Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Managing the Mind

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.   Romans 12:2  NLT
Many times, we want God to change our circumstances.  We want him to take away all our problems, all our pain, all our sorrow, all our suffering, all our sickness, all our sadness.  But God is far more interested in changing our mind than in changing our circumstances.  Nothing changes in our lives until we get to the renewing of our mind.  No transformation takes place; no change takes place in our mind or in our lives until our thoughts begin to change.
Why is it so important that I learn how to manage my mind?    
Because my thoughts control my life  Proverbs 4:23 says Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” 
Every single action always begins as a thought.  If you don’t think it, you don’t do it.  That’s both good and bad. Yogi Berra once said about the game of baseball: "90% of this game is half mental."  When it comes to spiritual warfare, 100% of the game is all mental.
Thoughts can be triggered and fed by many different things.  Our senses play a major role along with our emotions and desires.  SENSES – THOUGHTS – ACTIONS – HABITS – CHARACTER – DESTINY!        The real key is how we think when the thought occurs.  Do we filter the thought through our spiritual process or sensual process?  People say “I was just thinking it!”  The Bible says the power of your mind and your thoughts, has tremendous ability to shape your life for good or for bad. 
Thus, sin begins in our minds.  When we talk about the sins of pride or lust or bitterness or hatred or anger or fear or resentment or envy or worry, where are those things?  They’re all in your mind.   It’s one of the reasons why you get mentally fatigued because there’s a battle in your brain and it’s going on twenty-four hours a day.  Sometimes you’re conscious of that battle and sometimes you’re unconscious of that battle.  But the war is raging on in your life. 
As Christians, we should be even more careful because Satan uses different ways to attack us.  He often uses the sins that are not obvious to the rest of the world.  We are easy targets because we are hiding it from everyone else and that makes us even more vulnerable to his attacks. 
Be careful with your thoughts, take every thought captive, and bring them to Jesus. 


Scripture to Claim

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

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