Thinking Higher
A MESSAGE BY PASTOR KENT MUNSEY
Missio Dei is Latin for “The Mission of God” and Missio Dei doors are about the doors that God opens in our lives for us to walk through, so that we can join in His mission. We, as a City Church Chicago family do this each year, so we can grow, go further, and strengthen partnerships.
“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.” - Romans 12:2 NIV
We believe that in this season God is opening and closing doors in our lives and that it's important for us to test those doors. A Missio Dei door cannot be trusted until it can be tested. When you encounter a door, challenge yourself to think higher about what that door means, think as God thinks about those doors and remember that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts – they are higher than our thoughts.
If you’re going to clearly see the doors that God wants you to walk through, you have to first think right about the doors that God has for you. It’s important to differentiate between the doors that are presented to us. If we’re not careful, we can sometimes, on our own, build our own theology around open doors and closed doors, whereby open doors become seemingly good opportunities and closed doors represent every disappointing circumstance. We must trust that when one door isn’t opening, God is working on opening another door for us elsewhere. It’s also important to remember that as people, we can easily create an attitude that NO DOOR equals NO DO, that we shouldn’t act if there’s no door, that no door means we have an excuse to become lazy. On the other hand, we can allow ourselves to believe that God is blessing our bad ideas just because a door is open. Just because a door is open, doesn’t mean that we are to walk through it. Not all open doors have God’s blessing. It’s important that we take time to test the doors that are opened to us!
“Let God have your life. He can do more with it than you can.”
How do we test a door?
We first test a door by investigating what God thinks about the door. We do this by THINKING HIGHER because what God thinks about a door is much different than how we think about a door. Our thoughts, as people, originate outside the body. The way we think about things depends on who we’re listening to, the relationships in our lives, what we’ve heard, and our own unique experiences. We have our own thoughts about what things mean based on what we've seen.
In the book of James, we are told to pray for one another and encourage one another daily. If we're not careful, we can allow thoughts to enter our brain that are not God’s thoughts and cause us to close doors that God has intended for us to walk through. For us to walk through the Missio Dei doors that God has for us, we have to be able to see them and think about them correctly. Give yourself permission to start investigating the thoughts you have about things.
My challenge to you is to not think better, but to think higher. Think with a kingdom mindset, a righteous mindset, and a holy mindset that is completely out-of-this world thinking. Ask yourself is your thoughts God’s thoughts?
How do you think about Missio Dei doors?
When we receive thoughts, it goes through three stages: Potential, Understanding, and Realization. When a thought first enters our brain, we immediately begin to try and comprehend the potential of that thought. There are all these outside thoughts that cause us to think and affect how we see things and make decisions about things. All throughout scripture, we can see just how amazing God’s thoughts are.
How do I start thinking higher?
Surrender to God, trust God, and act on His word, even when it seems ridiculous. Even if you’re not clear in your understanding of what God wants, acting on it is the first step. When you do that, your Christ-like DNA begins to run through every area of our lives and you start to see a complete and total transformation that can only happen through following Jesus. Thinking higher begins with Jesus, who lives inside of us. He lives in our heart and He wants to transform us day by day. The goal of our lives is to align every single thought with the person, the character, the nature, and the spirit of Jesus.
Many people know about God, but don't know God, and when you know God, the way that you think about the things that God says and does will be viewed differently. Often times the way God thinks can sometimes appear to be ridiculous, but when you start to think of how God is thinking, the way He’s thinking begins to make sense.
If we're going to walk through the Missio Dei doors that God has for us, then it starts with higher thinking. God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Stop looking for the door that you think you need and look up to God who thinks so much higher and who is trying to open a door for you to experience His goodness, His grace, His power, and His authority and partner with Him in His mission here on this earth. It’s in our DNA to store our thoughts, experience, and past experiences. It’s not by coincidence or accident that Jesus takes hold in our lives and that we experience God in our thoughts. It's transformational, kingdom thinking that is best revealed to us through higher thinking. When we focus on Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior, we receive forgiveness and brand new DNA that is of God,
Think about the 10 Commandments in the way that God was thinking, not just as RULES:
- God never wants us to put him second
- God never wants us to create an image of him or put him in a box
- God never wants us to belittle him
- God wants us to rest every 7th day
- God wants us to respect authority
- God wants us to protect all life
- God wants us to watch out or not take from each other
- God wants us to protect true intimacy, friendships, and families
- God wants us to use our words to build up, not tear down
- God wants us to be content