Sunday's Word- Renewing Your Mind

The Word teaches us that we have the power to renew our mind and change the way that we think about our past experiences and shortcomings. Join Minister Toni as she walks talks about how we can renew our minds to the things of God.

#trauma #renewal #faithbeyondtrauma #fbt #thetranstraumationallife #carrolltonga #maconga #atlanta #walkbyfaith 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Faith Beyond Trauma Podcast, where we teach you to live healed, delivered, and set free from the present limitations of your past experiences by grace through faith to manifest God's good, pleasing, and perfect will in your spirit, soul, and body. I'm Minister Tony, wife of Pastor Reggie, and today I will be talking about the renewal of the mind. The renewal of the mind. This concept is found in Romans. And I want to start off in the KJV version. Romans chapter 12, verse 1 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So we see right here that the KJV describes this concept as the renewal of the mind. Take a second and let's go to the NLT. Verse 2 in the NLT says, Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So we see that the renewal of the mind is changing the way that you think, allowing God to restructure your past experiences. Everything that life has told you is true up until this point. To reshape the way that you see the world, that you interact with the people in it, that you come to certain conclusions. Renew your mind and change the way you think to the way that God thinks. Renew your mind and change the way you think based on your past experiences, and do it as a person who has come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, a person who is determined to walk by faith and not by sight, a person who wants to walk the way that God is leading them to walk on a daily basis. And we know a lot of randomness can come into your mind, you know, on a daily basis. But our responsibility as believers is to vet every single thought and not just accept everything that pops up. Because thoughts can come just from yourself, thoughts can be sent, you know, from Satan, evil thoughts, and then you can have thoughts that are actually of the word. But if you are not putting the word into your spirit, then your spirit cannot fight against the evil thoughts that come into your mind. Because naturally you're going to allow them to linger a little bit longer. The word is your weapon. And so you hide that word in your heart, you grow that word in your spirit, you meditate on it so that you can learn how to vet those thoughts that come from your past and cast them down because it's those random intrusive thoughts that get us into trouble, especially when we proceed to act on them. So what do we do about those random intrusive thoughts?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

We're gonna go to 2nd Corinthians. 2nd Corinthians chapter 10. Verse 5.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

It says, We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. I'm gonna read that in the KJV as well. KJV verse 5 says, casting down imaginations and every high thought that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing it into captivity, every thought to the obedience of Christ. So this right here, this passage tells us that we have the ability to control what we what we meditate on, to control our thoughts, bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. We can cast down every single negative thought that tries to come into our mind. Just because something comes into our brain doesn't mean it has to stay there. Am I right? Am I right? That's what meditating is. If if you have a random thought, let's just say something comes into your mind and you you want pizza. Ooh, you think about that pizza, and you know you're on a diet, or you know you're fasting, or you know that the doctor has told you you need to lay off the pizza, you need to be eating salad for the next seven days. Well, pizza comes into your mind and you allow it to stay there. Ooh, pizza, pizza, pizza. Let's see. There's so many different pizza brands, so many different shops that I could go to, so many different stores, and you allow that pizza to stay in your mind. Guess what? You're gonna be getting up and going to get some pizza. Well, just as easily, you can control your mind. And when that pizza thought comes up, it's not a sin for that thought to come up. But as soon as it comes up, you say, No, I have self-control, I have control over my body. The word tells me that I have self-control. And I don't have to act on this thought. I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna eat this salad, I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna eat these veggies and this fruit. I'm gonna discipline myself, I'm gonna discipline my body, and I'm gonna walk in what I'm supposed to walk in. And you see what happened there. I use my mouth to tell my mind what to do. A lot of times we try to use our mind to tell our mind what to do. Well, we're not renewing it, we're not changing the way that we think, we change with our mouth. And you can see a common trend as you read the word, we're always told to confess with your mouth. Confess with your mouth, confess with your mouth. Why? Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. And so the only way that you're going to be able to walk by faith in this renewal of your mind, the only way that you're really going to be able to change the way that you think and to combat what life has taught you, and begin to use what the word wants to teach you, what the spirit wants to teach you, you have to speak the word over yourself. You have to speak the word over your over your mind, over your heart, over your past experiences. Change the way you think and start thinking the way that God wants you to think. Start thinking the way that the word wants you to think. And the only way you can do that is to say it out of your mouth because when you hear it over and over and over again from your own lips, you will begin to believe it.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Right. Now let's go to Proverbs chapter 3. Verse 5.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

