RENEWING OF THE MIND
God created the human brain so perfect and so complex, that scientists admit that they cannot comprehend more than about 8% of all brain functions. Our "thinking system" is actually our mind. For the fallen man to get back to where God created him to be, he needs to renounce his ungodly ways, take Jesus as the true Lord of his life, asking forgiveness for all the sins he committed thus becoming born-again by the Holy Spirit (More can be read about it here: Salvation).
The promises of the Bible are valid and functional in the lives of those who are God’s children, adopted into His family through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and who live in obedience to God.
Let’s see what the Scripture says and what the main things are that science has discovered, in the matter of the human brain and its activity. After I listened to Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian neurologist who has studied the brain and its thought processes and functions, for over three decades, and read more about the subject from other reliable sources, I realized how important this information is for all of us to strengthen our faith for receiving healing. It is so sad that there are many Christians that suffer from depression and other sicknesses, while Jesus has the solution for them all!
The conscious mind is the part of brain activity that we are aware of. It is only 5 to 10% of all brain activity and the rest is called the subconscious mind. That means that the Lord, in His wisdom, has allowed us to have control over only a small portion of our own brain, which is a huge blessing because is not allowing us to destroy a higher percentage of it. Without the renewing of the mind, most of us constantly choose to think in opposition of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace etc.) and in doing so, we endanger destroying our brain cells and open the door to mental illness.
God created man in His image and according to His likeness (Genesis 1:26) to live in love and think right, clean, and beneficial thoughts. When a person recognizes God's love, accepts it, loves God in return and loves others, then there is the potential for all organs to function perfectly, at optimal parameters. By living in harmony with our Creator, we relate with positive feelings to the world around us. Positive thinking is actually the result of the fruit of the Spirit manifested in our lives.
All positive thoughts become materialized in creating healthy, vigorous proteins that then store the thoughts that formed them, as temporary memory. This memory will become permanent if we continue to rethink the same thoughts, long enough. The same process happens with negative, toxic thoughts. The difference is that the memory created by these thoughts is harmful and damaging to the brain and affects the whole body. We think with extraordinary speed, both consciously and subconsciously as the brain normally functions with about one million operations per second.
When we choose negative, toxic thoughts, monopolized by fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, sadness, malice, violence, and anything else that is the opposite of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, our brain produces deformed dysfunctional proteins, which can lead to the degradation of the whole body. Science has proven that there is no circuit in the human brain created for fear and the results of it. We are created to love. We are born courageous, but we learn to fear. For example, a small child is not afraid of getting burned by touching a hot stove, until he gets burned for the first time. In Galatians 5:19-21, the works of the flesh are listed, which are contrary to the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it is up to us to choose not to do them. It all starts with the thoughts we think about. If we do not stop the bad thoughts, by choosing to think about what is biblical, the fleshly thoughts will cause us to sin and as we continue doing so, our health will be affected.
An undisciplined mind, which if allowed to think according to the carnal nature, which is in direct opposition to Scripture, cannot hear God's voice. A mind steeped in worldly principles cannot understand or accept what the Bible says and is much less willing to give up the old pleasures, lusts, destructive habits and relationships. In order to renew the mind according to God's Word, it must be a dedicated and daily process, which is indispensable to a life of faith. This “renewing of the mind,” is the key to being able to live a life that pleases God, as Paul writes in his epistle to the Romans,
It is essential for us to understand and accept that God created us perfect, and through Jesus we can have abundant life (John 10:10b), but by the wrong decisions and choices of mankind, we have departed from what God intended for us. The good news is that we are “neuro-plastic surgeons,” meaning that we can modify our own brain, if we learn to think correctly, as God created us to do.
We communicate with God through prayer. We are created and called to pray uninterrupted. Through prayer we are connected with the Holy Spirit and we ask the Lord for direction and in reply, He leads and guides us. Only then, we can make good decisions, think in biblical ways, allowing our minds to heal our brain and we stay daily in the presence of the Lord. The world of science has proven over and over, that humans are created to communicate non-stop with their “source,” who is their Creator; even if their studies do not admit the whole truth, we know that the source is God.
