There was a scene in The Princess Bride where, after Vizzini keeps repeatedly using the word 'inconceivable', Inigo tells Vizzini: "I do not think it means what you think it means"

Preconceived - of an idea or opinion formed before having the evidence

Notion - a conception of or belief about something

So, a Preconceived Notion is an idea or opinion that has been accepted as truth without evidence.   

Much of what we 'know' is merely a collection of Preconceived Notions which have been passed to us by others holding those Preconceived Notions.   

Tradition is typically a set of conventions which have been accepted because those who came before accepted them.   

Preconceived Notions may or may not be correct.   

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Joh 14:6 Jesus is the Holy Spirit in flesh.     It is necessary to believe this about Jesus in order to be Born Again of the Holy Spirit.     Those who reject Jesus, reject the Holy Spirit.         → He is the Way: Jesus is the path to our Creator.         → He is the Truth: Jesus is the Truth about our Creator    → He is the Life: Jesus is the Creator by His Holy Spirit who fills us giving us life.      As disciples of Christ we must share this Gospel Truth with everyone in our lives.      It will either be a testimony for them leading to Eternal Life with Christ or a testimony against them in The Judgment leading to Eternal Death in the Lake Of Fire.     Act 4:12 Rev 20:12,15

Jesus wants us to discount everything we think we know in favor of Him and His Words.   

This is hard to do because much of what Jesus said is unbelievable!   

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Mat 7:7 Jesus is teaching about faith.     To ask effectively you must speak what you desire and you must believe that you will receive.      When we seek we must seek in faith so that we will recognize what we are seeking when we see it.      When we knock we must expect the door to be opened and we must be prepared to enter in confidence.

If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. Joh 14:14 What a promise!      Christ Jesus has signed a blank check for us.     By faith we fill the check in and cash it.      Do you believe the Word Of The Lord?      If so, meditate on this verse until you are convinced of the totality of our Father's love and the magnificence of Christ's provision for us by Grace Through Faith.      Who is the one that we ask?     The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mar 11:24 A desire is the object of hope.     Desiring and Hoping are activities of the imagination.      Faith is the state of our heart regarding that which we desire.      Jesus is telling us to visualize a desire, ask for it and immediately receive it in faith.      The act of desiring, hoping, asking, believing and receiving by faith is a seed that is planted.     The manifestation of that which is desired is the harvest.      The Spiritual Law of Seed Time And Harvest is foundational to all that the Lord has created.      1) We sow 2) the Lord produces 3) We harvest.

I could go on but these three examples of the Truth are unbelievable by most believers In Christ Jesus.   

Why?   Preconceived Notions.   

The challenge for every believer In Christ is to believe His Words and do them.   

Jesus threw away every Preconceived Notion commonly held by Jews of His day.   This is why He was so hated by the establishment - the Scribes Pharisees And Hypocrites.   

Jesus operated above the constricted patterns of Judaism while keeping the spirit of the Law upon which those patterns were based.   

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord. Mat 4:4 This is not just a response to put Satan off.     But, more importantly, it is a statement of Spiritual Law which clearly elevates the importance of every Word of the Lord.     We cannot experience Abundant Life without abiding in His Word.      Just as Food is necessary for Physical Life, the Wordof God is necessary for Spiritual Life.     the Lord is a Spirit so we can only relate to Him in Spirit and in Truth by faith.     We need the Holy Spirit of the Lord and we need the Word Of The Lord.

This was not a one-off statement made to respond to Satan.   Rather it was a profound statement of eternal Truth which He manifested.   

If the Lord said it, it is True.   

Trying to make the Word conform to convention, tradition, theology or opinion is blasphemy.   It elevates experience and the rational mind above the veracity and authority of the Holy Spirit.   

But that is what so many in Christianity have done - to their own injury.   They have been deceived by Satan to deny the Word of the Lord and to believe tradition, experience, sight and rational thinking.   

The injury incurred is monumental.   I am not talking about loss of salvation.   I am talking about Abundant Life.   

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Joh 10:10 The thief is Satan who is the inspiration for all the evil in the world.      Whereas the 'I' is Jesus who offers us Eternal Life and Abundant Life.      This verse is a powerful statement contrasting the nature of the enemy with the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.      Note that the enemy takes by force what is ours, while we must appropriate by faith what is ours in Christ Jesus.      The appropriation is not a 'one and done' thing.     Rather, it is an ongoing process throughout our lives on this earth.      Jesus has given us His life in giving us His Holy Spirit who is in every believer who has asked to be filled.     We aught to invoke His life into every aspect of our walk in the earth.

Most Christians have spiritualized this statement to the point where Satan picks their pocket any time he chooses.   

The result is weakness, sickness and death.   

Jesus did not do the miracles, healings and deliverances He did to just show off.   He did them to minister to the ones in need and to demonstrate a new way of living - in the power and authority of Abundant Life.   

Clearly Jesus did not plan to be the sole purveyor of Abundant Life.   

