Are you being reprogrammed, or as Romans 12:2 says, “transformed by the renewing of your mind,” for God by His Holy Spirit?

Let me explain by a physical example. I have had worsening right hand action tremors since 1988, worsening left hand action tremors since 1995, and resting head and upper body tremors since 2004. On March 10, 2011, I had deep brain stimulation surgery where a special wire was placed in the left side of my brain, and a battery in my chest (to stimulate the wire to calm down my right hand tremors). In order for the battery to reduce my right hand tremors properly, it had to be reprogrammed every four to seven weeks, to slowly and gradually increase its voltage. If the voltage was raised too high, too soon, I got tingling in my right arm that took hours to dissipate.

But for over a decade, God used my increasing hand tremors and other health issues to help me realize I need Him to reprogram me spiritually. He knew that I needed to develop a godlier outlook towards all people, especially to those with hidden disabilities like my own. I now can be more forgiving and more understanding of my own limitations and those of others.

Our minds need to change

Reprogramming and renewing starts in the mind. It includes changing the mind from the carnal thinking to godly thinking and it starts by learning to “Ask, and it will be given to you...” as Matthew 7:7 reads. It involves becoming fervent in both prayer and in-depth Bible study.

Do we seem to repeat similar habits that we learned as children? How are we to “put away childish things” as Paul said he did in 1 Corinthians 13:11 if we don’t see the need to learn from and then let go of our pasts? By asking God to help us to forgive ourselves and to let go of the old, childish, even dysfunctional and generational thinking and paradigms, we can begin to grow in serving others better without our pasts getting in the way.

God slowly helped me to see every person less critically; the tattooed young person may surprise me by holding the door for me. Or the slovenly dressed person may share a similar interest or health challenge. We need to ask God to help us to better understand and forgive others.

It helps to remember that when we meet anyone for the first time, we usually think of that person as normal because we just see the external. We don’t know how the person grew up, and the challenges they face. Most of us grew up with hurts and disappointments buried in our pasts that can come back to unknowingly affect our adult relationships. People may say something that causes us to react; that reaction is likely caused by an earlier, similar childhood experience.

We can ask God to help us be quiet around others so we can listen to better understand, respect, love and encourage them.

Challenge your understanding of others

Some assumptions and perceptions can start in our childhoods. Other assumptions can start when you hear something about another person and think something’s true, only to discover later that it was false. Our assumptions and perceptions of others could be wrong, based more on what we assume or think about that person. Most people do not knowingly offend others.

Asking God to help us let go of perceived negatives and perceived offenses of others can help us become more understanding of them. Negatives can be similar to assumptions. What we may think is a negative could be caused by a birth defect, a gene deletion, mutation at birth or an accidentresulting in that person no longer doing what’s considered to be normal. Our only “preconceived” notions should be those which we carefully have taken from God's Word of Truth.

We are told near the end of the model prayer in Matthew 6:13 to ask to be delivered from the evil one, our tempter and accuser, Satan. But do we during our private prayer time ask God to open our eyes to see if we are accusatory toward others in how they act, dress or speak, if we are complaining about others, or if we are deceiving ourselves or others?

Just as I’m still being physically reprogrammed to better control my right hand tremor, I’m daily being transformed by God to better serve Him and His Church. We all need to welcome such a transformation.

To learn more about taking the first steps in becoming what you were designed to be, read our free Bible study aid Transforming Your Life: The Process of Conversion.