Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
-Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Changing the way we think until our thoughts are lined up with Truth is the key to living completely transformed and radically free. Please realize, any thought that is not lined up with what God says are the behaviors and customs of this world that will keep us locked into our old nature, making it impossible to live out our new life in Christ.
How do we know what God’s good and pleasing will is for us if we’re consumed with wrong thinking?
We can’t.
Our behaviors and decisions will always be led by our thoughts.
This is a fact that we, as believers, need to grasp. If we don’t connect with the thoughts consuming our mind that are the opposite of what the Bible says about ourselves, God’s character, even life, and what’s available as a believer, we will be led away from our new life in Christ, His perfect will, and His peace.
Rather than living that transformed, spirit-empowered life with total freedom, we will live weighed down by feelings and circumstances, allowing self-defeating thought patterns to become our belief system. When thought patterns that are against the knowledge of God go unchecked, they become strongholds in our minds.
A stronghold carries the power to drive us away from believing what God says to be true, instead, we are entertaining thoughts that are in opposition to what God says, taking ourselves down an emotional spiral of stress, worry, anxiety, and even defeat.
I grew up in a Christian home, but at the age of sixteen, I slowly started to believe the lies that came into my head about the Christian lifestyle. I didn’t realize these thought patterns were there until I went back to Jesus and He took me on a journey of identifying the thoughts (even subconscious ones) that I was living from. Those thoughts in my mind were preventing me from contending for what’s available through Christ. Thoughts like, I can’t hear God as other people do, yet Jesus said, “His sheep know His voice…” and “I’m chosen, royalty, made in His image, loved and He’s pleased when He sees what He made…” I didn’t realize how many thoughts were in my mind attached to my feelings, others’ words, and my circumstances that were overriding what the Bible says…until the Holy Spirit started to open my eyes and helped me connect with the thought patterns that were leading me away from Truth, and away from God’s heart for me.
It boiled down to this very simple idea: if I believe in God; if I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose for me, and if I believe the Bible is God’s unfailing Word, then everything I read is the Truth. My thoughts and feelings are lies set up against the knowledge of God. I had to learn to stop trusting my experiences and my feelings over what my Bible says and go after every thought pattern until my mind has been renewed.
As I did this, my new spirit-empowered life in Christ went from an idea and something I grasped as head knowledge to getting a complete breakthrough in every area of life that had me chained!
From hearing God’s voice to mental health battles to eating disorders, and beyond!
Friend,
We have got to take what’s going on in that head of ours seriously.
We have got to stop being controlled and consumed by thoughts and strongholds in our minds that are blocking us from living in the fullness of life and freedom that Jesus paid for!
And it doesn’t have to be complicated.
When you come from the perspective that God’s Word is the Truth and anything outside of what He says is a lie, making the decision that your feelings (or circumstances) do not get the final say — GOD DOES — you will no longer tolerate any thoughts or beliefs that are in opposition of His Word to rule in your mind!
For me, I started a list in my journal and got into the habit of stilling myself in God’s presence, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to me the thoughts and ideas in my mind that were leading me away from His Truth. Next to the lie, I would put a scripture that God says about my specific struggle or idea. From there, I made a conscious choice to trust what my Bible says rather than what I felt. Even if my feelings remained, I asked the Holy Spirit for help and learned to train my brain to think of what was truer. The more I practiced this, my feelings about myself and life lined up with peace and freedom through Jesus. A confidence I can’t explain rose from within me, one that doesn’t shake when life does!
All of us have areas where our mind needs healing and restoration; a fully restored mind is available for each of us. With God, we have access to a completely healed and sound mind, through His Spirit, partnered with our obedience, and taking His Word seriously.
Are you ready to stop feeding your feelings and start fueling your faith?
Are you ready to go after every lying and deceptive thought that’s swirling your mind until you are firmly rooted in the faith?
Here’s a breakdown of stronghold removal in simple form:
Repent; Remove; Replace.
Repent: When you find wiring in your belief system to be in contradiction to the Word of God: Stop. Connect with that thought, go directly to God, and repent. Ask God to forgive you for this thought that had the power to drive you away from His Truth.
So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. —Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
Remove: Turn from that belief pattern completely by removing it. If it helps, say this out loud (I do), ‘I am removing this idea, thought, and false belief from my wiring! It is not God’s heart or His Truth, and I am no longer going to live out of a belief system that is inferior to what Jesus died to give to me!’
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable. — Hebrews 4:12-13 (NLT)
Grab hold of the Word of God that has the power to cut through Truth and lies, exposing every wrong belief system, and boldly go to our gracious God for His mercy and strength as you come against every lying and deceptive spirit that has kept you from living whole and healed.
Replace: Grab your Sword, the Word of God, and declare a scripture of Truth. Learn to override what was once thought and believed, replacing those anti-God thoughts with His Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring His Word from your head to your heart until His Truth is the only belief system you live by. Your belief system will line up with God’s in such a powerful way, that everyday life (and thoughts) will no longer be your battle. You will experience what it looks and feels like to live with a renewed mind. And the whispered lies of the enemy will no longer have you bound as you continually learn to rise into your rightful place as a victor and the righteousness of Christ!
I pray you make a bold decision to go after any anti-God thoughts that are consuming your mind until you are living fully transformed and radically free!
