“The life that you have is a reflection of the thoughts that you think. Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.”- Craig Groeschel
Sunday mornings begin each week with listening to a sermon online during my quiet time. It is a morning routine that I take very seriously. As a worship leader for our congregation, it is imperative that I enter into the house of the LORD already having spent time in worship so that my heart is primed and ready to help lead our own flock into a genuine and focused time of praise.
Yesterday morning was no exception. I happened to be listening to a sermon out of Life Church. Pastor Groeschel started a sermon series titled “Mastermind.” The concept being this: The best battles waged against us are those that occur in our minds. When we allow the enemy to control our thoughts, we are easily defeated. When we take our thoughts captive to God’s truth, our enemy is easily defeated. His battle is built on lies and deception. God has equipped us with what we need to win the fight, which is described in Ephesians. The sword of the spirit – our weapon – which is what? The word of God. The word of God is that powerful!
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
The key is that we must take every thought captive and make it obedient to the word of God. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so he is…”
Think about what you think about. If you were to conduct some sort of “thought audit” what would you come up with? What would you find? What type of thoughts are you more prone to have? Do you tend to have more worried thoughts or more peaceful thoughts? Does your mind gravitate more toward a negative mindset or a positive mindset? Do you find yourself consumed more with that which is worldly or that which is eternal?
Whatever comes into your mind – comes out in your life. You cannot have a positive life while simultaneously having a negative mind.
Are you excited about where your thoughts are taking you? If you are not, then it is time to take action. How?
1) It is important that we are able to identify the number one stronghold that is holding us back. What lie gets the most playtime in your head? Maybe it’s that you’re not good enough? Perhaps it has something to do with your past being too bad for God to even care about you or be able to use you? Whatever your baggage is – identify the lie. If you aren’t sure what yours is, ask those who are closest to you. Most likely they will know it right away. Why do I need to identify it? You cannot defeat what you cannot define.
The brain is an interesting mechanism. The more we think a thought the more we create neural pathways inside our brains. The more you think a thought the easier it becomes for our brain to follow that path. If you think it enough, eventually the path becomes a default thought in our brains. This is why it is so important for us to think about what we think about. The brain can be retrained. Taken captive. It means, however, that when I begin to catch myself going down my old thought patterns – believing the old lies – I stop myself and replace the thought with a thought that is based on truth. A thought from the word of God.
Romans 12:2 calls this a renewing of our mind. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
2) Name the truth that demolishes that stronghold.
Some of us are locked into a prison of the mind and the only lock on the door out is a lie. For example: I’m not good enough or I’m not enough. Honestly, when it comes to our salvation and being made right in the eyes of God – it’s true! We aren’t ! But it is only true on my own. On my own, I am not good enough – but the truth is: I am not alone! Neither are you! My God is always with me! His spirit is within me! Because I have access to His living word – I no longer am a slave to bad thinking.
The truth is: “His divine power has given us everything that we need for a godly life.” (2 Peter 1:3)
Friend, may we not stay locked in a prison when Jesus has opened the door. The truth will set us free.
Blessings!