Renewing the Mind In God’s Word Thought Conditioners
Renewing the Mind In God’s Word Thought Conditioners
It is the renewing of the mind through the Word of God that will completely, thoroughly, and totally transform your life…
Why does it seem like our lives aren’t working the way we need them to work? Why do we lack the power to live the way we want? Why do we often make so many irrational and self-defeating decisions? Why do we try so hard to change but end up doing the things we hate?
Strongholds of fear, anger, poverty, low self-esteem, pride and selfishness continue to control many Christians years after they are saved. Though they have prayed about them and try to get deliverance, the problem persists. And these things will never change in their lives until they are transformed by the renewing of their minds.
I have gained a much greater understanding of why so many Christians never walk in the peace, joy and freedom of their salvation. We will not live the life Jesus died to give us if we hold onto old, traditional, carnal or negative ways of thinking. But we can walk in the freedom of God’s blessed, abundant life through the renewing of our mind.
Do you want to change from being weak, inferior and bound by all kinds of problems into someone who releases and experiences the abundant life of God from within? The word of God reveals that the way to do this is by the renewing of your mind. You must renew your mind to the word of God.
How many Christians hang onto the thoughts and attitudes of the world and never renew their minds to the Word of God? So many stay in their wilderness of depression, sin, stress, poverty or whatever problem may come along, and they never experience the promised land God has given them. Remember, John 10:10 says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
So many Christians struggle through life with negative attitudes, sin, failures, divorce and depression and wonder why it’s all happening to them. The fact is, they are still conformed to the world, and because their mind has not been renewed, they can’t prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of God in their lives. (James 1:13 – 15)
Everything that you and I need to know about happiness and success is contained within the binding of one book – the Word of God. When you study and meditate on God’s Word, it changes the way you think. As our thinking changes, so does our life. That’s why we must get to where we are dominated by the Word of God.
The Lord has given this revelation that it’s not who I am, what I look like, or any other natural thing that will impact the world for him. It’s the Word of God that changes people’s lives.
The battle for your life is won or lost in your mind.
I cannot tell you strongly enough how important it is to renew your mind to God’s word by planting the seed of His Word in your heart long before you need the fruit of the harvest. It could mean the difference between peace and anxiety/depression, health or sickness, prosperity and poverty, or even life and death.
Do not attempt to intellectualize this process. Continually plant these magnificent spiritual seeds with unwavering faith in Almighty God. If Jesus told you that His Word is a seed and that the good soil to plant these seeds is your heart, that is all you need to know. You should be determined to plant as many seeds as you possibly can into the fertile spiritual soil of your heart.
Christians who have financial challenges should plant financial seeds from God’s Word in
their hearts. If you have severe sickness in your body, you should continually plant healing
seeds in your heart. You cannot plant the seeds continually “without producing any effect.”
It’s the Word of God that controls your thinking and transforms your life.
Jesus died to give you an abundant life. The only thing that stands between you and living the abundant life is what is going on between your ears! Make the commitment to renew your mind to the promises of God’s word and let the revolutionary transformation of your life begin right now.
Abundant life has been provided! But you must possess it. It won’t fall on you like rain from the sky. Daily change is the life destined for every born-again Christian. If you aren’t willing to change, renew your mind and go for it, you may live your whole life without receiving much of what God has provided for you. But if you are willing to change and begin renewing your mind, you can start living the abundant life God has provided for you!
As we renew our minds according to the Word of God and live according to His principles, we will see His abundance spiritually, mentally, physically and financially.
We do not live for the blessing; we live for God, and as
we live for Him, His abundant life and blessings are ours.
Renewing the mind is an exciting journey of change and discovery that enables us to see God’s will come to pass in our lives. There is no greater joy or fulfillment than to know that we are fulfilling the perfect will of God. And there is no other way, according to the Bible, to prove the will of God in our lives than by the renewing of the mind. That is how we see God as He really is and how we grow up into his image.
Romans 12:2 clearly shows us there is more to Christian living than what many think. Renewing the mind is so much more than going through religious motions. It is possible to read the Bible, pray and go to church and yet never renew your mind. The person who sins all week but is a faithful church attendee proves that. The pastor who preaches great sermons but is eventually caught in adultery proves that.
Christians spend a lot of time reading their Bibles, but many of them have a negative mental attitude about everything. The reason that their mental attitude is not right is because they are only reading the Bible, and they are not meditating upon the Word. The Bible stresses the importance of meditation in God’s Word.
All you can do is choose what you think on, the things of the Lord vs. the things of the world. If you are occupied with the things of this world, you’ll never experience transformation. If you want your mind to be transformed, like a caterpillar into a butterfly, the way you do it is by putting your mind on God through His Word. If you desire to be poured into God’s mold, you do it by the Word of God. There is no other system that God has in place.
VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN LIVING
Victory in the Christian life is as simple as renewing our minds to who we are and what we have already received in Christ. It’s not the struggle of two natures inside of us; we are the way we think (Prov. 23:7).
