As a man thinketh in his heart so is he (Pro. 23:7)
What you think is what you will become. Everything we do comes out of our belief system.
The scripture tells us that there is an enemy out there who is trying to mess up the creation of God. For example, God’s institution of marriage which is one man and one woman. He tries to undo what God has instituted by confusing humanity with his own subtle agenda thus advocating marriage is one man with another man or one woman with another woman. You see God made Adam and created Eve as his partner to reproduce on the earth. God never makes a mistake in His creation.
Unfortunately there a lot of people who are ignorant of God’s laws, who do not understand the very foundation of God’s institution established for humanity. They easily buy into what the devil is selling and are mesmerized and unfortunately, they believe the lie of the devil.
Here is what we need to understand, the enemy wants to steal your soul; he wants to destroy your family, he wants to defeat your life and finally derail you from walking into God’s purpose and plan for your life. Ultimately his strategy is to deplete you of your joy, confuse you of your purpose and meaning in your life.
Three things will attack you in your life, the world, the flesh and the devil. Do you know that despite all these assaults that comes from outside, however, the biggest enemy is not what is outside of you, the biggest enemy is within you! The biggest problem is the battle inside of you: The battle of your mind.
Listen! When you accommodate and listen to your own thoughts instead of listening to God’s thoughts, you go on thinking what you think is right by rationalising it with your own mind. Life is full of choices and every choice you make has a consequence attached to it. Your best intentions are not good enough. You need to ask yourself “What’s God’s will for me.” Are my choices in line with God’s word which is the foundation and pillar of truth?
As born-again people of God we need to change the way we think about everything that affects us and align our ways to God’s way of thinking by renewing our mind according to His word.
The greatest weakness of the human mind is to keep you dwelling in your past. To keep you locked to your past and make you dysfunctional so that you will not be able to move forward into the future.
Many Christians are caught up in major battles in their mind. You know what?
We are not denying the promise of 2 Corinthians 5:17 which sounds great,
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (NIV)
But where reality hits the road-we fall short- especially in our thought-life.
The old way of thinking is supposed to be gone away, but many still struggle with this issue of change in their mind. The battle seems to be never ending with this struggle of renewing of our mind. But have you ever realized that as long as you try to change the pattern of your “thought life” with your own strength it seems to end up futile?
Paul says:
I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate (Rom.7:15).
Philippians 4: But now that I know who Christ is!……
I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me (Philip.4:13)
What Paul is implicating here is that the grace that has found me through Christ has given me the empowering and enabling power within me to overcome any challenges as I strife to walk in His righteousness.
Rom 12:2
Do not conform any longer 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.
We need the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us as a gift when we became born again.
Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ”By His grace and mercy”.
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Once that happens, you find yourself no longer conforming to the pattern of the world but to the will of God. Our behavior will change, when our thinking changes. -
If there is no change in your behavior then you need to question your thinking. ( Pro.23:7)
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This regeneration can only happen not by human will and strength, but by God’s supernatural act of grace which works in our life.
The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act. If you want to change the way you act, you must determine the way you think. You can’t start with the action. You’ve got to start with your thought ( Mind).
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If we are feeling afraid and fearful we need to ask ourselves what are we thinking. -
We need to ask ourselves what’s in our mind that has caused it. -
We need to change our thoughts about the situation by aligning ourselves to God’s word – reading, listening, studying and meditating upon it.
When we saturate our minds with God’s word, the Holy Spirit will start to work by inclining your thinking to His thoughts.
And you will gradually discover the awesome power of the truth of God’s word that releases you of your feelings that has no control over you anymore.
When you know the truth, it sets you free.
“The difference between worldliness and godliness is a renewed mind.”
Trying to change your behaviour without a change in your belief system is a waste of time.
If you ask a person to change his behaviour before his mind is renewed, it’s not going to work.
He’s got to “internalize” God’s Word first. Occupy your mind with the truth, or the enemy will fill it with his lies. The idea is to keep it occupied because God’s word is a powerful living and life-transforming WORD.
Your belief patterns are in your mind. Every time you think about a thought, it registers and accommodates in your brain. Over time, a mindset is formed.
When people have been bombarded with something repeatedly especially the world’s way of thinking, they’re programmed to believe that pattern of thought is the right way or the accepted norm. But as believers we have “a standard based on God’s word” not on what the world says or believes. God’s standards will never change; forever and ever it will be relevant in season and out of season. But unfortunately man’s standard changes all the time!
If we want to change our mindset that has been influenced by the world, and align it back to God’s truth permanently, we have to do it by the renewing of our mind, by the constant feeding of God’s Word and by the help of the Holy Spirit in you then transformation will take place over time.
Jesus said,
“You will know the truth and it will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Your life will be radically changed only after you have changed your way of your thinking.
And the thinking can only be changed when you allow the Word of God to sink into you with the help of the Holy Spirit. Let the Word saturate you. Simply accept the way God thinks about you even when you don’t fully understand everything sometimes.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
(Isaiah.55:8-9)
Note: Rev Dr Jai Kumar is an ordained & licensed minister of Covenant Ministries International N.J. USA. He is a mission minded pastor who carries an apostolic anointing who preaches and teaches an uncompromising gospel with boldness. A member of ECCM (Malaysia) Spiritual Adviser & overseer to various ministries and churches. An itinerant speaker. He is also the author of a book entitled, ‘God’s Time Clock.’ Currently he worships at C3 Subang.
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– Rev Dr Jai Kumar
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