Deliverance isn’t just for the demon possessed, the drug addict or the alcoholic. The Bible teaches we all need deliverance from at least three things: ungodly thinking, ungodly actions and ungodly attitudes. In this post we’ll cover how to find freedom from ungodly thinking.
We all need freedom from ungodly thinking (Exodus 14:10-11, 16:2, 17:3).
In Exodus 12 God brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, but they didn’t leave ungodly Egyptian thinking behind in Egypt. They brought that with them! Like many irreligious people, the Israelites thought God was out to harm them, not help them! When the Egyptians chased the Israelites and trapped them by the Red Sea, they accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt just to kill them. When they were thirsty they accused Moses of bringing into the desert so they could die of thirst. When they were hungry they accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to starve them to death. What warped thinking! God had just miraculously rescued them from the Egyptians and it wasn’t so He could kill them! Nevertheless, that’s what they thought.
My toddler views me a lot like the Israelites viewed God. He thinks I’m out to ruin his life because when he climbs on top of our very high chairs at the kitchen table, I take him down. But when I take him down, I’m not trying to ruin his life, I’m trying to preserve it!
Though many think God is out to limit their fun – what’s the truth? God brought the Israelites out of Egypt to turn them into a great nation, give them land and bring from the people and out of the land the promised Messiah – to help them, not harm them. And the same is true for us! But our thinking will naturally gravitate towards harm, not help so we need deliverance from ungodly thinking. Paul knew of this tendency to think wrong about God so he wrote in Philippians 4:8, “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Paul wouldn’t have written this unless the Christians he was writing to needed deliverance from ungodly thinking. And we need that too!
This is why God gave us the Bible to help us find freedom from ungodly thinking (Exodus 20:3-17).
The first thing God did once he brought the Israelites up out of Egypt was give them his laws. Living in godless Egyptian culture they picked up Egyptian ways of thinking: Egyptian world views, Egyptian values, Egyptian principles for living which were contrary to God’s way. So God gave them his laws to reprogram their thinking.
Recently my computer went nuts so I brought it to the Apple Store in Holyoke. They had to restore it to factory settings. Once they did that everything worked great. Well, similarly, when we read God’s word it reprograms our thinking – it restores our mind to factory settings. Living in our godless culture we pick up on godless worldviews, godless values, godless principles for living. God’s cure is the Bible. Paul wrote in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” As we read the Bible our thinking is renewed. So we always encourage people to attend Explore 201 (the second of our four New Day University courses) and to pick a reading plan at bible.com because a steady diet of God’s Word is essential to finding freedom from ungodly thinking. God has given you this tool – are you using it or neglecting it?