“I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what” (Psalm 119:112 CEV).
The reason why most people are ineffective in life is that they’ve never learned how to fight the battle of the mind. If you want to learn to manage your mind, you have to deliver it from destructive thoughts. That isn’t easy, because there are three enemies that strive to keep you from fulfilling all your good intentions of changing your life. 1. The first enemy is your old nature. Paul says in Romans 7:23, “There is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (NLT). Do you ever find yourself doing things that you don’t really want to do? That’s the battle in your brain between your old, sinful nature and your good intentions. 2. The second enemy is Satan. Satan cannot force you to do anything, but he can make suggestions, and those suggestions are extremely powerful. He is constantly planting negative thoughts in your mind. He’ll use other people or he’ll use the television or he’ll just throw a thought in your mind. 3. The third enemy is the world’s value system. Not many things in our society encourage self-discipline? In fact, nearly every advertisement says, “You deserve a break today. Have it your way. We do it all for you.” The Bible says in 1 John 2:16, “For everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — comes not from the Father but from the world” (NIV). With enemies like that, no wonder we struggle with discouragement and despair and failure! So how do you fight this battle? Look at what 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says: “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV). You have a choice. Your mind has to listen to you. God didn’t give you just a mind; he gave you a will! The best time to win the battle with temptation is before it begins. “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what” (Psalm 119:112 CEV).
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“People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NLT).
If you want to have a healthy mind, you must feed your mind with truth. We all know the importance of nutrition. Good food and good calories make you stronger and healthier and give you more energy. Bad calories and junk food harm your body. A similar principle is true in your thought life: You must feed your mind not with junk or poison but with truth. At Oxford University, in England, there's a group called Oxford Analytica that has enormous influence in the world. Every day at about 6 a.m. the leading scholars of Oxford gather in a room to get reports from all around the world about what’s happened in the previous 24 hours, from crop prices rising in China to more unrest in the Middle East. Then they make the decision about what needs to be said about it. By 11 a.m. a report has been given to groups that pay big bucks for this information, such as the CIA and major corporations. Oxford Analytica is founded on the idea that the best leaders make the best decision when they have the best information. Even if you are a good leader, if you don’t have the best information, you’re more likely to make a bad decision. You need the best information to live the best life that God wants you to live. That information is right there in the Word of God. The Bible says in Matthew 4:4, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (NLT). God wants you to have the best information so that you can make the best decisions and receive God’s best for your life. You do that by feeding on the Word of God throughout your day, every day. “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Proverbs 4:23 GNT).
God is far more interested in changing your mind than changing your circumstances. We want God to take away all of our problems, pain, sorrow, suffering, sickness, and sadness. But God wants to work on you first, because transformation won’t happen in your life until you renew your mind, until your thoughts begin to change. Why is it so important that you learn how to manage your mind? Here are three reasons. Manage your mind, because your thoughts control your life. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (GNT). Your thoughts are powerful and have the tremendous ability to shape your life for good or for bad. For example, maybe you accept the thought someone told you when you were growing up: “You’re worthless. You don’t matter.” If you accepted that thought, even though it was wrong, it shaped your life. Manage your mind, because the mind is the battleground for sin. All temptation involves the mind. Paul says in Romans 7:22-23, "I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin” (TLB). One of the reasons why you get mentally fatigued is because there’s a battle in your brain 24 hours a day. It’s debilitating because it’s intense, and it’s intense because your mind is your greatest asset. Satan wants your greatest asset! Manage your mind, because it’s the key to peace and happiness. An unmanaged mind leads to tension; a managed mind leads to tranquility. An unmanaged mind leads to conflict; a managed mind leads to confidence. An unmanaged mind leads to stress. When you don’t try to control your mind and the way you direct your thoughts, you will have an enormous amount of stress in your life. But a managed mind leads to strength and security and serenity. “Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (Romans 8:6 NLT). “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2 NIV).
If you want to experience lasting change in your life, you need to refocus your mind. Specifically, you need to change your thought patterns from focusing on what you don’t want, to focusing on what you do want. And this is why: Whatever you focus on is what you move toward. The above verse gives us the blueprint to change our thought patterns:
How does this happen? The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:22-24 “to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (NIV). This means you are going to have to do some putting off and you are going to have to do some putting on. And the putting off has to happen before the putting on. It’s just like trying on clothes in a department store. Before you can try on the new stuff, you have to take off the old stuff. You’re going to have to let go of the old attitudes, the old thought patterns, the old images that you’ve been living with so you can put on the new garments God has for you as he changes and renews your mind. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4 ESV).
One of the common sources of stress is loss. You can lose your job, your health, your money, your reputation, or a loved one. When people go through loss, there are always two common reactions. One is fear, and the other is grief. Grief is good. Grief is the way we get through the transitions of life. In fact, if you don’t grieve, you get stuck! Grief will not kill you if you let it out. On the other hand, fear is a bad thing. Not once in the Bible does it say, “Grieve not,” “Sorrow not,” “Weep not,” or “Cry not.” What it does say is “Fear not.” And it says that 365 times! Grief doesn’t paralyze, but fear does. David says in Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (ESV). Shepherds always carried a rod and a staff to protect their sheep. David knew that in the same way, God has the tools to protect him, and he trusted God, even in the darkest valleys. Perhaps you are going through the valley of the shadow right now — maybe the valley of the shadow of death. It may be the valley of the shadow of debt. It may be the valley of the shadow of conflict. It may be the valley of the shadow of depression. It may be the valley of the shadow of discouragement. Shadows are scary. Remember being afraid of shadows when you were lying in bed as a kid? Here a few things about shadows. First, shadows can’t hurt you. Second, shadows are always bigger than the source. And — here’s the good news — wherever there’s a shadow, there has to be a light. You can’t have a shadow without light. So the key when you’re going through the valley of the shadow is to turn your back on the shadow and look at the light. Because as long as you keep your eyes on the light — Jesus, the light of the world — the shadow won’t scare you. That’s how you go through the valley of the shadow of death. That’s how you lower your stress. You trust God in the dark valleys, just like David, who prayed, “When I am ready to give up, he knows what I should do” (Psalm 142:3 GNT). |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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