It's The Thought That Counts

It’s The Thought That Counts

On a regular basis I talk with people who are losing the battle on the most important battleground of the Christian life: the mind.
Many people are tormented because they cannot get a grip on their minds.
This morning I want us to look at a proven strategy for victory in this all-important area.

Philippians 4:4-9

Mark Twain wrote, “What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself. All day long, the mill of his brain is grinding, and his thoughts, not those other things, are his history.”
The ideas and images in men’s minds are the invisible powers that constantly govern them.
You’re not what you think you are; but what you THINK—you are!
It is crucial for each of us to bring our thought life into submission to Jesus Christ by learning to think biblically about every aspect of life. One of the most helpful things I have learned about the Christian life is that all sin begins in our thoughts, which the Bible often calls “the heart.” Jesus said in Mark 7:
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
No one commits these outward sins without first having committed them in his mind. If we want to grow in godliness, we must win the battle over sin on the thought level.
Dwight Pentecost said this about the importance of our thoughts:
“The greatest area of sin in the believer’s life is not the area of actions but the area of thought. There is a whole classification of sins that we would have to call sins of the mind. What was the first sin of Lucifer? It was pride. What is that? A sin of the mind. What is lust? A sin of the mind. What is covetousness? A sin of the mind. Greed? A sin of the mind. Suspicion? A sin of the mind. Discouragement? A sin of the mind. We could go on and on. Those sins are more real to the child of God than such sins as adultery and murder and theft. That is a testimony to the fact that there is a warfare going on. Satan is attacking the mind.”
On the bus as we traveled to away football games, our coach demanded total silence. No one could speak or communicate in any manner. I can still see Monty Davis looking back at us from the front of the bus and very firmly say, “You need to get your minds right!”
The Bible speaks often about the importance of “getting our minds right.”
• Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
• Ephesians 4:22, 23 says, “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”
• I Peter 1:13 says, “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
• II Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every