A true revelation of God’s Word is the single most important element of a victorious Christian life. When you think spiritually minded thoughts, you get life and peace. When you don’t, you get death. “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)
The whole kingdom of God – the Christian life, your victory, your success as a believer – is as simple as taking the Word of God and sowing it in your heart. If you will just cooperate and let the Word of God germinate, you will change effortlessly.
Jesus has already won the victory. You are more than a conqueror through Him that loves you. When you have the Word of God in your heart, it begins to renew your mind and it will change you. When your mind is renewed, you become convinced these things are true. When this happens, your life will never be the same.
When you align your thoughts with God’s thoughts and you start dwelling on the promises of His Word, when you renew your mind with thoughts of His victory, favor, faith, power and strength, nothing can hold you back. When you think positive, excellent thoughts, you will be propelled towards greatness, inevitably bound for increase, promotion and God’s supernatural blessings.
As you dwell on and renew your mind to the promises of God’s Word, you will be filled with hope. You will develop a positive attitude of faith, and you will draw in the victory. Like metal filings being pulled across a desk by a magnet, you will draw in the good things of God.
Long-term change through the renewing of the mind is the master key to all Christian growth. As we give ourselves to continued change and growth, we develop a flow in life that keeps us free from the negativity of stagnation. And we continually move forward in the will of God. Jesus said we must continue in his Word before we can know the truth. But then He said that the truth will set us free.
Those who want a quick fix and don’t continue in the truth never see freedom.
I have never been more built up and charged up since I began studying how to renew my mind. I have discovered the vital importance of keeping it renewed. Understanding and going through this process has removed so many barriers and limitations I had placed on God’s ability to move in my life—ways of seeing myself, my family, my church, and my God that had kept me from receiving everything Jesus died to give me. When I got serious about renewing my mind, I discovered the key to receiving God’s best!
YOUR NEW NATURE
The truth is, your nature has been changed! You don’t have an old nature anymore that compels you to live in sin. It died and was buried the moment you accepted Christ. Your new nature—your born-again spirit—was created in righteousness and true holiness. (Eph. 4:24.) The only reason you still struggle with those old desires toward sin is your unrenewed mind. As God’s Word transforms your mind, you’ll experience less of those old desires and more of your new nature.
Renew your mind to God’s Word, and allow yourself to become a bridge
that He can flow through from the spiritual realm into this physical world!
When the mind is programmed correctly, when it is renewed
with the Word of God and stays focused on it, our lives will
prosper as we accomplish the things God created us to accomplish.
Get Rid of the Old Programming
God made the mental part of us similar to a computer. We can program our minds so that certain actions and attitudes become automatic. For instance, when we were children, it was a major effort to tie our shoelaces or button our shirts, but as adults, we can now perform those tasks without even thinking about what we’re doing. It’s just a part of us, but in actuality, it was an acquired trait.
Likewise, our old man ruled our thinking before we were born again. It taught us selfishness, hatred, and fear, as well as placed within us the desire for sin. The old self is now gone, but these negative parts of the old self ’s body remain.
And like a computer, your mental, emotional part is going to continue operating the way it was programmed until you reprogram it. You’ve got to get rid of the old programming that was left behind—wrong attitudes, stinkin’ thinkin,’ and anything that caused you to stumble into sin. That’s the only reason you aren’t walking in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. How do you do that? You have to renew your mind according to your new nature. “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2a)
I now see myself as identical to Jesus, in the spirit. I’ve got His power (Eph. 1:19). I’ve got His mind (1 Cor. 2:16). I’ve been renewed in knowledge (Col. 3:10). I’ve got His anointing (2 Cor. 1:21).
I understood that the only thing holding me back from manifesting everything I had was an
unrenewed mind. So, the quicker I could renew my mind, the quicker I would begin to walk
in this new nature. I’m telling you, it changed my life. It set me free! You need to see yourself
that way too! As you renew your mind to what God’s Word says, you’ll start living a victorious life.
SEED TIME & HARVEST
“While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22).
This law of seed, time and harvest operates in every area of our lives. If we will plant God’s Word in our hearts, then allow the seed to germinate and the plant to grow to maturity, we will reap the fruit of a harvest. That is God’s best!
God’s laws of “seed, time and harvest`” have existed since God created the earth. God’s laws of sowing and reaping “shall not cease.” Your Father tells you that you should meditate day and night on his Word because he wants you to continually plant spiritual seeds from His Word in your heart throughout every day and night of your life.
God’s laws of sowing and reaping applies to every area of your life. God’s laws of sowing and reaping work for all of us, whether or not we realize that this process is taking place. We all will reap whatever we sow in many different areas of our lives.
Even though it does not make sense to attempt to receive a harvest without planting seeds,this
is exactly what many Christians do. Many Christians attempt to receive a harvest of (healing,
deliverance, prosperity, etc.) without faithfully planting the seed of the Word in the good soil of their hearts.