Paul urges us to pray without ceasing, at all times, persistently and without discrimination! He also urges us to do something very important - to live in a state of joy. Joy and prayer are very good friends. We can find the true joy; the sincere, full and lasting joy that only comes through the Holy Spirit when we enter into the presence of God. And we cannot enter into the presence of God without prayer and worship. Sincere, persistent prayer that praises the Lord and gives thanks for all that He is and has done in our lives, brings us into God’s presence.
We can start to think differently than those without Christ that live around us, because:
The term for a sound mind, in the original Greek language is: “sóphronismos” and it means properly, safe-minded, issuing in prudent (sensible) behavior that “fits” a situation, i.e. aptly acting out God's will by doing what He calls sound reasoning (used only in 2 Timothy 1:7) (according to HELPS Word-studies).
God created us to be strong, loving and with self-discipline. The Lord did not give us a spirit of fear. He did not create us to live in fear and/or without self-discipline. Moderation, temperance, self-control are possible through the power of the Holy Spirit whom God placed in us when we invited Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives.
The transformation of the mind is not a single event, in fact, it's a long-term process. It takes desire and determination to form healthy ways of thinking. This will begin to restore the brain. The nervous cells that were damaged by our toxic thoughts will be replaced with healthy ones, formed by our good thoughts. Science has proven that the mind, which is our thoughts, decisions and actions, can regenerate damaged brain cells. But the real restoration is produced only with the help of the Holy Spirit. Without His guidance, we cannot think as God wants, and we can not really change.
Studies show that we need three cycles of 21 days, 63 days in total, to change and replace a bad habit or a toxic mindset on a particular problem with something good. With 7 minutes of prayer daily on a given matter for 63 days, it is enough to change it. This process replaces the damaged neurons with healthy ones and also restores our DNA. The restoration will absolutely start to recover the immune system and improve the health of the whole person.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what we must change and to help us do it. Then we need to pray faithfully every day, proclaiming the Bible verses that support the solving of our problem. In this way, we will be able to restore our brain, renew our minds and become more and more like Jesus.
When we were children, we learned through repetition. The skills and habits we learned were put into our subconscious minds and now we perform them automatically. In this manner, the subconscious directs our actions without the need to focus on them. Do you ever find yourself wondering if you brushed your teeth, because you did it so automatically, that you are not even sure of whether you really did or not?
Our sensory organs (eyes, nose, ears, mouth and skin) perceive various stimulating factors in the environment and turn them into nervous impulses. These impulses propagate through the nerves to the central nervous system, represented by the brain and spinal cord. The information is stored in our subconscious, as proteins that grow on the nerve cells. During the night, the brain processes the information received during the day, and all the thoughts that crossed through our minds. That is why it is so important to guard what we see and hear, what we talk about and how we behave, and with whom we choose to spend time, etc. Nothing passes by without leaving a trace, good or bad.
If the information we receive is processed in a healthy and positive manner, that is repeated long enough, it becomes good proteins that will continue to develop and grow. They will become the healthy part of our way of thinking and will contribute to the renewal of our minds.
If the information we receive is processed in a negative and toxic manner, it produces proteins in excess, which leads to the destruction of the involved neurons. This in turn, causes an increase in the level of toxins throughout the whole body and in time will lead to physical illness. Toxic thinking is the common denominator of all mental illnesses, and also the root cause of most diseases.
Unfortunately, we not only store the good and beneficial thoughts in our subconscious; but we store the bad also. All data is stored including the things that hurt, scared or offended us, and when repeated in our minds, is transformed into trauma. There is a difference between sin and trauma: Sin is committed voluntarily, while trauma is involuntary.
Traumas are more complicated. When we regret and repent of our sins, we ask for forgiveness and pray to the Lord to help us not to repeat them; but traumas are more difficult. We find traumas in the Bible as “strongholds.” For each and all of us, the truth about an issue is relative and a direct result of how we interpreted something as truth at some point. Therefore the study of Scripture is of dire importance, because only there can we find the absolute truth! Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). He is the only way to the Father, He is the Word, and we will live forever only through Him. God gave us the breath of life. We find eternal life in heaven, only through Jesus. Apart from Jesus there is eternal torment and damnation. Each of us chooses where we want to spend eternity, before we take our last breath.
