Thought Conditioners – INTRODUCTION

WE MUST BELIEVE THAT WHAT’S INSIDE US—NOT CIRCUMSTANCES OUTSIDE US—CONTROLS OUR LIVES

Over the years, I have read a LOT of books on success, self-image, goal setting, people skills, financial success, etc.  These books, both Christian and secular, were valuable to me in my personal growth and the results that I was able to achieve professionally, financially and all areas of life.

The challenge for me was I would read an absolutely awesome book, full of great information, and I would highlight it of course, but it would go back up on the bookshelf when I was done, and I may never think about it or refer to it again.  No matter how “pumped up” I got, no matter how much my faith was “stirred up,” after a few days the information was pretty much forgotten.  All the great wisdom and nuggets I gleaned from the book would soon be a distant memory, more times than not. 

My solution to this problem was to transcribe highlights/cliff notes of my favorite books, as well as excerpts of books and newsletter articles.  My intent was to distill the meat/nuggets, i.e. the primary concepts being taught in these books/newsletters to a format that is readily accessible and at my fingertips at all times vs. putting the book back on a shelf.  Again, in most cases, once a book is back on the shelf it is out of sight, out of mind, no matter how impactful the book was. 

Reading a book one time will have little to no impact on your thought process and daily walk!

In response, I have compiled a series of “Thought Conditioners” which represent some of the most powerful teachings and instruction that I have read broken down by topic.  The purpose of these Thought Conditioners is to begin thinking God’s thoughts instead of the world’s thoughts.  To program myself with God’s truth instead of a lie. To stress the absolute importance of regularly renewing our mind in God’s Word, as well as understanding the principles for successful living taught from the Word of God. Proverbs is very clear – “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” 

As we transform the way we think, we transform our lives – thank you Jesus!!

The lack of a sound, disciplined mind is a major problem in many people’s lives today.  It is so important to fill your mind with the knowledge of God and his Word. You need to see life from God’s perspective and respond accordingly, as well as to gain wisdom and understanding for how to live our lives. 

Nothing, including the mind, gets better on its own. Everything left to itself decays, loses power and declines. You don’t have to work, for example, to get out of shape. That will just happen.

In the same way, a lazy, negative mind comes naturally, but a sound, disciplined mind takes work. And it is worth working on, because the human mind left to itself will become stagnant.

Jesus said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”  Mark 7:20-23

When contemplating this scripture, we shouldn’t blame the devil when it’s really our thoughts that open the door for evil and failure in our lives. If we don’t strive to develop a sound mind, the things Jesus spoke of will begin to consume our minds and manifest in our circumstances.

When you plant the proper seed in your mind, you will reap a proper harvest.

HOW THE MIND WORKS

Your mind is the control center of your entire life. Your mind controls decisions and choices. In your family, business, finances, health and all you do, your mind is the controlling mechanism.  So in essence, when you change your thinking, you change your whole life. That can happen in a negative or a positive way.

The degree that your mind is renewed to the promises and principles from God’s Word is the degree of change and a transformed life that you will experience.

What happens in your mind controls what happens in your life.

Spiritual and mental fitness happens with the proper feeding of your mind. If you aren’t feeding your mind, it will get weak just as your body will if it isn’t fed. If you go for a day or two without feeding your body, you will begin to get tired and weak. If you fast long enough, your body will cease to function and you will die.

Many of us have had our minds on a fast because of a lack of “proper nutrition” and training, and as a result they are weak and tired. For struggling believers, the problem isn’t in their spirits; it’s in their souls. Their minds haven’t been renewed. Though their spirits have been recreated, their minds are still old.  So one of the first priorities in renewing the mind is to get it in shape. We must use discipline to get our minds strong, active and healthy.

Mental fitness comes with proper feeding and exercising of the mind.

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. 3 John 2

The first step in feeding your mind is to be cognizant of how we use our time and what we allow into our minds through what we read, watch and listen to.  I try to be very intentional in minimizing non-productive time and what I lovingly refer to as “space-out time.” This is the time we tend to waste mentally by watching hours of TV or surfing our favorite social media sites. This doesn’t sharpen your mental capacity; it is non-productive and a waste of mental energy.

When a born-again, Spirit-filled Christian spaces out in front of their TV or computer, he or she is acting no differently than the teenager whose mind is captivated by a video game – the kid is oblivious to what is going on around him and is just absorbing junk food into their mind.

