Change your Thoughts, Change your Life

Hello everyone. I would like to share with you today on a topic that I think is really critical, and that is regarding our thoughts or our mind. Everything in our life flows from our thoughts. We need to realise that even to be able to access spiritual truths, it is dependent on your mind. You need to hear them, you need to accept them, you need to respond to them in your mind. It is seemingly a physical thing that needs to happen in your mind, but it is necessary in order to be able to access spiritual truth.

One of the key verses we can always look at when we want to talk about our minds and the implications thereof is Romans 12:2.

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Romans 12:2 (NKJV)

That is a lot to take in, so let’s run through it. It says, “Do not be conformed to this world,” and that is in two aspects: our conduct, the way we conduct ourselves, but also in terms of results. So it is saying, do not look the way that the world looks – not in the way you act, and not in terms of the results you reflect. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed” – metamorphosed into something that looks different, that acts different, and that yields different results.

How will we be transformed? By the renewing of your mind. That is the key. To yield different results means we need to think differently. If we don’t think differently, we will not do differently, we will not speak differently, and we will not see different results. So the key is we have to start with our mind, with our thoughts. “Do not be conformed, but be transformed into something different” – how? By the renewing of our minds, “that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” So there is a mindset that God wants us to have, because He says we must renew our minds; there is a particular mindset that He wants us to have.

The Word describes what that mindset looks like in a variety of ways. Let’s look at one of them.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:16 (NKJV)

You need to go and study the whole of 1 Corinthians 2, but this follows directly after the part where it says, “We have the Spirit of God that knows everything about God, and we have that Spirit so that we may know the things that He has prepared for us.” But here it says, “We have the mind of Christ.” So again, there is a certain mindset that God expects us to have.

If you read that chapter, you will understand: we have received the Spirit of God that knows everything about God. So when we talk about the mind of Christ, it doesn’t start out in your physical mind, if I can call it that – it starts out in your spirit. When you receive the Spirit of God into your spirit, then you actually have God dwelling in your spirit, and that starts influencing you. In that whole chapter it says we have the Spirit of God that knows everything about God, and this Spirit wants to show us things, reveal things to us, and guide us into those truths so that we can actually walk in them.

Same as Romans 12 says – do not be conformed, we act differently, we yield different results. So this says, “We have the mind of Christ,” but in essence the mind of Christ is in your spirit, and from there it needs to influence your physical mind. The more you start listening to the voice of the Spirit and responding to it, the more you will, in your physical mind, start thinking the way that God thinks. And if you think that way, you will start acting that way.

It is critical – look at what the Word says about how critical our minds are, and the protection and guidance of our mind.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:7 (NKJV)

It surpasses understanding, so we are not talking on a cognitive level of understanding – there is a peace that surpasses that. But look at the result: it says the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind. Why is it necessary for your mind to be guarded? The Word wouldn’t say that the peace of God will guard your mind if it were not necessary, and if it were not with the expectation that it will yield a certain result.

That means that peace, which surpasses understanding, protects your mind so that it is only the mind of Christ – that which comes from the inside, the Spirit of God ministering to you – that can influence your mind, so that you start thinking in line with God’s thinking and acting in line with God’s thinking.

Isn’t that amazing, that this is the result of the peace of God? The peace of God quiets the voices from the outside – the voices of Satan, whatever wrong influences want to come and affect our lives. That peace surrounds our mind, protects our mind, and ensures that we can hear that inner voice, the voice of God, the voice of the Spirit speaking to us, and then we can start changing our physical mindset and thoughts and respond to it – and then we actually yield totally different results.

That leads us to something very important in this process when we talk about mind or thoughts, and that is discipline. Discipline in life is critical. Discipline is what makes people yield results. Successful people typically have this in common: they have strong disciplines in their lives. It is very seldom that somebody who functions totally from emotion and feeling, and responds quickly to things from that emotional perspective, becomes as successful as people who are disciplined – disciplined in their behaviour, which also leads to discipline in their thoughts.

