Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life!

Philippians 4:8, " Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Our Mind MATTERS

Our thoughts are always what gets us into trouble! Every sin starts with a thought. But a thought alone isn't what is sinful or gets us into trouble, but rather, it's what we do with those thoughts that determine their outcome! We've all heard the saying, “you are what you think.” Or, maybe in this context of, “if you think you can’t, then you can’t!” Both of these statements and many more just like them are a direct reflective observation that our own thoughts are extremely powerful! The things we think about can impact our lives in a significant and oftentimes life-altering, life-changing way. It’s truly amazing how our thoughts can change things and no matter what someone says to you, perspective DOES matters. What we think about is HUGE. God talks about the importance of our thought life all throughout the scriptures. Our thoughts are undeniably important and God has a design for our thought life.

There is a battle waging war for our thoughts and it's no doubt a stark reality and crucial to the victorious life of every individual. Taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to God is a an extremely integral part, and imperative practice, in the life of every Christ following believer! But we just can't stop there, because if we do, then I believe we've missed THE ROOT of our struggle. You see, behind every errant thought, there is a heart problem. We can tackle our struggle head on with lust or any other "thought" and try to stop ourselves from thinking about the ungodly fantasies or thoughts that fight for our minds’ eye to hold us captive, not to our Savior, but to our adversary the devil! But the more we keep trying to "stop" those thoughts on our own, we wonder why we continue to fail! We then find ourselves paralyzed with fear because we are failing and we don't want to fail God so we begin to quote some of our memorized Scriptures in the hopes that they will distract our thoughts and free us from fear. And then we become despondent when the pit inside of our stomachs continues to almost incapacitate us. There begins the vicious cycle which is why it's so important to get to the ROOT of the struggle from the beginning!

The errant thoughts that pop in our heads and we instantly dismiss aren't the ones that I'm talking about here. I’m not even talking about those thoughts of temptation. But I AM talking about the thoughts that linger a little too long. The thoughts that stay over time, taking up residence in our minds. The thoughts that we begin to seriously entertain. The dangerous thoughts that can, and sometimes will, turn into beliefs. We have to fully understand that something always drives our thoughts! We have a human nature, a heart condition that actively influences our thought life. The desires inside our hearts lure and entice us. Out of our hearts, thoughts flow! Proverbs 4:23 says it clearly, "Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." And because we have a heart condition that's either very, very sick or in the process of being healed by our Savior, we really need to take seriously the state of our hearts. So let's take a look at what Romans 8:5 says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." I have another post called "The Heart's Intent" that deals a little more with this part of the heart sickness. It's worth a look and if you haven't read it yet, you can access it here as a continuing lesson companion to this post about changing our thoughts.

You see, out of our hearts, will come the thoughts that we think! Our hearts are full of all kinds of desires. Our desires are oftentimes expressed through our thoughts. The thoughts that linger. The thoughts that take up residence. They become who we are so it's important to know what thoughts are residing in our home of thoughts! While intricately connected, we need to understand how the condition of our hearts directly impacts the nature of our thought life. If we are dominated by our sinful nature and heart, then our thoughts will ultimately seek out to destroy us, but more so, all that God loves. However, if we're controlled by the Holy Spirit, our thoughts will bring life, peace and joy into our existence, into our beings, and even to the lives of those around us! So what does this actually mean?

It simply means that no amount of OUR efforts or thought control will EVER be enough when it comes to the problems that we face in our lives. And we face a multitude of them ranging from the small and mundane to the over the top overwhelming ones! Controlling our thought life is important, yes. But, we must get first things first. We must love God FIRST above ALL things, above ALL people in our lives, and yes that means your blood relatives to your spouses. When we love God, we will OBEY God. When we run to Jesus, our thought life will soon follow because the more we run to Him, the more we learn His ways, His thoughts and His love. It's all about what we focus on. It's about where we allow our thoughts to wonder, then reside. In John 15, Jesus warns us that apart from Him "we can do nothing." So it's ONLY through an intimate relationship with Jesus that our hearts, minds and lives can be transformed. The transformation doesn't happen overnight and as long as we are alive in this fallen world, it will be a DAILY sanctification and we'll always be a work in progress. But without daily intimacy with Jesus Christ, without running to Him anew every moment daily, our thought lives remain in a precarious and vulnerable position. They become so vulnerable that Satan is just waiting in the shadows to attack that very precious part of our bodies! That's his portal to enter and he knows this about us.

