What we think about is so vital for a victorious and successful life.
Human beings connect with God in our hearts and minds. Sometimes we communicate with Him using spoken words, but more often than not, we have these conversations in our minds. This is why having a renewed mind is so important because it enables us to communicate with God more effectively.
As Christians, when we think, we're constantly talking to God and He is talking to us.
We hear His voice in our mind and that is why we need to be diligent about what other voices we allow to intrude into our conversations with Him. One of those voices is that of the enemy who is constantly interrupting our conversations with God and sowing seeds of doubt, unbelief and negativity.
The truth is, in order to live a victorious life, what we think about needs to be most influenced by God and the truth of His Word, so we must learn to recognize and reject any other voice that contradicts His message. This is why we need to fight against negativity, depression, fear, and doubt—rejecting what the enemy has to say so that we can clearly hear what God has to say.
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
In order to live a victorious life, what we think about needs to be influenced by God and the truth of His Word, so we must learn to recognize and reject any other voice that contradicts His voice.
We see from this scripture that our actions stem from our thinking. Our thinking always comes first, so when we are thinking according to God, His Word and His truth, then our actions are going to represent God's Kingdom here on Earth as it is in Heaven. This is where our mind is very important. Let me give you an example of this principle at work in my own life.
One Wednesday morning recently, the alarm went off at 6am because I needed to be at our church’s weekly 7am prayer meeting. As soon as I woke up, I felt physically tired because of my busy schedule. My thinking was entirely negative, bombarded with thoughts of being exhausted, needing rest and not knowing how I could keep going on. I knew that they were not God's thoughts and did not align with His Word, but I allowed them to go around and around in my head unchallenged for some time until they eventually began to affect my actions. I lingered under the covers and didn't jump out to get ready for the prayer meeting as I had done so many times before. I just stayed in bed with my thoughts until eventually, I came to my senses and got up!
Was my attitude great? No! While I did eventually get ready for the prayer meeting, I continued to allow these negative thoughts to go over and over in my head— so much so that they began to spill into every other activity I had planned for that day.
That particular day was going to be a long one, with corporate prayer and discipleship running into the night. The more I reflected on my schedule, the more the negative thoughts seemed to gain momentum and make the tasks ahead seem absolutely impossible! On the way to prayer, I stopped at the traffic lights and suddenly, something came bursting out of my mouth from deep inside of me. I said aloud, “Hang on! What's going on here? This is not me. This is not what God has got for me. He's got a great day planned for me and I know that the prayer meeting is going to be beneficial for me. As I pray, God is going to renew my strength!”
I started to challenge my negative thinking and shake off the negative thoughts that had taken hold of my mind. I switched into God-kind of thinking: “This is gonna be an awesome day. I know You are going to move powerfully. I know You are going to listen to our prayers!” The moment I began to intentionally change my mind, I could sense the Presence of God. As I began to think the way He thinks, my thoughts came into Kingdom-order and faith began to spring up in my heart. Positive thoughts started to flow thick and fast: “This is gonna be a great day!”
I walked into our church auditorium and joined in agreement with the other people who had not allowed negativity to dominate their thoughts and control their actions. They too had got out of their beds—despite the struggle in their minds— and made the decision to seek the Lord. I was ready to have a supernatural encounter with God and He moved so powerfully. Honestly, it was such a great prayer meeting! It kick-started my day, shaped my actions and led to incredible fruitfulness. All because I challenged my thinking!
This is just one example of the power of our thought life.
Because actions are a result of our thinking, when we partner with the enemy and entertain depressing and discouraging thoughts, we should expect less than ideal actions to follow. It’s really that simple and it’s our choice.
It is so important for us to get our thinking into Kingdom-order and that's what this blog is all about. Challenges will undoubtedly come our way and our minds will be bombarded with thoughts that are intended to negatively influence our choices and actions, but the truth is that we have access to the mind of Christ and we can and will OVERCOME every obstacle to walking in the fullness of our God-given destiny!
Because actions are a result of our thinking, when we partner with the enemy and entertain depressing and discouraging thoughts, we should expect less than ideal actions to follow. It’s really that simple and it’s our choice.
Speaking of Jesus, wherever He went, He overcame every obstacle— no matter how impossible it seemed— because His thinking was in Kingdom-order and led Him to act in supernatural ways. In every situation that He came up against, Jesus was able to access the miracle-working power and anointing needed to see Him overcome whatever stood in the way of God’s will for His life.
Speaking of Jesus, wherever He went, He overcame every obstacle—no matter how impossible it seemed—because His thinking was in Kingdom-order and led Him to act in supernatural ways.
That's what God wants for all of our lives. Even with the lockdowns and lack of freedoms we experience as a result of the pandemic, He has provided access to all of the power and anointing we need to see breakthrough come in our own lives and in the lives of others. The only thing that has the power to prevent us from taking hold of the supernatural resources we have available to us, is our thinking! Just like Jesus, we cannot afford to entertain the lies of the enemy and must instead, set our minds on thinking God-thoughts of freedom and breakthrough! As we think about and meditate on the possibilities, instead of the obstacles, we begin to act in faith and not fear.
I encourage you to read and meditate on the following Bible verses because I know the Word of God is more powerful than any opinion or human words I can offer you. God’s Word is alive, active and empowering, and we should be thinking about it constantly. More than ever before, NOW it is time to get our minds immersed in what God's Word says:
I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally. I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. For though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. And I rejoice that you are living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong.
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
What a powerful scripture! Let’s read on:
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
Do you understand how powerful Jesus is? Everything we need is found in Him. It is so important to set our thinking and focus on things above. We need to get our thinking out of what the media or news broadcasts are saying and focus instead on Jesus Christ! He has not only dealt with our sin, but has also overcome sickness, poverty, fear and depression. Our Jesus has already claimed the victory over everything and every situation that we face today, and as such, we cannot afford to allow ourselves to be led astray by the empty, powerless lies of the enemy. The Scripture clearly states that he has been rendered powerless and stripped of all authority, meaning that he has absolutely NO authority to meddle in your life, your finances, your health or your future.
Can I hear a loud “Amen!” Jesus is the key, the victorious One. In Him we have complete victory!
It is so important that we do not allow ourselves to get caught up with the vain philosophies and reasonings of the world that bombard our thinking daily. That’s exactly what the enemy wants. He wants us to partner and agree with his rubbish and lies so that he can influence our decisions and actions. Controlling and manipulating human thinking is easy for him, especially in the absence of knowledge of God’s Word. However, his intentions are greatly thwarted when confronted with a mind that is intentionally being renewed and immersed in God’s Word. Such a mind can quickly identify a lie and actively take it captive! This is why reading the Bible and filling your mind with the promises of God is so powerful and so important so that we are quick to detect the lies of the enemy, fall out of agreement with those lies and get back on track to believing and trusting God.
So, what are you thinking about right now?
TO BE CONTINUED..
