Message Date: September 24, 2023
Bible
Romans 12:2 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
- If we are transformed by the renewing of our mind, we stay stuck by the neglecting of our mind.
- Our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
- Prov 4v23 GNT “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”
- Your thoughts have power to shape your lives, and you have power over your thoughts.
- 2 Cor 10v3-5 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
- There is no neutral ground. Your thoughts are either taking you captive or you’re taking them captive.
80% of our thoughts are negative and 95% of our thoughts are repetitive.
- 4 categories of negative thinking
- Cognitive distortions involve negative thinking patterns that aren’t based on fact or reality.
- #1 Absolute thinking.
- #2 Negative filtering.
- #3 Jumping to conclusions
- #4 Blaming
- Ro 8:5-6 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
- Three ways to help change your mind
- Think about what you think about
- Practice Gratitude
- Fix your frame
- Reframing is the process of changing how we look at things.
- Ex. The spies in Numbers 13
- What do we know?
- Our lives are moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
- Our mind is a battlefield and there is no neutral ground.
- God has equipped us with weapons that have the power to destroy strongholds and win the war in our mind.
- What are we going to do?
- We are going to increase the awareness of what we think about
- Even in the midst of challenging times, find something to be grateful for
- Shift our focus to align our thoughts with God’s word