Just look at athletes or any sportsperson who is successful. What makes them successful? It is discipline – the discipline to get up, to exercise, the discipline to eat right. It is a commitment, but without discipline an athlete will not be successful on a competitive level.

And on the other side, why are most people overweight? Because of lack of discipline. There is only one thing that makes you overweight, and that is what goes in by your mouth. If you have discipline to determine what goes in there, it will be very difficult to be overweight if you eat healthy, eat normal portions, cut out sugar and starch, and so on. So discipline again will yield results.

What is discipline? My own definition of discipline is very simple: it is doing what you should be doing, when you should be doing it, disregarding how you feel about it. Feelings have very little to do with it – whether you feel tired or don’t feel like it has very little to do with it. Perseverance, discipline, doing what you should be doing – that is what yields results. The same is applicable to our mind and our thoughts. Whether we like to hear it or not, your life is a reflection and the result of your thoughts.

The way you think will determine how you speak, how you act, and that will determine what your life looks like.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

The check we can do in our lives is that, as far as those things that are under your control, you will never end up in a situation physically unless you have been there in your mind already. If your mind starts going in the wrong direction, having pictures and thoughts that you should not have, that will at some stage lead you to end up in that situation, and then it starts yielding the results of having those wrong thoughts.

Our thoughts, as the Word describes it, and the intent of our heart, are what is really us – the true us. Maybe people don’t see it and look at your life and can’t make the connection between the results in your life and how you typically come across, but it is what goes on in your heart. That is again why that peace needs to protect your heart, to protect your mind, so that you can have thoughts consistent with the Word of God and yield the required results. The Word goes as far as to say that the Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. So the Word will, in certain instances, not produce results in your life – even if you speak that word – because it depends on what is in your heart, on the thought and intent of your heart. Only God sees what is the real meaning behind what you are doing, and that is what will determine the results.

Now that we have established how critical our thoughts and our thinking are, the question would probably be, are we able to actually change that? The answer is emphatically yes. Not only are we able to change it, we have a responsibility to continuously renew our mind, as the Word says. We need to align our thoughts with the thoughts of Christ, and we will see the results in our lives.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NKJV)

There’s that principle again – to the obedience of Christ. There is a voice; if you have received the Spirit of God inside of you, there is a voice that is continuously speaking to you, continuously guiding you. But if these other thoughts become dominant, you suppress that guidance of the Spirit, and that has implications in our lives. If we want to progress, we must practically execute the voice, the thoughts, the mind of Christ that is inside of us.

That is why every other thought that comes to our mind, that is not consistent with the Word of God, not consistent with the mind of Christ, we need to take into captivity – into the obedience of Christ. The voice of God inside of us will always be consistent with the Word of God; you will not receive the voice of God from inside of you that is inconsistent with the Word of God. But when you receive that confirmation in your spirit regarding the Word of God, and that you should be acting upon it, that becomes the dominant force.

And it says, “And being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience has been fulfilled.” That means we get rid of every thought – we recognise a thought instantly when it is not from God, when it has got a different source, and we get rid of it so that we embrace the thoughts coming from our spirit and be guided by that. That also means that there are spiritual truths that some people will never be able to experience, embrace or walk in, because they are not able to change their mindset to become consistent with the Word of God.

It’s one of the things that, depending on how you grew up, how you have been taught, maybe in a religious environment, some things have become a habit or a tradition, and we hold those thoughts higher than the actual truth that is in the Word of God. That is why it says, “Everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,” we need to take that into captivity. There are strongholds, and we need to get rid of those strongholds. So we can’t just rely on what we have heard our whole lives, or on certain traditions implemented in religious circles where we get exposure. We need to go back to the Word of God. We need to allow the Spirit of God inside us to guide us and lead us.

You cannot live your whole life based on what somebody else tells you to believe. You cannot let a few people at the top of a certain structure decide for you what you believe. No – you have received the Spirit of God so that you may know the things that God has given you.