It will be here that I will give an example of a simple thought process and how it ends up becoming a choice that we put into an action....right or wrong. Let's say a young child, being inquisitive and precarious, spots their favorite dessert sitting on top of the counter, freshly baked and the scent is wafting through the child's senses just making the child's desires to eat it grow more intense. The child isn't quite yet tall enough to reach this dessert that is definitely tempting him, so the child stands on their tippy-toes just barely reaching over the edge to peek at the dessert. They know they aren't supposed to eat it, especially before dinner, and definitely NOT without asking permission first. The child knows it's wrong. So the child stares at it, squinted eyes, and pursed lips in deep thought....."What do I DO?" Now, how many times have each of us had to deal with this same dilemma, although not with a favorite dessert, but with anything else that we are tempted with in thought? Having to make a decision between right and wrong, the good and bad, while standing at the crossroads of God’s will, whether it's about cookies or veggies, TV or exercise, love or hate, joy or anger, or which voice we hear, ours or God's.  Every single day, we're having to make a choice, seemingly every minute being consumed with choices. It doesn't even matter if we are aware of all of the decisions and choices we have to make or not, we find ourselves constantly having to choose between right and wrong, good and bad, and better and best. We are so accustomed to making decisions that often times, many aren't even aware of how it consumes much of our waking hours!

Proverbs 23:7, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you." The key word here is "thinks." The word “thinks” is telling you that God is targeting your thought process, what you think about on a daily basis. I've heard a variation on this Scripture that says you are what you think you are. That isn't so! We are ONLY what we THINK.....and it ends there! You become what you THINK and CAN become what you think when you change the WAY you think! This is a principle that can be easily seen throughout our world today. It's very easy to tell who's properly operating on this particular principle in the operational way that the Lord has intended for all of us.  And, the opposite is true too, you can easily tell who ISN'T properly operating in this principle. There are those people who always seem to be more GENUINELY happy, joyful (or joy-FILLED) upbeat, and fulfilled with contentment in their lives and they're the one's who have a sound mind, a good solid thought process, and who are constantly thinking about, and dwelling on, the more positive things in this life. They CHOOSE to dwell on, and focus, the more positive side of this life as opposed to always thinking and focusing on the darker and  more negative side of daily life. Why? Because of free will. CHOICE. Choosing where to set our focus on, choosing what to allow reside inside, choosing what stays and takes up space, or what is worthless and kicked out. Choice. Choice. Choice.

Dwell NOT in the Past

How we end up coming to our decisions and choosing our positions is largely based upon the WAY that we've programmed our minds to think. We program our minds to think ONE way.....by what we put IN them! Simple right? Not so much. Satan attacks all of us in many different, consistent ways, but the most vigorous assault he comes at us with is on our thought lives. Satan knows that what we think,  will eventually make us what we are. He knows all the little tricks of the trade. He knows that our thoughts can, and will, oftentimes lead to our actions, so he works hard and diligently on our thought lives to gain access. We are each responsible for what we welcome, allow or INVITE into our minds! It's a pretty big responsibility. Sometimes the enemy is just so darn persistent, and menacing, that it wears us out, and down, and we weaken our ability to resist. Then there's that thought, that daunting thought....slipping inside to take up residence. We recognize that thought isn't from the Lord, and we begin a new battle.....of the mind! This just recently happened in my own life. I received a blessing, a wonderful blessing. I praised and thanked and was full of joy. Then the enemy just didn't like seeing me get this blessing so he threw in a little "hiccup" and suddenly, even though I KNEW this blessing was from the Lord, a thought crept in, not a good thought, but a curious one. It hadn't been bad enough at THAT time, to worry me TOO much, but I admit, it worried me a little at first. Then that little "hiccup" began to grow steadily throughout the day, off and on, until it was a full blown disaster in my head! Yep! A full blown disaster! Fear is NOT of the Lord and I KNOW this! I've experienced peace from the Lord from the moment when the blessing was presented to me, but this fear wasn't from Him so I knew the thoughts I was beginning to have wasn't from Him either! Satan get thee behind me! In the name of Jesus!