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. Joh 14:12 This is one of the most ignored things that Jesus said.     Why?     Because we choose to be believers only.     We resist becoming disciples.      Disciples follow their master in His footsteps learning from Him and imitating Him.      Jesus is telling us that we are to spread the Gospel, heal the sick, set captives free and make disciples of all men.      We can only do this by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in a vessel with the Mind Of Christ.      What did Jesus mean by 'I go unto my Father'?     Jesus returned to the Spirit Realm ( Heaven) when He ascended where the Holy Spirit Father is most readily experienced.     It is the seat from where The Majesty emanates throughout the universe.

He suffered, bled, died and rose again that we may receive His Holy Spirit - the power that enabled Him to do what He did.   

And, behold, I send the promised Holy Spirit Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with supernatural power. Luk 24:49 Understanding this verse:    → Jesus is giving a command (send)    → A promise is an announcement of potential.         → 'my Father' may best be understood as 'my generator'.         → The Holy Spirit is the one who generated Jesus.         → Jesus is ordaining His own Spirit to come to us.         → We are to wait for His Holy Spirit to come upon us and fill us before going out in Jesus' name.         → When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit we then have both the authority of Jesus and the power of His Spirit in us.

Interestingly, the very power that Jesus told us to wait for has been denigrated and denied by so many 'believers' in Jesus.   Such do not welcome the Holy Spirit because they do not need the Holy Spirit.   

This is akin to the Scribes Pharisees And Hypocrites who did not need Jesus.   They rejected Him and died in their sins.   

Rejecting the Holy Spirit power relegates a believer to living in fear, weakness, sickness and general neediness.   This is the very opposite of Abundant Life.   

The Holy Spirit is Eternal Life and He is Abundant Life.   

The Holy Spirit is Christ In Us.   

This Truth comes against the Preconceived Notion that many believers have that the New Birth is all there is.   

Another Preconceived Notion that is pervasive in the Church is that there will be a Silent Rapture.   It is not based on scripture but on three misconceptions from scripture:
   → Imminency
   → Blessed Hope
   → Righteous With The Wicked

The danger of faith in a Silent Rapture is that the virgin will not take oil to trim her lamp during the night of the Great Tribulation.   

So, what are we to do since we have so many Preconceived Notions?   

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Joh 5:39 The Bible is inspired but not everything in it is the Word Of The Lord.     Many passages are accounts of what happened and how it was perceived by men.      The spoken Word Of The Lord is contained in the Bible.     Jesus said you must search the scriptures for references to the Christ which testify of Jesus.     It is only in Christ Jesus that we find Eternal Life which is the Holy Spirit.      When we encounter Words in scripture which quicken our mind and body the Holy Spirit is bearing witness of Christ Jesus in that Word.

Keep listening, reading and studying the teachings of others.   But verify their teaching with the Word Of The Lord.   

No new revelation from the Lord will violate the Word Of The Lord.   

In case this article has made you doubt your salvation, rest assured that is not its purpose.   Rather, it is to anchor you in the Truth of the Word Of The Lord.   

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Rom 10:13 What is the 'name of the Lord'?     Jesus.      What does it mean to 'call upon the name of the Lord'?     It means to come to the Creator calling Him by His name, Jesus, to plea for salvation.      God is just the generic name for deity.      Calling upon God will not save anyone.      Jesus is the express image of the only true and living God.     It is only in the name, Jesus, that anyone is saved.         → Jesus is the name of the Father.         → Jesus is the name of the Holy Spirit.      Understanding this gives real meaning to this important verse which declares the power of salvation in the name of Jesus.      When a person acknowledges that Jesus is Lord by calling on His name, His Holy Spirit performs the work of salvation in the heart of the caller.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of the Holy Spirit: Eph 2:8 We are saved because the Holy Spirit willed it Heb 8:12 and made it possible and legal through the shed blood of Jesus Christ Heb 10:10.      salvation is totally an act of His unmerited favor - Grace.     Our part is to have faith in His Word - the Written Word and the Incarnate Word Act 16:31.      We have all been given The Measure Of Faith Rom 12:3.      It is that gift of faith than enables us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ through whom we receive Grace 2Pe 1:3.      Once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Faith Of Christ which is a fruit of His Holy Spirit provides all the benefits of Grace Rom 5:2.      The Faith Of Christ is the foundation of Grace Rom 5:19.      We are not supposed to trust in our faith but, rather, trust in the Faith Of Christ - the faith that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit Phi 2:8-11.

Never doubt your salvation which was conceived, implemented, offered and sustained by the Holy Spirit In Christ Jesus.   

But do recognize that you have been infected with ideas and opinions that conflict with the Word.   

Understand that you will never manifest the Mind Of Christ until you have cleansed yourself of unbelief.   

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, Eph 5:26 Notice that Jesus does the washing and the sanctifying.      He uses His Word to cleanse us and bring us to a place of knowledge of Him.      How does that work?      When we hear the Word, believe it and receive it, faith arises, and the Holy Spirit teaches us the things of the Lord.      Christ is looking for faith in us, not performance.     The presence of faith automaticaly produces the performance that He desires.     We begin to live in the Spirit and walk by faith.

Don't be like a cat and avoid water.