God for those who are seeking it. The more we trust God the more He allows our faith to grow. However, we need to do our part also be renewing our mind and working toward developing a kingdom mindset.
It says in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.” Through our baptism we have been give the Spirit of God. We have this Spirit living inside of us. This Spirit is the one who helps us interpret what we see and what we hear. Although, He can only help us if we listen to Him. That still small voice you hear inside of you, that is the Holy Spirit. The thing is, the voice inside is so soft and the voice of the world is constantly screaming at us. Sometimes it is hard to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. If we want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, we need to practice. We need to intentionally set aside time to sit and quiet our minds and ask the Holy Spirit what He thinks. The more you practice, the louder the voice of the Spirit will become. The more you listen to the Holy Spirit the less you listen to the world. The more you listen to the Holy Spirit the more your mind will be transformed.
Our teacher said something in class the other day that really resonated with me. She said you know your mind is beginning to be renewed when you start to lose the fear of man. Do you ever worry about what others think of you? Do you ever worry what someone might say or do? I know I would love to be more open with my prayer. I would love to walk up to every single person I see who is struggling in some way and ask if I could pray over them. If I see a physical injury I instantly want to pray over that person for a healing. What is holding me back? Fear. I am afraid of what they might say, what if they say no and I feel rejected. I am afraid of what I might say. What if I say the wrong thing? What if I pray for them and they aren’t healed? What if they get upset? All these things hold me back from living the life I know God has called me to live. What about you? What fears are holding you back?
Our teacher said, “Everything changes when we lose that fear of man.” I want to lose that fear so badly and yet I don’t think it is something I can will away. As mentioned earlier I truly believe developing a kingdom mindset is partly my job and partly God’s job. I think faith is a gift from God and that He will provide the wisdom I need to strengthen my faith. I also think the more I expose myself to His miracles, through reading about them, maybe watching them on TV or youtube, and telling others about them, my faith will grow. The more we expose ourselves to the supernatural the more normal the supernatural will become to us. When I heard our teacher say that everything changes when we lose that fear of man, I instantly asked God, “How do I lose that fear of man?” Later in the class the answer I heard was, “Turn your eyes to me.”
Did you notice when I was listing my fears it was all about me? I might say the wrong thing, I might feel rejected, and so on. What if I fixed my eyes on Jesus? What if I trusted He was prompting me to pray over the person and therefore He would give me the words to pray. When we pray over people, we are not the ones healing them, God is, so the results or the fruit of my prayer, whether they are healed or not, is not up to me. I worry about whether I will feel rejected, but if I was focused on Jesus I would worry more about whether he feels rejected because He asked me to pray over someone and I didn’t.
If we want a transformation of our mind, we need to turn our eyes to Jesus. We need to focus on Him. We need to listen to that small voice inside of us. We need to give that voice time to talk. If we want to develop a kingdom mindset then we need to remember all the miracles we have seen and heard about. We need to look at all God did through the disciples and realize that God wants to do that through us too. He wants to work through us, we just have to let Him. Do you want a renewal of the mind? Can you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus? Whenever we start to worry about what the world might think, we just need to turn our eyes back to Jesus. Whenever we start to think too much about ourselves, we can turn our gaze back to Jesus. A renewal of the mind is not only possible, it is necessary!
Dear Heavenly Father, we ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today. Lord, we love you and we are so grateful for all you do for us. Lord, we ask you to fill us with the gift of faith. We want to be able to see all your miracles through a supernatural lens. We want to see what is truly right in this world. We ask you for a renewal of our mind. We ask you for the faith we need so we can move mountains. We ask you for the faith needed to heal the sick and cure the blind. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. Give us all we need to do your will Lord Jesus! You are the almighty one. You are Lord of Lords and King of Kings. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!