RENEW YOUR MIND TO MAKE 2021 BETTER THAN 2020
RENEW YOUR MIND TO MAKE 2021 BETTER THAN 2020
Dr. Ben Lerner with Pastor Leon Fontaine, the Senior Pastor of Springs Church, Winnipeg, Canada, the largest church in Canada and CEO of the Miracle Channel, a TBN affiliate network that reaches over four million homes across Canada and more than one million homes in the U.S.
If you have listened to me speak for very long, heard me give a sermon, or were in any of the dozens of lectures I’ve done to pastors through the Billion Soul Initiative, then you would have heard me talk about Pastor Leon Fontaine.
Without a doubt, the reason behind Pastor Fontaine’s success is his inimitable commitment to the well-being of the people he is reaching. His passion to see people be healthy body, mind, and spirit so they can achiever their God-given potential is a power that has driven his ministries to a level unequaled in his country and rarely seen on earth.
After Body by God became and NY Times Best-seller along with a Christian Booksellers Association Best-seller I started getting asked to travel and speak. The investment certain organizations made to have me come out often impressed me as I just really appreciated what they were willing to do to help their people. Thus, when Pastor Fontaine flew me out from Florida to do a big event in Winnipeg, Canada I was pretty blown away. You really cannot travel much farther than Florida to Winnipeg and stay inside North America.
When I arrived and asked him why such an investment, he now famously said, Health comes before faith in our church. I’m no good to God or my family if I’m sick or dead.
Below is an article that Pastor Leon wrote for one of my books that we’re pleased to share with you this week. ENJOY!
By Pastor Leon Fontaine:
I learned a long time ago that I’m no good to my family or to God if I’m dead or sick. It’s so important, especially with the schedule that life can bring, that you walk in health. Two verses have been very important to me in my life: “I beseech you brethren therefore by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service; and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1–2).
It’s important for us to understand that the battle for health is not in the body. The battle for health is in the mind. There are habits and belief systems that we follow that have to be changed. I love the progression that the writer uses here, that if we were to renew our mind to God’s Word, to God’s discipline, to God’s beliefs, we would prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. My wife may welcome me home and say, “I made a beautiful roast.” I take a bite and she says, “How’s the roast?” If I say it’s good or acceptable, that’s not a great complement for her. But if I say it’s perfect, that’s the absolute best.
We can live our lives “good.” We can live our lives “acceptable.” Or we can go for the best. Living out and using every gift, every ability, every relationship, every season that God has for us can be amazing and awesome. But to do it, we have to walk in health. It’s time to renew our minds with the Word of God. How hard is it? How easy is it?
It’s just a daily regimen of taking the Word of God, learning it, memorizing it, meditating on it. God’s Word gives us the power to walk in discipline. Discipline or self-control is not a fruit of the mind. It is a fruit of the “re-creative” spirit. That means, the presence of God radiates from our spirits into our minds and helps us to reset our minds, helps us to put in new belief systems, helps us to renew our minds in a way that gives us a whole new lease on life.
With God, all things are possible,
Dr. Ben Lerner
#cccmovement