A step towards healing
Romans 12:1-2 says, "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."
The Amplified Bible reads, "in view of [all] the mercies of God." I believe that this refers to the mercies of God that Paul has written about in Romans chapters 1-8. Chapters 9,10 and 11 are parenthetical, and Paul's thought process continues again in chapter 12. Paul is saying that when you look back and realize all of God's mercies towards you that your reasonable response would certainly be to offer your body a living sacrifice, especially your mind. In other words, that is the least you can do. In the Amplified version, it is called, "your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship." Notice also, that the promise for having your mind transformed is that you would realize, or prove, the perfect will of God.
That word prove in Romans 12:2 is the same word used in the refining of gold or silver, therefore we know that this process will include pain. Do you want the perfect will of God for your life? Offer your mind, your thinking, to the process of transformation!
The word transformed is interesting. The Strong's Concordance defines it as:
Metamorphoo: transfigure, transform, change. To change into another form, to transform, to transfigure. Christ's appearance was changed and was resplendent with divine brightness on the mount of transfiguration.
We need a total change in our thinking.
Even after we become born-again children of God, our old thinking needs to change to see who God has made us to be. He does not want us insecure and inferior. He wants us to know that we are New Creations in Christ, part of a new race of people. Christ now lives within us and has caused us to be re-born into a new race with dominion over Satan. We have
returned to the original pattern God intended for man. However, now we have the resurrected Spirit of Christ, something Adam and Eve did not enjoy.
Why do we need a change in our thinking?
We need a change in our thinking from the lie to the truth. Truth is the most powerful weapon in the world. It is so valuable that it is guarded by a bodyguard of lies.
What we think will affect our speech, and what we speak will affect our lives.
Luke 6:45 says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
James 3:4-6 says, "Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell."
Our weapons are for protecting our thought life and our covenant rights of our "knowing" Him.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV) says, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Your thinking process is able to control the rest of your life. That is why this Scripture talks about the violent spiritual warfare against the biggest possible hindrance in our walk with God, that being, "stinking thinking."
There is a war for our thought life.
God made us Kings and Priests. Kings make war and priests represent man to God and God to man, or in other words, ministry. We cannot have wholeness in our lives nor ministry to others without engaging in the warfare aimed at our minds and thought life.
Knowing God is everything.
The Blood Covenant is about knowing Him.
Knowing is a word that suggests the most intimate personal contact, more than intellectual knowledge. It is a close personal knowing. However, we are in a war for that. The war is in and for our minds. Our greatest task is to take our thoughts captive with the weapons God has given us. Jesus has already defeated Satan at the Cross. He has already given us a complete blood covenant. Our war is not to defeat Satan, but simply to defend what our rightful inheritance is. Furthermore, Jesus is the mediator of the blood covenant. He is there to make sure that we receive the blood covenant privileges. But remember, His name is The Word.
When you are "knowing" Jesus, present tense, you see Him alive here on earth, and the devil's plans are thwarted. However, if the devil can get control of your thoughts you will not know Jesus, and the devil's plans can succeed. Remember Jesus said to some in Matthew 7:23, "I never knew you."
The removal of sin is what allows us to know Him. Jeremiah prophesied it.
Jeremiah 24:7 and 31:34 says, "'Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart." "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
If you are disconnected you live as a mere Gentile in the futility of your mind. If you do, you can nullify everything He wants to give you in and through His intimacy. Sinful thinking can keep us from knowing Him. Ephesians 4:1 says, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind." Ephesians 4:23 says, "and be renewed in the spirit of your mind."
Paul prayed that the church would know and experience God. Ephesians 3:16- 20 Amplified version says:
16 May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality].
17 May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love,
18 That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it];
19 [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!
20 Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—
Disciplining our thinking is a major task. Being lazy in the things of God in this life can affect us eternally.
Please know that we are not attempting to minimize the mercy and grace of God, the finished work of Jesus at the Cross, by suggesting some sort of salvation by works program or legalism. We are not suggesting that God is sitting back to watch how well we perform. No! He did it all. However He also warned us that we would have to overcome, which is a term used in warfare. Our new birth is free. However, our staying plugged into the life of God, maintaining a real time intimacy with Him, allows Him to make us whole, to use us for His glory, and to bring His Kingdom purposes to this earth.