The number one reason why people aren’t receiving from God is because they literally haven’t taken the truths of his Word and planted them in their heart.
I just needed to eliminate the things that occupy my attention and devote myself completely to God. If I put the Word of God first place in my heart, then the Word will produce an abundant harvest in my life.
You must plant a seed, which is the Word of God.
If you aren’t reaping what the Word of God says, you haven’t planted what the Word of God says to plant. You reap what you sow. If the Word of God is primary in your life, you’re going to get the results of the Word of God. That doesn’t mean Satan won’t fight you and you won’t have problems. The end result will be you’re going to have what the Word of God says. Satan may fight you, but you’ll win. Many of us know this intellectually, but in our hearts, there is fear or reservation. We don’t have the absolute confidence that God’s Word is going to prevail in our lives.
You must learn how to sow seeds from the Word into the “good soil” of your heart. If you “grasp” what the Word of God says about your situation and “comprehend” and understand these great spiritual truths, you will persevere because of your faith in God. Your faith, patience and perseverance ultimately will be honored when all of the seeds you have planted “bear fruit” and produce a marvelous harvest from God.
THE POWER IS IN THE WORD
The Word of God is so powerful that the world we live in and all of the planets, stars and galaxies in the entire universe are controlled by it. “Upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power.” (Hebrews 1:3).
There is no stronger foundation than the Word of God in which to build your future.
You must understand that the supernatural living Word of God is much more powerful than any challenge, lack, or sickness anyone has ever experienced. Hebrews 1:3 says that the universe is “maintained” by the Word of God. When something is maintained, it is in working order so that it will operate efficiently. The Word of God is so powerful that it is able to keep the universe in perfect working order at all times. If God’s Word has enough power to hold up the entire universe you can be certain that God’s Word is powerful enough to deliver you or meet any need.
God’s Word contains His life in it. If you would take His Words, His sayings, and put them on the inside of you, then God’s kind of life would start flowing through you. You would find that healing, prosperity, joy, peace – everything Jesus provided – are contained in God’s Word.
You release enormous spiritual power when you speak the Word of God with faith as you meditate on it. The cumulative effect of speaking these words from God again and again definitely will increase your faith in God.
You release the supernatural power of Almighty God when
you continually personalize Scripture, speaking it boldly.
The cumulative effect of this meditation is enormous. As this renewal process continues over days, weeks and months the Scripture you are meditating on will rise up inside of you. This Scripture will become more and more real to you. You will become certain that you will receive (the blessing) that Jesus has provided for you.
You must understand that the Scripture you are meditating on is alive – it has a spiritual life of its own. You must know that the Scripture you are meditating on is “full of power” from God.
I actually quit worrying about the visible results to a large degree.
Instead, I focused on taking the Word of God and keeping it in my heart.
I knew that if I kept God’s Word dwelling on the inside of me that it would literally begin to put down roots through every part of my being and the power of the Word would start permeating through me.
What does your Father tell you that his supernatural living Word will do for you if you continually plant it in the fertile soil of your heart? God’s word will work effectively in you to the degree that you believe it will.
The word of God is infinitely above anything on this earth. The word of God is filled with precious supernatural spiritual seeds that are filled with the living power of God Himself. If you continually plant these precious seeds from God’s Word in your heart, you actually are planting the power of Almighty God deep down inside of yourself.
If God’s Word is planted in your heart, you’ll receive. It doesn’t
matter what you feel — God’s Word will produce a miracle.
If you devote yourself completely to the Lord and his Word, God’s Word will make you a success. It will cause fruit to come in whatever area he has called and anointed you to minister.
“…we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it]” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
The amplification of this passage of Scripture tells you that the Word of God has “superhuman power.” You cannot even begin to understand with your limited human understanding the immense power of the Word of God that you are planting in your heart. The supernatural power of the Word of God will produce a harvest in your life if you “adhere to and trust in and rely on it.”
You will be able to tap into God’s supernatural power if
you continually fill your eyes and your ears with His Word.
Have you had the experience of hearing a song and being unable to get this song out of your mind for several hours? Your Father wants His Word to be like this throughout every day and night of your life. You will receive significant revelation from the Holy Spirit if you meditate constantly on the Word of God. Your eyes, your ears, your heart, your mind and your mouth will be so full of God’s Word that it will dominate every aspect of your life.
Every aspect of your life should revolve around your mind and your heart being filled continually with the supernatural power of the living Word of God. You will focus on God’s promises and instructions continually if your eyes and your ears are constantly being filled with God’s Word. You will be encouraged if you saturate yourself in the Word of God.
Your Father repeatedly instructs you to store up His Word in your mind and your heart. “My son, keep
my words, lay up within you my commandments (for use when needed) and treasure them.” (Proverbs 7:1).
This passage of Scripture says that you should have God’s Word living inside of you “for use when needed.” The Word of God is a marvelous spiritual “treasure.” “Wise men store up knowledge in mind and heart.” (Proverbs 10:14).
