God IS

Welcome to Renewed Mindsets. I'm Rick, and I'm so glad you're here. I really am. We had a guest preacher this morning at church, and he challenged somebody. I think he was talking to our pastors, about coming up with a sermon titled God Is. And uh and it all hit me at once. So I had to run upstairs and get this down before um before I forget it. But God is, not was and not will be. God is. Now that statement is so simple, but it challenges everything about how most people think. A lot of times we relate to God through stories or memories or hopes for the future. God showed up back then, or God will throw God'll come through someday. But a renewed mind anchors itself in present uh awareness, present awareness. Yeah. Because if God only was, then he's limited to history. If God only will be, then he's always out of reach. But if God is, then he is active in your current situation. He's present in your current thoughts. He's available to help you with your current decisions. Like you're overwhelmed trying to figure something out, and your instinct is to panic or overthink. A renewed mind interrupts that spiral and it says, God is present right here, so I don't have to operate like I'm alone. That one shift changes your state of mind, your state of being before it ever changes your situation. When Moses asked God who he was, God didn't give himself a title. He gave a timeless identity. I am. That means that means that he's not bound by time. That God's not waiting to become anything. God's already everything he needs to be for every moment for all time. So the old way of our thinking is, or the old thinking pattern is that, well, God helped people in the Bible, but what about me? Or miracles like that don't happen anymore. That ended with the apostles when they died. But our new way of thinking should be the same presence that existed then, exists now. Think about how people admire resilience in other people. We think they're strong or they handled that so well. But when your mind is renewed, the source of that strength isn't rare. It's available and accessible to you because God is. Today, instead of saying, I wish I had what they have, say the same source is available to me right now. You stop comparing and you start connecting. And if God is, then everything tied to Him is not distant. It's immediate right now. Let me break that down. Peace is not the absence of chaos, but stability in chaos. You're dealing with uncertainty, whether it's your job or a relationship or your finances. And your old way of thinking is you're going to stress out, you're going to overthink. You just keep looping round and round and round in a fear loop. But when you change the way you think, God is present, so I can choose peace even before things change. Right? Clarity. It's not knowing everything, but it knows your next step. But it's knowing your next step. You don't need to know the full plan. So instead of freezing, you think God is, so I can move forward with what I do now. And strength, not hype, but sustained ability is strength. You're not hyping yourself up. You actually have the fortitude. You have the, what's the word I'm looking for? You have the uh, oh crap, I can't even think of the word I'm looking for. Let's say you're tired mentally and emotionally. Instead of quitting inside, you just shift. And now you're like, God is my source. So I'm not limited to how I feel right now. Well, what you need to do, try this. Pick one area where you feel like you lack, whether it's peace or direction or confidence, and now reframe it. Instead of saying, I don't have enough peace, say, if God is, then peace is available to me right now. I don't have enough confidence. If God is, then confidence is available to me right now. Just repeat it until your thinking aligns with what you're saying. To change the way we think about God, it's not automatic, but it's intentional. You have to change your default thinking. You have to change the way that the last 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years of life has conditioned you to think. Now, a lot of times people look for validation in so many different ways. Externally, people will be like, I believe it when I see it, right? And this mindset puts reality in charge of your belief. But a new version of that mindset is I'll see it because I believe it. That doesn't mean blind denial. Pardon me. It means your internal alignment shapes your external experience in life. Here's an example. You got two people, and they're facing the same issue. It's a setback. One of one person, the first one, spirals out of control, and they're like, This always happens to me. And one person, instead of spiraling, they just stabilize. And they're like, there's still a way through this. It's the same situation, it's a different mindset, a different outcome, because it had a different trajectory. Okay, the other, the other type of people, isolationists. I know a lot about that because I am one or was one. Let me let me speak truth. Let me speak positivity here. I was an isolationist. I would say I'm on my own. Right? This creates pressure and anxiety and burnout. But a way to change your mindset is viewing God as God is. If God is, then I'm supported, even when I don't see how. Like you're making a tough decision. And instead of feeling like everything rests on you, you can think, I'm not carrying this alone. I'm being guided through it because God is. Are you tracking with me? Then you got people that just wait passively. I'm waiting for a sign. A new way of thinking, that person would say, I move in alignment, and clarity meets me in that movement. Instead of waiting until you're a hundred percent ready, you just take a step. You adjust as you go. You trust presence over perfection. Here's a way to interrupt your current thought pattern. Catch one negative or one um, yeah, just a negative, limiting thought, something negative as it runs through your head, and snag hold of it and say, if God is, then this is not the end of the story. Right? You don't have to accept it as negative. Now, this is where it becomes daily practice, not just inspiration. You got a situation where there's a lot of pressure, you feel overwhelmed, you feel stress and tension, and you make decisions that are reactive, right? But you need to pause and breathe. Do you hear me? Breathe. And say, God is here, I don't have to rush or panic. And then take the next step calmly. If there's a situation where you doubt, you question yourself, you second guess, you're hesitating, just just say God is greater than this thought. So I don't have to agree with it. And then act anyway. Or if you feel stuck, you don't see a way forward, you freeze, or you just don't do anything, you just procrastinate. Change your mindset. If God is, then there's a way, even if I can't see it yet. Then do the next available action, right? Make it a habit. Create. Create. I sound so official sometimes. I want you to make a list. Three positive anchor statements. God is present, God is guiding. God is my source. And then repeat them. When you wake up, when you pray in the morning. Repeat it whenever stress, whenever some kind of stressful moment happens in your life during the day, repeat it before you make any kind of decision. It's proven science that repetition builds mental pathways. If you want to renew your mind, renew it and build it with a God is attitude. And then reset your identity. It's the deepest level that we have is our identity. Most of us believe we are something that we're not. A renewed mind doesn't just change your thoughts, it changes your identity. You're not separate from God, you're not separate from his influence, you're connected to it. That means that you don't borrow strength, you express it because God is. You don't chase purpose, you carry it because God is that purpose. You don't wait for worth, you operate from it because God is. People say I'm not confident or I'm not ready or I don't have what it takes. But if God is, then you're connected to Him. Then you're not operating from lack. That doesn't mean if I think that way, it doesn't make me arrogant. It means that I'm aligning myself with God. The next time you hesitate before speaking or before starting something or before making a move, pause and think, what would I do right now if I fully believed that God is with me? And then do that. Yeah. God is not later. God is not eventually. God is not conditionally. God is right now. So the question isn't: will God show up? The question is, will I think, will I act, will I move like he already has? Because renewing your mind doesn't wait for confirmation, it lives from connection. I love you. The executive producer of Renewed Mindsets is Christy McCurry. That's all for today, but I'll be back with more unfiltered biblical truth and undeniable prophecy. The time to wake up is now. If today's episode challenged you, don't keep it to yourself. Tell someone, please. Text them a link. Share the truth while there's still time. Visit renewedmindsets.com to stay connected and to listen to past episodes. And check out our merch at renewedmindsets.store. Jesus is coming soon. Stay watchful. Stay holy. Stay renewed. Until next week, I'm Rick. Be an encourager, not a discourager. I love you. See ya. The intro and outro music for the Renewed Mindsets Podcast is Are You Ready by Floodgate. From the album Are You Ready? Copyright 2002 Offbeat Ministries Incorporated. Floodgate can be found on Apple Music and iTunes. Music Used with Permission.