(by Joyce Meyer)
Thoughts are absolutely one of the most important things that we need to learn about because the Bible tells us in Proverbs 23:7 that whatever you think, that’s what you become.
One of the greatest revelations that any of us can have is to find out that we can do something about our thoughts. We can choose what we want to think about, because you and I can actually think things on purpose.
In one of my meetings, a woman shared how God had changed her life. She had an awful mess, including very deep depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce and issues with custody battles. Yet, her life has been transformed and changed because she learned how to think right. She said that the most important scripture to her became, …be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind… (Ephesians 4:23).
Like this woman, you and I have to stop just thinking about everything that falls into our head and pay attention to what we’re thinking. If we’re in a bad mood, we can probably find the root of our bad mood by thinking about what we’re thinking about.
Honestly, no one can do anything about our thoughts but us. God is not going to do our thinking for us but the devil will, if we let him. If you and I are passive, he will take the opportunity to put all kinds of garbage into our minds, just like the saying goes, “Garbage in, garbage out.”
And if you and I allow our minds to be filled with garbage, then we’re not going to enjoy our lives. Instead, we’ll probably spend our time being miserable. God will teach us how to think right thoughts, but He doesn’t do it for us. We are responsible to do it.
Just Think About It
One way we can start is by having a “think session” each day when we just sit down and say, “Now I’m going to think about a few things that the Bible tells me to think about.” You and I can think on these things throughout our day, whether it’s while we’re waking up in the morning, taking a shower, cleaning the house or driving our car.
Colossians 3:2 instructs us to …set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. If we understand this, then we don’t have to listen to that record that tries to play over and over again in our head asking us, “What’s wrong with me?” As we do this, we begin to see that our lives are changing so radically that it’s absolutely amazing because the truth is, lousy thinking will not give us a great life.
Think on Purpose
I believe there are certain things you and I can think on purpose that will help us live a powerful life rather than a weak life. Scripture teaches us that we need to be very careful about our thoughts. In 2 Corinthians 10:4,5, it says, …the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
These scriptures are telling us that we are in a battle and our mind is the battlefield. We have weapons to fight this battle; however, they are not carnal weapons but spiritual weapons through which we can tear down mental strongholds.
It also says that we are to cast down wrong thoughts, imaginations, theories and reasonings that are against our mind. It is our responsibility to cast them down and lead every thought captive into the obedience of Christ. You and I cannot be passive. We can’t hope that we don’t have bad thoughts or expect someone else to give us some magical message that will keep bad thoughts away from us. We have to learn what the truth is; then every time the Holy Spirit causes us to recognize that we are thinking something that does not line up with the Word of God, stop thinking about it. Bring it captive unto Jesus Christ, and choose to think something good. We can’t just cast down a thought without replacing it with a right thought because empty space is the devil’s place.
Have you noticed how you can be driving down the road just kind of mindlessly riding along when the enemy will capture that empty space and just start filling it with all kinds of junk? I believe if we will do right thinking ahead of time, we will be prepared to handle temptation. We can make up our mind ahead of time how we are going to respond to different situations. Then when they come up in life, we are prepared.
An Ongoing Process
In Romans 12:2, the Bible tells us to renew our mind. Now renewing our mind is a continual process. To renew something and to keep it renewed is a constant, ongoing process. It’s like buying a new house. If you and I never do anything to keep it up, it won’t be long until it will be a pile of junk. Or, if we buy a new car that looks really good when we bring it home but don’t take care of it, it will become a dirty mess, full of all kinds of trash.
Well, the mind is the same way. We can’t just think something right one time and expect our mind to stay in good shape. It’s a continual process. In Romans 12:2, it states we are not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed completely, by the renewing of our mind. This means you and I can’t even keep one or two areas full of junk because it will affect our entire mind and keep us from the best that God has for us. On the other hand, we also don’t need to be condemned if we still struggle with our thought life. We just need to make sure that we’re making progress.
Do Your Part
You and I can learn how to think right if that’s what we want. But we are going to have to do our part, like studying and committing some things to memory. I don’t believe that means we have to sit around and memorize, because the more we’re in the Word, the more it’s going to be in us.
To be honest with you, I don’t consider myself to be a person who sits around and memorizes scriptures, but I sure know a lot of them. Just the other day, someone asked me, “All those scriptures you quote on TV, do you have them on a teleprompter or something?”
I said, “No.” And he wasn’t a strong Christian who was asking; he was just a guy who was curious and had been watching me a little bit and wanted to know more.
“If you don’t have it on a teleprompter, then how can you just repeat all those things?” he asked.
I said, “I’ve been studying the Word for over thirty years.”
You and I can’t let the devil convince us that we don’t know very much. If we are studying the Word, then we know a whole lot more than we think we do because it’s in us. And each day we need to remind ourselves that our thoughts make a big difference in our lives and we can choose our own thoughts.
Source: joyce meyer
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