Our Father tells us repeatedly to “lay up” or “store up” His Word in your mind and your heart. Can there be any doubt that your loving Father wants you to constantly fill your mind and your heart with the mighty power of His supernatural living Word?
When challenges in your life threaten to dominate your thoughts and your emotions, you must have something to offset the stress and anxiety. The “something” you must have is an abundance of the Word of God living in your mind and your heart. Regardless of the type of struggle you are facing, you must have an ample supply of God’s Word living in your mind and your heart so that you will be able to reach deep down inside of yourself to receive powerful spiritual sustenance.
Where will we get these new thoughts? Hint: we won’t get them from scrolling through social media posts, listening to our favorite playlists, or phoning a friend for their opinion. To stop the lies and replace them with truth, we need to look to God’s word.
It is God’s Word that will establish the image of the unseen within us. We should not allow circumstances or the cares of this life to create images within us. What the Word says should create the image. We should take God’s Word and change the things that are seen—things we don’t desire – into the things that we do desire.
You may not see God’s blessings and provision now with your physical eye, but they are very real. They are shaped by God’s Word and your confession! When you look around, you see lack; but God’s Word says, “Give, and it shall be given…He which soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” You change the seen with God’s Word. You shape the unseen by calling things that are not as though they were (Rom. 4:17).
Paul said: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Paul is talking about unseen principles: the principles of God’s Word which are actually spiritual law—spiritual forces that are unseen. These are eternal forces which always work when you set them in motion.
If you sincerely desire to be prosperous in every area of your life and to be spiritually mature, you must “delight” in God’s Word. You must “desire” to learn and to do exactly what your Father has instructed you to learn and to do to receive blessings.
You have to renew your mind to who you are in the spirit.
PROGRAM YOUR MIND WITH THE WORD
Our sin nature is dead and gone, but it left behind a body and a carnal mind. Our mind will still function as programmed until we reprogram it. That’s what the Bible calls the renewing of the mind. Our lives are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2).
Our Father emphasizes the necessity of renewing our mind in his Word each and every day. He wants you to take full advantage of the precious opportunity he has given you to consistently program your mind to think more and more as He thinks. “Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your mind in the way of the Lord.” (Proverbs 23:19)
Your mind is similar to computer software. It simply acts upon the knowledge put into it. If all you have is carnal knowledge, then all you can be is carnal. But praise God, you can reprogram yourself with the Word of God.
When you meditate constantly on the Word of God, this process actually downloads Scripture from heaven. When you meditate on the Word of God; you program yourself continually in a manner that is similar to programming a computer except that you are invoking the power of God. You never should neglect the precious opportunity you have been given to program yourself throughout every day and night with words from God that will help you to receive manifestation of the blessing Jesus already has provided for you.
You need your mind renewed by understanding the Word and knowing who you are in Christ, your abilities in Him and your standing through the blood of Jesus……. Your mind must be taught to think the thoughts the Word says about you. You have no right as a new creature to take any other attitude than what God says about your situation…… The new creature must constantly be reprogramming his computer i.e. his mind. Daily you must feed your mind upon the Word of God. This process will never end!
In the physical world, when we eat our meals, this food is transformed into physical strength and energy. The same principles apply in the spiritual realm. We need to feed our spirits each and every day with spiritual food from God’s Word. If we do this, that spiritual food is transformed into a spiritual strength and energy which is called faith.
To be born again and make a commitment to the Lord takes a matter of moments. But to move on from there to spiritual maturity requires discipline, a daily growth process of teaching and training oneself by the renewing of the mind. This process involves reprogramming your thoughts with the thoughts of God and exchanging the way you think in the natural to the way God says in his Word we should think.
The word of God reprograms the Christians thinking by showing him how God thinks. And when Christians commit to the process of renewing their mind to bring their thinking into alignment with the Word, their behavior lines up with their thinking.
Remember, the Word is the weapon God gave us for the battle we are fighting. His truth is what can set us free, and we are going to choose specific scripture to create a new neural pathway that applies directly to our problem. Using his Word, we will create a trench of truth.
Behavior modification doesn’t work, because the focus is only on modifying behavior. You don’t get to the root of the problem, which is the thought that produces the behavior. To be more specific, the problem is the neural pathway that leads to the behavior.
CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK
The Bible tells us that we can live free and productive lives through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the way to living this kind of life, so why isn’t every Christian living it? The Bible tells us why. It says that we must first change the way we think. Proverbs 23:7 says that we are what we think. That would mean that if we are poor, miserable, lonely, scared, sick, or frustrated and in a rage all the time—it is because of our thought life i.e. what we are thinking.
