THINKING DIFFERENTLY, LIVE DIFFERENTLY!
Jer 17: 5 

This is what the LORD says: "Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the LORD. 6 They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty flats where no one lives. 7 "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. 8They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.
This passage of scripture is divided into two parts.  It’s as if the traveller has reached a fork in the road.  He now has to make a choice.  Which one does he take?  Does he go left or does he go right?
Often we are confronted with similar choices.  The real challenge is not roads well take but the heart behind the decisions we make.
Mt 6:  21 Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.
In the case of those who chose to follow the flesh, their treasure was not with God.  They found substitutes to worship.
In Jeremiahs time as it should be in the time in which we live, we should be trusting God.  Jehovah God.  We should be relying on Him.

Let’s look at those scriptures again:
Cursed are those who trust in mere humans!  I.e. there is no blessing in relying on the arm of flesh.  Put your trust in God.  Some of us have already started the journey or the process of trusting God.  Some are taking small steps.  Some are talking about doing it.  That’s fine.  It’s a good start.  Don’t turn back.
Cursed, not blessed, are you when you rely on human strength.  You can sort it out.  Right! You know people that know people.  Right! 
Jeremiah then makes a very serious statement.  Almost a given conclusion… and turn their hearts away from God!
We must be very careful where we put our treasure.  Where we invest what we value most.  It will either lead us to eternal live or away from eternal life.  Lead us to God or away from God.
Now let’s look at the external, the visible form of somebody that has decided to trust but not trust God.  Somebody who relies on human strength, human ingenuity!
They have stunted growth.  Implies limited development.  Not just spiritual but mental, social, emotional and physical as well.  A narrow-minded approach to life.
A sense of hopelessness or lost-ness often overwhelms such an individual.  The place where you are in is barren.  No life, no hope, no future.  No prospects.  You can add no value because you have chosen to put your trust and confidence in another source.  MAN!  Man will disappoint you Paul puts it differently;

Gal 5:19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, 20 idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Lets go back tpu our text:

7 "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. 8They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.
The word “BUT”, introduces a new thought.  A change in direction.  We’re going another way now.
The word blessed; blessing denotes a sense of praise, happiness, well-being, enjoyment of Divine favour. 
What is the source of this Divine Favour?  Does God have favourites?  Does the word not say that He has no favourites?
These that are blessed are blessed because they have learnt to put their hope and their confidence in God.  They have a confident expectation that God will not disappoint them.  

Heb 10: 35Do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord, no matter what happens. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. 
Confidence referring to ‘your bold expectation’ that God will.  Like the story of the boys saying my dad is bigger than your Dad.  Better than your Dad etc.  That type of confidence in God.
Ps 146: 3 Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
Ps 20: 7 Some nations boast of their armies and weapons, but we boast in the LORD our God.
Ps 33: 16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.17 Don't count on your warhorse to give you victory -- for all its strength, it cannot save you.
Ps 60:11 Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless
Let’s look at the ones that have made that decision to trust in God.  The blessed ones!
Jer 17: 8They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit.
Implies that they are close to the water.  Water is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  A symbol of purification and obviously a source of life.  The trees roots go in search of that source.  Part of that search is subjecting itself to being purified. 
Most times we want the benefits of the life that comes from the water, but we choose not be purified.
These trees are not bothered by the heat of the day.  They know that as part of life, there will be times of extra-ordinary testing and severe challenges.  Whatever shape and size they may come in, they will come.  They won’t be thrown off-course and look for ‘feel-good ‘answers.  They will continue to trust and go through life because their strength is from God. 
Even when they’re experiencing drought as the other trees around them will. They do not panic, because they know the source.  They know their God.  They have experienced HIM.  They do not rely on another man’s experiences or get carried away by some fancy fandangle experience.  They know God.

Ps 40: 4 Oh, the joys of those who trust the LORD, who have no confidence in the proud, or in those who worship idols.

RENEWING THE MIND – PRACTICAL OUTLIVING OF OUR FAITH!
Rom 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the entire [renewal] of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

Rom 6: 13 Do not let any part of your body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.
God wants us to be a transformed people.  A people with renewed minds that will honour and obey Him.  I often forget that at all times He has my best interest at heart.

This means that I must lay off, not engage in worldly behaviour.  What does that mean? 
Gal 5: 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, 20 idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.
Rom 8: 5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.

We can avoid most worldly customs and habits, but we can still be proud, covetous, selfish, stubborn and arrogant.
The Holy Spirit has come to re-new, re-educate and re-direct our minds to be truly transformed.  It’s not just the icing on the cake.  But the whole cake has been re-made to meet His specifications.
Eph 4: 22 throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. 23 Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. 24 You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness -- righteous, holy, and true.
Col 3: 10 In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you.
What does putting on the new nature mean?  It means that we must act like Christians ought to act. It’s more than just making good resolutions and having good intentions.  It’s about acting appropriately.
This is a process.  Not an event.  The day you and I got saved, is the day this process started.  Another way to put it… were all in school.  When you became a Christian, you signed up for life-long learning.  The more you push in, the more you’ll get to know, the more you’ll have to change your mind set.  Because the more you push in, the more like Him you’ll become. We must never stop learning and obeying.  There is no justification for drifting along, but there is incentive to find the rich treasures of growing in Him.
When revelation hits our spirit, it produces faith.  It creates a pathway of thought within the mind.  We start thinking right.
The problem is, we back off.  We stumble and fall.  Or we take offense.  We start drifting away, from the path.  We lose heart.  And whilst we may not lose our salvation, we get into an area of serious spiritual neglect. A sure sign of this is when we begin to justify our sinful ways.  We start blaming … instead of owning up and trusting God to bring us back to the place where we first knew Him.
When we start thinking right, we start acting right…

It doesn’t mean we get it right all the time.  At least we are aligning ourselves with what God is doing.
That’s when you get a RHEMA WORD from God and you hang onto it… and nothing will move you away from it.  Like Hannah, when she got a word from Eli.  It wasn’t presumption or wishful thinking.  It was a faith based on the move of the Holy Spirit on the man of God.

The woman with the issue of blood… in her pain and discomfort.  Amidst all the advice she received from people… you must’ve sinned, you this and that… when she heard Jesus was around those things didn’t put her off.  She had built up such a head of faith… Jesus couldn’t otherwise but respond to her need.
Blind Bartemaues… had a similar experience.  He had enough of the sights and smells of Beggar land.  He heard a word, the same word the other beggars heard.  They had not received the revelation… Jesus said, your faith has healed you.