Topic: Brain Washed

Wikipedia defines Brainwashing (we are using it in the positive sense) as mind control, thought control, and thought reform.

Romans 12:2 | ERV (2) Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

Romans 12:2 | NLT (2) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification! It is a transformation!

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

How do you renew your mind?

It is a process of taking out and putting in. (Housecleaning and refurnishing)

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) 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;

Four Levels of Mental Activity:

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Reasonings that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
4. Strongholds

Up to this point we have talked about:

1. Thoughts – the lowest level of mental activity and where all others start.

You must get involved with the thought selection process. You determine what your mind thinks about.

1. Imaginations – mental images or pictures of how you see your life being lived.

Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes.

The way that you change your imagination is to meditate on or imagine God’s Word.

1. Reasonings that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God

1. Strongholds

We are created by God with the ability to create habit patterns to make us more efficient so that eventually you can do things without having to consciously think about them.

What is a stronghold? In the Greek, it is defined as a fortification such as a high-walled city or castle but this word can also be translated a prison with high walls and fortifications. It literally can become an enemy fortification if Satan becomes involved.

We are talking about patterns of behavior that have been built in our lives, mostly over long periods of time that started with thoughts and have been established as strongholds or habits.

Habit – a pattern of behavior that we do enough until it has become almost involuntary.

I believe there are habits that we can build in our lives and some we can even overcome just through discipline. But there are others that are going to take more than just discipline; they are going to require supernatural weapons.

Building Good Habits:

To put the right things in your mind you must simply reverse the process:

1. Focus on the Word of God and let it be the standard.

The Word is the standard of measurement.

James 1:21 | TPT So this is why we abandon everything morally impure and all forms of wicked conduct. Instead, with a sensitive spirit we absorb God’s Word, which has been implanted within our nature, for the Word of Life has power to continually deliver us.

2. Keep the Word of God before you and in your mouth.

Joshua 1:8 | NKJV This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

3. Build an imagination of your life being lived out in line with God’s Word and with different behavior.

Psalms 1:1-3 | NKJV Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. (3) He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Forming the right habits starts with seeing it in your heart and mind.

Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes.

4. Be a doer of the Word.

James 1:22 | NKJV But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

5. Start with some small things which make a big difference.

Zechariah 4:10 | NLT Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

It makes God rejoice when He sees us begin to make steps towards His goldy habits in our lives. It may be reading the Bible or spending 15 minutes in prayer but it all makes a difference in our lives.

6. Stay consistent with the process – day and night.

Remember, that spiritual things seem to not happen as quickly as we would like, but things are changing.

Hebrews 6:11-12 | NKJV And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, (12) that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

7. You can build a new habit pattern in 21 days!

Based on behavioral studies that have established that. If you stay with this process, you can change in less than a month! Stay with it!

Why is this so important? It affects every area of your life.

3 John 1:2 | TPT Beloved friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and that you continually enjoy good health, just as your soul is prospering.

Wikipedia defines Brainwashing (we are using it in the positive sense) as mind control, thought control, and thought reform.

Romans 12:2 | ERV (2) Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

Romans 12:2 | NLT (2) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification! It is a transformation!

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

How do you renew your mind?

It is a process of taking out and putting in. (Housecleaning and refurnishing)

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) 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;

Four Levels of Mental Activity:

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Reasonings that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
4. Strongholds

Up to this point we have talked about:

1. Thoughts – the lowest level of mental activity and where all others start.

You must get involved with the thought selection process. You determine what your mind thinks about.

2. Imaginations – mental images or pictures of how you see your life being lived.

Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes.

The way that you change your imagination is to meditate on or imagine God’s Word.

3. Reasonings that exalt themselves agains2 the knowledge of God.
4. Strongholds

We are created by God with the ability to create habit patterns to make us more efficient so that eventually you can do things without having to consciously think about them.

Example – when we were young, we had to remind ourselves or someone else remind us to go and brush our teeth in the morning. Hopefully as we have gotten older, that is not still the case.

It literally can become an enemy fortification if Satan becomes involved.

What is a stronghold? In the Greek, it is defined as a fortification such as a high-walled city or castle but this word can also be translated a prison with high walls and fortifications.

We are talking about patterns of behavior that have been built in our lives, mostly over long periods of time that started with thoughts and have been established as strongholds or habits.

Habit – a pattern of behavior that we do enough until it has become almost involuntary.

I believe there are habits that we can build in our lives and some we can even overcome just through discipline. But there are others that are going to take more than just discipline; they are going to require supernatural weapons.

Breaking Bad Habits

2 Corinthians 10:4 | NKJV (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,

Isaiah 10:27 | KJV (27) And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

You can gain victory over the bad strongholds (habits) in your life!

