ABOVE THE LINE

There is a living, modern epidemic that faces you and I today.

It overshadows our brightest aspirations and undermines the landscape of our present circumstances. It attempts to overhaul our hope. Intoxicated by it, we are left enticed to believe in our inadequacy, our shortcoming and failure. We are persuaded as not enough or off the mark. This is the poverty mindset.

This is not to do with the material but the very material of the heart.

Does your inner world live above the line?

By this, I mean, are you shaped by the Truth you’ve been built for?

Freedom is living above the line and dwelling in an abundant mindset.

It is refusing to compromise thought. Choosing not to intertwine truth with impure material — not settling for empty lies or shaded thinking that choke out life and growth. You are not subject to your circumstances, you are subject to His glory. You are subject to hope, to peace and to extraordinary joy. These are the hallmarks of a Jesus-transformed life, and we are assigned to walk in the fruitfulness of an abundant mindset.

I am confident that the simple, ongoing, persistent act of renewing our minds and hearts changes everything. Exchanging our thinking for Truth is revolutionary. His ways and thoughts are higher, and are also ours to live from. This is the way the Spirit ensures we are set apart and distinct. Renewed minds glorify Jesus and are set on His kingdom. Renewed hearts know they are deeply and unmistakably loved. This isn’t an abstract or ethereal thing — it is intrinsic nature to the way you and I were designed.

Why is this belief system so important?

Beliefs grow within the core of our heart. Out of the overflow of our hearts, we speak and our life course is determined (Luke 6:45). We become what we believe about ourselves. I heard once that our beliefs form action, which reaps habit, which shapes character. Destiny hinges on our character. If this is true, we need to adjust the way we think to fit His. We need to ask for wisdom and revelation, and we must diligently fight to guard our hearts above all else (Proverbs 4:23) for the treasures stored here echo into eternity.

The brilliant news is that we have already been granted new life and we have complete authority through Jesus to be gatekeepers of our heart and mind. If it is not what He says, don’t allow it to alight, settle in, take root and occupy space in your heart. We can live mind-full of truth through dwelling on His voice and Word. It’s already ours to claim, to walk in and to delight in. We can, metaphorically, “pick up our mat and walk” in it, because it has already been signed, sealed and paid for in full.

The great, beckoning call of Jesus is not to live beneath our true selves. Not to settle for small-thinking but engage in His.

The world is actually waiting for the sons and the daughters of the earth to be revealed (Romans 8:19). For men and women that stand fearlessly in the face of challenge and are immovable. Unshaken in passion because they dare not move from who God has shouted that they already are. Those that will not entertain any visions of less-than calls because they know they are built for much and to be much. Those that also refuse to enter into competitive thinking and comparative games — they know it is not worth their time; indeed, they are so aware of the glory of their own call that they can only champion their brothers and sisters. To be those that do not look to the right or to the left, but maintain a posture of humility before the Lord. This is our mandate, our call, our occupation, and we can choose it, day-by-day through the unceasing grace of God.

What would the world begin to look like if we fully grasped our renewed-ness as sons and daughters? If we knew our given-freedom? It’s already yours, friend.

It’s already abundantly, undeniably yours in Jesus.

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