How do we destroy the strongholds of lies and distorted truth? It is not enough to only “hear” the biblical truth, about our issue, to become free. Jesus said: “to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
The first step is abiding in the Word, and by studying daily to see what Scripture has to say about our problem. Then we need to repeat those verses, at least seven minutes per day, as well as throughout the rest of the day. As we do this, we also ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of those verses. The Scripture that is revealed by the Holy Spirit becomes "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword " (Hebrew 4:12). This is the Word that cuts and removes traumas, prejudice, false beliefs and all the toxic strongholds that we allowed by our own carnal nature and let the devil influence our minds with. By turning it around with God's Word, prayer and serious positive thinking, our nerve cells will regenerate, and we will have a real and long lasting freedom.
So what weapons do we have? Paul makes it clear that our weapons are not human. God has provided our weapons, and He made them mighty “for pulling down strongholds.” Then, Paul tells us that the strongholds are actually conceived in our minds and there we also find thoughts that exalt ‘themselves against the knowledge of God.”
The weapons are prayer, praise and worship, proclamation of Scripture, and self-control of what we think about. We have to be willing to recognize what kind of thoughts go through our minds and to bring them to obedience to the Lord. How do we do that? We must refuse to think thoughts that bring doubt or induce fear, terror, malice, hatred and all that comes from the carnal nature. Then, we replace those thoughts with what the Bible says in in regard to our situations and we praise the Lord instead of complaining or grumbling. I remember that, at the beginning of my walk with Christ, I repeated 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, until the evil thoughts I was having and the spirit of doubt left. Every victory filled me with happiness and strengthened my faith and love for Jesus. Needless to say, the victories began to come faster and my joy began to grow and last longer, as my mind was beginning to be renewed and the Word of God became more and more an integral part of me.
The freedom that comes from knowing the Word of God and from being increasingly filled with the Holy Spirit, is worth every effort. Jesus came to set us free. The only addiction that brings freedom is the total dependency on God. The more we depend upon Him, the more we realize that we cannot achieve anything by ourselves and that all we have is from Him. It's a feeling of infinite peace, to know that you can leave everything in our Lord's hand and He cares for all, in the best way possible.
Let us not forget something very important. We can choose not to be bound, by the spiritual heritage (the generational sins and mistakes), that we received through our biological parents. Finally, science has caught up with the Bible, in admitting that toxic thinking changes our DNA. These changes are transmitted to the child unto the fourth generation. In the Old Testament we read many times that God punishes sin unto the fourth generation. But the Lord in His love and mercy, makes these generational sins (addictions, curses, etc.) to be passed as dormant. Man chooses to activate or to annihilate them, by his lifestyle and the way he thinks. With the help of the Holy Spirit and by hiding the Word in our hearts to not sin against the Lord (As the Psalmist says in Psalms 119:11), we can destroy the strongholds and regenerate our DNA.
Even Paul wrote about what man falsely calls knowledge. The situation is the same today. True science confirms and explains the wonders of God's creation. Manipulated science, distorts the truth so it will please the majority, chiefly those who deny the true and living God, the Creator of the entire universe.
We all have the same structure of the brain, the same kinds of neurotransmitters and the same kinds of circuits, but every human being is unique. God created billions of people and each with their own distinct personalities and thought processes, unique to the character of each individual. This magnificent and Almighty God deserves our worship and obedience. God invented the law of biodiversity, not man. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that everyone be who God created us each to be. We need to stop trying to change those around us to become our clones. And at the same time, we should not try to be somebody we are not. We only excel and be fulfilled by being who God created us to be in His plan for our lives.
We cannot control all circumstances or what other people do against us, but we can control our reaction. When we react wrong, complaining and whining, it produces toxic thoughts that adversely affect our entire body. When we listen to the devil's lies and we agree with him, we actually create evil in our own mind. When Jesus defeated Satan and rose from the dead, the Lord tells us that He was given “all power in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). So how much power does the devil have? Only as much as we give him, by believing his lies and forgetting what belongs to us.
We react properly, when we ponder the problems from a biblical perspective, and we trust Him. This causes the bad to change into something good for us and we please the Lord, and give Him the freedom to intervene in our behalf.