It says in 1 Corinthians 2:5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

“Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

1 Corinthians 2:12 (NKJV)

Never let a person become the authority to speak to you solely on behalf of God. Yes, you can receive a prophetic word; yes, you can receive guidance. There are the offices, there is the fivefold ministry, and they are there for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. But that cannot become your authority. You need to stir up the spirit that is inside of you. You need to hear the voice of God for yourself. You need to build a relationship, and thereby you will be able to test – the Word says, test every spirit, test everything, whether it is from God. How can you test it if you just say the religious structure within which you are has determined what the truth is, and you have to walk by that?

You have to hear for yourself, and maybe there are strongholds in the belief set in their minds, and maybe that has been established in your mind too, and you need to go back to the Word of God, and through the guidance of the Spirit, determine those truths for yourself. The Word says it is only the truth that we know that will make us free. So there are things we need to know and embrace for ourselves.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

So we need to gain this knowledge, but from the Word of God, not because somebody else has a set of rules they have determined for us.

That brings us to a principle: if you take the simple example, if you want to get rid of darkness, you don’t fight darkness. Darkness is not a substance; darkness is the absence of light. The same is relevant to your thoughts. You cannot continuously try to tell yourself, “Okay, I need to get rid of this negative thought – don’t think this, don’t think this, don’t think this.” You cannot continually think not to do the negative. You need to replace the negative with the positive. Like you would get rid of darkness by switching on the light, you need to flood yourself continuously with thoughts that are consistent with God’s thoughts.

Allow the Spirit to minister to you. That is why you need to spend time in the Word of God, because the more you spend time in the Word of God, the more you will recognise that voice speaking to you, and the more you are able to call forth truth and reality and replace whatever is not consistent with God’s thoughts and intents for you.

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 1:13 (NKJV)

It says, “Gird up the loins of your mind.” In Bible times, they wore these robes, and when they had to go into battle, they had to gird up these robes so that they were not in the way when going to battle. So typically, when you say to somebody, “Gird up your loins,” you are telling them to get ready for battle, to get ready for hard work. So when this verse says “gird up the loins of your minds,” that means there is work. We need to put effort into it. It is not something that just happens automatically – we need to do something about it.

One of the ways to gird up your loins, to be actively at work, to establish positive thoughts, is explained to us in the Word – what is it that we should be thinking about. This is just one of the aspects of what we can put into our minds.

“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

So there are certain things that we must put in our minds foremost. There is a way of thinking, a mindset that God wants us to have. And then discipline comes into play – we need to implement that discipline in order to be able to have this mindset.

There is a saying that knowledge doesn’t change people’s lives, but processes do. I want to emphasise that: knowledge alone is not going to change your life, but processes will. When you implement certain processes in your life that enable you to practically change your mindset, change your thoughts, then you can actually start expecting to see results.

So you need to firstly decide that you want to take control of your mind and your thoughts, and not allow your mind to wander all over the place and think anything. Because nobody knows what you are thinking. You can do something wrong and people will see it, and it has results. But in your mind, nobody knows what is going on except God, and that means you might allow yourself some freedom in terms of thoughts you are entertaining that are not good.

Although people are not seeing it, it is actually leading maybe to your destruction. The Word of God explains that our thoughts will lead us into temptation, and our temptation will lead into sin, and then sin will lead to death. So it might sound harsh, but your thoughts can actually cause your death – yes, physical death, but even worse, spiritual death.

So don’t think it is just something that you are entertaining in your mind and it’s okay because nobody knows. The Bible explains the risk: it will lead you into temptation, that will lead you into sin, that could lead you into death. So be sure there are implications, and we need to take responsibility to discipline our thoughts, and again implement processes that work for you.

