Skip to main content

Learning to Think With the Mind of Christ

By
 
One of the greatest revelations of my life is: I can choose my thoughts and think things on purpose. In other words, I don't have to just think about whatever falls into my mind. This was a life-changing revelation for me because as Proverbs 23:7 (AMPC) says, "As [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he." I like to say it like this: Where the mind goes, the man follows.

Now God is concerned about the hidden man of the heart, which is our inner life. Our inner life is what we think about. And like the scripture above says, the way we think determines how we live and who we are. That's why we need to think about what we're thinking about.

It's so important for us to understand this because if we don't learn how to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:4-5), we won't live the life Jesus died to give us — a life of peace with God, peace with ourselves, great relationships, real joy and the ability to become all God has created us to be. It comes down to choosing to believe what God says (the truth) more than we believe our feelings, what other people say or our circumstances.

The Bible specifically talks about three things we must do to develop a mind that agrees with God. I want to share the benefits of each of them.

1. "Set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things…" (Colossians 3:2 AMP).

This is the key to resisting temptation. See, when we make up our mind ahead of time what we will and won't do, then when temptation comes, we have laid a foundation to make right choices and are more likely to successfully overcome the temptation. For example, before you get into social situations, decide "I am not going to gossip. I'm not going to ruin someone's reputation and offend the Holy Spirit." Other temptations may require you to decide things like "I'm not going to eat four candy bars today." Or "I am not going to look at pornography on the Internet." Or "I am not going to hang out with people who are bad influences." My point here is, we don't want to wait until the temptation comes and then react based on how we feel about it.


2. "Do not be conformed to this world…but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind…" (Romans 12:2 AMPC).

Renewing the mind is an ongoing process. Every day we need to take time to study the Word so we can purposely think according to what it says. And we can't keep one or two "junky" areas in our thought life because it just keeps us from the best God has for us. I'm not saying we have to be perfect with this, but we need to make progress each day so we can keep our mind renewed and grow in our relationship with God.

3. "Gird up the loins of your mind…" (1 Peter 1:13 NKJV).
 You are probably thinking, What does that mean? It's basically saying we need to get all the junk in our mind out of our way so we can keep running our race in Christ Jesus and have the victory God wants us to have. Then we are ready for action to follow God's plan for our lives.

One practical way we can accomplish these three directions from God is to have a think session every day. Just sit down and say, "I'm going to think about some things on purpose." Then spend some time thinking about scriptures that renew your mind with the truth about what God says — about His love for you, His plan for you, how He wants you to live and behave... Use a concordance to find verses that cover areas you are struggling with or need to know more about. I want to encourage you to write some of them down and put them places where you will see them every day, like the bathroom mirror or refrigerator.

If you will commit to set your mind on God's Word, renewing your mind with truth and getting stinkin' thinkin' out of your way, then you will experience the fullness of new life that we can all have in Christ. All it takes is a little more progress one day at a time.


Extract from: Joyce Meyer Ministries

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

You've been blessed through this reading share with Others. Share the DO's and the DON'T.

Popular posts from this blog

Dominion Mandate Daily Devotional Thursday,March 3

By
THEME: You Can Create Whatever You Desire John 16:21-27 The instrument with which you exercise dominion over creation is your mouth.You can create whatsoever you desire by speaking that thing into existence.Whatever you say begins to exist in the spiritual form.Jesus said in John 6:63,"The words that I speak unto you,they are spirit,and they are life". In like manner,you create whatever you say and the things begin to exist in the spiritual form.What you create through words also have life and they continue to live until they find physical expression.  This is exactly what happens when you pray.The things you declare in prayer come alive and begin to exist in their spiritual form.They remain in that spiritual form until they are converted to their tangible equivalent through work. Jesus said,"until now you have asked nothing in My name.Ask,and you will receive,that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). Don't make the mistake of relaxing after you have pray...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dominion Mandate Daily Devotional Friday, March 18th 2016

By
You Must Forgive Yourself Hebrews 12:1-11 You have heard quite a lot about forgiving those that have offended you – and that you must do. It happens often that the person you must really forgive is yourself. You may have committed an offence or a sin and your conscience has condemned you, just as the Holy Spirit has chastised you. You may also have repented of this sin, confessed it to God and resolved not to go back that way. But you discover that the heaviness, clouded vision, and the erosion of confidence occasioned by the sin you committed continue to weigh you down. At such moments, you need to make another type of confession to God in order to regain your liberty from the weight that holds you down. You have to confess your unbelief in His word that says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When you have genuinely repented of a sin and confessed it to God; and you have pleaded ...
Post a Comment
Read more

God Will Turn Your Life Around By Jerry Savelle

By
Jerry Savelle Ministries Daily Devotional Friday 12th August 2016 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them  - Deuteronomy 28:13 NKJV Many people suffer from feelings of rejection. All their lives they’ve been told things that have kept them down and held them back. Perhaps you are one of these people. Maybe you were told you’d never amount to anything. You may have been born into poverty and told you would always be poor. Or you may have been ridiculed and told that no one would ever love you. Although circumstances may make these statements appear to be factual, they are not the truth. If you go to the Bible, you’ll find out that God’s plans for you are always good. In fact, if you will put God at the center of your life, He will turn things around for you. If you allow it, God will take you from being b...
Post a Comment
Read more