Maybe the junk food you’ve been feeding your mind with isn’t TV. For you, it might be the internet, novels or magazines.  You might out of balance keeping up with your favorite sports teams or the latest happenings politically. But junk food is junk food. And in order to effectively change your thinking and renew your mind, you must break the junk food habit and get rid of both non-productive and space-out time. You must be intentional in how you use your time i.e. what you are doing with your mind and what you are allowing into your mind.

Scheduling the feeding of your mind is just as important as scheduling the rest of your life – family activities, job responsibilities, working out, etc.  So prepare a simple schedule. Eliminate the non-productive time and replace it with nourishing your mind and you will see a change.

If you don’t plan to feed and nourish your mind, it will go into atrophy. Without the proper nutrition and exercise, your mind will become so lazy that you won’t be able to create or come up with the ideas, opportunities, thoughts, plans and knowledge necessary to succeed and prosper in life.

God says the things you meditate on will decide whether you prosper and have good success or struggle through life just trying to make a living

King David says it this way, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”  Psalm 1:1-3

This scripture gives us insight into the benefits of controlling our thoughts and renewing our minds to the truths and principles from the Word of God.  Once again, we see the vital importance of keeping our thoughts on the right things and what the positive outcome of doing so will be. 

THE TREASURE OF THE HEART

Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 12, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” 

Out of your heart, you will bring forth good things or evil things.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:23

What determines what you bring forth? Heredity, good luck or the environment in which you live? No, what determines what comes out of you is simply what is already in you – what is in your heart…

Your life is a manifestation of what is in your heart.

Your marriage is a manifestation of what is in your heart concerning marriage.

Your children are a manifestation of what is in your heart concerning children.

Your finances are a manifestation of what is in your heart concerning finances.

Your business or job is a manifestation of what is in your heart concerning work. 

Whatever is stored in you is either good or bad treasure, and that is what you bring forth every day. Perhaps your stored treasure is partly good and partly bad. You may not have “evil” treasure inside you, but you may have mediocre treasure.

When you begin to renew your mind in alignment with the truths and principles from God’s Word, you quit dealing with the outward symptoms of failure in life and begin to change the kind of treasure that is within you.

It is the “treasure” that is inside you that produces change and when you change the treasure, you will change what is brought forth.

 You can change any part of your life: physical, mental, spiritual, financial and social. The key is changing your mind and your way of thinking. You decide what you will think, and then your thinking determines what will happen in your life. So choose your thoughts carefully!

THOUGHT CONDITIONER – RECOMMENDED USE

We renew our bodies each day with breakfast, lunch and dinner. We renew ourselves each night through sleep. God wants us to have the same discipline in our mental and spiritual lives.

Depending on your situation and the goal(s) you may be looking to achieve, I would recommend reviewing 1-2-3 pages of Thought Conditioners daily as part of your mental and spiritual nutrition and workout program.  (There is no limit on the recommended dosage as there are no adverse side effects😊)  Like interval training for the physical body, taking 10-20 minutes a day to digest an assortment of Thought Conditioners would stir up my faith and reinvigorate my spirit and take my thinking to a new level.  A sense of excitement and joy would rise up within me that my head couldn’t necessarily figure out.  I would get myself “fired up” lol. 

My goal was to be very intentional in programming myself for total and absolute success, saturating my mind with the promises and principles of God’s Word in order to achieve transformation according to Romans 12:2.  Understanding that the mind is the battleground for spiritual warfare, I wanted the Word of God and the thoughts and principles that align with the Word to be the final authority in my life.  I endeavored to take every thought captive and refused to be influenced by the world, by what the circumstances may look like or what my feelings may be trying to tell me – unless they were in alignment with the Word.  

Just like watching a favorite movie 5-10-20 times and you know every line and every scene in the movie by heart, my goal was to become a walking and talking encyclopedia of these Thought Conditioners – thoroughly brainwashing my mind on a daily basis for total and absolute victory.  Again, repetition being the key to the renewal process and effectively changing the way that we think.

THE SECRET

I have often referred to the wisdom covered in these “Thought Conditioners” (as well as the “Favorite Book Cliff Notes”) as “the secret” and I am providing these secrets to everyone free of charge.  I hope to save you a LOT of time as it basically took me many years to recognize, understand and integrate these principles and thought processes into my daily walk, as well as organizing them into different topics to have a more focused approach in digesting the information in order to achieve transformation.  

PLEASE NOTE

The purpose of the Thought Conditioners is not to replace any Bible study or Bible reading program you are pursuing but just to enhance it.  To help ensure that a day doesn’t go by without soaking in some of the truths and principles consistent with God’s Word and how the kingdom of God operates.

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver. Proverbs 16:16