The dominant experience of your life is a reflection of the way you are thinking on the inside. (Prov 23:7)
Instead of looking for a change to take place externally in everybody and everything else around you, the first thing you need to do is recognize that change begins on the inside of you. This occurs according to the knowledge that you have of God. (2 Peter 1:2 – 3)
If you are wise, you will have a burning desire to “direct your mind in the way of the Lord.” You will turn away from the influence of the world. As you consistently renew your mind in God’s Word, you will think the way your Father wants you to think. You will live your life the way your Father wants you to live. You will react to the conditions in the world the way your Father instructs you to react.
RENEWING THE MIND IN GOD’S WORD
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)
What does it mean to renew your mind? It means to begin thinking God’s thoughts instead of the world’s thoughts. Think about the truth instead of a lie. Feed your brain the stuff that God thinks instead of wasting time thinking about what you saw on a billboard, a bathroom wall, or a television program. Your life is changed when you begin to think differently, and the way you live is transformed by renewing your mind.
What does the word “renew” mean? It means to make new. It means to completely change. For example, when we see urban renewal in one of our cities, that portion of the city is totally altered. It is made “brand new.” This is whatwe must do with our minds before we can understand and apply God’s laws to our lives.
Our minds have to be renewed, and that is done by
meditating on the knowledge of God as revealed in His Word
If you faithfully renew your mind in God’s Word, your attitude will change progressively. As the weeks and months go by, renewing your mind in God’s Word will enable you to look at everything more and more from God’s perspective and less and less from the perspective of the world. You will be able to clearly see and understand God’s will for your life because your mind is constantly being rejuvenated. “Though our outer man is progressively wasting away, yet our inner self is being progressively renewed day after day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)
If you continually renew your mind in God’s Word, you will experience ever increasing splendor. You will go from “one degree of glory to another.” You must not miss out on the magnificent opportunity you have been given to become more and more like God by constantly renewing your mind in his Word.
As you continually strengthen yourself spiritually by renewing your mind in God’s Word, the Word of God will fill your mind and your heart. “Let the Word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all its richness.” (Colossians 3:16)
We must act on what we believe and we must daily reinforce that belief by renewing our minds with the Word. Through the daily hearing and believing of the Word, our words and actions will be more accurate.
Christians who haven’t renewed their minds in God’s Word don’t have the “spiritual eyesight” to see their way out of seemingly unsolvable problems. In order to solve the really difficult problems of life, we have to put on our “spiritual eyeglasses.” We have to see these problems as God sees them.
Christians who have paid the price of diligently renewing their minds will focus in on the solution. Non-Christians and Christians who haven’t paid the price of renewing their minds focus in on the problem. “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenty, but everyone that is hasty only to want.” (Proverbs 21:5)
Renewal is a law of God. We renew our bodies each day with breakfast, lunch and dinner. We renew ourselves each night through sleep. God wants us to do the same things in our spiritual lives. All of us are growing older physically and God’s Word clearly tells us that we should offset this aging process by renewing ourselves spiritually each and every day of our lives.
Our Father doesn’t want our imaginations running rampant about the financial problems of the world and how bad they might become. He wants our minds renewed to the point where they can cast down these negative thoughts and focus totally on the promises in His Word. “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
We can live peaceful, joyous, prosperous, healthy lives in this world. Jesus Christ has paid the price for our peace, our joy, our prosperity, and our health. However, once again, this peace, joy, prosperity and health are not “automatic” while we are on this earth. We will experience them only to the degree that we renew our minds on a daily, continuing basis.
When you get your mind renewed to the Word of God concerning prosperity—and realize that it is God’s will for you to prosper—then you can operate in that faith. But you can’t believe any further than you have knowledge.
For the renewal process to work, we need to do more than just know God’s word; we need to internalize it. More than just mental ascent, God’s Word must be settled in our hearts. The author of Psalm 119 understood this when he wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
So many Christians can quote Scriptures about finances, health, marriage or family, but they aren’t free in these areas. Just learning a verse or a passage of Scripture doesn’t mean you will be free. Old thoughts that aren’t in line with the thoughts of God must be replaced or rejected by truth. The new man can’t be put on without taking the old man off.
We don’t just naturally grow up believing God. It takes renewing our minds. God’s Word is the most important step to receive a miracle. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” You can’t just know the Word intellectually. You must meditate on it so it becomes living and active on the inside of
you. Most of us don’t meditate on the Word as we should. We are occupied and don’t have time, and we are upset with God when we don’t receive our miracle. That’s just as foolish as the farmer who didn’t plant his seed but was upset when he didn’t receive a crop.
When our minds are renewed by the Word of God, we
will overcome negative desires and live in God’s perfect will.
Through the renewing of the mind, we overcome failures that we do not have to live with. We don’t have to be conformed, fashioned, molded or controlled by the ways of the world. We can walk with God and be an example of his will.
Some people say, “that seems restrictive to me.” To me, it’s awesome. I love this truth because it’s so simple. All that is required for transformation is that you just meditate on the Word day and night. (Joshua 1:8) Keep the Lord and his truths in your thoughts. Go over and over them, keeping your mind stayed on the Word of God – not “as the stomach turns” on television.
Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man
which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24
MEDITATE ON THE WORD
Joshua 1:8 reveals that the way you get prosperity and good success in every area of your life is to take the Word of God and meditate on it to the degree that it saturates what you think about, what you talk about, and how you act. When God’s Word literally begins to control your life, you will prosper and have good success physically, emotionally, relationally, financially – in every area.
Meditation in the Word is literally “digesting God’s Word in your mind.” And as you digest the Word, it will drop down into your heart (spirit) and lodge there. What you do with your mind is important. Let’s not leave the mind out. It plays a very important part in victorious Christian living.
Meditate on the Word day and night. As you do, the Word will cause change to come in your life effortlessly. It will be automatic. As you renew your mind to God’s Word, you too will begin to prove – make manifest to your physical senses – God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will.
When I studied the Word of God, the Lord imparted truth to me. I could tell that change was happening in my life. I heard the Lord tell me, “if you will take my Word and meditate on it day and night, then My Word will teach you everything you need to know. My Word will change everything.”
Take the time to get away from the world and study God’s Word. Meditate on it, and let it change you from the inside out. “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8). Make a conscious effort to allow the Word of God to be engrafted into you. Only then will you begin to understand His Word and His will. Only then will you be on your way to renewing your mind.
If you delight in the Word of God, you will have a consuming passion to continually learn everything you can from God’s supernatural book of instructions. If you delight in the Word of God, the holy Scriptures will always be at the forefront of your consciousness. If you delight in the Word of God, you will meditate day and night on the Holy Scriptures.
Christians who have not faithfully meditated on God’s Word will be “sense oriented.” They will speak primarily of what is going on in the world. Christians who have meditated day and night on God’s Word over a sustained period of time will be Word of God oriented. They will say what God’s Word says regardless of what is taking place in the world.
The word of God will be active in your life if you will continually meditate on it. God’s word will “energize” you – it will build you up. God’s word is “effective” – it will produce results in your life.
SPEAK THE WORD
You can learn a great deal when other people teach you the Word of God. There is no question that other people can help you to get the Word of God into your mind. However, you must realize that the words that are most effective in bringing breakthrough in your life are words from your heart that you speak with your mouth. No one else can meditate on the Word of God for you.
You should speak with conviction and expectation when you meditate on Scripture. You can be certain that the words from God you are meditating on are absolute truth. The words you speak should constantly show the unwavering expectancy you have that you will receive manifestation of the (blessing) from God that already has been provided for you by Jesus Christ.
When you meditate on a promise from God, you visualize this specific promise as being fulfilled in your life. If you faithfully obey your Father’s instructions to meditate on His Word throughout the day and night you are constantly visualizing manifestation of the blessing in your life. Your mouth is opening continually to speak words of faith based on these supernatural promises from Almighty God.
The amplification of the word “meditate” in Psalm 1:2 says that you should “ponder and study by day and night.” When you ponder God’s Word you think deeply about what your loving Father is saying to you. You continually fill your eyes, your ears, your mind, your heart and your mouth with specific words that come from God Himself.
As you meditate on the Word of God you change “logos” which is the written Word of God into “Rhema” which is the spoken Word of God that is quickened and made alive and active. When you study the Word of God, you focus entirely on logos. Logos is a spiritual seed. Your spoken words become Rhema as you continually speak the Word of God while you meditate.
Do not think that, just because you have meditated on specific passages of Scripture on faith in God and (His blessings) in the past, you do not need to meditate on the same passages of Scripture again and again and again. I often have meditated on passages of Scripture that I knew by heart. I could open my mouth and speak these words from my heart. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit often has given me fresh new revelation as I continued to meditate on God’s supernatural living word.
THE WORD IS THE SEED
The seed is the Word of God (Mark 4:14), and the ground is our hearts (Mark 4:15). Our hearts were created by God to bring forth fruit when His Word is planted in them. Just as a seed has to remain in the ground over time to germinate, so the Word of God has to abide in us. Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
God explains that his Word is a “seed.” He says that His Word “shall not return to Him void.” Your Father promises that His Word will always “accomplish that which he pleases and purposes.” God says that His Word “shall prosper in the thing for which he sent it.”
To conceive and give birth, whether it’s for a miracle you need in your body or for the vision God has given you, you must first plant God’s Word like a seed in your heart. Conception, which eventually produces the fruit, cannot take place without first planting a seed.
If I want results in my life, I must go to the Word of God. I must take seeds – promises that talk about the fruit I want to produce – and start meditating on them. Over time, what I have desired comes to pass and I receive the harvest.
You’re wondering, why isn’t God answering my prayer?
He’s given us the seeds but we haven’t planted them!
We think it’s God’s responsibility, it’s His turn to fix this problem, when the truth is that God has done his part. He gave us the seeds of his Word, which will grow the solution to our problem. He’s given words that have life to them. All you have to do is take that Word, stand on it, and begin to release the life that is in that seed – the Word of God.