So, I asked for prayers from a few trusted people. I went before the Lord several times. Most of two days! I prayed, and I received peace about 4 different times! You would have THOUGHT that was enough for me to calm down and it was briefly for the first THREE times! The 4th time, well, that was different. I'd felt the Lord's presence during those two long, overwhelmingly difficult days, but the enemy kept placing variations of the same thought and because of the situation of the blessing, I didn't want to be outside of the Will of God! The 2nd night came.....in my prayers, and in my total surrender, I asked the Lord to forgive my fear and to replace it with His peace once more. I asked Him in the rawest form of surrender that I could personally muster up! Suddenly, I felt my spirit calming and a new, exciting, but calming thought replaced the enemy's thoughts. There were two Scriptures that were given to me, one being Psalm 5:12, "For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield." and the next one was Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?" I meditated on them while praying and then I realized what I've always known, but sometimes we need to be reminded, that when God has a plan for your life, not one person, not one thing, can ALTER that plan. Then, I fell asleep! Soundly and peacefully. I awoke to the confirmation of the thoughts I chose to replace the lies of the enemy with being a total affirmation for me! I stressed for two days for nothing. Well, so I THOUGHT it was for nothing.....

To save space, and not to get off on the rabbit trail that I sometimes tend to do, I will briefly tell you that those two days, those two horrendous days of the back and forth mind games that I allowed the devil to play with me, taught me yet another lesson! I've recently said that there is a strong spiritual battle going on in the heavenlies and it's being felt here, in the lives and spirits of us born again believers on this earth in a great way! We need to keep our minds protected! I've got a strong mind, I've kept my focus on the Lord, and I've felt His presence. But we're human and we get weak. Especially battling as long as my wilderness has lasted. I knew what I needed to do but I got beat down. I got a weakened mind for just a second and that one second window turned my peace into fear before I even knew what hit me! This happens from time to time, but I typically can pray it away, praise it away, and replace those thoughts with God's promises. But for some reason, this time, it was difficult for me to KEEP it replaced! So these two days of a "hard knock" lesson to keep my mind protected and on guard, had taken me to a new level. The spiritual battle for our minds are increasing with unbelievable speeds! And now I'm ready! I really don't like these types of lessons but, well, if I wasn't so stubborn!

See, our minds have the capacity for evil....to think evil thoughts, to think bad thought, to think less than holy thoughts. The Apostle Paul was intensely aware of the mind's capacity for evil thoughts. Someone can dwell upon lustful thoughts, wrong thoughts about some member of the opposite sex. Another person may seethe with jealousy and envy in his mind toward other people that they may be comparing themselves to. While others still are so desperately consumed with pride and with overly high thoughts about themselves. The "works of the flesh" in Galatians 5 is a long list of sins, many of which are sins of the mind. Let's see what Galatians 5:19-21 has to say, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, v20) idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, v21) envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." So if you really look long and hard at those "works" you will easily find the sins begin in the mind, with thoughts that begin to take up residence.

Captive Thoughts in Obedience

The mind is a fragile organ because it can easily be covered up (for a little while, at least), thereby making the mind difficult to capture for Christ. We can often retreat deep within the walls of our own minds, thinking about things that we only let be known to ourselves and God. By doing so, it becomes difficult for others to detect and know what we're really thinking inside our heads. However, we really need to remember that God DOES know our thoughts, He is concerned about them, He cares what thoughts take us captive and oftentimes they will eventually come out into the open. They will eventually come out into the open because we become what we think.....The greatest area of sin in the believer's life isn't typically in the arena of our actions, but rather in the arena of our thought life. Take pride, for example. It's a sin of the mind. So is lust and suspicion and discouragement. So is a haughty spirit and envy and selfishness. These are all sins of the mind. Even after we've been saved by Faith in Jesus Christ and have become born again believers, we all still have to contend with the old nature, all of us still have trouble with undesirable thoughts that keep popping into our heads. Some of these thoughts can be quite surprising, sometimes confusing, and sometimes even condemning. But they are all undesirable. Most of us wouldn't want those kinds of thoughts that have gone through our minds during the past month or so to be rolled out on a large screen in front of a room full of people at a theater for all to see. That  could, and likely would, be somewhat embarrassing, downright uncomfortable and perhaps even frightening! I don't know about you, but I don't want to think about THAT scenario so I would rather focus my thoughts on the thoughts of our Lord and Savior to combat those negative thoughts and keep them all between Him and me!

