Accessing the Wisdom and Understanding of Heaven
Vanessa Bonilla
It’s one month into the new year, and the excitement of something new has likely waned. You may have a list of unmet goals that are beginning to mock you a little. Even if we met all those goals perfectly, they might not bring what we’re actually looking for. We may be wanting something deeper, whether we recognize it or not. We might actually be longing for a new mind. And our goals will likely be disorganized and fruitless or even wrong, without a new mind.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV)
The excitement of a new year can bring a level of error and forgetfulness. We can make wrong goals with the right motives and make good goals for the wrong reasons! We can get caught up in the version of ourselves we’re striving to be that we forget the access we possess. We, like the prodigal son’s brother, forget that we are given everything that belongs to our Father.
This access includes His mind which is wonderful news for those of us burdened with traumas and triggers that drive our minds crazy, whose thoughts are warped by sin, and who are easily confused and led astray. We can renew our minds and take on a new one, a perfect one, one that has access to the Father and His good and perfect will for us.
If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever-the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 NIV)
Many goals are written from a desire of wanting something more. We want more insight, more knowledge, or more money. The enemy wants us to get so caught up in our desire for more that we forget what we already have. We have the Holy Spirit, what a remarkable gift! He knows the thoughts of God and He will help us understand what God has freely given us. It is with the power of the Holy Spirit that we can make true judgments about all things.
This is my prayer as I look ahead at another new year: “Holy Spirit who lives within me, the same spirit that hovered over the face of the deep in the beginning, the same power who raised Jesus from the grave. May I stay in a continual relationship with you, my advocate and helper. May I recognize that you were sent here to give me a new mind. Renew my mind so that I see reality clearly and live in bold obedience to you. May I recognize my need for you daily. Direct me and place in me goals that glorify Jesus and build His nature and character in me. Make me more into the image of my Father every day and less like the world surrounding me.”
Even when we reach the end of our words, Romans 8:26 says “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (NIV)
May the God of all good gifts guard you this year as you take hold of a new mind. May He guide you, showing you which goals lead to a closer walk with Him and those which will lead you astray. May this year be a blessing! May you experience the advocate and helper, the Holy Spirit, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power.
Practical Suggestions
- Read: Forgotten God by Francis Chan
- Listen: By Your Spirit by Influence Music, Kim Walker-Smith
- Learn: #62 - Who is the Holy Spirit? - Podcast “Knowing Faith” | S3:EP68
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Vanessa Bonilla lives with her husband, Eli, in Brooklyn, NY where she homeschools their five children. Vanessa is also the Children’s Director at her church, and she loves fire pits, friends, and spending time with her family. |