“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?”
James 4:1 (NIV) Every second of your life, there’s a battle in your brain. There’s a mental battle going on right now! It could be between right and wrong, between what’s easy and what’s hard, or what’s healthy and what’s unhealthy. All your negative emotions—stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, fear, jealousy—are a mental struggle. All of your internal conflicts start in your mind. In fact, so do all of your external conflicts. James 4:1 says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (NIV) That battle going on inside your mind between conflicting desires can continue even when you are sleeping, as you experience restless sleep and bad dreams. It’s a battle that rages 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This battle in your brain is constant and intense because your mind is your greatest asset. You are your thoughts, your will, your emotions, your soul. Without your brain, you’re not you. The Bible 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 . . . 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). If you follow Jesus, then God’s Spirit is in you. It’s part of your new nature. That means that Satan can’t control your mind, but he can make suggestions. The only influence Satan has in the life of a Christian is that he can put thoughts in your mind. He can get your attention—and that’s a pretty big deal. Why? Because whatever gets your attention gets you. Once he puts a thought in your mind, you have to decide if you’re going to accept or reject his suggestion. There’s a lot going on in your brain right now, and all of it will eventually show up in your attitude and your actions. Ask God to help you choose right over wrong, healthy over destructive, and his truth over Satan’s lies. He is ready to give you the power you need through the Holy Spirit!
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“Happy are those who . . . find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD, and they study it day and night. They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.”
Psalm 1:1-3 (GNT) If you want to change your life, start by changing the way you think. Changing your thoughts is the key to a fresh start in any area—a hobby, a career, a relationship, marriage, or parenting. Ephesians 4:23 says, “Be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude]” (AMP). What is a renewed mind? It means you have fresh thoughts and fresh attitudes. It means you take your wrong attitudes and thoughts and surrender them, letting “God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect” (Romans 12:2 GNT). You renew your mind by doing two things: First, listen to God’s Word more than the world. The Bible says, “Happy are those who . . . find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD, and they study it day and night. They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do” (Psalm 1:1-3 GNT). Would you like those characteristics to be true of your life? If so, then meditate on God’s Word every day. Second, think about what you think about. Instead of automatically accepting every thought you have, challenge your thoughts. When you have a thought, ask questions like: Do I want to think about this? Is this really true? Is this helpful? How does it make me feel—and do I want to feel that way? The Bible tells us to “take every thought captive and make it obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 GNT). All your feelings are caused by thoughts. If you don’t like the way you feel, then you need to change the way you think. Simply take the thought causing bad feelings and replace it with a different thought. The Bible says, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (Proverbs 4:23 GNT). Instead of playing old tapes over and over again in your mind, confront those thoughts. What you think about is your choice, and you don’t have to believe every thought you have. When you confront a thought that you know isn’t true, you can choose to change what you’re thinking! You can replace it with God’s truth. The only way to know truth is to get in God’s Word. The more time you choose to spend in God’s Word, the more his truth will help you change your thoughts. Start changing your thinking today. It will give you a fresh start, and eventually it will change your life! “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what."
