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.
How does this transformation from the inside out begin?
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)
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
Our thoughts are a process of moving through the circumstances of our everyday life. Thoughts are introduced to you by the circumstances of life.
There is no such thing as a blank mind. Your mind is in operation all the time.
Matthew 6:31 | KJV Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
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- You determine the thoughts that you take or reject.
- You take a thought by saying it.
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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.
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- 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.
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- Imaginations
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.
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- 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.
- You get to choose whether your imagination is positive—which is hope—or negative, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- The way that you change your imagination is to meditate on or imagine God’s Word.
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Patterns of behavior that can be defined as habitual, start this way.
- 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 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!
- Be willing to identify the stronghold.
Proverbs 28:13 | GNB 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.
- 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.
- 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 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]
- Pray and ask the Lord for help and He will answer.
Isaiah 58:9 | AMPC Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, Here I am….
- There must be some Word push-back by you.
Luke 4:4 NKJV 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 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
- Don’t try to be a hero. Get help if you need it!
Matthew 18:18-20 | NKJV “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.