Thinking Like God

There is what we might call Christian philosophic thinking. It is a smattering of faith geared to sentimental ideas, speculations and explanations about why God does not do this or that. But God is the God of all comfort, not the God of all explanations. He did not come tell us why, but how.

When the leprous general Naaman came to Elisha for healing, the prophet sent a servant to tell him to go and wash in Jordan. Naaman was indignant. He said “I thought he would come out to me, stand and strike his hand over the place.” He thought, but the Lord didn’t do it the way he thought.

The Gospel itself is God’s thought, which to human thinking is foolishness - yet it is the wisdom of God.

Christian thinking is positive, but positive thinking is not always Christian. Negative thinking is never Christian, never Bible. The Bible is assured and confident. It speaks as the truth. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. Our trumpet sounds clearly. By the Word we can have the mind of Christ. It challenges us to soar like the eagles to live in the dimension of faith.

The Bible escalates our outlook. God said “My thoughts are not your thoughts”, but they can be.

Modern business principles may be useful, but the Word of God is higher. Evangelism cannot be substituted by statistics and averages. The church is God’s business. He is the head and wants it run His way. He has given us instruction enough.

A recent Church Growth book used in a training college laid down the statistical expectations of a church. It took into account the number of people around the church, or in the town and gave what kind of response there would be. It set targets adapting the message for different classes of people. This was good business practice used in advertising. Success was calculated based on business experience and market research. Spend so much money and reach so many people. But faith has no place in such an outlook.

The Gospel is not a commodity to be marketed like packaged food or detergents. It is dynamite, explosive, ‘casting fire on earth’. A single match can start a prairie fire. Its effects are incalculable. Just preach it. “My thoughts are not your thoughts.” God has no targets, no limits, no averages.

Christ is the Savior of all men, especially for those that believe. Jesus said “I have come that THE WORLD might be saved.” That is God’s thinking and should be ours. It is the ultimate. God can never be out-thought, and nobody can have higher thoughts. But what He thinks He makes possible. He came to save the world and the world can be saved. America can be blood-washed, Europe can be blood-washed, yes, the five continents can be washed in the precious Blood of Jesus. God is the God of the whole earth. Let all nations rejoice. Every knee shall bow – that’s our only target. Our power is the Holy Spirit, and our sword is the Word of God. “Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance.” That is God’s promise to His Son, and that means to us also, for we are His inheritors.

- Thinking Like God, Reinhard Bonnke