There is no better spiritual seed than the Word of God. There is no better spiritual soil than your heart. Jesus said that you should plant the spiritual seed of God’s Word in the fertile soil of your “just, noble, virtuous and worthy heart.”
Once you begin to understand that all of your thoughts, words and actions actually are spiritual seeds, you will focus on continually planting the seeds your Father instructs you to plant with your thoughts, words and actions.
Jesus explained the mighty power of spiritual seeds when he said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Of all the seeds it is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and find shelter in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31–32).
Your faith in God starts out small like a mustard seed. However, these seeds can and will grow….and grow….and grow… if you continually plant the seeds from the Word of God into your heart.
Unbelievers cannot sow the seeds of God’s Word in their hearts. Christians are given the privilege and ability to sow the seed of God’s Word.
TRANSFORMATION
Emotional experiences only last for a very short period of time. You will never be able to sustain a relationship with God, and certainly not be able to be transformed if your experience remains on an emotional level. You have to renew your mind. If you want to be transformed long-term and see your life change, you must be transformed by the word. You must renew your mind.
Once you get this system going, and you’ve invested this time, the Word of God will just supernaturally change you. You’ll be changed effortlessly by the Word of God. It’ll just spring forth and grow up in your life. You’ll be transformed.
I love this truth because it’s so simple. All that is required for transformation is that you just meditate on the word day and night. (Joshua 1:8) Keep the Lord and his truths in your thoughts. Go over and over them, keeping your mind stayed on the word of God – not “as the stomach turns” on television. If you keep your mind stayed on the Lord by meditating on his word, then without effort – automatically – your life will begin to change.
There is good reason the Holy Spirit used the apostle Paul to literally beg Christians to attend to their minds. (Romans 12:1-2) This says that when our minds are consumed with the Word of God, we will be transformed and move in the right direction. We will “prove” to the world around us what is the will of God, and His will is always truly good, fully acceptable, and perfect. The Bible makes it clear that God’s will is for us to succeed and live in joy unspeakable and full of glory!
Spiritual and mental changes occur as we renew our minds to the Word of God. The transformation of our minds causes us to be different than those in the world. We have a new way of thinking, a new way of acting, a new outlook on life, a new strength and power. We no longer go through the same troubles and despair. When problems do come, we face them with the Word and the Spirit of God, and we overcome them rather than being overcome by them.
If we ever want to see the good, acceptable and perfect will of God in our lives, we must get on with the renewing of our minds. Paul says this is the only way the necessary transformation can take place.
As you read and meditate the Word of God, as you take His Word to heart and allow it to change your perception of God, yourself, your life, and the world around you, you will be miraculously transformed. I can say this with full confidence not only because it is happening to me, but more important, because it is what God promised.
If we want to walk with God, know his perfect will and experience the fullness of his plan for our lives, we must change continually. This is the transformation that Paul is talking about in Romans 12:2. A lifestyle involving regular instruction and correction moves us forward in Christian growth.
Our transformation through the renewing of our minds can’t be received by the laying on of hands. It isn’t an instantaneous or overnight change. It is a lifestyle that we are invited to participate in for the remainder of our lives here on earth.
The Christian life isn’t a process of “getting from God.” Instead, it’s a process of renewing my mind and learning to release what I’ve already received. It’s much easier to release something I’ve already got than to go get something I don’t yet have!
If you are going to receive all that God has for you, you must follow His plan daily. Growth doesn’t come with the laying on of hands from the pastor or the miraculous moving of the Spirit. Growth comes from renewing the mind according to the Word of God and practicing living that Word every day.
God is no respecter of persons. If you put His Word first place in
your life and meditate on it on a consistent basis, it will change you.
The Christian who undergoes the Holy Spirits metamorphosis will begin to see the fullness of his salvation. He will live a completely different life than before and accomplish great things when he is transformed by the renewing of his mind.
I didn’t see any manifestation of power, victory, joy—anything—until I started renewing my mind and discovering what God had put inside me. As I began acknowledging what He had already done, His presence and power started manifesting in my life. The lives of the people I ministered to began to change. Acknowledging the good things in me in Christ caused my faith to work and produced supernatural results!
THE WISDOM OF GOD
You gain wisdom by becoming a student. You read, you study, you listen, and you must do these things each day on a planned and organized basis. You must eat, sleep and drink the word of God – it is good for the soul! “I, wisdom, will make the hours of your day more profitable and the years of your life more fruitful.” (Proverbs 9:11)
You saw in Joshua 1:8 that you will “deal wisely” if you meditate continually on God’s Word. Proverbs 10:14 confirms this great spiritual truth by saying that “wise men store up knowledge.” Do you want to receive wisdom from God? If you do, you should constantly store up God’s supernatural Word in your mind and your heart.
BE INTENTIONAL IN YOUR FAITH WALK
The primary reason that people aren’t receiving from God is because they literally haven’t taken the truths of his Word and planted them in their heart. This is why people aren’t experiencing the victory they are praying for and begging and pleading for God to give them.
