Think With God

* Living in the Spirit Series*

Abraham and Moses reveal two different challenges that believers encounter in their walk with God.

Abraham had to obey beyond understanding. Moses had to move beyond what he could see. Together they teach us a vital lesson: we must learn to think with God rather than allowing our natural minds to become the boundary of our faith.

## The Abraham Question

Abraham could have asked: *"What will happen to me if I obey?"*

God's instruction appeared to threaten something precious to him. Many believers face the same challenge. God may be asking you to do something that involves personal sacrifice. Your mind begins calculating the consequences. What will people say? What will I lose? What if this fails?

But Abraham teaches us to place confidence in God's character above fear of personal consequences.

## The Moses Question

Moses faced a different question: *"How can this situation possibly change?"*

The Red Sea was real. Pharaoh was real. The danger was real. But the impossibility was not the final word. God was about to do something Moses could not imagine.

Many believers face this situation today. The problem becomes so large in our minds that we cannot imagine a solution. We unconsciously limit God to what we can understand. But God does not need our imagination in order to act.

## Faith Thinks Differently

The natural mind asks: *"How can this work?"* Faith asks: *"What has God said?"*

The natural mind asks: *"What if everything goes wrong?"* Faith asks: *"Who is God?"*

The natural mind says: *"I cannot see a way."* Faith says: *"God can make a way where I cannot see one."*

This is what it means to learn to think with God. It does not mean becoming intellectually careless. It means refusing to allow fear, negative conditioning, circumstances, or limited understanding to become greater than God's Word.

## Think Forward

God wants us to develop a mind that thinks forward.

- Do not allow yesterday's failures to determine tomorrow's possibilities. - Do not allow the behavior of some people to make you suspicious of everyone. - Do not allow difficult circumstances to convince you that God has abandoned you. - Do not allow your inability to see the solution to make you conclude that there is no solution.

When you face a difficult situation, ask three questions:

1. What has God said? 2. Who is God? 3. What is God asking me to do?

These questions move us from fear to faith, from confusion to direction, and from circumstances to God.

Abraham teaches us to obey beyond understanding. Moses teaches us to move beyond what we can see. Both teach us to trust God beyond the limitations of the natural mind.

**Never allow the limitations of your mind to become the limitations of your God.**

## Reflection

Which do I struggle with more: obeying God when I do not understand, or trusting Him when I cannot see the way forward?

*Hassan Thomas Nenger* *Author, My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God* *Living in the Spirit Series*