Reading a known Bible passage or verse in a different translation can be really insightful, as it lifts you out of familiarity’s inadvertence. I was reading Romans 12 in the NLT recently, and verse 2 really caught my attention, “Don’t copy the behaviour 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.”

Jesus, in response to questioning from Nicodemus, stated that we need to be born again, i.e. reborn in the Spirit, in order to qualify to see the Kingdom of God (John3:3-8). When we are reborn, God continues to transform us “to be conformed to the image of Jesus” (Romans 8:29). In other words, there is a transformation that takes place that makes us more and more like Jesus. How does this transformation occur? By changing the way we think. The Holy Spirit works by changing our thought process first. It is this change in our thoughts that allow us speak and act as Christ would.

As Luke 6:45 notes, it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. In other words, it is only what is already in our hearts, our thoughts, that we can speak out. Again, this is why Proverbs 4:23 cautions us to guard our heart with all diligence. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (NIV). Words flow from the thoughts in our heart to our mouth, and as Matthew 15:11 states, these words are what can defile us. Verse 19 goes on to expatiate the many evil thoughts that can come out of the heart, which set us on a slippery slope towards acting them out. In contrast, John 6:63 notes that God’s Word is full of the Spirit and life.

More and more, I have grasped how important it is to guard my thoughts – against fear, doubt, negativity and all evil. And this needs to be done “above all else”, with all diligence, vigilance, utmost care, watchfulness, as various translations put it. How do we renew our minds though? How do we get our thoughts out of the devil’s gutter and into the protective fortress of God’s word?

Renewing our minds by changing the way we think can be a challenging process, especially if we have thought a certain way for so long. However, as with most things, we can start by knowing what to do, and then practicing it day in day out, until it becomes as natural as breathing.

The word of God and prayer are essential in this renewal process, as we cannot truly renew our minds without God’s word and prayer. If we empty our mind of junk without filling it with God’s word, the devil will simply refill it again, with even more junk (Luke 11:24-26). It is therefore essential to guard what we feed our thoughts with. Garbage in, garbage out applies to the mind unfortunately. Romans 8:6 reminds us that “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (ESV). When we fill our mind with stories that inspire fear and distress, that is the shape our thoughts will take, for our thoughts are quite malleable. As the children’s song goes, “be careful little eyes what you see… be careful little ears what you hear…” Philippians 4:8-9 gives us a way to renew our thoughts and align them towards what is good. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (ESV). The Word of God satisfies these criteria, it is the real deal. Prayer also gives us a forum to hear from God and to bring our thoughts before Him. God is the ideal being to unburden those bothersome thoughts to, and the ideal source for life-giving thoughts.

Once we have that in place, when a thought comes, a helpful first step is to immediately pause and hold the thought for a moment. I remember reading a book a long time ago, where the author stated that (and I’m paraphrasing heavily, as I read it years ago), when thoughts knock on our mind’s door, we can choose to welcome them, offer them a cup of tea and some biscuits, entertaining them for as long as possible. Or we can assess them right at the door, in order to ascertain if they line up with the word of God. If they don’t, we shut the door on them right away!

2 Corinthians 10:5 encourages us to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. Imagine a scenario where we arrest our little thoughts and make them bow down to Jesus, to the Word of God. Practically, this would mean that when a thought comes, we stop and ask “is this what the Bible says?” For instance, if a thought comes to us that we are unlovable, hinting that we are going through a tough time because God doesn’t love us, we can check what the Word of God says, which is: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39, NLT). Having read that, we can ask ourselves, does the thought line up? The answer is a clear no. This means that the thought has to bow to the Word of God, not the other way round. I have found that when I do this, it helps to stop downward spirals caused by negative thoughts which the devil suggests. In contrast when I don’t, I start to overthink and swirl down an undesirable slope. This makes it even harder to climb out of the well of negative thoughts. Sometimes it really is better to talk to yourself than to listen to yourself, so long as you are telling yourself the Word of God.

This is therefore why we need to prayerfully marinate ourselves in the word of God, to not just read/hear it, but to say it and practice it. Otherwise, as James 1:22 states, we are simply deceiving ourselves. This is an ongoing process, which means we resume marinating ourselves again and again, and we practice the Word again and again. This is so important because the devil knows how important the Word of God is. That is why he tries to weaken its hold on our thoughts, to snatch it out of our minds. He does this by planting suggestive thoughts in our minds such as “did God really say?”, “was God really referring to you?”, “do you know how bad and unforgivable what you’ve done is?”, “maybe God healed in the past, but is He still a healer today?”

Why does the devil go through all that trouble? Because he knows the significant power the Word of God has over our thoughts, and consequently our lives. 2 Corinthians 10:4 reminds us that the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of the flesh, but are powerful through God to demolish strongholds. Strongholds in our minds can be powerful, but God’s word is even more powerful. However, if we don’t study it, meditate on it, practice it, then how will we know how to respond? We need to know the word of God and shut the devil down straight away. Beyond that, prayerfully studying the word of God elevates us from seeing the human perspective to seeing God’s perspective. This is so vital when fighting a battle, responding to God’s call, or at any point in our lives really. Because God’s perspective allows us to see more angles than our human perspective allows. In Matthew 16:21-23, when Jesus told the disciples about the things He would suffer, Peter saw things from a human perspective. Consequently, even though his response may have sounded good to human ears, it was directly against the will of God. This earned him a sound rebuke from Jesus, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s” (v. 23, NLT).

The people around us are therefore important, as they can either be a blessing or the bane of our lives. They can draw our thoughts towards God, or away from Him. As such, we need to be prayerfully mindful of the company we keep, and the people we let influence our thoughts (Psalm 1:1-3, Proverbs 18:24; 22:24, Deuteronomy 20:8). Job had friends that did not help his thoughts and mindset during the most challenging period of his life. Paul on the other hand was an encouragement to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:6-7). Spirit-led, trusted friends and leaders can spur us on, enable us fan into flame God’s gift in us, and keep us accountable as we renew our minds.

I have found that I need to be intentional about recognising and breaking the cycle of negative thought processes. In addition to the above, other things can aid us, even if they are only short term measures. For instance, it may help to physically move away from a place where we are experiencing an onslaught of negative thoughts. I find that being in a place that reminds me of the beauty of God’s creation can bring me peace and remind me of God’s power. This is not always possible though, as David remarked in Psalm 55:6 “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest” (KJV). Nevertheless, actively finding joy even in our present surroundings can sometimes an option – whether that is finding a decent comedy video/joke/meme/book etc to laugh about, or imagining oneself in a place that evokes positive emotions. May God give us the wisdom to know what to do to break negative thought cycles.

I pray that as we embark on this journey of renewing our minds, we will be transformed and consequently know God’s good, pleasing and perfect will. May God’s voice and words be louder in our ears and hearts than any contrary voices. May God bring the right people with the right ‘mind food’ into our lives and remove the ones feeding us the wrong mind food. In the valleys of our lives, when we feel like the devil is sending a flood of negative thoughts our way, may the Spirit of the Lord lift up a standard against him. May we instead be filled with the joy of the Lord that strengthens and upholds us. I pray we never forget that God loves us with an everlasting love, a love that never fails, faints or finishes. Hold on, dear reader. The renewing process is a journey. There are ups and downs, but in all these you are not alone, for God is never letting you go.

Image source here.