1. Be willing to identify the stronghold.

Proverbs 28:13 | GNB (13) You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.

2. Deal with one stronghold at a time.

Deal with the strongholds in the descending order of their impact on your life. Don’t let the enemy get you busy fighting more than one fire at a time.

3. Fast and deny the desires of the flesh to amplify the anointing.

Part of this is to deny your mind the triggers. Only YOU can identify these.

Isaiah 58:8 | AMPC (8) Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. [Exo 14:19-20; Isa 52:12]

4. Pray and ask the Lord for help and He will answer.

Isaiah 58:9 | AMPC (9) Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am….

5. There must be some Word push-back by you.

Luke 4:4 | NKJV (4) But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD OF GOD.’ “

Ephesians 6:17 | NKJV (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword (machaira – sharp dagger) of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Rhema);

6. Don’t try to be a hero. Get help if you need it!

Matthew 18:18-20 | NKJV (18) “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (19) “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. (20) For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 | NLT (9) Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. (10) If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. (11) Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? (12) A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Wikipedia defines Brainwashing (we are using it in the positive sense) as mind control, thought control, and thought reform.

Romans 12:2 | ERV (2) Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

Romans 12:2 | NLT (2) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification! It is a transformation!

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

• God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the inside.
• The supernatural power of God in you can never rise above the ceiling to which your mind comes in agreement with your spirit.
• We have no limitation in this life except what our mind sells us based on how we see our lives.
• Your mind is the check valve to the power of God that we are filled with and to the degree that our mind comes into agreement with our spirits, will release that power out of you to affect your life and reality.

How do you renew your mind?

It is a process of taking out and putting in. (Housecleaning and refurnishing)

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) 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;

Four Levels of Mental Activity:

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Reasonings that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
4. Strongholds

Imagination – (Dictionary) the forming of mental images of what is not actually present to the senses.

In other words, our imagination was given to us by God so that we could “see” things that have not yet happened in our lives.

• Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes. 

• Whether you know it or not, your imagination is dictating how your life goes.

Genesis 11:6 | AMPC (6) And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.

How Do I Change the Picture?

There is no quick fix for your imagination. Changing the way you think and see is a process that takes time and consistency.

Joshua 1:8 | NKJV (8) This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

The way that you change your imagination is to meditate on or imagine God’s Word.

Imagine your life being lived out as God’s Word states it.

Andrew Wommack in his book, The Power of Imagination says,

“Let the Word of God paint a picture of what is possible, of what can be accomplished, and let that picture become so clear and so strong that you can no longer live outside of it.

Faith and imagination work hand – in hand. You can get so focused on Scripture that you can’t see anything contrary to it.

One of the main reasons people don’t see the Word work in their lives is because they just read it. You can’t just read the Word and expect it to produce change. You have to allow that Word to quicken your imagination until you “see” what you’re reading.

Even if you spend hours every week reading the Bible or quoting healing Scriptures, you won’t see the fullness of those words come to pass in your life until you imagine yourself healed. You’d actually be better off reading one verse on healing and letting the truth within it paint a picture of who you are than reading five chapters in your “Read the Bible in a Year” plan and not even remember what book of the Bible you read.

Imagination comes before manifestation. If you can’t imagine yourself doing what God called you to do or experiencing His promises, you’ll never see those things come to pass with your physical eyes. You have to see them on the inside before you can see them on the outside.

Your imagination is your spiritual womb. The Word of God is a seed (1 Pet. 1:23). It’s like a sperm that when planted in your heart—your imagination—will begin the process of conception. Most Christians don’t understand this. When they have a problem, they go to God begging and pleading for Him to move. They tell others of their desperation and pray for a miracle, but they’re praying in unbelief. And while God certainly works miracles, miracles don’t come from the outside in. They come from the inside out.

God created us to conceive miracles in our imaginations. When we take the seed of God’s Word and plant it in our spiritual wombs, conception occurs. But there is a waiting period involved before manifestation, in the same way that a pregnant woman has to nurture a child for nine months before she can give birth.

The woman may not even realize she’s pregnant in the beginning of the process, but her child is no less real. She is no less pregnant. In the spiritual realm, it may take a period of time after you conceive before you feel like anything is happening. That’s okay. Continue to nurture that seed. Before long, you’ll start noticing change, and if you keep at it, so will everyone else! They’ll start encouraging you, believing with you. And when you give birth to your miracle, they’ll say, “Praise God! That was quick!” But like a woman giving birth to a child, you’ll know you incubated that miracle for nine months. You conceived it long before.

Likewise, you can meditate on the positive all day long. It just takes practice. Take a Scripture from God’s Word and just keep your mind focused on it. Picture what that Scripture would look like in your own life. Think of others who’ve seen the truth of that word work. Ponder what the author of that Scripture was thinking when they wrote it. Ask questions about it. That’s how the Word comes alive.”