And it says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lead not into your own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. Now that was the KJV. The NLT says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. So living with an unrenewed mind is the equivalent of leaning to your own understanding. Because it technically means that you refuse to acknowledge that what you think you know could be wrong. What you're saying is you know better than God. And so, because experience has taught me this, because life has taught me this, because this is what I've learned over the years, it clearly must be true. It clearly can be applied to every single situation to the rest of my life, right? And that is wrong. That is wrong. Living with an unrenewed mind is the equivalent of leaning to your own understanding. That is not walking by faith, that is walking by sight. That saying, I am okay walking by sight, I am okay thinking, thinking and doing and acting in the way that I always have. But that way hasn't always led you down the right path. Am I right? Am I right? Even in addiction, we have the opportunity to interact with a lot of people in recovery communities. And the Lord was telling me, if you don't see anything wrong with what you're doing, you'll keep doing it. You'll remain stuck in a cycle, stuck in a cycle. Right? The word says in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 that your body is the temple of God, it's the temple of the Holy Spirit, and you were bought with a price, so you should glorify God in your body. Well, if you've never known that, and you are glorifying the world in your body, if you are letting your body control you instead of you telling your body that it is the temple of God, then you will keep doing what you're doing and remain stuck in that cycle of addiction. But once you renew your mind to that revelation that, oh wow, my body is the temple of God, I have control over my body. I can discipline my body and tell it what to do. My body does not have to control me. When you think of yourself as Christ does, then you can follow with corresponding actions.

SPEAKER_02 9:59

You can follow with corresponding actions.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

There is one individual. Now there are multiple individuals, but there's also one who went through one of the biggest mind renewals ever recorded. And in the New Testament, um this individual wrote almost almost all of the books. We're gonna talk about Paul in Acts chapter 9. Paul, we see Paul go through one of the biggest mind renewals recorded in the word.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

So Acts chapter 9, verse 1.

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So Paul was walking down this road. Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers, so he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the way he found there. He wanted to bring them, both men and women, back to Jerusalem and change. So right here we see that Saul, before he became Paul, he's persecuting the Christians, the believers, the followers of Jesus, and he thinks he's doing the right thing because he thinks that they are the ones who are persecuting God by saying that Jesus is his son. Right? So verse 3, as he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. And the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what to do. The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but saw no one. Saul picked himself off the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. And so he comfy his companions led him by the hand to Damascus, and he remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. And we see that the Lord speaks to Ananias and tells him to go speak to Paul. And so he does, and tells him that he has chosen Saul for his chosen instrument to take the message to the Gentiles and to the kings. And so he goes to find him, he laid his hands on him and said, Brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Instantly scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight. He ate some food and he regained his strength. Now watch this. Saul stayed with the believers in Damascus for a few days, and immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogue, saying, He is indeed the Son of God. All who heard him were amazed. Isn't this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus' followers in Jerusalem? They asked. And didn't he come here to arrest them and take them and change to the leading priest? What do we see is going on here? Saul Paul had an encounter with God. And in that encounter, he immediately changed the way that he thought about what he was doing. He thought that he was saving the reputation of God from these believers. He thought that these people were the ones persecuting his God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But no, Jesus himself spoke to Paul and said, You are the one that's persecuting me because they are doing my good works. And he didn't fight against it. He didn't say no. He didn't say I don't believe. But when the word tells you something, when God tells you something, when he gives you instructions, what are we really to say? Yes, Lord, I'll do that. Thank you, Lord, for showing me the error of my ways. Yes, Lord. Okay. That's what this man did. He changed the way that he thought. He renewed his mind to this new revelation, regardless of his past, regardless of what he thought, regardless of what he was taught. He said, Clearly, I was wrong. I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's it. That's all there is to it. He renewed his mind.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