Psalm 119:112 (CEV) People who learn how to fight the battle in their minds live more effective lives. If you want to learn to manage your mind, you have to be delivered from destructive thoughts. That isn’t easy because you are in a battle with three enemies trying to control your thoughts. The first enemy is your old nature. Paul said 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 you don’t really want to do? That’s the battle in your mind between your old, sinful nature and your good intentions. The second enemy is Satan. Satan cannot force you to do anything, but he can make suggestions. Those suggestions are incredibly powerful. He is constantly planting negative thoughts in your mind. He’ll use other people or what you watch on TV, or he’ll just throw a thought in your mind. The third enemy is the world’s value system. Modern society rarely encourages self-discipline. Advertisements tell you, “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 people struggle with discouragement, 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 pretension 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 too! The Bible says, “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what” (Psalm 119:112 CEV). The best time to win the battle with temptation is before it begins. “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
Philippians 4:8 (NLT) It’s increasingly difficult to stay focused on true things. The Bible says, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8 NLT). This requires a mental shift. It means you’re going to have to build new, better habits. Your mind is bombarded with lies every single day. Advertisements and social media tell you that if you don’t think, dress, or act a certain way, you don’t matter. When you’re growing up, you’re told that if you’re not good at academics or athletics, you don’t matter. This world is full of lies, and you’ve believed many of them. But they’re just not true. The only way to counter those lies is to fill your mind with the truth. The truth is that you are a child of God. You matter to him. Jesus said that when you know the truth, it will set you free. To be set free means to have a breakthrough. I want you to have a breakthrough. But the only way you can do that is to be in God’s Word, the Bible, every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. If you think you can’t do that, just consider how many hours you’re spending on social media or TV or reading the news. How are you going to have a healthy mind if you’re filling your mind with lies instead of the truth? Not everything you hear is true. Not everything you tell yourself is true. You’ve got to get into the Bible every day, because God will always speak truth. You can trust what he says about you and the promises he’s made for you in his Word because he always keeps his promises. What happens when you keep your mind on the right things? “If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 TLB). Wouldn’t you like to have your heart and your mind at rest? That’s a breakthrough everyone needs: less stress and more rest. Get started on your breakthrough today by getting into God’s Word. “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. You want God to take away all of the 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? Let me give you 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 have tremendous ability to shape your life for good or for bad. For example, maybe you accepted 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 happens in 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, security, and serenity. The Bible teaches, “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). Choose life and peace for yourself today. “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is.”
Jeremiah 17:9 (GW) One fundamental question in life stands above all others. What will have the final authority in your life? Will it be your parents? Or your peers? Maybe your friends or your career? Perhaps the books you read? The people you follow on social media? What about the movies or shows you watch, or the songs you listen to? All of these sources will shape your values if you let them—and your values ultimately determine what has final authority in your life. So, what will it be for you? God allows you to decide. He’s given you free will. Most of your authority options fall into these three categories: Your opinions: You can depend on your gut to tell you what to do. But there’s a problem with that. Studies show your perceptions are more likely to be wrong than right. In fact, sometimes you even lie to yourself. The Bible says, “The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable. No one can understand how deceitful it is” (Jeremiah 17:9 GW). The world: You can depend on what other people think to determine your values. However, people often value the wrong things. For instance, the world emphasizes beauty over character, tells you to pursue whatever feels good, and declares that whoever has the most possessions wins. You’re bombarded with these worldly values through all sorts of media—so much so that it’s easy to start thinking God put you on this planet to look good, feel good, and get stuff. But that couldn’t be further from the truth! God’s Word: God’s Word is objective and truthful—unlike your own perceptions or the world’s opinions. God’s Word says, “If you continue in My word . . . you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32 NASB). The choice is clear. There’s only one authority that’s always reliable and will never lead you astray. Decide today to allow God’s Word to shape your values. Give it the final authority in your life. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV) If you want to be able to fight the persistent temptations in your life, you need to know what makes you vulnerable to Satan’s efforts. Ephesians 4:27 says, “Do not give the devil a foothold” (NIV). Don’t give Satan a place in your life to start leveraging your weaknesses and get you messed up. What’s the most common foothold you can give Satan that allows him to push all these temptations? It’s any negative emotion. Anytime you have a negative emotion, you’ve just given Satan a foothold in your life, and you’re going to be more vulnerable than at any other time to temptation. That’s why the Bible says in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV). Your heart sits at the center of your emotions. But to defeat temptation, don’t focus on your behavior and what you’re about to do. Instead, identify the thoughts you’re having and the feelings that come out of those thoughts. That’s how Satan hooks you—not with your behavior but with your thoughts. He plays with your emotions every day of your life. He hooks your feelings. He is a master manipulator of your moods. Satan gets certain emotions stirring by influencing your thoughts and causing you to doubt God’s Word. Once he’s got you emotionally involved, you’re cooked. When your emotions have kicked in, the behavior is going to happen. Satan knows your negative emotions will lead you to sin. You are far more vulnerable to temptation when you’re experiencing negative emotions. Satan knows what they are and will work them for your destruction. Shouldn’t you know what they are, too? The only way you’ll be able to fight any persistent temptation in your life is to identify the emotions that make you vulnerable. Then, refocus your mind on God’s Word so that you can replace those negative emotions with God’s love. “Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest.”
