Get Unstuck: Mind Games (Day1)
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
We are going to kick off our challenge to get unstuck and start moving toward living the life we really want to live, and becoming who we really want to be. We are going to start with our MIND, which is part of our SOUL, and gives us the most trouble! Like professional athletes say when they are not performing up to their desired standard of excellence… “It’s all between your ears!”
We have to realize that in every game, there is an offense trying to score points to win the game, and a defense trying to stop the offense from achieving their goal and winning the championship. Likewise spiritually, we are also in this game called life, and whether we signed up for or not, we or automatically recruited to play. There are two sides: Good (God’s team) and Evil (the Devil’s team). We score points by every decision we make for one team or the other. And it all starts in our mind with our thoughts, which gets the ball rolling…
- Thoughts
- Meditations
- Release Hormones
- Produce Feelings & Emotions
- Project Images & Imagination
- Replaying or Practice Ingrains Beliefs
- Beliefs Turn into Action
- What You Believe Rules You!
As the old saying goes, “whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right!”
So that is why we are starting with the Mind this week! Our thoughts can make us or break us. They can help us advance or hold us back. Take some time and sit down and “Think About What You’re Thinking About.” “Who is minding your store,” or did you leave the door open and now your mind is the devil’s workshop? The Bible tells us to “give no place to the devil,” (Ephesians 4:27) so keep the door closed!
TRUTH OR LIE?
The second point I want to bring up is to recognize whether what you are thinking is True or False. Like the game 2 Truths and a Lie, we have to be able to recognize or discern whether truth or lie, in order to know whether to open the door and let the thought into our mind and hearts or not. It’s a lot easier to recognize him before you open the door and not let an intruder into your home (mind) than it is to let him in then try to kick him out!
In today’s society people think that truth is different for each person, but Truth is a person. We discover who He is by spending time with Him, until we know Him like the back of our hand, as we say. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me” (John14:6). He also said, He would “ask His Father to send God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to help lead us and guide us into all truth after He ascended into the heavens so we would not be alone (John 16:13).
An easy way to remember this point is:
God is TRUTH and He cannot Lie. (Titus 1:2)
The Devil is a LIAR and he cannot tell the Truth. (John 8:44)
God is GoOd. He always Adds and Multiplies to our life.
The Devil is (d)Evil. He always Subtracts and Divides from our life.
So if God said it, it is True. If the Devil said it, it is False. If the voices we hear in our mind do not line up with what God says in His “Book of Remembrance” called the Bible… then it is a Lie and we discard it. When mankind got infected with “evil” after eating from the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) they got the LSD Virus (lust, sin, and death, See James 1:13-15). They were injected with lust, which causes us to sin (self-indulged negligence, i.e. disobedience), which corrupted us and causes decay and death.
The effects are like someone with amnesia or dementia, where we are not in our right minds and have forgotten who we are or where we came from. We would not be acting like we are if we knew we were God’s sons and daughters. He wrote us a book so we could read it and remember who we really are, like looking in a mirror to remind us (James 1:22-25). Whatever He says is Who we really are… not how we may see ourselves or how we may act at the moment. Reading His words to us, helps us remember… and come back to our real selves, children of the most high God, our Creator!
Focus:
1) Are you thinking on things that are Good or Evil? Ephesians 4 and Galatians 5 will give you a list to help you see where your mind is going. Stop and make a list of the positive and negative thoughts that you have this week, and that will help you identify areas that need improvement.
2) Are those thoughts Truth or Lies? Filter your thoughts before readily accepting them as true. Don’t believe everything you hear, inside or outside of your head. If God said it, believe it and think on these things. If God didn’t say it, shut it down. If in doubt, throw it out!
3.) Reprogram Your Mind. The Bible tells us to be transformed by renewing our mind. Like a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, we can transform ourselves, creating a whole new life by renewing our thoughts and mind. Identify areas in your thought life that need rewired. Write down on a sheet of paper two columns with the titles: Think This… Not That. Write down negative thoughts on the left side, then write down a positive thought on the right side to replace it with. Read the RIGHT Thoughts out loud every day, until they become automatic and replace your old negative thought patterns. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he!”
Do not be ·shaped by [conformed to; pressed into a mold by] this ·world [age]; instead be ·changed within [transformed] by ·a new way of thinking [or changing the way you think; the renewing of your mind]. Then you will be able to ·decide [discern; test and approve] what ·God wants for you [is God’s will]; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect. (Romans 12:2 EXB)
Helpful Resources:
“Think This, Not That” by Dr. Josh Axe
“Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer