“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).
I see that for so many people their mind (or intellect) is the greatest battle they face. Our minds need to be transformed, and transformation is process of metamorphosis. In order to completely renew our minds we must embrace change, and that begins with changing the way we think and being totally open to whatever God desires us to do.
Each and every one of us needs to be renewed in our minds – and to do that we need to face our weaknesses and ask God to change our thinking patterns that are not in line with His will. We need to realize that we can only move forward when we fully embrace the truth of God’s Word. Ask God to give you the mind of Christ, for in Philippians 2:5 it is written: “Let this mind be in you which was also Christ Jesus.”
It is extremely important that we keep the doors around our soul guarded from the enemy. Bring your mind to God and ask Him to forgive you for allowing demonic, negative, hateful thoughts to take root. Those thoughts are not from God – but from the enemy himself. What are the things that influence your mind in a negative way? What lies of the enemy do you believe that keeps your mind captive? Think what you think about, and use the Word of God to evaluate your thoughts:
Finally, brothers and sisters, 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 (Phil. 4:8).
The renewal process begins by presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Spend time with God in prayer and surrender yourself to His service. Then ask Him to empower you to keep His instructions, and to be holy and separated unto Him. Separate yourself from any situation that can bring defilement. Lay down your pride, and if you are struggling with something – acknowledge your problem to God so that He can bring healing and restoration. Be honest with God and pour out your heart before Him. Allow His Glory light to shine in your soul, and humble yourself before Him by admitting that you need His help to renew your mind. Repent of your negative thoughts of jealousy, envy, hatred, self-rejection and inferiority; and lead your thoughts captive into the obedience of Christ Jesus.
[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) (2 Cor. 10:5, Amp.)
Let’s pray right now: “Lord Jesus, I repent of allowing all kinds of fears to take root in my heart and mind. I confess that my mind needs to be renewed of all these evil, bitter, fearful thoughts. I repent of being afraid of the future, and for not trusting You to take care of me. I desire to experience all the joy You have for me, and I want to experience Your transforming power that will propel me forward in every way. Please change my heart, my mind, my life – and even though I may face persecution, I will count it all joy because my strength is in You Lord Jesus. Please equip me with Your seven fold spirit: the Spirit of the Lord - the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the reverential and obedient fear of the Lord (see Is. 11:2) – because I will only be able to cross over into the Promised Land if I am totally dependent on You, and equipped by Your Spirit. Please help me Lord to renew my minds and to get my thinking in line with Your will and Your Word.”
We are on a journey of total dependence with Aldo – not only for Aldo, but for our whole family. I have found that our minds and our hearts store up all our pain; and out of the pain come most of our illnesses – physical, emotional and mental.
Renewal of the mind is a daily process, and it is so important that our hearts be brought to the light, and that we look our pain in the eyes. As I walk this journey next to Aldo, Wisdom is teaching me so much about the importance of building walls of protection around our soul. The walls of fire need to be built every day through prayer; and we need to sanctify ourselves through the blood of the Lamb.
We will continue building Aldo’s walls step by step, brick by brick. It requires us to watch and pray – to fight and build. We are very excited about the progress we are making, because we are starting to see amazing results. You just need to be willing to dig deep and to pull out the roots of iniquity (see the prayers for the “roots” by following this link). If you don’t deal with the roots, the foundation of your wall will keep on cracking. Once the roots have been rooted out, the building and restoration process can follow. You will then abide in the peace of God and your thoughts will become transformed to the mind of Christ – a sound mind!
Like sands through an hour glass this year is quickly running out. We are almost on our way to Israel. Once a year a take a tour group over to hand out our book “A Message from God” in Hebrew for free, and in this way we reach out to the Jews so they can come to know their Messiah. It truly is such a humbling experience to see how the Holy Spirit can work through a book to make the King of kings known to them.
When we come back from Israel my family and I are going to Yzerfontein (near Cape Town), to spend our December holiday there. Tinus will fly back and forth for work until his factory closes on the 15th. And then for the BIG miracle: our entire family, together with Ma’am Patrys and Chantel have been invited to Florida, America! We will be spending a holiday there during the first two weeks of January.
It has always been my dream to take my entire family to the States, but it was just too expensive. Every time I had ministered there in the past, I sowed financial seed into the nation, and now the plentiful harvest has come in! Our tickets and our accommodation are being paid for by another family. It is like a dream come true for all of us! This is our King!! He is truly alive, and He knows the desires of our hearts.
All of us are so excited – the kids have just about already packed their bags. I looked at the open suitcase in Josh’s room the other day and thought to myself, “Zozzie, if you only knew about all the things that I still have to do before we can zip up that suitcase for America!”
We will be in the New York for the last weekend of our trip, and hopefully there will be some snow. I always take pictures of the snow for the boys when I’m there on my own. None of them had ever seen snow before for themselves. Josh said the other day, “Mom, Ma’am Patrys comes from Namibia – can you image how big New York will be to her!” We all laughed with him – as if NY won’t be huge for all of us!
But I have to say, at the moment my soul is crying out for a few weeks of peace and quiet at our little holiday house in Yzerfontein. I can feel it in my body that it’s the end of the year – everyone is tired. But I still have lots to do before then – I don’t have any off days until we leave for Yzerfontein, and each day seems to be busier than the previous one. (Photo: Josh at the swimming gala.)
Tinus is at a meeting at the moment and I am sitting with the kids in bed. Josh wants to lie next to Aldo, then they start kicking each other, then I stop the fight and continue typing... then they start kicking again, then I put pillows between them so they won’t touch each other.... momentary peace, but eventually they start kicking each other again. Finally I give up: “No, everyone to their own beds!” (And all of this with my laptop in my hands – still trying to type through all the dramatics!)
Eventually the long day takes its toll – they are both sleeping soundly in Yeshua’s arms. The house is entirely quiet now. It’s only me and Moya (Josh’s dog) that are still awake. She is lying on the carpet staring at me. Finally I give in and invite her onto the bed with me so I can rub her back. We are just a normal family, with normal challenges. Sometimes our struggles feel more challenging then other people’s issues, but the Lord always reminds me that at the end of the day we are just a normal family that are sold out and totally dependent on God.
When I think about Yzerfontein and about how much I’m looking forward to spending time at the sea, I can’t help but smile. It is so peaceful and quiet there, and nobody really knows us. We can relax and just be ourselves, and walk around barefoot with our oldest clothes on. There nobody stares; nobody asks questions, nobody really cares.
During a previous holiday, I sat on our patio one morning reading a book while the children were playing cricket on the grass. A stranger walked past our lawn and recognized Aldo. She stopped and asked: “Hey, isn’t your name Aldo?”
He answered and said, “Yes Ma’am, I am. But rather don’t stay too long – my Mom doesn’t want people to know that we live here.” The cousins were doubled over with laughter, but I just hid behind my book in shame, hoping that she wouldn’t see me there. The kids laughed so much, and when the lady left the kids called out to me: “Aunty Retah, his name is always-honest-Aldo!”
My soul rejoices when I think of this past weekend. So many people received healing, so many people were set free from Satan’s grip... how can I ever thank Yeshua enough for this road He is leading us on? He teaches and equips me, so I can teach and equip others.
All the honour to our King! All He requires of us in order to manifest His kingdom here on earth, is to be an empty vessel.
Throughout all the pain, I can see that He is taking us through a purification process.
All for His glory and honour.
Love,
Retah and the family.
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