The Mind

we are to be transformed that transformation must begin in our mind. We must think differently than we thought before we met Jesus! That is why Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 to be renewed in our minds so that we won’t act like we acted before we met Jesus. That is why Jesus himself said that we are to love God with all of our mind! Our mind, our thoughts are crucial to our transformation.

“Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always gotten. If you want different results in your life or your work, all you have to do is change your mind.”

God desires to transform our mind in four areas:

A. What we think about. (Thought life.)
Let me share a scary thought with you. According to Matt. 9:4 Jesus knew the thoughts of the Pharisees. We think our thought life is off limits to God. However, He constantly walks through our mind and our thoughts!

1. Philippians 4:8 teaches us what we are supposed to think about!

8Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Does this sound like your thought life? What do you think about? What clouds your mind? Are there areas of your thought life that would not fit into these descriptions . . . pure, honorable, lovely, good report?

2. II Corinthians 10:3-5 tells us our responsibility for our thought life.

3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh 4(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), 5casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;

In other words, we have the ability to control our thought life by the power of God that works in us if we will access that power.

We should be aware of every idea or imagination in our mind and if it doesn’t line up with God’s Word we should banish it from our minds.

Most of our problem in our thought life is due to the material that we place there through our eyes and ears. As long as we continue to place questionable material in our mind we will continue to struggle with our thought life.

Is it any wonder that we think more like the world than like God when you realize that by the time you were 18 years old you saw 180,000 beer commercials and 80,000 murders on television.

In a recent report on the media the average child between the ages of 2 to 18 is exposed to 5 ½ hours a day to the media and those between 12 and 13 average 8 hours each day. In the October 1998, Tribune a survey revealed that, “More than 60% of people aged 14 to 30 would give up food before giving up music.”

And then we struggle with our thought life and wonder why.

We expose our mind to the Bible only occasionally. Barna recently discovered that, “Bible reading during a typical week drops as age drops: 58% of Elders (Builders and Seniors); 47% of Boomers; 42% of Busters and 32% of