In Control Of Your Thinking Process

"... They capture every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5, CEV).

Martin Luther supposedly said that you cannot control a bird from flying over your head, but you can prevent it from making a nest in your hair!  We cannot be responsible nor even control what thoughts enter our minds--they could be from the devil, just as Jesus told Peter, "Get behind Me Satan!"  However, we must rein in our thoughts and get a grip on our thought life, which can only happen by the power of the Spirit to restrain.  Our thoughts and thought life are important indicators of our obedience to Christ.

David was concerned about his thought life when he prayed:  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight..."  We can indeed control what we choose to meditate on and what words come out of our mouths, for Jesus said that which comes out of the mouth is what defiles a man (cf. Mark 7:15).  There is a correlation between our thought life and our spiritual life and obedience.  Paul says in 2 Cor. 10:5 that we capture our rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.  There is a direct connection here!

We need to do more than just get our thinking straightened out, in getting a Christian worldview--we need to get a grip on our thought life and be heavenly minded.  Proverbs 4:23 says that we should "keep [our] heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life."  Again, similarly, it is written in Prov. 23:7 (KJV) that if we "commit [our] works unto the LORD, [our] thoughts will be established."

First things first:  we dedicate our minds to Christ and commit to doing His will in an obedient life and God cleanses our minds and give us a pure heart:  "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things [including our thinking] are become new!" (2 Cor. 5:17, KJV).  "...but let God transfer you into a new person by changing the way you think..."  (Rom. 12:2, NLT).  ("Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.").

It is important to note that we are not to be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good.  We are not purely spiritual creatures, meant to live on cloud nine with our minds preoccupied and not to ever be ethical, practical, applicable, nor recreational.  We need to apply our thoughts to everyday situations and be a witness of our thoughts, not keeping them to ourselves--this is where sharing and witnessing come in.  One must conclude that if we only expose ourselves to junk we will exhale the same, just as the axiom goes: garbage in equals garbage out (GIGO).

Proverbs 1:7 says a fool despises wisdom and knowledge: The Bible emphasizes wisdom and increasing in knowledge:  "Knowledge is power"(cf. Prov. 24:5) according to Sir Francis Bacon and a fool feeds on trash, while the wise are hungry for the truth (cf. Prov. 15:14).  Why?  Because we become byproducts of what we expose ourselves to.  "A man is what he thinks about all day," said one poet.  It has also been said that "you are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are!"  We are basically the sum total of our thoughts and resultant thought life, which defines our character and personality.

We all need to take inventory of our thoughts and get regular spiritual checkups, and catch ourselves making mistakes in our thinking, like three thought wasters of time:  dwelling on the past with regret; misinterpreting the present with angst, and anticipating the future with worry.  If we are making a mistake in our thinking we ought to correct it and replace it with more therapeutic and healthy or balanced thinking--this is sound mental health!  All three (regret, angst, and worry) work together to rob us of our joy and steal time and energy and can lead to depression or melancholy--being in a depressed funk or in the doldrums, as it were.

Note that the psalmist complained to God of his mood swing in Psalms 42 and 43 and didn't even know why he was downcast and so glum. And in Psalm 143 the writer complains that his depression deepens!  Being discouraged is a form of depression as well as the blues, and everyone is vulnerable or susceptible--no one is immune, it's only being human--as the song by Neil Diamond goes, we're all subject to the blues now and then!  Thinking negative thoughts is destructive to mental health and we should always see the bright side and the silver lining behind the cloud--thinking negatively is a bad habit and there is always a positive spin on a problem--actually, earth has no ill or dilemma that heaven doesn't have the cure or answer to--it's a matter of faith and facing our problems with courage and seeing the lighter side sometimes.