Spiritual warfare and discipline is needed to keep our thought life plugged into His Word and to resist Satan's thought bombs. Satan's task is to take over our thoughts so that he can unplug us from God's life. Our mind is Satan's best and most fruitful battlefield.
God already provided the solution.
We just need to conform our thinking to His truth.
You need to know for sure, that God Himself did everything needed to completely heal your wounds through Jesus' work. His life, death, resurrection and ascension accomplished more than enough to completely make you whole. Our part is to believe the truth. Renewing our mind to truth is a process that can take time. It is real even when it does not seem real. Our minds really can and do change. That change affects our entire life. I can testify to this truth in my own life and in the lives of multitudes of others. My contributing-editor Michael Vincent tells how he overcame the strongholds of feeling stupid, inadequate, and not good enough. When Michael started school they told him from the first day that he would not learn like the other children. Everyday he went to school and the lie was being reinforced stronger and stronger, the fortress was being built. Year after year Michael fell further behind his peers in school. Due to his belief system he gave up trying to learn. At age 37, after 20 years of drug and alcohol addiction Michael found himself in a Christian based drug and alcohol program. Once in the program he had to start memorizing scripture. At first his "right to be right" and his rebellious heart wanted to hold on to the lie that he could not do it. After help, encouragement and prayer from the other men in the program he started memorizing scripture one at a time. It was not long before he had memorized all sixteen passages to stay in the program. One day in prayer he felt overwhelmed with the anger and resentment he had towards God because he always believed that God had made a mistake when he created him. After asking and receiving forgiveness from God he renounced the vow that he would never be able to learn. Then he thanked God for creating him believing that God did not make a mistake and he came to a place that even if he never read a book that he was just who God created him to be. At this moment there was a spiritual bondage broken off his life. God stilled his soul, gave him patience to read one word at a time and to start memorizing more scripture. Today 7 years later he has read 100s of Christian books, he reads the Bible everyday and is walking victoriously over the stronghold that existed for most of his life.
The real truth is radical.
For instance, Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Romans 6:3-4 says, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
Not only was your sin taken away, but also the person who sinned was put to death, and you were raised with Christ and are now seated with Him in heavenly places. You were actually born-again into an entire new race of people. When you begin to believe this truth, then your mind will be renewed. When that happens the process of inner healing can have its full freedom to do its work in you. This is a lot deeper work than emotional healing. Even non-believers can receive emotional healing. However only a child of God who is a disciple can be supernaturally transformed!
When your mind is renewed to really believe, not just mentally, but by revelation knowledge, that you really have been crucified with Christ, that you were really in Him when He was nailed to the Cross, then you will experience real freedom.
Examples of damaging thoughts.
We can receive thoughts:
1. Against the true character of God,
2. Against our true identity in Christ.
3. Against others.
Loving God with all of our mind is a command. Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matthew 22:37-39).
Where do inordinate thoughts come from?
So many thoughts come involuntarily from past broken relationships, especially from our fathers. Our past or present negative circumstances can give us negative thoughts. Damaging thoughts can also come from our present friends, or from what we focus our eyes and ears upon, and what we determine to set our minds upon. Satan's army can shoot direct thoughts at your mind.
When Jesus saves us, our spirits are made whole. When we go to Heaven our bodies are made new and whole. However while here on earth we are to pursue the healing and prosperity of our souls, which include our will, mind and emotions. Romans 12:1-2 makes it clear that we are to pursue the renewing of our minds.
While we are born again to a new species of beings, we experience traces of the "flesh," the "old man" in our thought life. We are not of two identities as some try to teach, there are not two people living inside us. We are a new resurrected being, a new creation in Christ. However the "old man" has left old thoughts in our minds, and that is where the battle rages. God wants it renewed, Satan wants it to control us.
Take your thoughts captive.
When you hear a word, a seed is planted; that is a fact of life!
Words become thoughts then they bear fruit. Satan also plants words, which become thoughts. (Matthew13: 25). These thoughts eventually bear Satan's fruit.
Here is a rather simple system for taking your thoughts captive and renewing your mind.
