Word of the Week - Thoughts
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
If you think about it, our perspective and how we see things is what pretty much drives our lives in terms of what we do, how we treat people, and how we feel about ourselves and life in general. Our perspective is simply our minds eye view of ourselves, the world and all that is going on around us. The essence of this perspective is simply a function of our thoughts and what is going on in our heads. Most of what happens in our thought life is subconscious, meaning we just allow it to happen to us, opposed to intentionally protecting and directing what comes into our mind and thoughts. Contrary to popular belief, it does not have to be this way. In fact God’s word tells us that we should actively and vigilantly guard what we allow to enter our minds and hearts. I truly believe that this is key to healthy and godly living, to simply choose to take control of our minds and our thoughts. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5. This is a choice that we make each and every minute of every day. If we allow our minds to be fed with bad thinking then it is likely that over time our minds will be conditioned and we will form negative or perverted perspectives. The old saying “garbage in garbage out” holds true. As important to keeping the garbage out, we must feed our minds with good thoughts that are based on truth. God’s Word, which is our daily bread of life, literally has the power to transform our minds and thus transform our lives. I personally experienced this 17 years ago when I decided to follow Christ wholeheartedly and started to live out what I am talking about here by protecting my mind and feeding it a nutritious daily diet of good godly food. It is by far the most meaningful and impactful decision I have ever made in my 50 years on earth and has had an unbelievable positive impact on my life, my family and my circle of influence and I feel like I am just getting started.So what do we do about this? First and foremost, we need to call upon the Lord and give our lives to Him so that we can tap into His power to overcome the attacks against our minds. This is the process of surrender and salvation Romans 10:9. Second we must replace the old stinking thinking with new godly thinking by renewing our minds daily through God’s word. This needs to be reinforced by meditating on God’s Word and by taking hold of several of His truths and promises such as:
- Think Good thoughts about yourself knowing you are a child of God and heir to His Kingdom. Eph 2:10, Jeremiah 29:11
- Think God thoughts and understanding that we are operating in a different realm when we are with God. Eph 3:20, Matthew 19:23
- Think Grateful thoughts by counting our blessings and understanding how good God is to us. 1 Thes 5:18, Psalm 100
I encourage us to do what Paul talks about in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”I pray that God will renew our minds in Christ Jesus.Have a great week.-Duane