In conclusion, bear in mind that the Word of God is capable of judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart and shows us what we are made of and our true selves, pulling no punches and sparing no reprimand where appropriate (cf. Heb. 4:12).  The Bible speaks to every attitude and frame of mind and addresses every issue we can face--Christ fully relates to us in every dilemma and fortunately intercedes for us.   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Getting Your Thinking Straightened Out

"Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established"  (Prov. 16:3, KJV).
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ [not a juxtaposition of thinking and obedience] (2 Cor 10:5, KJV).  
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee"  (Isaiah 26:3, KJV). 
"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind"  (Eph. 4:23, KJV).  
"...But we have the mind of Christ"   (1 Cor. 2:16, KJV).
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, KJV).
"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..."  (Romans 12:2, NLT).  
"In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"  (Colossians 2:3, NIV). 

|"The only system of thought that Christ will fit into, is the one where He is the starting point."  (Athanasius, Father of Orthodoxy)


Jesus is the One who searches out the thoughts and intentions of our minds (cf. Rev. 2:23, NLT), and only by letting the Spirit control our minds leads to peace (cf. Rom. 8:6b, NLT).  We are to let the Spirit renew our minds (cf. Eph. 4:23, NLT), because of the foolish base their thoughts on foolish assumptions, which is GIGO (cf. Eccl. 10:3a, NLT).  But we have the mind of Christ per 1 Cor. 2:16, and we have the power to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose (cf. 1 Cor. 1:10, NLT).  The believer's mind is not of confusion, for God is a God of order and not of confusion (cf. 1 Cor. 14: 33). If we demonstrate the mind of Christ the seeker will see that God is among us.

The Word has enlightened our minds and shown us the light, giving us wisdom in the eyes of our hearts (cf. Psalm 119:18; 1 Cor. 2:12-14).  We must strive to have all our thoughts fixed on Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:2), and when our minds have stayed on Him we have peace (cf. Isa. 26:3).  Our thoughts shall be established if our plans are of the Lord (cf. Prov. 16:3, KJV).  We must, nevertheless, "keep [our] heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life" (cf. Prov. 4:23). We, therefore, strive to have the meditations of our hearts and the words of our mouths [and thoughts of our minds] to be pleasing to God (cf. Psalm 19:14).

We must not lean unto our own understanding of things and events, but wholly lean on Christ to show the way and make us know His will (cf. Prov. 3:5). For we walk by faith, not by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7).  We are in a constant battle to fight the onslaught of satanic thinking and we must know the word and power of God to fight with our weapon of choice, the Word of God (cf. 2 Cor. 10:4-5; Eph. 6:17).

Why worry about our minds?  We are to love God with all our minds too according to Matt. 22;37 and Mark 12:30.  It is important to be enlightened and know the scoop because zeal without knowledge is no good and vain (cf. Prov. 19:2).  The wise feed on truth, while the fool feeds on folly [trash]"  (cf. Proverbs 15:14).  God seeks to change the way we think by renewing our minds in His image (cf. Romans 12:2).

The conclusion of the matter at hand is that Satan plays mind games and is a deceiver that controls and influences our minds with corrupt worldviews that influence every academic discipline and facet of our lives:  from ethics to politics, to psychology, to history, and even philosophy and theology! We must be prepared to meet the challenge and call him out on his stratagems, not being ignorant of his schemes and tools to advance them (cf. 2 Cor. 1:11).  The only offense is the pattern taught in the Word, to learn to think the thoughts of God after Him, and interpret the world (cf. 1 Chronicles 12:32) according to His divine viewpoint.  To sum up, let me quote Prov. 27:19 (NLT):  "As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person." Soli Deo Gloria!

Brain, Mind, and Spirit

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7, KJV).
"[The demon-possessed man] was clothed and in his right mind."
"At the same time my reason returned to me..."  (Daniel 4:36a, ESV).
"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he"  (Prov. 23:7).
EMPHASIS IN BOLDFACE MINE!

It has been said that we are what we think about all day and that we are what our thoughts make us are what we are. "We aren't what we think we are; but what we think, we are!"   Nevertheless, some misguided souls need to get their thinking straightened out, that's all!

