A renewed mind will ultimately change your quality of life. But how do you recreate your mind amid confusion? Our heavenly Father often allows us to experience hardship so He can reach us in our vulnerability. To experience change, you must renew your mind. Most people desire to change their situation. However, change is a long process, and many are not inclined to endure it. The reason is that change is difficult. It requires lots of effort; it is nearly impossible to change anything in your life without first learning how to renew your mind.
The Battle Begins in the Mind
Despite your commitment as a Christian, you may have allowed the world’s system of doing things to attune your mind rather than transform your mind. So how can you change those things you do not like about yourself? How can you live that quality life that you promised yourself? Start by renewing your mind.
God has given us the formula whereby we can make those desired changes and start living that quality life. Romans 12:2 says we should not be conformed to this world but transformed by renewing our minds. Everything we struggle with, no matter how small or immense, the struggle begins in our minds. When we commence renewing our minds with Godlike thoughts, our minds will produce Godlike actions, habits, and results.
What Has Shaped Your Mind?
Something or someone has shaped us into what we are. We are pounded, shaped, and reshaped like a lump of clay in the hands of a potter. As a result, we live a life contrary to our heavenly Father’s will.
Attempting to change our lives, we join a local church, hoping to become that better person. But church alone will not change us into that model person. Such a drastic change must include Jesus, and following Jesus is all about knowing, and knowing is all about growing. We should present our bodies as living sacrifices to the Almighty. It is the least we can do to show gratitude for what Jesus did for us at the cross (Romans 12:1). If you have a desire to reshape your world, here are three positive steps to renew your mind.
Step 1 – Change How You See Yourself
Replace thoughts that you have of yourself with those of the Creator. How you see yourself has caused you to become the product of what others have produced in you. Someone has probably told you that you can never attain “this” because you don’t have “that.” The negative words of others have shaped you into who you are today.
It may come as a surprise, but your heavenly Father has very different thoughts for you. You might ask, “How can I know the thoughts of an almighty, all-knowing God?” God reveals His mind throughout the Bible. He is not at all difficult to understand. He reveals what He thinks of us in His written word. In Jeremiah 29:11, He says, “‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” So, when others tell you that your future looks dim, say these words to yourself: “God has good thoughts concerning me, to give me a good future with hope.”
Step 2 – Recreate Your Mind
To renew the mind is to make it new again. That means we must unlearn everything that we previously learned about God. Although it is difficult to relearn what you have learned, with the Creator, it is possible, for God’s word has the power to transform.
To be transformed is to be changed completely, usually into something different than the original, both in behavior and appearance. A caterpillar undergoes the process of metamorphosis and metamorphosizes into a completely different creature, becoming a beautiful butterfly. In no way does the butterfly look like a caterpillar. Not only does it look different, but it also behaves differently. It is no longer an unsightly land walker but a magnificent creature of flight.
The Word of God has the power to transform. When you try to renew your mind apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, you only go through the process of unlearning what you have learned. But even in its self-renewed state, your new mind retains many of its old memories. You will eventually gravitate back to the old you. However, allowing the Creator to renew your mind will transform you. The old mind is made complete and new. You will look renewed and have new habits. Amazingly, you cannot explain how the transformation took place; you only know it did.
Step 3 – Change Your Focus
Do not focus on your present situation. God is our ever-present help in our time of need. The worst thing you can do when in a dilemma is to focus on your current situation. Instead, focus your attention on where you would like to be instead of where you are. The most effective way of changing your focus is to focus your mind on the Almighty. God has promised to keep your mind in perfect peace if you keep your mind focused on Him.
A renewed mind is necessary to achieve lasting change in your life. Start your transformational journey by exchanging your old behavior and habits for new ones. There is no magic formula for this, but the Word of God says you are what you believe you are (Proverbs 23:7).
Step 4 – Allow the Holy Spirit to Help You
It is virtually impossible to permanently renew your mind without the power of the Holy Spirit working on your behalf. The thing that prevents us from experiencing a total and lasting transformation is our blindness. Satan is the ruler of this world’s system. He has blinded the eyes of our understanding so that we cannot understand the truth embedded in the word of God with our carnal minds (2 Corinthians 4:4).
While there is power in words, there is absolute power in God’s word. People around us have shaped our future with negativity. But faith in God’s word has outright influence to bring into existence the things we say. We have the power to reverse that negative power with a renewed mind.
If we have faith in God, we can move mountains. Jesus said: “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23).
Step 5 – Change Your Habits
Changing your habits is an essential step toward renewing your mind. We are creatures of habit; we find it difficult to break old habits. Have you ever tried to break an old habit only to be defeated? Here’s what I mean. For many years I watched my husband struggle to stop smoking. The more he tried to conquer his addiction to cigars, the more he craved them. He tried cutting back on the number of cigars he smoked, only to smoke more than he previously smoked.
One morning he was awakened from a sound sleep at about 2 a.m. by a heart attack. When we arrived at the Emergency Room, the doctor asked, “Do you smoke?” To my surprise, he answered, “Up until last night!” That was fifteen years ago. Since that day, my husband has never touched another cigar. When I asked how he quit smoking so suddenly, he answered, “I had a change of mind. I didn’t want to smoke any more.” Instead of resisting the urge to smoke a cigar, he refocused his mind. He told me that instead of focusing on the craving to smoke another cigar, he thought about living.
Through the power of words, God created the world. Negative talk has shaped and conformed us to doubt. Through the power of God’s word, you can renew your mind and change into a new creature. Renewing your mind daily will transform you into the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Renewing your mind is a process by which you can change the course of your life. But it is up to you to believe God’s word. Only God’s word has absolute power to change your life.