It’s the glasses!

Wake the Faith up Slayer… This is Garth Heckman with the David Alliance and you can reach me at

TDAgiantslayer@gmail.com 

 

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Ive been hearing a lot lately about a Growth mindset vs fixed mindset

The fixed mindset says this is probably as good as it gets. I will never truly be smarter or in a better place financially. I will always be tethered to problems that I am unable to truly navigate and fix. I only have the possibility of things changing by luck or simply through years of time. I am stuck with the same intelligence, talent and gifts and cannot expect any more than that. My life is mostly dependent on others and circumstances beyond my control.

The growth mindset is simply the opposite, it says I can always get smarter, better, I can always make more money. I can change my life, my circumstances my future. I am continually adapting to make life better and more fulfilling. 

Followers of Christ understand this more as a Fear mindset vs. Faith mindset

 

I like to think of it as fishing glasses… years ago I was going on a fishing trip with a great friend who is a Musky guide and fantastic fisherman. We had everything packed to fish for days - including food. But he said I should get some polarizing fishing sunglasses… we stopped at a fishing store and they had dozens to choose from. He suggested pair A over Pairs B C D etc… But they were most expensive, I chose pair W… the cheapest ones the store had. And for a week I had to look through crappy, frustrating, loose easily scratched glasses…. that is how I saw everything….

Faith is choosing the right glasses to see things through. 

I choose to see life’s problems and promises and good days and bad days through faith. 

 

Romans 10:17

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God… so its not a choice of I do have faith or I don’t have faith. It is an understanding of growing in faith according to how much of gods word you hear and act on. 

 

I put on the glasses of faith by continually reading and listening to the word of God. 

 

2 Tim. 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly studies and handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene.

 

study to show thyself… “not yet”. Meaning, that you don’t know everything now… not yet anyway, but you will. You don’t have all understanding or faith for this problem but you will… not yet, but I will… as you study Gods word the faith will come. 

here is a secret - 

The more you fully engage - the more you learn. You say I will never learn another language… maybe because you just downloaded an app or watched a few videos… but trust me, if you moved to another country were no one spoke english, you would learn that language. you are fully engaged in their culture and would almost be forced to. Milton Pope a great friend an missionary tells a story of when he and his wife moved to Argentina. Her name was Macky… she moved from the states with him to Argentina and said to her husband and others “Im not going to learn spanish, I will be fine with English”. And after 6 months she was speaking fluent spanish… why? She hadn’t planned on it, but she was immersed in spanish. she had to learn how to speak just to survive mentally and emotionally. She was full engaged even though she didn’t want to be at first.

Soooo… Fully engage in your faith.

John G. Lake probably one of the greatest faith healers in history used to take his students and send them out to different areas of the country to pray over people who were dying from various diseases - he would simply say “don’t come back until they are healed”. He fully immersed them in their journey of faith.

What if we choose to immerse ourselves in faith the same way… I am going to choose to give a million dollars to help rescue children in sex trafficking… now I will push myself and fully engage in my faith to do just that… I will not stop praying, trusting and trying until by Gods grace and my faith in him I make and give a million dollars to this cause. 

How will you fully engage your faith in order to supersize your faith? 

 

Romans 12:2 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.

THINK OF IT THIS WAY… transformed mind by renewing MEANS You didn’t fail, you were transforming. 

The faith mindset is always under control in the form of growing. What do I mean by that? Growing my faith can seem chaotic until I realize its sometimes chaotic so therefore I don’t see it as chaos anymore. Renewing is continued growth… and that means things will never be good enough- and aren’t I glad. I would hate to have the same level faith I had 10 years ago, or even 2 years ago. It is transforming… moving, evolving, changing, morphing… which might seem like little steps of failure, but its actually failing forward, or transforming. When the caterpillar dips himself into the cocoon, it it because he failed as a caterpillar? No - its because he is transforming into a butterfly. 

 

But let me add one final point - faith isn’t blind, its not stupid and it doesn’t act brash to those who know God. You can have a positive mindset and still jump off a building and fall to your death, no matter how much you believe you can fly. So it is with faith. Unless your faith is backed up by Gods word and his spirit leading in you to walk that out… you may fail with all the faith in the world. 

Faith does not mean foolishness… now it may seem foolish to others in what I say and what I do… but that is as far as it goes. To me, its not foolishness because I have heard Gods voice and have acted on it. I have been tested, tried and morphed into a new level of faith.