Decide actively that you are going to take control of your mind. You are going to take every thought captive, and then implement processes. You can implement a process that is very simple. Every time a thought comes to your mind that you know is wrong – maybe three of you are having a discussion and one walks away, and immediately a thought comes to you that you want to speak about that person who just walked away, or you just see somebody and a thought comes up, maybe a bit of jealousy or whatever – the moment that thought comes up, identify it first. You recognise that this is a wrong thought; it’s not consistent with the thoughts that God wants us to have.

The moment you identify it, you decide for yourself that you will not accept it, you will not embrace it, you will not entertain that thought. Then implement a process for yourself. I know that when wrong thoughts come to me, I have a process where I physically see myself take that thought from my head with my hand. I literally take that thought from my head, I throw it onto the ground, I step on it, I put it into the grinder, I grind it to a pulp, and I take it and throw it into the sea. It might sound silly, but the fact is it causes me to identify a wrong thought instantly, and I act upon it. By the time I’ve gone through that process, my mind is not on that thought again.

And then there are things you can implement in addition to that, saying to yourself: “No, I am a child of the living God. I’ve been called for great things. I have the mind of Christ. As Jesus is, so am I in this earth. I have been set aside. I have been dedicated to God, and I live His purpose. I only think on these things – everything that is lovely, that is pure, that is of good report, that is just. My mind is disciplined. I take every thought captive.” Whatever works for you, something like that.

But again, I want to emphasise: knowledge by itself is not going to change your life, not in this instance and not in any other instance in your life. You need to embrace it. You need to work out how you are going to implement it in your life, and once you start acting upon it and implementing it, then you will actually start seeing the results in your life.

One of the other things I want to encourage you with, apart from the process you implement to discipline your thoughts, to take every thought captive, to replace it with light and love and the presence of God, is to make yourself accountable. People who are spiritually successful, people who are faithful, will always be people who make themselves accountable. You need to surround yourself with people who are spiritually mature, who have your best interest at heart, and who can form an accountability group for you where you can be transparent and know they will deal with those aspects in maturity.

You should be able to share things you are struggling with in your life. Maybe you are struggling with pornography. In certain circles you can’t come out and say it because you will just be condemned and judged and whatever else. You need to function in an environment where people love you so much that they will not judge you. But that sin will have implications in your life, like we just saw from the Word of God – it could lead to your death. I’ve seen many examples like that. People think pornography is maybe not a big issue; I can tell you it is a big issue, because it always leads further. It is never enough wherever you are at that level – it always gets more and more, until you actually start acting upon it.

I’ve seen many people start with pornography, and it ends up in an affair, and often that will lead to spiritual influences, demonic influence that starts influencing your life, and that will have only one purpose: to kill you, to destroy you, to destroy your marriage and your family. That is why Satan goes for the family, because family structure is the core of building Christ in this earth. So don’t think these things are just something small. Get an accountability group, share these things, and let people help you.

People should be able, if we act the way the Word describes what Christianity is, to help each other, not to judge each other. But accountability needs to flow from that as well. Once you are transparent, you bring things into the light. If it is not in the light, it will continue to prosper. But if you bring it into the light, then light can destroy it, and people around you can start supporting you, and you keep yourself accountable and commit to actually start getting out of those things by changing your thoughts.

I use that as an example; there are obviously many other examples like that, whether it is gambling or whatever it is that is building this influence and hold, this stronghold, into your life. It starts with thoughts, and you can change it. Implement a process by which you can change your thoughts, by which you can take them captive, but at the same time make yourself accountable, surround yourself with people who care about you, who have your best interest at heart, who can hold your hands up.

The Bible says if one walks alone and he falls, how will he get up? But it says if two walk, then at least the other one can help him. And then it says a threefold cord is not easily broken.

So I want to encourage you: decide to discipline your thoughts, to take every thought into captivity, to become in charge of your thoughts. Don’t entertain thoughts – don’t just let them fly around there and think it’s harmless. It’s not harmless. It will lead to sin that can lead to your destruction. And make yourself accountable.

I trust that this will help you in terms of your thoughts, because this is really critical in our lives. Hope you enjoyed that, and chat to you soon.