Our next step begins; with the declaration of her commitment; “We will run after You!” The word “we”, portrays every part of us, our will, emotions, mind, body and spirit, totally seeking after and responding to the Lord. Just as God is a triune God, we are a made in His image as a triune man, made up of a will, (mind and emotions) or a soul, body and a spirit. When we are born again, our spirit is made perfect and has the full capacity to perfectly fellowship with God. When we read in Hebrews that we “have been” made holy, sanctified and perfected, it is talking about our spirit man. We are literally recreated, a new creature in Christ and our spirit man has perfect fellowship and contact with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, at all times, even if we are not aware of it. This is, “Deep (Holy Spirit), calling unto deep (the spirit of man).

  However, our soul man, (mind, will and emotions), are not automatically reborn or regenerated. Our bodies have not changed. We still look the same and basically think the same, even after our spirits are “created into a new creature in Christ”. Our part then, is to (renew our minds). Romans 12:1-2. God will not renew our minds for us, that is our responsibility and we must be active in practicing the renewing of our minds daily. The renewing of our minds process involves us willingly and on purpose, submitting our entire person to God, resisting the devil, (James 4:6-7) casting down all vain imaginations, 2 Corinth. 10:4,5,6 or ( EVERYTHING that attempts to exalt itself AGAINST the knowledge of God). We practice the renewing of the mind each day and very often and I have found that those who are not willing to do this, deal with the same issues, fears, thoughts and ungodly mindsets, over and over, like a broken record, and do not get set free as fast as they could be.

  Perfect love, does indeed, cast out ALL fear. Isa. 26:3-4 says “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind, (both its inclination and its character) is stayed on You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You; So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock {the Rock of Ages}. To renew our minds is HOW our soul man is healed, which allows the freedom that is already in our spirit man, to flow through our souls, ( mind, will and emotions) and on though to our bodies. When we are sick in our bodies or in our minds, (stinking thinking) it is simply because we have not allowed the perfection of His blood to pass from our spirit man through our soul man, and on to our bodies. Simply put, a sick soul blocks the free flow of Holy Spirit through our spirit man, on to our soul man and body. That is why we cannot pass up or ignore, ” the renewing of the mind” process. There are no shortcuts.

  Hopefully you can see that if we are to ” run after Him” making that commitment, it will involve the renewing of our minds. The renewing of our minds is fairly simple, by His grace, but very few seem to allow this process in their lives, instead choosing to remain in bondage to ungodly mindsets. Ungodly mindsets are a cycle of thinking about yourself, others and God, that are in direct opposition to the Word of God. We choose to NOT believe the bible about ourselves, instead allowing our sick soul man to dominate our thoughts, which will always lead to a manifestation of sickness in our bodies. It works like this; an ungodly thought comes into our minds, you are stupid, ugly, fat, lazy, sick, ungodly, how can God ever love you? Your mom/dad was right about you. You have always been this way and you will always be this way. God will never heal you because He only loves those who love Him. You don’t really love Him, because if you did, you would obey Him. You idiot, your so stupid, you are not obeying Him. Why should He ever do anything for you? That is why you will never ever change.

  Right at that entry point, (YOU HAVE A GOD GIVEN CHOICE). Will you just accept this lie, or will you ” SUBMIT IT TO GOD ?” We are promised if we will submit to God and “resist the devil” that the devil will flee. Submitting to God involves us becoming humble before Him, taking every thought captive, giving it to God, or resisting it, then casting it down to the ground, as a lie. This is what it means, to keep our minds fixed and stayed on God. If we do this, in His grace,  we are promised His peace, which surpasses all understanding. We will be able to “run after Him” more freely. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty or freedom. We must “choose” to believe His Word for us. No one can do that for us. The Word of God is not just text on a page, it is LIFE. The Word is Jesus Christ and when we choose to take it on for ourselves, eating it, swallowing it, meditating on it, valuing it as treasure, it has the power to set us free. Heb. 4:12 puts it like this. For the Word of God that speaks is alive and full of power, making it effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of “breath of life, (soul) and the immortal” spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very THOUGHTS and purposes of the heart. Today we get to “choose”, life or death. Today is the day of salvation. Will we choose to allow ourselves to keep on believing the lies that we have allowed satan to bury in our hearts, or will we choose to submit them to God and become free from all insecurity and torment, once and for all?

  We must be certain that we have “counted the cost” and that we are fully DETERMINED to run after Jesus, because He will respond to this commitment. He will begin by causing the “letter” of His Word to become “experientially” a part of our life. As a result, our understanding of the Word and our spiritual experiences will become so alive and real that we will begin to personally know and love Jesus as never before. The Word of God is never ours until it has been personalized in our life experience. Only then can we, with authority, witness to its truth and power. The “fullness” of the power of Holy Spirit within us will be manifested in and through us, because truth has become personalized in our life experience, instead of just being mental assent or on an intellectual level. We will be able to more readily submit to God, and His good works within us, as we understand that we are the product of His workmanship, His grace, created to be just like Him. He works in our lives with the specific goal of making us “conformable” to the image and likeness of His Son, thus becoming His Bride, that we might be the expression of His life in this earth, right now. Romans 8:29

  Those who are willing to be tested, tried by trials and tribulations, in order to become all He has determined them to be, not spiritually lazy, nor content with only His gifts, who are determined to go on with Him through the wilderness, being fed by the Lord Himself, will come forth victorious, in the power of the Spirit, to rise into a higher realm of identity with Him. If we sincerely pray, “Draw me” and make this unconditional commitment to the Lord, ” we will run after You,” the Lord will accept our prayer and begin His work of grace deep within us. God will “arrange” the necessary time in the wilderness testing, (see Luke chapter 4), for each one of us. If you are sincere about running after Him, please pray and decree;

  Lord, in the totality of my entire being, mind, body, soul, spirit, will and emotions, all that I ever was and all that I will ever be, all of me, will respond to Your hand upon me, and Your activity within my life. I decree that Your Word, which you HAVE imparted and quickened within me, will be incorporated into my life experience, so I will be in harmony and in union with You. In submission and obedience, Lord, I will cooperate with You as You accomplish this work of grace within me. I choose to submit to You, resist the devil, cast down all vain imaginations, (not to worry, fear or doubt, about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition, will make my requests known to You, with thanksgiving in my heart). Phil. 4:6-9, I will walk in Your peace, tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so, fearing nothing from God and being content with my earthly lot of whatever sort that is, and in that peace, which transcends and surpasses all understanding of my mere intellect. Amen!