Jesus said in Luke 6:45, ...out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. And in Proverbs 23:7 the Bible says, ...as he thinks in his heart, so is he... Here, the word heart refers to the mind. In other words, whatever you and I allow into our inner life will eventually be seen in our outer life. So in order to deal with wrong behavior, we need to deal with wrong thinking. The key to victory is learning how to think on the things that God wants us to think- to be renewed in our mind by the power of His Word- instead of thinking on whatever comes into our head.
A House Made of Thoughts
All of us have an outer life and an inner life. Our outer life is the part of us that everybody sees, and our inner life, is seen by nobody, except God and us. Our inner life is like a house made of thoughts that is constantly being built. It is within these "walls" of our thinking that each of us lives. Every thought we accept is like another brick in the wall of the house we are building. If we accept negative, selfish, or other ungodly thoughts, our "house" will be a mess, and we will find ourselves walled in with the enemy. But when we choose to think positive, godly thoughts, the "house" in which we live will be a blessing, filled with the rewards of righteousness.
Exposing the Enemy
Once we make the decision to change our thinking, we enter into an all-out war with the enemy, and the battlefield is our mind. Satan knows that if he can dominate our thinking, he can dominate our life. That is why he often attacks us early in the morning, before our feet ever hit the floor. He strategically bombards our mind with every negative and ungodly thought imaginable- all in an effort to set the stage for a day of misery and sorrow. Two of Satan's greatest devices he uses against us are worry and reasoning.
Wielding the Sword
One of the greatest weapons that you and I have is the truth of God's Word. If we don't lead wrong thoughts away captive, the wrong thoughts will lead us away captive. When Jesus faces the temptations of Satan in the desert, He spoke the Word and defeated the enemy (see Luke 4:1-13). God wants us to know, believe and exalt His Word above the ideas of the enemy and my flesh. Jesus clearly stated in Matthew 6:25-34 that we are not to worry about anything because God is faithful to provide all that we need, when we need it. The more we meditate on scriptures like these, the more our thinking changes.
Maintaining Mental Freedom
Once we learn how to get free, we then need to learn how to stay free. It's not enough to just cast down the wrong thoughts; we have to choose to think the right thoughts. We need to fix our mind on...whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious...(Philippians 4:8) If you and I do not choose thoughts that lead to life, the devil will choose thoughts for us that lead to death. But when we choose thoughts that lead to life, our lives will be blessed.
By Joyce Meyer
Dats true
ReplyDelete