Some Christians struggle through life with negative attitudes, sin, failures, divorce and depression and wonder why it’s all happening to them. Some have built doctrines to explain their lifestyle of defeat. Their image of God and of themselves is very negative, so they blame their failures on the “sovereignty of God” in order to explain their troubles.
You weren’t created to struggle through life and barely make it. God said you can take dominion, prosper and have good success. But you must be intentional in your faith walk, seeking first the kingdom of God and understanding that “all these other things will be added to you” in due season. As you renew your mind to God’s word, you will position yourself to prosper and be in health as your soul prospers.
PSYCHOLOGY IS NOT THE ANSWER
You can go through hours and hours of therapy and still not see any change. Going back through the feelings, emotions and circumstances of the past may not change a thing. You may not progress at all. You may discover why you have your problems, but you’ll still have the problems. You may know why you think the way you think, but you will still think the way you think! As a man thinks in his heart, so is he!
The answer to overcoming these programming problems is to renew the mind, to renew the way you think. You can go to psychologists or psychiatrists and spend a lot of money trying to find out what Mom or Dad did and why you continue to struggle. But that can’t teach you how to renew your mind to think in alignment with God’s Word.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
Satan and his demons are fully aware that the Word of God is a mighty supernatural seed. The last thing Satan and his demons want Christians to do is continually plant seeds from the word of God into their hearts.
Satan and his demons will try to steal the seed of God’s word out of your heart. “The sower sows the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation]. These [in the first group] are the ones along the road where the word is sown; but when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.” (Mark 4:14 – 15)
Satan and his demons do everything they can to blind unbelievers and Christians who do not renew their minds in God’s Word by attempting to place a spiritual veil over their minds. If Jesus Christ is your Savior, this veil has been removed. “Whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” (2 Corinthians 3:16)
You must not allow Satan, the pain and discomfort in your body, or anyone or anything
to stop you from continually planting supernatural seeds from God’s Word into your heart.
Satan’s strategy to win the battle for your mind is getting you to believe lies. If you believe a lie, it will hold you back from doing what God’s calling you to do. The lie will keep you living in shame from the past, when God wants to set you free for a better future. The lie will keep you from living with joy and freedom and confine you to a “less than” existence.
Your mind is a war zone, and you are under attack. It’s critical that you become aware of the fight. You cannot change what you do not confront. If you ignore the battle, you lose the battle. The apostle Paul made this truth clear: “we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
The battle for your life is won or lost in your mind.
Your thoughts will control you, so you have to control your thoughts by meditating on the Word and making the Word the final authority in your life.
Many Christians don’t wage war at all. Satan is assaulting us with evil. He’s delivering blows of deception and bombarding us with lies. But we can be oblivious to the attacks. As a result, our lives are not what we want, and we numb ourselves to reality. We long for more but settle for less. We keep ourselves too busy and distracted. As a result, we are losing battle after battle.
To win the battle for our minds, we must engage, because there is no other way for us to defeat evil. The days of being neutral must be over. We must be intentional in renewing our mind to God’s word.
If Satan’s primary weapon is lies, then our greatest counter-weapon is the truth of God’s word. Not just reading the Bible but actually learning to wield Scripture as a divine weapon. God wants us to view his Word that way. He wants us to renew our minds to the promises contained in Scripture.
I am not saying that this process is easy. I am still tempted to believe the lies, and I suspect you will be also. But these battles between our lies and God’s truth are worth fighting! Because waging war as we have shown is what will renew your mind, redeem your thinking, and ultimately revolutionize your life.
If you obey your father’s instruction to constantly renew your mind in his Word, you will strip yourself more and more of the way you used to think. Your life will not be controlled by “lusts and desires that spring from delusion.” You will not be diluted by the ways of the world or by the influence of Satan’s demons. You will see life more and more from God’s eternal perspective.
Those who are living in the flesh are living in unbelief, and always are engaged in warfare. Life is a battle for them. Their minds have never been renewed with the Word of God, and they don’t know that Jesus already has won the battle. They don’t know the devil is a defeated foe. They are still trying to fight him in their own power, and some have fought until they are totally exhausted and depleted.
This is not to say that some bondage and negative behaviors in Christians aren’t caused by demonic oppression. When there is a demonic stronghold, the demon must be cast out. But even in these cases involving demonic activity, if there isn’t a renewal of the mind, the enemy will come back. And Jesus said the end of that person will be worse than the beginning.
WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT
I encourage you to renew your mind to who you are in the spirit as quickly as you can. You’re going to start experiencing the life and peace that Paul talks about in Romans 8:6: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
It is a process, but it’s well worth it. You’ll see things begin to change around you: your health, your finances, your emotions, your marriage. It’s the key to everything in the Christian life.
For Scripture References, refer to the “Renewing the Mind to the Word of God Scriptures” in the “Word of God” section of www.phlibrary.com