Wikipedia defines Brainwashing (we are using it in the positive sense) as mind control, thought control, and thought reform.

Romans 12:2 | ERV (2) Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

Romans 12:2 | NLT (2) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

• The supernatural power of God in you can never rise above the ceiling to which your mind comes in agreement with your spirit.
• We have no limitation in this life except what our mind sells us based on how we see our lives.
• Your mind is the check valve to the power of God that we are filled with and to the degree that our mind comes into agreement with our spirits, will release that power out of you to affect your life and reality.
• Being a Christian is not about behavior modification!

The word “transformed” is the Greek word that we get the English word “metamorphosis”.

Metamorphosis – a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means.

• God is interested in something supernatural happening on the inside of us that changes us on the inside.

How do you renew your mind?

It is a process of taking out and putting in. (Housecleaning and refurnishing)

Don’t have a mental garage sale, just burn it.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) 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;

Four Levels of Mental Activity:

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Reasonings that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
4. Strongholds

Our thoughts are a process of moving through the circumstances of our everyday life.

Thoughts are introduced to you by observation, association, teachings, and the circumstances of life.

Matthew 6:25 | KJV (25) Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

We have the ability to accept or reject the thoughts that come to our minds.

We are going to look at the thought selection process.

1. The first level of mental activity is the selection of thoughts.

Matthew 6:31 | KJV (31) Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

• • • You take a thought by saying it.

The word “saying” in the Greek is “lego” meaning you are laying it out and systematically communicating your thoughts and relating them to you. You are connecting it to you.

2 Corinthians 10:5 | KJV  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;

Captivity – as in a prisoner of war

• • • You make thoughts obey and submit by speaking God’s Word which is contrary to that thought.

When you do this, that thought will die powerless and unborn and does not have any power to affect your life.

2. The second level of mental activity is imagination.

Imagination – (Dictionary) the forming of mental images of what is not actually present to the senses.

In other words, our imagination was given to us by God so that we could “see” things that have not yet happened in our lives.

• • • Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes. 

• • • Whether you know it or not, your imagination is dictating how your life goes.

Genesis 11:1,4-6 | AMPC (1) AND THE whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression. (4) And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. (5) And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. (6) And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.

Why is this so very important?

In the Scriptures, when referring to a positive imagination, the word used is “hope”.

In his article called “The Power of Hope”, Andrew Wommack said,

“Hope is more powerful than people realize. Something the Lord shared with me that really made this truth come alive is that hope is a positive imagination. Your imagination is like soil. Soil doesn’t care what kind of seed you plant in it; the moment it’s planted, the soil starts producing. It’s the same thing with your heart and your imagination. Your imagination will conceive something and automatically start making it come to pass, whether it’s positive or negative. It’s like your spiritual womb.”

• • • You get to choose whether your imagination is positive—which is hope—or negative, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
    • The imagination isn’t moral or immoral; it’s what you focus your attention on that determines whether it is good or bad. 

Luke 21:26 | NKJV men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth…

Isaiah 26:3 | NKJV You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

Hebrew word for “mind” can be translated “imagination.” 

• • • You must stay in God’s Word and let it dominate you, or the unbelief of this world will extinguish your positive imagination.

Wikipedia defines Brainwashing (we are using it in the positive sense) as mind control, thought control, and thought reform.

Romans 12:2 | AMPC (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].

Some may think that you are living out of your spirit. You actually are living out of your thoughts. Your actions always follow your thinking.

Proverbs 23:6-7 | NKJV (6) Do not eat the bread of a miser, Nor desire his delicacies; (7) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

Isaiah 55:7 | AMPC (7) Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have love, pity, and mercy for him, and to our God, for He will multiply to him His abundant pardon.

The way that someone returns unto the Lord is in your thoughts first.

As a believer you have a choice to think in line with your spirit or in line with your five physical senses.

Whichever way the mind swings determines the direction of your life.

What controls your dedication to the things of God is your thinking.

What changes you from being shaped like the world is your thinking.

What you believe about Jesus determines your eternal outcome, but your behavior determines the quality of life you experience now.

Our behavior produces the kind of life that we have and if we will adapt our behavior to the standard of God’s Word, we will enjoy His blessing and involvement in our lives.

We make hundreds of decisions every day – about 20% are conscious decisions and the other 80% are reflexive. This speaks to the need for preconditioning in our lives to make sure that we reflexively respond the way should and make good decisions.

The things that exercise the greatest amount of influence in our lives, are the things that help shape the decisions that we make on a regular basis.

God labors through your recreated spirit to influence your decision-making process. (1 John 4:15)

Your body is influenced by the sensory perceptions it has to provide influences in your decision-making process.

Your soul is the seat of your decision-making process.

