Why renewing your mind can save your life
As an expansion of Day 3 from our “40 Days” program, I’ve been reading a book which has some good things, albeit at times a little cheesy. “The Magic of Thinking Big” caught my attention because I believe the biggest thought we can contain comes right out of our Day 3 Lesson, and that is God and what God thinks is our best.
In this book, he quotes from a meeting he had with the head of a psychological consulting firm. He said that many people could be lifted from pain and malady if they did this:
“Simply this: destroy their negative thoughts before those thoughts become mental monsters.”
Mental monsters are as much as conforming to the world as anything else.
The example of someone using a secular exercise was to take a woman who was depressed and borderline mentally disturbed was lifted up by listing three things to be happy about.
No medication. Just pulling pleasant thoughts and focusing on those for three months changed her around.
If such proof of the power of the mind works in the secular world, why can’t we just take those steps and understand what God has in mind for us?
Where does it say we should be creating our own mental monsters of unhappiness and suffering when they are creations of our own thoughts?
I look back and think the lesson and exercises in Day 3 are a powerful foundation in what God really wants us to think.
There are other ways in which the “renewal of your mind” can impact your life, longevity, and even your impact in the world.
Take Captive your (Negative) Thoughts
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It’s been hard not to have negative thoughts of despair, regret and anger: every time I look at my stock portfolio I am gripped with anxiety. This was money I had dutifully saved only to have it all come doubling down.
But only by focusing on the solution, even in the midst of total distress, can I find hope. This is the test we all must go through, and 90% of the battle is mental.
So what do we do? We have to use will-power and faith in God to wrestle with these thoughts:
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 context and probably the original intent was to set people up to withstand false prophesies and ideologies away from believing in Christ.
But I would say that anxiety, self-doubt, lack of self-worth — all those impact our ability to have a relationship with God and ignore that fact that He dwells within. Bad things happen. And when they do and we start to panic, doesn’t that mean we doubt the sovereignty of God?
Can the financial irresponsibility of those who brought upon us this economic crisis have thrwarted God’s plans?
What am I doing to take these thoughts captive? I’m spreading it out in the next post, but it’s willpower and prayer.
My personal challenge: to go for 24-hours without a negative thought and instead to focus on solutions and gratitude.
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Take every thought captive
2 Corinthians 10:5:
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”
To tap into the “king within” is going to come up against a lot of resistance: what the world thinks, what you’ve been brought up to think, lies, misperceptions, rampant thoughts that run through your mind.
Take a moment to see if you can catch yourself thinking thoughts that may not be healthy.
As I could through this and begin to wrestle with the notion that, in alignment with God, I can unleash “the king within” — I see thoughts emerge that say, “No, it cannot be done.”
To counter-balance this, first we must be aware of the negative thinking. It can be subtle, and I am going to explore later how, by focusing on something bigger and beyond myself, I bring those thoughts to the surface.
And once you start to do this, you must “take every thought captive” and submit it to the Truth that comes from Christ living within having died for our brokeness.
It is only then that we can each begin to take on the mantle as a “king” to serve the king of all kings.
