As promised last month, my November blog provides some biblical assurances God has provided to help us change what we choose to think about and dwell on.

Inner transformation and sanctification can be accomplished in this life only if we are willing to do our part by fully cooperating with the Lord and claiming the incredible supernatural power of His Holy Spirit. I want to share some verses from the Bible with you to show you that God really does want to come after our thought life and to put right and positive-type thinking into our mind.

1. God transforms us by renewing our minds

 Consider the following texts:

 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 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.” (Romans 12:1, 2).

 

“… that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4: 22-24).

 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

 All three of these verses use the words “renewing” and “renewed” in reference to our minds. Here God has given us an incredible, powerful, spiritual secret to sanctification that He wants to complete in each and every one of us.  It involves mind renewal through God’s Word and by His Spirit on a daily and progressive basis.

2. We are transformed by having the mind of Christ

Paul makes one of the most weighty statements in all of Scripture when he says “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

 We have the “mind of Christ.” Think of the implications of this promise. As a result of having direct access to Jesus through the Holy Spirit – we have His mind, or put another way, we have His mind operating within us. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit imparts His thoughts and His ways of thinking directly into our minds. Not only do we have the power of the Holy Spirit within to clean up our thoughts, we also have direct access to His mind so we can truly learn how we should think and act.

 In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul exhorts the Corinthians to “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” We are called to “imitate Christ” – to act the way Jesus acted. If we place these two verses side by side, Jesus is telling all of us loud and clear that He wants all of us to think like He thinks and act like He acts. He wants to become our perfect role model after whom we pattern both our inner life and our outer life.

3. God has given us sound minds.

 In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul declares “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. This text emphasizes three distinct words – power, love, and sound mind. God is telling us that not only can we get a sound mind from Him, but we can also get a mind that has a spirit of power and love in it. We just have to learn how to connect to it, believe it, and act on it.

One of the most incredible blessings that God has given us in this world is a good, clear, sound mind. If we are walking with the Lord, the Holy Spirit will move to impart this sound mind to you. If you are into memorizing Bible verses, I highly recommend that you add this one to your list.

If you look around, however, you will notice that many nonbelievers, and former Christians are not operating with very sound minds. All you have to do is spend a few minutes with those who lust after the materials and immoral things of this life and you will be able to quickly tell who is operating with a sound mind and who is not. Their lustful pursuits have caused their thinking to become distorted, warped, debased, and at times, downright unstable.

As a result of this deterioration in their minds, many have lost their marriages, the good relationships they had with their children, and some of their close friends. Some minds have literally deteriorated to the point where the individuals have taken their own lives.

No matter the challenges you may be forced to deal with, remember that we now have the mind of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit operating through us to help keep your thinking “sound” and “powerful.” This kind of mindset from the Lord is already in you.

4. Our thoughts will be established by the Lord

 Since God is all-knowing (omniscient) and all-powerful (omnipotent), He is the only One who has direct access to our thoughts. Demons and other people cannot read our mind or our thoughts. Praise the Lord! However, because God can read our thoughts – we will not be able to fool God or hide anything from Him. Many people are very good at hiding everything from those close around them, but God is always one step ahead of us.

There are two Bible verses that we should note. The first is Proverbs 15:26: “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant.” This Bible text is telling us that God can literally read our “thoughts”; what’s in our minds – our unspoken words. Notice also, that the Lord uses a very strong word – “abomination” – to describe the thoughts of people who are considered really wicked and evil.

How many of us remember the BTK serial killer from the state of Kansas. When he was caught, he pleaded guilty to the charges that were brought against him. He also told the court and the rest of the world the horrific details of all of his crimes, all done while he was masquerading as a deacon in a Christian church. His evil and wicked thought life, which eventually led to his horrible crime spree, is a perfect example of what God describes as an abomination in His sight.

 

The second verse, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established” (Proverbs 16:3) gives us another special promise. It says that if we are willing to commit our works to the Lord, our “thoughts will be established.”

If we are committing our works to the Lord, we are operating in full surrender with Him; and if we are operating in a full surrender with Him, the Holy Spirit will help us to establish our thoughts.

 5. We Must Bring Every Thought into Captivity to the Obedience of Jesus

I want to end this discourse with one last verse from the Bible. It shows us that God wants us to take control of our thoughts i.e., what we choose to think about. The verse is 2 Corinthians 10:3. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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 … .”

The Bible says that we are the ones to bring every thought into “captivity” to the obedience of Jesus. This means we are directly responsible for what we choose to think about and dwell on. We can either choose to think about godly things – or we can choose to think about evil things. The choice is ours.

As such, we should let no one manipulate our minds, including hypnotists who may want to plant his suggestions into our minds. God, the Holy Spirit will help you out if you are willing to allow Him into your heart.

One of my favourite writers, E.G. White,[1] echoes the Biblical counsel we’ve been given. She says “Cut away from yourselves everything that savors of hypnotism, the science by which satanic agencies work.”—Lt 20, 1902. (Selected Messages 2:350.)

Moreover, she writes “… We do not ask you to place yourself under the control of any man’s mind. The mind cure is the most awful science which has ever been (p.717) advocated. Every wicked being can use it in carrying through his own evil designs. We have no business with any such science. We should be afraid of it. Never should the first principles of it be brought into any institution.”—Manuscript 105, 1901. (Medical Ministry, 116).  “…Fearful is the power thus given to evil-minded men and women. What opportunities it affords to those who live by taking advantage of others’ weaknesses or follies! How many, through control of minds feeble or diseased, will find a means of gratifying lustful passion or greed of gain!”—The Ministry of Healing, 243 (1905).

Conclusion

The human mind is a battlefield in the area of spiritual warfare. Demons try and move in to tempt us to move into their dark ways of thinking and living – and God moves in also to move us to live according to His ways. The choice will always be ours as to which side of the fence we will choose to live on.

The next time a bad thought flashes across our minds, we decide what to do with it. We can either choose to let that bad thought slide right out of our mind or we can choose to really start thinking about and dwelling on it.

Once we start to really think about and dwell on that bad thought – we start to feed it. If we feed it, it will grow, possibly into mental stronghold or some type of addictive and compulsive behavior.

This is why the wise man Solomon said “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” In other words, we can become what we think about! So, let’s confront our cognitive distortions. Let’s ask God for strength to cultivate right thinking; to show us how to get our minds properly renewed through His Word and by His Spirit… and don’t forget to claim His promises.

[1] https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mind,_Character_and_Personality/Hypnotism_and_its_Dangers