Power Thoughts: 12 Strategies to Win the Battle of the Mind (8 page)

• “I am not going to overeat when I sit down for meals today. I will stop when I begin to feel full. I will make good food choices and I will not eat emotionally.”

• “I am not going to be excessive in any area of life. I am a balanced person. I am not going to complain about anything. I have a lot to be thankful for and I will think on those things.”

• “I am going to live to please God, not people. I want to be accepted but I will not compromise my faith and moral integrity.”

• “I am going to eliminate unnecessary stress from my life. I will slow down, not overcommit, and try to keep life as simple as possible.”

• “I am going to think positive thoughts and speak positive words.”

If you think thoughts such as these, then when you are tempted to gossip, overeat, or face whatever your particular temptation may be, you already have a foundation in place. The message you have recorded inside yourself will begin to play back to you, and making the right decision will not be nearly as difficult as it would have been had you not yet made up your mind about what you would do when that situation presented itself.

If you prepare your mind ahead of time, then when temptation comes, you’ll be in good shape to say “no” to it. Don’t just wait to see what you feel like when temptation arises. Jesus told His disciples to pray that they would not come into temptation (see Luke 22:46). This is another way of setting your mind and heart in the right direction. Recognizing your weak areas and knowing what kinds of situations are challenging to you in life is wise. Firmly setting your mind to overcome them is the pathway to victory.

Think about It

In what specific situations can you apply these principles of preparedness?

2. Renew your mind.

No teaching on the mind is complete without Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but
be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind
[by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]” (emphasis mine).

An unrenewed mind is one that is never changed after receiving Jesus Christ as Savior. The spirit is regenerated but the mind remains the same. This condition furnishes fertile ground for the devil to operate. It is for this reason that Christians often have a reputation as being hypocritical. They say they believe something but their behavior does not match their so-called beliefs. They may go to church each week, but at home or at work they do not differ from the rest of the world. Not only are they miserable, but the example they set for others is terrible.

Many people who need Christ in their life are hindered from accepting him due to the poor witness of others they know who say they are Christians.

An Improper Mind

If a child of God harbors sin in his heart, he is lending his mind to wicked spirits for their use. For example, the Bible states clearly that if a man lusts after a woman in his heart, he has already committed adultery with her as far as his heart is concerned. He may be a Christian but he is fleshly and carnal. He has an improper mind. He does not control his thoughts. He has not renewed his mind or learned the power of his thoughts.

A woman may have improper thoughts toward another man if, when she sees him, she admires him excessively and tends to compare him to her own husband. Perhaps she would like her husband to have some of the qualities that she sees in this other man and her thoughts become improper as she even imagines herself married to him rather than the husband she has.

The woman may find herself feeling guilty about having such thoughts but fails to realize that she can refuse these thoughts that are “uninvited guests” instead of offering them a comfortable home.

The longer one allows improper thoughts, the more difficult they are to get rid of. Satan has built a stronghold in the man’s mind that can only be torn down by strong determination and megadoses of God’s Word.

Satan introduces many improper thoughts into the believer’s head. He knows he can hinder fruitfulness by doing so. He can keep the believer weak and powerless through controlling his thoughts. Satan might fill one’s mind with criticism or prejudices. He might use jealous thoughts to hold him in bondage. Proud thoughts are among his favorites. If he can get us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to and less of others than we should, he can be successful in hindering us from loving other people, which is the one new command that Jesus gave (see John 13:34).

Renewing your mind is not like renewing your driver’s license or library card, which can be done quickly and doesn’t have to be repeated for months or years. Renewing your mind is more like undertaking the job of renewing and refurbishing an old house. It doesn’t happen quickly; it takes time, energy, and effort, and there is always something that needs attention.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing you can renew your mind by thinking right thoughts one time. To get the mind renewed, you will have to think right thoughts over and over again, until they become rooted in your thinking—until right thoughts come to you more easily and naturally than wrong thoughts. You will have to discipline yourself to think properly, and you will have to guard against falling into old thought patterns—and this can happen very easily. When it does, don’t feel badly, just start thinking rightly again. You will eventually come to the place where wrong thoughts actually make you uncomfortable and they just don’t fit right into your thinking processes any longer.

The continual, ongoing process of renewing the mind extends to every aspect of your thinking. If you are like most people, many areas of your mind need to be renewed. These may include the way you think about yourself, your finances, your health, your family, time management, vacations and recreation, your job, your future, or any of a multitude of other topics. Don’t assume you have renewed your mind just because you feel confident your thinking has changed in one area. You should celebrate concerning the mental junk you have eliminated, but don’t be complacent and fail to keep pressing on.

Many times, the areas of thinking you find most challenging to renew are the ones that hurt you most and keep you from receiving the best God has for you. I was a workaholic and although I made progress against it little by little, it was a real battle for me. I was insecure and felt devalued due to being abused in my childhood and I fell into the trap of getting my worth out of what I accomplished. I was not able to really enjoy the new life God had provided through Jesus Christ because I worked constantly trying to deserve what He had already given by His grace and mercy as a free gift. Through persisting in renewing my mind, I have been able to better balance my life in ways that amaze me! But I want to emphasize over and over again that you will have to be willing to invest time and effort if you want to change your way of thinking.

