Renewal: to begin again; recommence
Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
It is clear , as this verse states, that we can not continue with our old way of thinking once we are Born Again. Everything around us must be viewed through a renewed way of thinking. You are no longer the person of your past and you have been moved or translated to the realm of the Kingdom of GOD. Our minds must be taught how to think in accordance with Heaven.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
One of the very significant events that occurred in the ministry of Jesus is when Jesus gives Peter this instruction:
Matt 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.
Keys ,of course represent access, if we have keys then whatever door those keys fit we have gained access through that door. The Apostle Peter was given access to the Kingdom of GOD. Peter could now learn and observe how things are done in Heaven and then apply Heavenly laws to the activities happening in the earth. Did Peter go into heaven physically and learn these things? Perhaps? It was the Holy Spirit who was the sole facilitator in accomplishing this work in Peter. By learning Kingdom principles the Apostle Peter's mind was renewed.
Just like the Apostle Peter , followers of Christ must have their mind renewed and we are given this instruction in the headline scripture Romans 12:2. We can not live successfully as a Christian without a renewed mind.
A renewed mind understands what the will of GOD is in the earth. Let me present an example of how the renewed mind thinks.
Matt 16:21 From that time forth Jesus began [clearly] to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death.
Matt 16:22 Then Peter took Him aside to speak to Him privately and began to reprove and charge Him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord! This must never happen to You!
Matt 16:23 But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, Get behind Me, Satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
Satan in this verse is being rebuked yet it is Peter who is speaking. Clearly this confrontation happen prior to Peter being fully converted to the ways and purposes of GOD. Jesus is saying you are reacting from the viewpoint of unregenerate man and therefore unable to see the will of GOD for me as your savior. Unless your mind is renewed you can not comprehend the will and purposes of GOD.
1 Cor 2:7 But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God--[that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence].
1 Cor 2:8 None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
What the world views as failure, Heaven may view the very same event as success. There is no greater example than the crucifixion of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.
Obtaining a renewed mind involves being taught the Heavenly view through the Bible and by then behaving in accordance with the Heavenly view. Just like most things we gain book knowledge and then by practice we learn.
1 Cor 1:18 For the story and message of the cross is sheer absurdity and folly to those who are perishing and on their way to perdition, but to us who are being saved it is the [manifestation of] the power of God.
1 Cor 1:19 For it is written, I will baffle and render useless and destroy the learning of the learned and the philosophy of the philosophers and the cleverness of the clever and the discernment of the discerning; I will frustrate and nullify [them] and bring [them] to nothing. [