Romans 8:5-6 | NKJV (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

How do we get from being carnally minded to being spiritually minded?

The process is called renewing your mind.

Romans 12:2 | TPT (2) Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes.

The transformation of our lives is contingent upon the renewing of our minds.

Some think that renewing the mind is simply replacing the worldly value system that you have had and replace it with God’s value system or removing old standards and replacing with new ones.

Renewing does not mean learning.

Paul was writing to people who were Born Again and had a basic knowledge of the Word of God.

Refilling and replenishing the mind with things that you have already learned is a continual ongoing process.

How do you renew your mind?

It is a process of taking out and putting in. (Housecleaning and refurnishing)

Don’t have a mental garage sale, just burn it.

You would not go out and buy new furniture and then squeeze it in next to the old furniture and make it fit, no you get rid of the old and replace it with the new.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV (3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) 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;

Four Levels of Mental Activity:

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Reasonings that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
4. Strongholds

Our thoughts are a process of moving through the circumstances of our everyday life.

There is no such thing as a blank mind. Your mind is in operation all the time.

Thoughts are introduced to you by observation, association, teachings, and the circumstances of life.

Matthew 6:25 | KJV (25) Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

We have the ability to accept or reject the thoughts that come to our minds.

We are going to look at the thought selection process.

Wikipedia defines Brainwashing (we are using it in the positive sense) as mind control, thought control, and thought reform.

Why is this so important? Why teach on this on this subject so much?

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 | NKJV (19) I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; (20) that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Remember that whether we are experiencing life and blessing OR death and cursing is dependent upon the decisions that we make in life.

The Choice Is Yours

• The quality of life that we have today is a result of the choices that we made yesterday.

Those choices, either good or bad, have been shaped by the decisions that we have made.

To make any positive change in our lives, we must start by accepting that truth.

• Whatever is influencing our lives the most, is what helps shape the decisions that we make.

God labors through your recreated spirit to influence your decision-making process. The location of our free moral agency is our soul.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 | NKJV (23) Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body.

• Your soul is the seat of your decision-making process.

Your soul is comprised of your mind, will, and your emotions.

• Our decision-making process is based on: I think, I feel and therefore I choose.

Your mind interacts with your emotions or how you feel to produce desire and desire is the foundation of your decision-making.

• God has created you so that if you have the right information and process it correctly, you will not make bad decisions.

You have reasoning ability given to you by God. You can take information and process it and come to a right logical conclusion.

Your mind was not created to arrive at the wrong conclusion.

Most people do not have enough of the right information to come to the right conclusion. They mostly have more than enough of the natural information and not enough of the spiritual information. If you have enough of both types of information you have the capacity to come to the right conclusion.

Wash Your Mind

There are thought patterns that your mind thinks it needs to have to be happy that must be cleaned out:

1. Self-centered thinking.

A child only thinks about “me”. We must be concerned with the needs of others above our own needs.

1 Corinthians 10:24 | AMPC (24) Let no one then seek his own good and advantage and profit, but [rather] each one of the other [let him seek the welfare of his neighbor].

2. Feeling sorry for yourself or self-pity.

This kind of thought will always lead to depression and then oppression and eventually death.

Psalms 28:7-9 | TPT (7) You are my strength and my shield from every danger. When I fully trust in you, help is on the way. I jump for joy and burst forth with ecstatic, passionate praise! I will sing songs of what you mean to me! (8) You will be the inner strength of all your people, the mighty protector of all, the saving strength for all your anointed ones. (9) Keep protecting and cherishing your chosen ones; in you they will never fall. Like a shepherd going before us, keep leading us forward, forever carrying us in your arms!

3. Prideful thoughts.

God gets all the glory all the time. You must come to grips with the fact that we don’t get any of the glory.

John 15:5 | NLT (5) “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

4. Comparison thinking.

Hebrews 12:1 | NLT (1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

5. Negative, defeated thinking.

The glass is always half empty…

Romans 8:35, 37 | TPT (35) Who could ever separate us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love… (37) Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and his demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything!

6. Natural reasoning that is contrary to God’s Word.

Sometimes God does not give you enough information to come to a logical conclusion but our minds always want a logical conclusion. When He doesn’t give us enough information, we try to come up with our own conclusion and that is called natural reasoning and it takes you to a natural answer.

Proverbs 16:25 | NKJV (25) There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

A mind that is washed from carnal reasoning will stop at the question and moves over to trust of God. We must arrive to the place of maturity where the questions don’t matter.

Proverbs 3:5 | NKJV (5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

How do we wash these thoughts from our mind?

Romans 12:2 | AMPC (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].

Communion Scriptures

1 Corinthians 11:23-28 | NKJV (23) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; (24) and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (25) In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. (27) Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (28) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.