Let me be quick to say that you should not feel condemned if you are struggling with your thought life right now or if you face struggles in the days to come. Condemnation only weakens you, and it never helps you make progress. Anytime we recognize that we are allowing wrong thoughts in our mind, we should ask God to forgive us and continue pressing on toward our goal. Celebrate every victory because it helps you not to feel overwhelmed by what still remains to be conquered, and remember that God is very patient and long-suffering. He is understanding and will never give up on you.

Think about It

In what areas of your life does your mind need to be renewed?

3. “Gird up” your mind.

First Peter 1:13 instructs us to “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest
your
hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (
NKJV
).

You and I aren’t accustomed to hearing the phrase “gird up” today. But in biblical times both men and women wore long skirtlike outfits. If they tried to run in those clothes, there was a good chance they could get tangled up in the long fabrics and stumble. When they needed to move quickly, they gathered the material of their garments and pulled it up so they could walk or run freely. They would gird up their clothing.

When the Bible tells us to “gird up the loins” of our minds, I believe it means to get our minds off of everything that would cause us to stumble as we run the race God has set before us. I think it may also refer to concentrating on the thing at hand rather than allowing our thoughts to wander all over the place. God has a good plan for each of us, but we must walk the path that leads us to it. Focus and concentration are both real challenges in our world today. We have a great deal of information coming at us all the time and to keep our minds on what our purpose is requires great determination and even training.

You might get up on Monday and fully intend to start your day by spending time with God in prayer and Bible study. Then you intend to get three specific projects finished that day. You need to go to the grocery store, get some maintenance done on your car, and finish cleaning out a closet that you started working on last week. Your intention is good, but if you don’t focus on those projects you will surely be pulled away by other things or people. Girding up your mind is another way of saying “stay focused on what you need to do.”

Uninvited Guests

Do you experience thoughts flashing through your mind that seem to come from nowhere? They do come from somewhere and they are often designed to hinder you from reaching your goals. These thoughts are actually uninvited guests looking for a home and it is our job to tell them that we have no room for them.

How would you respond if people that you barely knew showed up at your front door with their baggage telling you that they wanted to move in? Well, of course you would tell them they were not welcome and no matter how persistent they were, you would hold firm to your decision that you could not provide a home for them. We should take this same attitude with flashing thoughts that are in reality uninvited troublesome guests who come knocking at the door of our mind.

For example, if you decide to take some college courses to improve your education and when you go to register thoughts begin to flash through your mind like:
You are too old to go to college. It will be too hard for you and take too much time. You didn’t do that good in high school and college is much more difficult.
Stop right away and ask yourself if these thoughts are yours or if they are coming from somewhere outside of you. Are you choosing them or are they uninvited guests that the devil has sent to you. Instead of offering them a home, “gird up” your mind and think the way you want to think. Stay focused on your goal, not the fear the devil is trying to instill in you. Think like this:
There will be a lot of people younger than I am in my classes, but I have a good mind and a destiny to fulfill, so I’m going to get myself enrolled and I’m going to do my very best. Even if I’m the oldest person in the entire college, I’m not too old to improve myself.

You may want to get out of debt, live a healthier lifestyle, improve your marriage, or a variety of other things. Whatever your specific situation is, be diligent to gird up the loins of your mind and get rid of any thoughts that are standing in the way as you seek to move forward.

Think about It

Have you developed an ability to concentrate and focus or do you allow uninvited guests to get you off course?

Have Some “Think Sessions”

I believe in having a “think session” every day. If we were to sit down regularly and say to ourselves, “I am going to think about a few things for a few minutes,” and then deliberately think about some of the things the Bible tells us to think about, our lives would improve dramatically. Disciplining ourselves to think properly by having “on-purpose think sessions” will train us to begin thinking properly in our everyday lives.

There are thoughts you need to think every day in order to set your mind and keep it set, renew your mind, and gird up the loins of your mind. In the next section of this book, I am going to share some of those thoughts with you and help you understand how incredibly powerful they are. For example, one of the things all believers need to think every day is this biblical truth:
I am in right standing with God.
Let me ask you, can you see anything at all wrong with thinking such a thought several times a day? I certainly can’t! Why not think something on purpose that will benefit you rather than merely meditating on whatever happens to fall into your mind?

We use our thinking abilities every day, but most of us need to change the content of our thoughts. Instead of thinking,
I’m no good; I mess up everything; I never do anything right
, we can use our mental energy to think about how much God loves us and how we are in a right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

Or, think about how much more effectively you could overcome fear in your life if you took time to think,
I will not be afraid; I will not let fear control me; I know it will come from time to time, but even if I have to do something of which I’m afraid, I am going to do it.
This would be a way of setting your mind and keeping it set against fear. Then, when faced with the temptation to be afraid, you would be better able to resist.

As you spend more time thinking correctly, great transformation will take place in your life. You might have to put notes around your house saying “What have you been thinking today?” You might have to put a note in your car to remind you to think right thoughts today—or even write out what those thoughts are and post them on a mirror or on your computer screen. This type of exercise would not be uncommon for a college student facing final exams. They do everything they can do to keep the right answers in front of them prior to the test to assure that they graduate. If you will discipline yourself to remind yourself to spend time thinking right thoughts on purpose for several minutes each day, you will find things improving so radically you will be absolutely amazed. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying the good life God has predestined for you.