God changed Joseph's tragedy of being sold into slavery by his brothers, into using Joseph to save his people from starvation. While the devil thought that he would destroy Joseph, God took care of him the entire time. The Lord used every negative circumstance in Joseph's life to get him closer to the highest position possible. Only Pharaoh, by birth right, was above him in the hierarchy. Such is the power of our God!
So what saves us? What can heal our brain and reset the way we think? What can set us free? Where can we find all the instructions we need to live pleasing God? What is the most powerful weapon available? Yes, the answer is the Word of God!
For the Scripture to work in our lives we have to live accordingly to its directions. If we have the Word planted only in our minds and we use it just to seem smart and educated, we are only deceiving ourselves. In fact, we have nothing. Only the Word that is alive in us leads us to be obedient to God. The living Word transforms us by renewing our minds and that is the Word that saves our souls. And as Paul teaches us in the following verses:
If we live accordingly to the above verses, we are truly free, our hearts are full of peace and our faith will be strong enough to move the mountains. If we meditate and think about all that are good, lovely, holy and right, we remain in our Heavenly Father's presence, “who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless” (Jude 1:24). I explained more in the chapter “Can we live healthy?” about Philippians 4:8.
The choice is up to us. The life we have now is the direct result of our past choices of how we chose to be obedient to God (or not). Every day is a new day and the Lord's mercies are fresh for us. We can choose to have a firm faith that keeps us strong on God's path for us. We can choose to pray continually, because we were created to be in constant communication with our Lord at all times. We can choose to do away with toxic thinking and replace it with godly thinking and truly see the renewing of our minds and its replenishing effects in our lives. We can take the pressures of this world, past and present, and filter them through the Word of God. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13)!
A renewed mind chooses clean thoughts, which produce good proteins, beneficial to the body. When the brain gives the right signals, the whole body works well and we are healthy, and if we fight any disease, the body will recover faster. And when we know that in Jesus, we have authority over all the power of the enemy and we use it against sickness, depression, any negative thoughts and feelings, and attacks of any kind from the evil one, we will live better lives and we will be able to reign in life through Jesus Christ.
The promises of the Bible are valid and functional in the lives of those who are God’s children, adopted into His family through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and who live in obedience to God.
Let’s see what the Scripture says and what the main things are that science has discovered, in the matter of the human brain and its activity. After I listened to Dr. Caroline Leaf, a Christian neurologist who has studied the brain and its thought processes and functions, for over three decades, and read more about the subject from other reliable sources, I realized how important this information is for all of us to strengthen our faith for receiving healing. It is so sad that there are many Christians that suffer from depression and other sicknesses, while Jesus has the solution for them all!
The conscious mind is the part of brain activity that we are aware of. It is only 5 to 10% of all brain activity and the rest is called the subconscious mind. That means that the Lord, in His wisdom, has allowed us to have control over only a small portion of our own brain, which is a huge blessing because is not allowing us to destroy a higher percentage of it. Without the renewing of the mind, most of us constantly choose to think in opposition of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace etc.) and in doing so, we endanger destroying our brain cells and open the door to mental illness.
God created man in His image and according to His likeness (Genesis 1:26) to live in love and think right, clean, and beneficial thoughts. When a person recognizes God's love, accepts it, loves God in return and loves others, then there is the potential for all organs to function perfectly, at optimal parameters. By living in harmony with our Creator, we relate with positive feelings to the world around us. Positive thinking is actually the result of the fruit of the Spirit manifested in our lives.
- Galatians 5:22-23 But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.
All positive thoughts become materialized in creating healthy, vigorous proteins that then store the thoughts that formed them, as temporary memory. This memory will become permanent if we continue to rethink the same thoughts, long enough. The same process happens with negative, toxic thoughts. The difference is that the memory created by these thoughts is harmful and damaging to the brain and affects the whole body. We think with extraordinary speed, both consciously and subconsciously as the brain normally functions with about one million operations per second.