But all of those secret thoughts, those deeply personal thoughts, that pop into our heads aren't really an accurate measure of our spiritual condition. It's what we continue to think about, what we continue to delight ourselves in, what we continue to focus on that tells more accurately what we are and where we stand spiritually. While we can't ever completely get rid of the sin-nature here in this life, in this fallen world, we can definitely keep it in relative control. So how can we do this, how can we change our thoughts to change our lives? Simple. We focus more on the thoughts of God. Let's take a quick look at what the Scripture says that have been given to us to help us along in this process. I'll start with Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." We need to cultivate our spiritual thinking, and the Scriptures give a list of worthy objects that we ought to be thinking about. Some of those worthy objects are found in Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things." This is a beautiful reminder of how we can change our thoughts from bad to good simply by meditating on the pure things of Christ to renew our minds! The word "think" means "to dwell upon" or "to focus attention upon." Those endearing qualities such as kindness, loyalty, helpfulness and the like are qualities we all should seriously be thinking about daily. Spirit-controlled thinking can amazingly elevate our thoughts and bless our whole life! Who wouldn't want that for themselves! Philippians 4:8 isn't so much a call to battle or fight those wicked thoughts that come knocking on our minds doors, but to conquer evil thinking by thinking upon good, pure and spiritual things!

2 Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Notice Paul says in this verse that our inner man is being renewed day by day. This means that God wants both our minds and our inner man to be renewed on a daily and progressive basis. When God says that our inner spiritual transformation is done by getting our minds properly renewed in Him, He is giving all of us an amazing, incredible, powerful, spiritual secret. Again, this is all part of the sanctification process that the Lord wants to start with each and everyone of us. He also wants to continue this sanctification process with each of us who have already begun the daily renewal of the mind! So part of the transformation-sanctification process with the Lord involves getting your MIND properly renewed through His Word and by His Spirit. Sanctification is defined as the following, found at www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary to be as follows, "The Greek word translated "sanctification" (hagiasmos [aJgiasmov"]) means "holiness." To sanctify, therefore, means "to make holy." In one sense only God is holy (Isaiah 6:3). God is separate, distinct, other. No human being or thing shares the holiness of God's essential nature. There is one God. Yet Scripture also speaks about holy things. Moreover, God calls human beings to be holyas holy as he is holy (Leviticus 11:44 ; Matthew 5:48; 1 Peter 1:15-16). Another word for a holy person is "saint" (hagios [a&gio"]), meaning a sanctified one."

The Bible tells us that we can actually take “captive” what we think about. Isn't that powerful to know that WE can take and hold captive what we choose to think?! It's our responsibility actually! The verse that gives us this revelation says we have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. v4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, v5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," We're being told to grab a hold of our thoughts and make certain that our thinking, as well as our thoughts, always line up in the proper ways that He wants us to be thinking about things. These are choices that we have to make and in order to grab a hold of our thoughts and to hold them captive, we need to consciously decide that we WANT and DESIRE to think as Christ does! 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." In this verse, God is telling us that not only can we get a sound mind from Him, but we also can obtain a mind that has a spirit of power and love in it. This verse actually starts out by telling us that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit that is of power, love, and sound mind. Fear! Yes, fear can let the doors open for sure. Timothy 1:7 is a verse that I would highly recommend memorizing because with all of the crazy things that can hit us, and blindside us, in this life, you really have to believe and stay grounded on the powerful promise of this verse!

So the bottom line here in changing your thoughts is CHOICE. We are the ones that choose and decide what we want to think about, what we allow to reside in our minds and what we take captive in the privacy of our own thinking. We all have the same choices, you know. We can choose to think good thoughts and godly thoughts or we choose the polar opposite and choose to think about the bad thoughts or evil things. It's really up to us. It's our choice. Even though our loving God makes it perfectly clear in His Word and instructions to us about what kinds of thoughts He wants us to dwell on and meditate upon, God Himself won't force His will on us. We are the ones who will decide to make that choice. If you truly desire to enter into a true sanctification process with the Lord, one where He is in control of your thoughts, you really need to expect Him to target your mind first in an attempt to properly renew it according to His Word. He will then continue to attempt to put right thinking into your thought process daily. Just like all the other areas to be dealt with in the sanctification process, this'll all be done in a gradual, but progressive, basis. God won't overwhelm you and will set the pace that He will work with you in this area, at a pace that HE knows you will be comfortable with.

