What are you thinking right now? Are you in control of your thoughts? How much thought do you give to your thinking? This week we are looking at how we can ‘Love the Lord with all our mind’.
Do you have a favourite film? I think I would have to say that Coach Carter with Samuel L Jackson is mine. The story of a coach that believes that his team can achieve, resonates with me. His standards and determination are rewarded when one of his toughest students returns to the classroom and makes an epic speech, entitled ‘Our greatest fear’. This pivotal moment in the movie brings a tear to my eye and reminds me that when we change our thinking, everything changes.
This week we will be considering how our thinking affects our Mental Strength. We will discuss how we can begin the transformation of replacing stinking thinking with right thinking, that leads to right actions and leads to us fulfilling God’s plan for our lives. In Romans 12, we read about what to stop, what to start and what will happen if we make the change.
What worldly patterns have you found yourself doing habitually? Are you addicted to negativity through media and conversations? Do you have vices that you know are covering over the real issues you face, offering you a quick fix plaster to a sceptic wound? In Romans 12:2, we are encouraged to STOP following worldly patterns.
Transformation happens when we renew our mind. When we replace our old thinking for new positive thoughts. In Philippians 4:8 we read a checklist of positive things to fill our minds with – “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” How does your thinking during this season link up with these values?
We read in Jeremiah 29:19 that God has a plan and a purpose for his people. At that time those words would have seemed completely incredible as they were in exile in Babylon, imprisoned and restricted. Ephesian’s 2:10 tells us, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” When you renew your mind, “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
This week, STOP conforming to those old thoughts, RENEW your mind, TRANSFORM your life, and discover God’s will for it.