1. Take your thoughts captive. Airports now have security checkpoints that screen each person and each piece of luggage for dangerous items before boarding an airplane. You do the same thing. When you sense a thought, stop, and ask, "Does this thought carry dangerous consequences? Is this thought profitable for me to live a godly life? Is this thought from Satan, or my flesh?" At that point, you simply make a decision to say to that thought, "I do not allow you entrance. I take you captive and evict you in the name of Jesus."
After some practice you will better recognize those thoughts that come from God. Often God's thoughts come as spontaneous thoughts. Sometimes to me they feel like a bolt of lighting that just zooms through your spirit.
Replace your thoughts with godly thoughts. You cannot just leave a vacuum; you must fill your mind with something good.
2. Begin to meditate on the Word of God. Ask God to help you find a Scripture, then write it down and memorize it. "Chew" on it and meditate upon it all day long. Think of a Bible story and imagine it in your mind. Images are how we think. That is why in our key Scripture, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 quoted above says to cast down imaginations, or in some translations the word arguments is used. The word is more akin to imaginations. Our mind works in pictures, or imaginations, rather than in words.
3. Speak the Word. Make a habit of speaking the Word of God out loud. You cannot think bad thoughts and speak something different. Try it.
Summary.
In summary, Jesus gave us the Blood Covenant that removes our sin. One of the main benefits of that is that we may know Him in an intimate way. When we are in the present tense of knowing Him, His power works in us, for us and for others in the world. Satan knows that our thought life can keep us from the power of God; therefore that is where he concentrates his "big guns."
"I took My thoughts captive for you. Will you do the same for Me?"
Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…" The verses following state that His "mind" is, humility and the desire to take up His Cross. We must take up our cross when we sense an inordinate thought trying to control us.
Quoted from Purpose Drive Life Daily Devotions.
Purpose DrivenLife.com a Ministry of Saddleback Church 1 Saddleback Pkwy Lake Forest, CA 92630 (800) 633-8876
Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. Proverbs 4:23 (GNT)
One of the great psychological discoveries of the past century is that your thoughts control your actions. If you want to change the way you act, you must first change how you think.
Actually, thousands of years ago, Solomon pointed this out when he wrote, "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts" (Proverbs 4:23 GNT).
The Bible says our thoughts influence six areas of our lives:
My interpretation influences my situation. It's not what happens to me that matters as much as how I choose to see it. The way I react will determine whether the circumstance makes me better or bitter. I can view everything as an obstacle or an opportunity for growth – a stumbling block or a stepping stone. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4 NIV).
My impressions influence my depressions. In other words, my mind affects my mood; my thinking determines my feelings. If I'm feeling depressed, it's because I'm choosing to think depressing thoughts – about my work, family, or anything else. While you cannot always control a feeling, you can choose what you think about, which will control how you feel." Hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught . . ."(Psalm 55:2 NIV).
My beliefs influence my behavior. We always act according to our beliefs, even when those ideas are false. For instance, as a child, if you believed a shadow in your bedroom at night was a monster, your body reacted in fear (adrenaline and jitters) even though it wasn't true. That's why it's so important to make sure you are operating on true information! Your convictions about yourself, about life, and about God influence your conduct." If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples" (John 8:31 NIV).
My self-talk influences my self-esteem. You are constantly talking to yourself unconsciously. When you walk into a room full of strangers, what do you tend to think about yourself? To develop more confidence you're going to have to stop running yourself down! "As he thinks in his heart, so is he"(Proverbs 23:7 NKJV).
My attitude influences my ability. Winners expect to win. Your perception controls your performance. Mohammed Ali only lost two fights in his career. Before both of them, he said something that he hadn't said before other fights: "If I should lose this fight […]."" All things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23 NKJV).
My imagination influences my aspirations. In other words, your dreams determine your destiny. To accomplish anything, you must first have a mission, a goal, a hope, a vision. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18 KJV).
The tearing down of these strongholds could take years depending on how deep the wound and how long you have been believing this stronghold. We can testify in our own lives by taking thoughts captive immediately, by meditating on the Word, memorizing scripture, taking our daily moral inventory and journaling to God these fortresses will be destroyed quicker. The more you pursue God, trust in Him, and allow His love to help you see the truth you will overcome. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.
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