When we choose negative, toxic thoughts, monopolized by fear, anxiety, frustration, anger, sadness, malice, violence, and anything else that is the opposite of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, our brain produces deformed dysfunctional proteins, which can lead to the degradation of the whole body. Science has proven that there is no circuit in the human brain created for fear and the results of it. We are created to love. We are born courageous, but we learn to fear. For example, a small child is not afraid of getting burned by touching a hot stove, until he gets burned for the first time. In Galatians 5:19-21, the works of the flesh are listed, which are contrary to the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and it is up to us to choose not to do them. It all starts with the thoughts we think about. If we do not stop the bad thoughts, by choosing to think about what is biblical, the fleshly thoughts will cause us to sin and as we continue doing so, our health will be affected.
- Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
An undisciplined mind, which if allowed to think according to the carnal nature, which is in direct opposition to Scripture, cannot hear God's voice. A mind steeped in worldly principles cannot understand or accept what the Bible says and is much less willing to give up the old pleasures, lusts, destructive habits and relationships. In order to renew the mind according to God's Word, it must be a dedicated and daily process, which is indispensable to a life of faith. This “renewing of the mind,” is the key to being able to live a life that pleases God, as Paul writes in his epistle to the Romans,
- Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
It is essential for us to understand and accept that God created us perfect, and through Jesus we can have abundant life (John 10:10b), but by the wrong decisions and choices of mankind, we have departed from what God intended for us. The good news is that we are “neuro-plastic surgeons,” meaning that we can modify our own brain, if we learn to think correctly, as God created us to do.
We communicate with God through prayer. We are created and called to pray uninterrupted. Through prayer we are connected with the Holy Spirit and we ask the Lord for direction and in reply, He leads and guides us. Only then, we can make good decisions, think in biblical ways, allowing our minds to heal our brain and we stay daily in the presence of the Lord. The world of science has proven over and over, that humans are created to communicate non-stop with their “source,” who is their Creator; even if their studies do not admit the whole truth, we know that the source is God.
Paul urges us to pray without ceasing, at all times, persistently and without discrimination! He also urges us to do something very important - to live in a state of joy. Joy and prayer are very good friends. We can find the true joy; the sincere, full and lasting joy that only comes through the Holy Spirit when we enter into the presence of God. And we cannot enter into the presence of God without prayer and worship. Sincere, persistent prayer that praises the Lord and gives thanks for all that He is and has done in our lives, brings us into God’s presence.
- Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We can start to think differently than those without Christ that live around us, because:
- 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
The term for a sound mind, in the original Greek language is: “sóphronismos” and it means properly, safe-minded, issuing in prudent (sensible) behavior that “fits” a situation, i.e. aptly acting out God's will by doing what He calls sound reasoning (used only in 2 Timothy 1:7) (according to HELPS Word-studies).
God created us to be strong, loving and with self-discipline. The Lord did not give us a spirit of fear. He did not create us to live in fear and/or without self-discipline. Moderation, temperance, self-control are possible through the power of the Holy Spirit whom God placed in us when we invited Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives.
The transformation of the mind is not a single event, in fact, it's a long-term process. It takes desire and determination to form healthy ways of thinking. This will begin to restore the brain. The nervous cells that were damaged by our toxic thoughts will be replaced with healthy ones, formed by our good thoughts. Science has proven that the mind, which is our thoughts, decisions and actions, can regenerate damaged brain cells. But the real restoration is produced only with the help of the Holy Spirit. Without His guidance, we cannot think as God wants, and we can not really change.
Studies show that we need three cycles of 21 days, 63 days in total, to change and replace a bad habit or a toxic mindset on a particular problem with something good. With 7 minutes of prayer daily on a given matter for 63 days, it is enough to change it. This process replaces the damaged neurons with healthy ones and also restores our DNA. The restoration will absolutely start to recover the immune system and improve the health of the whole person.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us what we must change and to help us do it. Then we need to pray faithfully every day, proclaiming the Bible verses that support the solving of our problem. In this way, we will be able to restore our brain, renew our minds and become more and more like Jesus.
When we were children, we learned through repetition. The skills and habits we learned were put into our subconscious minds and now we perform them automatically. In this manner, the subconscious directs our actions without the need to focus on them. Do you ever find yourself wondering if you brushed your teeth, because you did it so automatically, that you are not even sure of whether you really did or not?