Remember, your mind is THE battlefield in spiritual warfare. Demons try to trick you and move in on your from time to time in order to try and get you to think in their dark ways of thinking and living in this life. The good news is that God will also move in on you, strongly presenting Himself to try to get you to move and live in HIS pure ways of thinking and living in this life. His ways are more powerful and have a much better outcome! The choice will ultimately always remain with us as to which side of the fence we will choose to live this life on. I choose the side of the fence with God! I've noticed in my own life and walk with the Lord that many years ago, the WAYS of my thinking weren't so controlled as they became later on in my walk. I understood the sanctification process better. I understood the renewing of my mind better. I learned that what Proverbs 23:7 says is more powerful that just the words themselves! Sure some "ugly" thoughts creep in from time to time, but I don't dwell on them, and I don't allow them to take up residence. I used to, I admit. I know how damaging it can be, but I also KNOW how cleansing and beautiful it is to know the thoughts of Christ and to be able to replace those other "creepers" because it changes EVERYTHING!


Living the Christian life, walking with Jesus daily and becoming more like Him involves a daily battle. A battle that isn't always easy to fight but is always able to overcome with the Lord giving you strength! The Apostle Paul spoke of the great conflict that was raging inside of him. He tells us in Romans 7:23, "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." On one hand, his mind was being bombarded with solicitations to evil; yet on the other hand, there was the appeal of the Spirit of God that wanted to bring bring Paul's mind under the authority of God. We are all targeted subjects of Satan's attacks, something he strives for incessantly and tirelessly. We all have the same problems with wrong thoughts, unpleasant thoughts. Although the work of sanctification is a slow process sometimes, and we never will reach perfection is this life, each of us does have a responsibility in the realm of thought-control. Isaiah 55:7-9, "Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. v8) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. v9) “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."

In closing, I will share three ways to defeat evil of any kind, including thoughts. The first way is to run from it! 2 Timothy 2:19 says, "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”" Then again in 2 Timothy 2:22, "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." A good example of this is found in Genesis 39:12 when Joseph was tempted by Potiphar's wife, he fled and got away. He ran from the evil that awaited him. So a good way to conquer evil thoughts, is to stay as far away from situations as possible that can potentially stimulate wrong thinking and provide easy opportunities to sin. For each of us, our weaknesses are different so we already know what situations we NEED to avoid in order to avoid those thoughts that turn into temptations to ACT. The second way of victory over evil thoughts is to intentionally, purposefully and persistently occupy your mind with godly and pure things so it drives out the rushing of evil that inevitably tries to enter. The devil is constantly walking around looking for those vulnerable vacancies inside our minds and tries to break in with a forced entry! Evil thoughts will pop into our minds from time to time so when they do, we need to get into the habit and make it a conscious practice to immediately and URGENTLY pause and pray, to analyze a portion of Scripture, or to turn our attention to some pleasant, exciting experience in the past. Anything other than that ungodly thought that found its way in our minds so that sooner rather than later, our minds will be captivated with the pleasant memory, the pleasant thought, and the evil thoughts will begin to fade into the background, more and more. Then the third means to victory over evil thoughts is to be alert, watch and pray. To be alive to God, we have to reckon ourselves dead to sin, over and over again and that takes a lot of conscious effort on our part. It also takes human resolve and it's not going to be an automatic change but a gradual "conditioning" of our minds, but it can be done.

We're not going to be able to keep Satan from infusing wrong thoughts into our minds, but we don't have to choose to dwell on those thoughts. We need to constantly police our thoughts and bring every thought into captivity, into obedience to Christ. Keep a watchful eye and guard your mind all day long. Once you get into the habit of this, it's not as hard as it may sound. Be in judgment of every single thought that flashes through your mind. If it's not of God, and as soon as you know it's a sinful thought, then try to repeat out loud a favorite Scripture, sing a hymn of praise, say a prayer for deliverance. All of these work!!!

And with God's help, in His might and strength, slowly but SURELY, you will bring your thought life into captivity. Obedience to Christ! We will experience a growth in Grace when we meditate upon the things that are lovely, praiseworthy and honest! So this day, if you want to change your LIFE, you need to change your THOUGHTS! I pray that you will begin to replace those dark thoughts with godly, light thoughts. If you are not a born again believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, I invite you right now, right here, to cry out to Him, admit you are a sinner in need of a Savior, ask for forgiveness of those sins, believe that Jesus died for your sins to pay your sin debt in full, believe He was born of a virgin, died and rose again three days later, repent and receive Jesus fully into your life! You don't have to go before the church, you can do it while you are sitting where you're at. He is waiting for you! You don't have to right yourself before you ask for His forgiveness! If you feel Him tugging, don't turn away because you are not promised tomorrow! And tomorrow might not come.....

 
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