Chapter Twenty-three:
How we begin to renew our mind
There are many places in the Word that show how much the
mind plays a part in our spiritual life.
Throughout Scripture we see such words as discern, think, understand,
know, and remember. God doesn't expect us to be passive...in fact, God actually works
through our minds. John 8:32 is where
Jesus tells us that we would know the
truth and the truth would set us free. In order to be freed from something, it means
that we were enslaved to something to begin with. We were enslaved to Satan by way of our spiritual blindness and the effects of living in sin. God knew that the
only way we would ever be free was for God to free our minds and open them to
the truth. Renewing the mind brings about a
spiritual transformation at a very deep level...we are being spiritually
regenerated. Without a sprit-controlled
mind, it's very difficult to fight sinful, distracting and unwanted thoughts. You may even feel like you're fighting with yourself
at times!
What
are those unwanted thoughts that cause you to fight with yourself?
Ephesians 4: 23 commands us to "be
made new in the attitude of your minds." You may discover that no matter what
you try, that your thought-life is still
in the same old rut of sinful thinking. Because the mind is so
important in one's spiritual life, it is
crucial that you learn what the Bible has to say about it. You need to know and believe that the Holy
Spirit can and wants to renew your mind on a daily basis. Deeds and actions that are sinful usually begin as
thoughts that are sinful. Therefore,
without our mind being controlled by the Spirit, it is impossible to withstand
the craftiness of Satan and our flesh.
Second
Corinthians 10:5 tells us that we need to, "...demolish
arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of
God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ". Remember,
your old ways of thinking and looking at life have been in you for many years,
so this will be a learning process and will take time for it to become new to
you. It's learning a new habit...a
healthier habit. Learning to control our
thoughts leads to a more fruitful, peaceful life and also has the added benefit
of not allowing the enemy any way in to disrupt our thought life. One of the
challenges we will have is to be alert to destructive, unholy thoughts. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you when a
thought comes into your mind that is not pleasing to God. Some people can simply put that thought out
of their head and go on with their day. However,
most of us will need to go to God in prayer and ask for His help to stop our
unwanted thoughts until we really get a handle on quickly identifying our negative
thinking. Ask the Holy Spirit to show
you when these thoughts first begin in your mind. This is very important so that they don't
develop into something more difficult to deal with (i.e. problems with lust,
self-condemnation, lying). The goal is
for you to be keenly aware of your thoughts, and after a while it will become second
nature for you.
If we could evaluate every
thought that we have and discard those that do not measure up, only keeping
those that are good for us, it would be easy to keep our minds free. Do you know that God has given us the way to
do this? In Philippians 4:8 He tells us
how..." Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is
true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable (of good repute)—if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy—let your mind dwell on these things." Notice the word dwell. This means to
consider, ponder, reflect, and to think it over. It means we focus our attention, allowing our
minds to linger on it. It means we are
to keep on focusing our attention on those things, continuously.
Remember, you can't hide what you're thinking
from God. First Chronicle 28:9 says,
"... for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive
behind the thoughts." Nothing is
done in secret. Our actions are a byproduct of our thought life. We can see
this in Matthew 5:27-28 which says, " You
have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery'. But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with
her in his heart." This passage is
not only pointing out that thinking lustfully after a woman is the same as committing
adultery...it is also showing how letting one's mind go the wrong way can lead
to your life going the wrong way. Ephesians 4:27 warns us not to give
the enemy a place of operation in our lives.
When we do sin, we know that we can go to God for
forgiveness. According to Second Corinthians
4:16, " Therefore we do not lose heart. Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." We can be renewed in our inner man, day by
day, and through God's forgiveness we can forget the things that are
behind. Philippians 3:13 reminds us
that, " Brothers and sisters, I do
not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead...". So, how do we discipline our minds and
replace our unhealthy thoughts?
First, we need to be open and willing to accept guidance from the
Holy Spirit. I
Peter 1:13 says," Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober...". Second, as the Holy Spirit helps you to learn
to become aware of where your thoughts are going and what you tend to focus on,
take note of it so that when it happens again you can stop the thought as soon
as it begins and before it progresses to the point that you cannot control
it. You'll probably start to notice that
there's a pattern to the negative things you think about, so use this
information as a place to start in renewing your mind. Third, pray to the Holy Spirit to renew your
mind so you can follow the Lord's will for your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what thoughts
you should be dwelling on so that you can replace the unhealthy ones
with healthy ones.
For instance, if you find that you tend to be critical in your
thoughts of others, pray for them instead and ask God to bless them. If you have problems with lust, instead of
allowing it to go on and become a serious problem, thank the Lord for the
beauty of His creation and pray that the Lord would help you see the other
person as a fellow brother/sister in Christ and pray for his/her needs. If you notice you think negatively about life,
ask the Holy Spirit to help you focus on the things you have to be thankful for,
even if it's just one small thing. If
you worry about what's going to happen in your life and find yourself being an
anxious person, meditate on Scriptures that reminds you that God has everything
in control and that you can rest in Him.
If you feel overwhelmed in your thoughts, spend time with the Lord and
ask Him for His sense of peace and calm.
Keep in mind that depending upon how strong a hold your thoughts have
over you, the more often you will need to go to God for His help in putting
them in their place and replacing them with better, healthier thoughts.
Some of my past clients have told me that they found themselves
actually having an argument with themselves within their minds as they fought
to replace the old, sinful thoughts with the healthier thoughts they wanted to
have. It was the sinful, fleshly part of
themselves fighting against the spiritual part of themselves. It reminds me of the part of Second
Corinthians 10:5 where it tells us that we need to "... take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." For me, this brings up the image of a
wrestling match, where you have to purposely wrestle against that sinful
thought and bring it into submission.
Only then can you replace it with what the Lord would have you focus on. Even if you've never been a wrestler, I'm
sure you get the idea. You have to fight
if you want to renew your mind because your old, sinful thoughts are not going
to give up easily!
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