"The Renewed Mind" by Nancy Dufresne
Because we are “in Christ,” all the blessings of God already belong to us – healing, health, prosperity, victory, etc. But whether or not we will experience them is connected to right thinking – us thinking in line with God’s Word. When we think right, then we will believe right, speak right, and do right – then we will receive right things.
A vital part of our inheritance “in Christ” is a sound mind. Second Timothy 1:7 reads, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
The Amplified translation reads, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.” This is the kind of mind God has authored for us – a sound mind, a mind that’s “calm, well-balanced, disciplined, and controlled” – no matter what test comes against us.
First Corinthians 2:16 reads, “…we have the MIND of Christ.” The Amplified translation reads, “…But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.” To enjoy a sound mind, we must “hold” HIS WAY of thinking.
The Word is the thoughts of God. God offers us His thoughts – let’s take them. The Bible is the “thoughts of God” written down – God had them written down so that we would make His thoughts our thoughts.
Our lives are a picture of our thought life. To improve our lives, we must improve our thought lives – that’s where all change begins. God has given us His Word so that we can “come up” in our thought lives – so the responsibility rests with us, not God, to renew our minds. We must take God’s Word and renew our minds, disciplining our minds to think in line with His Word.
“Our lives are a picture of our thought life.”
A renewed mind is a disciplined mind – disciplined to accept only the thoughts of the Word – not accepting opposing thoughts.
If someone brings undisciplined children to your home, they touch what they shouldn’t touch and go where they shouldn’t go, and it causes problems. To have a peaceful home, you have to discipline your children. Undisciplined children rob a home of peace.
Likewise, an undisciplined mind will rob a life of peace. An undisciplined mind will touch things it shouldn’t touch and go in directions it shouldn’t go.
Many think that the devil is their problem – when the real problem lies with an undisciplined thought life. Any Christian who is in bondage is not in bondage to the devil – they are in bondage to an unrenewed mind. We must discipline our mind and thought life to not take the thoughts the devil offers us and not follow wrong thoughts into wrong ways of thinking.
How do we DISCIPLINE our minds and thought life? Romans 12:2 tells us, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind….” When you “renew your mind” with the Word of God, this verse says that it will transform your life – your life won’t look the same or be the same.
When the kids were young, I took them to see a movie called The Transformer. In it, a vehicle transformed into a weapon. In its “transformed” state, it could do what it couldn’t do before.
Likewise, a transformed life will be able to experience and accomplish what it couldn’t before it was transformed. Renewing the mind gives you access to a transformed life. Every believer has the potential to live a transformed life, but only those who “renew their minds” will experience it.
Having someone pray for you will bless you, having someone lay hands on you will bless you, but it’s only the renewing of the mind that will TRANSFORM you.
If believers don’t renew their minds, their lives won’t change much. Their life will look like it did before they were saved – they will still have all kinds of crises and problems dominating them and pushing them around. Being saved doesn’t mean that problems don’t arise – it means that the outcome can be different.
What does it mean to “renew your mind”? It means to take on God’s way of thinking. If your thoughts contradict or are opposed to God’s thoughts, you replace those wrong thoughts with God’s thoughts. When someone is renewing their mind, it will show up in their thoughts, their words, and their actions – it will affect how they live their daily life. If it’s not showing up in their daily life and their actions, their minds aren’t being renewed – no matter how much they confess it. It’s good and right to confess the Word, but it’s DOING what we confess that renews the mind.
To develop and mature spiritually, we must renew our minds. The more we renew our minds, the sweeter life will be.