At one time in my life, my thoughts, words, and actions were rooted in fear and negativity. With unanswered questions about life, death, and love, I lost my grounding and developed a mistrust in people and life in general. Feeling like a victim of circumstances, with no control over my life, I thought I had failed. I didn’t like living this way.
Soon after, I was invited to my first Way Ministry fellowship. A young woman taught about “love” that night—not the kind of love I was used to hearing about, but about the love of God being unconditional and limitless. She taught from God’s Word that God is love and that His love could take the place of fear in our lives. And she spoke it with such great conviction. Where my life was in disarray, she seemed to have a grasp on life at a very young age.
Questions came to my mind. Could I do something about my negative situation? Could I think these positive thoughts and be so confident that I too would speak that way? Could I have a life where I could act out of love and not fear? Could I take control of my life and win? God’s Word showed me the answer was a clear yes!
Let’s take a look at God’s Word and see the importance of thinking, speaking, and acting on that Word to take control of life and win. We will also look at examples in the Word of real people like us and the keys that helped them win as they thought, spoke, and took action on the Word in their day and time.
To take control of our lives and win, we start by choosing to think God’s Word. Perhaps you’ve heard the statement “Life is full of choices.” We choose our food, housing, friends, jobs, and so on. Our lives are a sum of the choices we make. God says to let the Word “dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16). We choose the thoughts we want to dwell on—and God’s Word gives us the best choices.
Philippians lists, in one verse, six virtuous and praiseworthy things that we can choose to dwell on.
Philippians 4:8:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
God says He wants us to think about things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Just how do we accomplish this? We do it by continually holding His Word in our minds, thought by thought, and acting accordingly. This is something that we can do throughout our lives.
Romans 12:2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
God’s Word commands us to not be “conformed” to this world. Rather, we are to be “transformed” by the freewill renewing of our minds to do His will. To transform is “to change to another form, to transfigure.”
We can train our minds to think the thoughts that are according to God’s Word. Have you ever noticed that we tend to see things we are used to looking for? For instance, if a florist, a carpenter, and a child walk into a house, they may each see different things. The florist may notice the plants, the carpenter may notice cabinetry, and the child may notice the swimming pool in the backyard. They filter what they see through what they are used to looking for. We want to be used to looking for the truth of God’s Word. We want to filter our thoughts through God’s Word. I refer to this as putting on “God goggles.”
We can also control our thoughts to believe what God’s Word says about us. Jesus Christ is a prime example of thinking God’s Word in this way. He trained his mind to think of himself according to what God said about him in the Word. Jesus studied the Scriptures from his youth, already asking questions and astonishing the doctors in the Temple at the age of twelve. Jesus’ first recorded words were, “How is it that ye sought me? wist [know] ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
Jesus Christ was confident of who he was as the Son of God when he said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He was one in unity of purpose with God when he said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). His desire and prayer was for his Father’s will to be done on earth as in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
This is how Jesus controlled his thoughts to be one with our heavenly Father. So can we. God’s Word tells us we have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16). This means that we are equipped to walk with the same confidence, boldness, and victory that Jesus Christ walked with….
This is an excerpt from the July/August 2014 issue of The Way Magazine.
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