Did you know that your brain is capable of being diseased and will ultimately decay into dust?  There is such a thing as mental illness, in that the brain can have misfires, "mal-connections," or lapses to do bizarre behavior, and even lose touch with reality and have delusions. Most mental illnesses, such as being bipolar do not mean the person is "crazy" but that he suffers a disability of mood swing that keeps him from functioning normally in society and of adjusting to the culture and his environment. I do not believe in calling people nuts, crazy, wackos, out of their mind, coo-coo, beside oneself, gone off the deep end, off his rocker, mentally disturbed, suffering from mental issues, or especially insane (except in extreme cases which are very rare).  "He's lost his mind! (he may just be confused by the author of confusion)."

Stigmas are uncalled for:  In reality, people with mental disorders are less likely to commit crimes than so-called normal people, and there are many normal criminals out there too. Giving psychiatric help to criminals only produces mentally healthy criminals!  Christians believe mind or thought preceded and is over matter or creation:  "In the beginning was the Word...." Note this:  The brain and mind are connected but involve more than chemical reactions.

Our mind is different from our brain and is dependent upon it in the body we indwell but will be set free and glorified in glory.  Our character and personality, and not necessarily our IQ will remain intact and we will have nothing to complain or fret about.  Personally, I do not believe there will be retarded or even geniuses in heaven, but all will have perfect minds in perfect bodies like Christ. There are many diseases of the mind such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases that can greatly debilitate and do harm to one's living style and comfort zone.  But I do not believe our spirits can be infected by disease!

(Modern science is monistic or believing only in the physical and that which can be demonstrated, repeated, and proved by natural causes.  However, we Christians believe in dualism that we have a mind separate that is not material.  Unbelievers are just as human as Christians, but they are dead spiritually and lack a right relationship with God and man (definition of righteousness). Christians have a special dimension to life that is beyond just being conscious of the material world, but of God and spiritual things and concepts--this can never erode or fade away.)


We are vessels of honor and will never lose our fellowship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit, and fellow believers. This is something the devil cannot snatch away nor afflict us with. For example, we may lose short-term memory or ultimately memory of lifetime acquaintances, but we will never lose our knowledge of God or awareness of His divine presence within us.  Others cannot see our relationship with God except through the fruit we produce, but we can never be separated from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:39 declares that even disease can't harm our fellowship and security in Him).  God will never put His children to shame because they are vessels of honor and would rather take them home to be with the Lord than suffer at the hands of the devil like an unbeliever succumbing to his diabolical activity.

Talents can be neglected and deteriorate, but gifts are given and God does not take back what He gives: Philippians 1:6 that says He will finish what He has started in us and will not give up--so we should never surrender though it seems we are capable of temporary setback, failure, and unfaithfulness. No matter what trial we go through God is with us ("When you pass through the waters I will be with you..," says Isaiah 43:2).  Jesus didn't save our brains, but our souls and this includes our intellect because the will is driven by it (the will is that by which the mind chooses or the faculty of choice and referee driven by the intellect and emotions).  If our mind was destroyed we couldn't be "set free" or make choices!

Dr. Karl Popper with Sir John Eccles wrote a must-read and classic entitled The Self and Its Brain in which they distinguish, and separate these two entities of our being (we are a "living being" distinguished from animals and have the breath of life itself endowed by our Creator).  Having a mind makes consciousness possible, and this is subjective and not in the material world--there is something out there besides matter and that, of course, implies a Higher Mind, or God Almighty Himself as Creator. Consciousness and thinking are mental and not material or physical events!  Most psychiatrists believe we are just a bunch of chemical reactions and any disease of the brain can be fixed by some drug therapy and physical treatment---they deny the existence of a soul!

They also deny the personhood consisting of being a living soul and having any spiritual existence--Christians according to Freud and modern psychiatry are suffering from a neurosis or psychosis.  To distinguish the spiritual dimension, a relatively normal person can appear as a spiritual giant because of his "knowing the Lord" with his mind.  Our minds do remain intact as we enter eternity, and can operate independently of our brains, which are just part of our physical bodies and subject to defect and shortcomings.  Soli Deo Gloria!