- Your victory in this life will follow your right decisions and your right behavior.
- You can change defeat into victory by changing your behavior and you can change your behavior by changing your mind.
- 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.
- Being a Christian is not about behavior modification!
Some think that renewing the mind is simply replacing the worldly value system that you have had and replacing it with God’s value system or removing old standards and replacing with new ones. Renewing does not mean learning.
Romans 12:1-2 | TPT (1) Beloved friends, what should be our proper response to God’s marvelous mercies? I encourage you to surrender yourselves to God to be his sacred, living sacrifices. And live in holiness, experiencing all that delights his heart. For this becomes your genuine expression of worship. (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 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 outside.
The Bible is very clear in teaching us that the way that we change is by changing the way that we think.
Other translations speak about the “renewing of the mind”.
So, if there are behaviors, habits, etc. that we have in our lives, then they can be changed or eliminated by changing the way that we think.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 | KJV 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 Thinking:
- Thoughts
- Imaginations
- Strongholds
2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
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 as 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.
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.
Breaking Bad Habits
You can gain victory over the bad strongholds (habits) in your life!
- Be willing to identify the stronghold.
Proverbs 28:13 NIV Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Darkness cannot continue in the light.
- 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 58:6,8 | NIV (6) “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (8) Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
- Pray and ask the Lord for help and He will answer.
Isaiah 58:9 | NIV (9) Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I…
- 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.’ “
- 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.
- Don’t try to be a hero. Get help if you need it!
James 5:16 | AMPC (16) Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
- Be consistent and don’t quit!
Hebrews 6:11-12 | NIV (11) We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. (12) We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Galatians 6:9 | MSG (9) So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.