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One of the key goals, nay passions, of my life is to help people, through a personal and fruitful relationship with the Lord, to become what God intends them to be in life or to fulfill His plan and purpose for their lives, having it fulfilled progressively as their relationship with Him is deepened day by day.
My life has received intense pressure over the years since this apprehension of purpose, and a number of times I have allowed the enemy to take the advantage against me by bringing down my guard. And where did I drop the guard? It was the loss of diligence in guarding the heart.
Ask any soldier on guard duty, diligence is paramount. I broke the hedge and the serpent came in and took several bites. As far as the guarding of the mind is concerned, you cannot afford to be careless.
Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
We want to consider the possibility or reality that the way our lives have panned out or is panning out may be as a result of the way we have been thinking and it could remain the same if nothing is done about it.
You may not be thinking evil thoughts, but is it possible that your life is been short-changed through your thought patterns and thinking habits?
The point is that our lives may never change unless the way we think is transformed, and progressively so. Our lives will constantly be changing toward the direction and rate at which our thinking patterns change.
Many of us may be familiar with Newton’s first law or the Law of Inertia. Simply put, the law stipulates that: an object will maintain a state of rest or motion unless it is impacted by a force that is opposite and greater than the forces that keep it in a state of rest or motion. This is as much a physical reality as it is a spiritual reality. The way a person thinks will never be altered unless something deliberate is done about it.
Have you ever considered the possibility that the way your life has become today is a result of the way you have been thinking? Think about it!
I remember many years ago, I think sometime in the 80s, there was an exciting radio and TV drama -Bassey and Company, written by the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was killed, alongside some of his compatriots, in what has been aptly described as a “judicial murder.”
You might recollect this phrase, by one of the characters in the drama, ‘To be a millionaire, think like a millionaire.’ Someone might be asking, is this some kind of get-rich-quick idea? No, it’s about the way you think. Yes the way you think!
Allow me to share one of the most remarkable passages you might ever come across, with you. It is found in Romans 12:2,
Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
Think about these words for a moment. “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” What does this really mean? It means that by simply changing the way you think; that is by changing your thinking patterns and mental habits, you could literally become a totally different person.
If you allow God to gradually transform your thinking, you could become somebody else, your life completely transformed. A good friend of my once said in passing, “It only takes about 3 to 4 years and a person will be totally changed in character.” It was profound, though it was said very simply.
More deeply, changing the way you think also means changing the way you “see.” No, this is not about physical sight, but about perceptions, those values and personal principles that actually govern the way the way you reason, speak, act, and that consequently produces what the Bible describes as “the issues of life.”
It is about changing how you see life and relate to it. It is about your paradigms of life, how you understand what life is all about and this regulates how you communicate with it. This thing shapes our lives. It is about seeing through the prism of God’s Word. Again I say,
Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
Changing the way you think about your spouse could change your attitude towards your wife or your husband and eventually bring a whole new world into your marriage. Because you discovered you need changing from within to effect change without. It is not rocket science!
The same kind of transformation could come into all your other relationships, and everything that concerns you. As a matter of fact, it could make your entire life take a whole new turn around. Your effectiveness in life actually depends on this.
I have never met with anyone who does not desire to have a more meaningful life. And I am sure you desire the same thing too. Don’t you? Well, that is why I am here to meet with you today.
To let God help you change the way you think, you may first need to consider turning your heart over to Him, then He would begin the process of transforming your life into a meaningful one. Please, do give this some serious thought.
Have you been thinking? Why do you think the way you do? What can you do to renew your mindset in such a way that it transforms your life?
Would it not be wonderful to know how your thoughts and thinking patterns are shaped?
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit” –Aristotle.
When I speak of changing the way you think, I am not talking about thoughts that just come to your mind from time to time, which you just brush aside. I am speaking about thinking patterns that are a habit that holds your life. This is what the Apostle Paul calls strongholds that must be pulled down.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ -2 Corinthians 10:4-5.
This passage concerns issues of the mind. It uses military language relating to warfare. But we can clearly observe that this warfare is engaged in the mind. So we are seeing weapons of warfare; pulling down strongholds; casting down imaginations; (casting) down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; bringing into captivity every thought.
It is about spiritual battles being wage to control our lives through the proxy of the mind. The enemy wants to gain control of the mind, why? The mind is very strategic; it is the fortress of the soul. If you take the mind, you take the soul. If you take the soul, you take everything.
So a spiritual stronghold is a place of habitual thought patterns well grounded in a person’s thought life. While, a mental stronghold is a place where Satan has established a lie in a person’s thinking that has been accepted as true.
Strongholds are built through consistent and subtle impression. It is reported that Adolf Hitler once said, when you repeat a lie again and again and again, it would ultimately be accepted as truth.
When lies become accepted as truth, they become ‘false-truths’ that ultimately govern the lives of people. Their attitudes, actions and character transform to align with the new belief system. Their lives unwittingly become a lie.
Friend, there is much to say, but we must learn to guard our hearts with all diligence. Meanwhile, we’ll continue our talk on changing the way we think in part 2.
Until then do not forget to keep living, loving and learning.
Purchase Life Changing Books by Solomon Aror on Amazon
Fulfilling Your Destiny
Confessions of Faith A Better You Criminals Behind the Pulpit
- Fulfilling Your Destiny: Breaking Away from Your Past into Fulfilling God’s Plan and Purpose for Your Life
- Confessions of Faith: Meditations in God’s Word
- A Better You: Towards a Meaningful, Purposeful and Fruitful Life
- Criminals Behind the Pulpit: Exposing False Ministry and Unveiling True Ministry in the Church