That's amazing. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

And I found another example in Luke chapter 15, 11 through 19, it talks about the prodigal son. And we know the story of the prodigal son where he demanded his inheritance from his father before his father died. He said, I want my money right now. And then he went out and he basically gambled it away, you know, and spent it on things of the world, spent it on things that he didn't have any business doing. And he ran out of money. And then there was a famine in the world. And he was broke. And he ended up working for a farmer, feeding the pigs. And he said, These pigs are eating better than me. And in that in that um passage, it says, when he came to his senses, he realized that he was wrong. He said, I will go back to my father and I will repent and tell him that I did the wrong thing. But I like how they displayed that mind change. It says, when he came to his senses, he renewed his mind. He said, Oh crap, I was wrong. I should not have done this. I sinned against my father. I have sinned against my father, and I've sinned against God, and this was wrong. And I will go back and apologize to my father. I'll tell show him the error of my ways, and I'll tell him that I'll be a servant in his house because of what I've done instead of being his son. And that's exactly what he did. As soon as he realized he was wrong, he changed his mind. He changed the way he thought about his father, about his inheritance, about what he thought he wanted to do in life. And he went back home. So how do we how do we do this? How do we also walk just like Paul and just like the prodigal son did after they were shown the right way to walk? Let's look at Philippians chapter four.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

And we're gonna go to verse eight.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

So listen closely. This says, and now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. There it is, right there, the specific instructions that tell us how to renew our minds, how to fight against these negative thoughts, these negative experiences, our past shortcomings. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. What things are described like that? Where can we find those things? Right here in the word. The word is true, it's honorable, it's right, it's pure, it's lovely, it's admirable. It will tell you things about yourself that the world won't tell you. It'll tell you things directly from God that the world won't tell you. And so the way that you think on these things consistently is by studying the word, putting the word in. And now you finally have a weapon to fight against those negative, intrusive thoughts about what you thought you know. You have a weapon you can fight. And as soon as that negative thought comes up, as soon as that old way, the error of your ways, as soon as that sin tries to tell you to do something that's not right, that's wrong, you have a weapon that says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not true. And I can show you where, I can show you how. So I'm gonna give y'all an example with your own mouth. Try to speak what the word of God says about this thought that I'm gonna give you. I'll never amount to anything, and I'll always be stuck in this rut or this cycle. I'm gonna give you three seconds. One, two, three. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You see that? As soon as that thought comes up, I'll never amount to anything. I will always be stuck in this cycle. No, no, no, no, no, no. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And that's also found in Philippians. Just scroll down to verse 13. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Okay, I'm gonna give you another chance. Number two, I've done too much in the past for God to forgive me. One two three. Romans chapter three. It says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Jesus when he died for our sins. You see that? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Everybody is not perfect. Nobody has been perfect but Jesus. And since nobody's perfect but Jesus, that means we're all uh we all have been sinners, and we all have the opportunity to come to God, acknowledge the fact that we have sinned, and accept his sacrifice for us. Accept it. You have to accept it. Believe that you receive. Believe that you receive because the word tells you right here, God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. You don't have to buy it, you don't have to pay for it, you just have to receive it. And this concept can be applied across so many different situations: worry, stress, doubt, fear, those limitations that we tell y'all about. The present limitations of your past, debt, doubt, worry, stress, and fear, those are the things that we teach you to live free from. You have to think on these things what's true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. And you can walk with a renewed mind, totally healed, delivered, and set free free with some consistency, some discipline, and some focus on the word of God. Thank you for joining me today. We love you, and do not forget to live the transformational life.