Our sensory organs (eyes, nose, ears, mouth and skin) perceive various stimulating factors in the environment and turn them into nervous impulses. These impulses propagate through the nerves to the central nervous system, represented by the brain and spinal cord. The information is stored in our subconscious, as proteins that grow on the nerve cells. During the night, the brain processes the information received during the day, and all the thoughts that crossed through our minds. That is why it is so important to guard what we see and hear, what we talk about and how we behave, and with whom we choose to spend time, etc. Nothing passes by without leaving a trace, good or bad.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits."
If the information we receive is processed in a healthy and positive manner, that is repeated long enough, it becomes good proteins that will continue to develop and grow. They will become the healthy part of our way of thinking and will contribute to the renewal of our minds.
If the information we receive is processed in a negative and toxic manner, it produces proteins in excess, which leads to the destruction of the involved neurons. This in turn, causes an increase in the level of toxins throughout the whole body and in time will lead to physical illness. Toxic thinking is the common denominator of all mental illnesses, and also the root cause of most diseases.
Unfortunately, we not only store the good and beneficial thoughts in our subconscious; but we store the bad also. All data is stored including the things that hurt, scared or offended us, and when repeated in our minds, is transformed into trauma. There is a difference between sin and trauma: Sin is committed voluntarily, while trauma is involuntary.
Traumas are more complicated. When we regret and repent of our sins, we ask for forgiveness and pray to the Lord to help us not to repeat them; but traumas are more difficult. We find traumas in the Bible as “strongholds.” For each and all of us, the truth about an issue is relative and a direct result of how we interpreted something as truth at some point. Therefore the study of Scripture is of dire importance, because only there can we find the absolute truth! Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). He is the only way to the Father, He is the Word, and we will live forever only through Him. God gave us the breath of life. We find eternal life in heaven, only through Jesus. Apart from Jesus there is eternal torment and damnation. Each of us chooses where we want to spend eternity, before we take our last breath.
How do we destroy the strongholds of lies and distorted truth? It is not enough to only “hear” the biblical truth, about our issue, to become free. Jesus said: “to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
The first step is abiding in the Word, and by studying daily to see what Scripture has to say about our problem. Then we need to repeat those verses, at least seven minutes per day, as well as throughout the rest of the day. As we do this, we also ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of those verses. The Scripture that is revealed by the Holy Spirit becomes "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword " (Hebrew 4:12). This is the Word that cuts and removes traumas, prejudice, false beliefs and all the toxic strongholds that we allowed by our own carnal nature and let the devil influence our minds with. By turning it around with God's Word, prayer and serious positive thinking, our nerve cells will regenerate, and we will have a real and long lasting freedom.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ...
So what weapons do we have? Paul makes it clear that our weapons are not human. God has provided our weapons, and He made them mighty “for pulling down strongholds.” Then, Paul tells us that the strongholds are actually conceived in our minds and there we also find thoughts that exalt ‘themselves against the knowledge of God.”
The weapons are prayer, praise and worship, proclamation of Scripture, and self-control of what we think about. We have to be willing to recognize what kind of thoughts go through our minds and to bring them to obedience to the Lord. How do we do that? We must refuse to think thoughts that bring doubt or induce fear, terror, malice, hatred and all that comes from the carnal nature. Then, we replace those thoughts with what the Bible says in in regard to our situations and we praise the Lord instead of complaining or grumbling. I remember that, at the beginning of my walk with Christ, I repeated 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, until the evil thoughts I was having and the spirit of doubt left. Every victory filled me with happiness and strengthened my faith and love for Jesus. Needless to say, the victories began to come faster and my joy began to grow and last longer, as my mind was beginning to be renewed and the Word of God became more and more an integral part of me.
The freedom that comes from knowing the Word of God and from being increasingly filled with the Holy Spirit, is worth every effort. Jesus came to set us free. The only addiction that brings freedom is the total dependency on God. The more we depend upon Him, the more we realize that we cannot achieve anything by ourselves and that all we have is from Him. It's a feeling of infinite peace, to know that you can leave everything in our Lord's hand and He cares for all, in the best way possible.
