Romans 12:2 | NLT 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 Bible teaches us that the way that we change is by an inward transformation and that happens as we change the way that we think.
So, if there are behaviors, habits, etc. that we have in our lives that need to be changed or eliminated, then they can be changed or eliminated by changing the way that we think.
How Do I Renew My Mind?
So, if I want to make better choices for my life that are in line with God’s plan for my life, then I must renew my mind or change my thinking. How do I do that?
- Renewing does not mean learning.
Your mind is the deciding factor in which course you will follow.
Romans 8:5-6 | NKJV 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.
Romans 8:6 | NIV The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
How do we get from being carnally or fleshly minded to being spiritually minded?
The process is called renewing your mind. 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;
Three Levels of Mental Activity:
- Thoughts
- Imaginations
- Strongholds
There is no place in the Bible that says that Satan is able to place thoughts in our minds. That premise implies that he is omniscient.
There is only One who knows the thoughts and intents of the human heart and that is the Lord.
1 Samuel 16:7 | NIV But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Satan is a fallen angel and is not all powerful, everywhere at once and does not know what you are thinking.
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 the circumstances of life.
- The first level of mental activity is the selection of thoughts.
(Matthew 6:31 KJV) Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
- You determine the thoughts that you take or reject.
You take a thought by attaching words to it and saying it out of your mouth.
(2 Corinthians 10:5b TPT) We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.
If you do not put words to the thoughts that come to you that do not correspond with the standards of God’s Word; you don’t take them.
The way you capture thoughts and make them surrender to the Word of God is to contradict that thought with the Word of God on your lips.
- The second level of mental activity is imagination.
Imagination – the process of mental imagery.
Mentally imaging your circumstance and the thoughts you have taken, building an image of what your life can be as it relates to that thought pattern. This is the level where behavior comes into play as you begin to visualize your life in one way or another.
(Genesis 11:6 AMPC) 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.
The process of visual imagery is what leads to behavior. The process of repetitive or consistent behavior will only take place if there has been repetitive or consistent visual imagery.
Patterns of behavior that can be defined as habitual, start this way.
- The third level of mental activity is called a stronghold.
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.
Habit – an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become involuntary.
It literally can become an enemy fortification if Satan becomes involved.
Satan cannot read your mind, but he observes our lives and can rightly deduce thought processes and imaginations that are not in line with the Word of God and he will bring his effort to bear in that area of demonstrated weakness. He has the authority to manipulate people and circumstances that are designed to exploit your demonstrated weakness to give you repeated, continued opportunity to establish a bad habit pattern.
Example – I am not tempted to do drugs in any way, so Satan does not send any drug dealers across my path to tempt me in that area because I have never demonstrated a weakness in that area.
Isaiah 10:27 | KJV 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.
Realize that there is an anointing available to you to help you tear down those strongholds in our lives by casting down imaginations and go through the process of renewing your mind.