One of my greatest revelations of my life is: I can choose my thoughts and think things on purpose. I don’t have to think about whatever enters my mind.
This was life changing for me. Proverbs 23-7 says,
“For as he thinks in his heart so he is…”
So, where the mind goes, the man follows. God is concerned about what’s in our hearts, which is our inner life. Our inner life is what we think about. The way we think determines how we live and who we are. That’s why we need to think about what we are thinking about.
It’s important for us to understand this because if we don’t learn how to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus, we won’t live the life Jesus died for us to have. Peace with God gives is peace with ourselves. It comes down to choosing to believe what God says as truth more that we believe our feeling, what other people say about us or our circumstances.
The Bible tells us three things we must do to develop a mind that agrees with God.
“Set your minds and keep them set on what is above” – Colossians 3:2 (AMP).
This is the key to resisting temptation. When we make up our minds ahead of time about what we will and won’t do, then when temptation comes, we have laid a foundation to make the right choices and are more likely to successfully overcome those temptations. For instance, before you get into social situations, decide you’re not going to gossip. I’m not going to ruin someone else’s reputation and offend God. Other situations include “I’m not going to eat candy today, or I’m not going to hang out with people who are a bad influence. The point is we won’t want to wait until the temptation arises and then react based on how we feel at the time.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” – Romans 12:2
Renewing the mind is an ongoing process. Every day we need to take the time to study God’s Word so we can purposely think according to what it says. We cannot keep one or two junky areas in our thought lives because it keeps us from being the best that God has for us. We don’t have to be perfect with this, but we need to be a work in progress each day so we can keep our minds renewed and grow in our relationship with God.
“Gird up the lions of your mind…” – 1 Peter 1:13
What the heck is that you’re probably thinking? It’s basically we need to get the junk out of our minds out of our way so we can keep running our race in with Jesus and have the victory God wants us to have. Then we are ready to follow God’s plans for our lives.
We can accomplish these three directions from God to have a thinking session every day. Spend time every day to think about some things on purpose and think about the scriptures that renew your mind with the truth about what God says about Him love for you, His plan for you, and the life He wants you to have.
Look up words you don’t understand and find scriptures that cover areas where you are struggling (Psalms is a good place to start) write them down if you have to and place them in places where you will see them every day.
This is how I changed my thoughts and perspective from being a sad, horrible, selfish person to being a happy, loving person.
If you will commit to set your mind on God’s Word, renewing your mind with truth and get rid of “stinkin thinken” put of your way, then you will experience fullness of new life we all can have with Jesus.
All it takes is a little progress one day at a time.
From Pity to Praise 