Let us not forget something very important. We can choose not to be bound, by the spiritual heritage (the generational sins and mistakes), that we received through our biological parents. Finally, science has caught up with the Bible, in admitting that toxic thinking changes our DNA. These changes are transmitted to the child unto the fourth generation. In the Old Testament we read many times that God punishes sin unto the fourth generation. But the Lord in His love and mercy, makes these generational sins (addictions, curses, etc.) to be passed as dormant. Man chooses to activate or to annihilate them, by his lifestyle and the way he thinks. With the help of the Holy Spirit and by hiding the Word in our hearts to not sin against the Lord (As the Psalmist says in Psalms 119:11), we can destroy the strongholds and regenerate our DNA.
- Exodus 20:5 “You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”
Even Paul wrote about what man falsely calls knowledge. The situation is the same today. True science confirms and explains the wonders of God's creation. Manipulated science, distorts the truth so it will please the majority, chiefly those who deny the true and living God, the Creator of the entire universe.
- 1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.
We all have the same structure of the brain, the same kinds of neurotransmitters and the same kinds of circuits, but every human being is unique. God created billions of people and each with their own distinct personalities and thought processes, unique to the character of each individual. This magnificent and Almighty God deserves our worship and obedience. God invented the law of biodiversity, not man. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that everyone be who God created us each to be. We need to stop trying to change those around us to become our clones. And at the same time, we should not try to be somebody we are not. We only excel and be fulfilled by being who God created us to be in His plan for our lives.
We cannot control all circumstances or what other people do against us, but we can control our reaction. When we react wrong, complaining and whining, it produces toxic thoughts that adversely affect our entire body. When we listen to the devil's lies and we agree with him, we actually create evil in our own mind. When Jesus defeated Satan and rose from the dead, the Lord tells us that He was given “all power in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). So how much power does the devil have? Only as much as we give him, by believing his lies and forgetting what belongs to us.
We react properly, when we ponder the problems from a biblical perspective, and we trust Him. This causes the bad to change into something good for us and we please the Lord, and give Him the freedom to intervene in our behalf.
- Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
God changed Joseph's tragedy of being sold into slavery by his brothers, into using Joseph to save his people from starvation. While the devil thought that he would destroy Joseph, God took care of him the entire time. The Lord used every negative circumstance in Joseph's life to get him closer to the highest position possible. Only Pharaoh, by birth right, was above him in the hierarchy. Such is the power of our God!
So what saves us? What can heal our brain and reset the way we think? What can set us free? Where can we find all the instructions we need to live pleasing God? What is the most powerful weapon available? Yes, the answer is the Word of God!
- James 1:21-22 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For the Scripture to work in our lives we have to live accordingly to its directions. If we have the Word planted only in our minds and we use it just to seem smart and educated, we are only deceiving ourselves. In fact, we have nothing. Only the Word that is alive in us leads us to be obedient to God. The living Word transforms us by renewing our minds and that is the Word that saves our souls. And as Paul teaches us in the following verses:
- Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
If we live accordingly to the above verses, we are truly free, our hearts are full of peace and our faith will be strong enough to move the mountains. If we meditate and think about all that are good, lovely, holy and right, we remain in our Heavenly Father's presence, “who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless” (Jude 1:24). I explained more in the chapter “Can we live healthy?” about Philippians 4:8.
- Jude 1:20-21 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
The choice is up to us. The life we have now is the direct result of our past choices of how we chose to be obedient to God (or not). Every day is a new day and the Lord's mercies are fresh for us. We can choose to have a firm faith that keeps us strong on God's path for us. We can choose to pray continually, because we were created to be in constant communication with our Lord at all times. We can choose to do away with toxic thinking and replace it with godly thinking and truly see the renewing of our minds and its replenishing effects in our lives. We can take the pressures of this world, past and present, and filter them through the Word of God. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13)!
A renewed mind chooses clean thoughts, which produce good proteins, beneficial to the body. When the brain gives the right signals, the whole body works well and we are healthy, and if we fight any disease, the body will recover faster. And when we know that in Jesus, we have authority over all the power of the enemy and we use it against sickness, depression, any negative thoughts and feelings, and attacks of any kind from the evil one, we will live better lives and we will be able to reign in life through Jesus Christ.
Copyright © 2016 Carmen Pușcaș. May be used for personal study or instruction but shall not be copied and/or distributed in whole or part without permission or for financial profit.
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