Galatians 6:7 (GW) You don’t plant apple seeds and get tomatoes. In the same way, you don’t plant bitterness and get love. You don’t plant criticism and then get encouragement from other people. Galatians 6:7 says, “Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest” (GW). Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest. If you plant in the soil of your sinful nature, you’ll harvest destruction. But if you plant in the soil of your spiritual nature, you’ll harvest everlasting life. God has said for thousands of years that our sins can affect future generations. For instance, when you’re angry and you lose your temper with your kids, you’re setting them up to lose their temper with their kids. Sins get perpetuated in families, possibly for multiple generations. Not only does it work relationally and environmentally but it also works physically. We now know your brain can actually be changed by repetitive behavior, for good or for bad. Everyone used to think the brain was pretty much set in stone by the time you were an adolescent. Now we know about brain plasticity and how your brain can continue to be molded for the rest of your life. That’s good to know! It means if your brain has been naturally molded toward depression or a quick temper or anxiety, it can change. But you’ve got to change the way you think. The Bible refers to this as repentance or changing your mind. You canchange your mind, and when you do, it changes the way you feel. And when you change the way you feel, it changes the way you act. Then, you plant in your spiritual nature and watch what amazing fruit God will reap in your life. “Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.”
Colossians 3:2 (TLB) True freedom comes when you focus your mind on God’s truth. But how do you focus your mind on the right things so you can experience freedom? Here are three things you can do that will make the biggest difference in managing your mind. First, think about Jesus. Hebrews 12:3 says, “Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying” (NCV). What gives you the power to keep on going? You think about Jesus. Keep your mind on who the Bible says he is and the example he’s given you for how to live a life that pleases God. Second, think about others. “Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24 NCV). Most of the people around the world think about themselves first. So anybody who thinks more about others than they do about themselves is going to shine. When you choose to think about what others may need and how you can help, you’ll find it’s hard to let your problems get you down. Third, think about eternity. The Bible says in Colossians 3:2, “Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here” (TLB). Whatever you’re worried about today is probably not going to matter in five years, much less in eternity. Everything is put into perspective when you think about your life in light of eternity. Whatever situation you’re facing today, stop and think about what you’re thinking about. Then choose to focus on Jesus, other people, and your home in eternity. It will take the focus off of yourself, which is how God intended for you to live. And it will transform your life! “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5 (NLT) Have you ever felt like you are a hostage to your thoughts? Maybe you just can’t get a thought out of your mind. Or you often find yourself doing things you don’t want to do. You knowingly engage in self-defeating behavior. You know something is not good for you, but you do it anyway. Romans 7:23 says, “I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body” (GNT). Because of your sinful nature, you think of yourself and your wants more than what God wants. It’s a battle in your mind, and you’re losing it. Your old nature—who you were before Jesus changed your life—is not your friend. It is the source of all your self-defeating habits that tend to take you down. Do you want to break those habits and have more control over the way you think? Then you need to hear and understand this truth: You don’t have to believe everything you think. Your mind lies to you all the time. Just because you think something is true doesn’t make it true. Just because you feel something is true doesn’t make it true. Your mind and your emotions often lie to you. Part of spiritual growth—becoming more like Jesus—is learning to know the difference between thoughts that are true and those that are not. One of the most important disciplines you can build in life is to challenge your own thoughts. Say to yourself, “I know what I’m thinking, but is that really true?” No matter how far you go in your spiritual walk, your old, sinful nature will keep trying to take control of your thoughts. You have to learn to question your thoughts, not just one time but throughout your day and throughout your life! When you start to think nobody likes you, ask yourself if that’s really true. If you think it’s never going to get better, ask yourself if it’s true. When you think your life is worthless, question what Satan is trying convince you of. Then, remember what you know from God’s Word to be true. “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit” (Romans 8:5 NLT). |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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