Change Your Life by Changing Your Mind
Change Your Life By Changing Your Mind
Romans 12:2 (NLT) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Why must I manage my mind?
Because my thoughts control my life.
Proverbs 4:23 (GNT) Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
Because the mind is the battleground for sin.
Romans 7:22-25 (TLB) I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV) Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV) Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.
Galatians 5:25 (NIV) Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
John 15:5, 10 (NIV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. … If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
Because it’s the key to peace and happiness.
Psalm 34:8-9 (NIV) Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
Romans 8:6 (NLT) So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
Three daily choices for a healthy mind:
1. I must feed my mind with truth.
John 8:32 (NIV) “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NKJV) 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.
Psalm 119:35, 40 (NIV) Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. … How I long for your precepts! In your righteousness preserve my life.
Psalm 16:7 (NIV) I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
Psalm 5:3 (NIV) In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.
Psalm 119:95 (NIV) The wicked are waiting to destroy me, but I will ponder your statutes.
2. I must free my mind from destructive thoughts.
The first enemy is my old nature.
Romans 7:23 (NLT) But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
Romans 8:5-6 (NKJV) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The second enemy is Satan.
1 John 4:4 (NIV) You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
2 Corinthians 2:11 (NIV) …so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
The third enemy is the world’s value system.
3. I must focus my mind on the right things.
Think about Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2-3 (GW) We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith. Think about Jesus, who endured opposition from sinners, so that you don't become tired and give up.
Think about others.
Philippians 2:4 (WNT) …each fixing his attention, not simply on his own interests, but on those of others also.
Think about the “Kingdom of God.”
Matthew 6:31-33 (NLT) “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
Colossians 3:1-2 (GNT) …set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV) …“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—
Transformed messages & group materials have been adapted from 50 Days of Transformation by Saddleback Church 2014
Growing Deeper Together (Group Discussion Questions)
Use these points throughout the week as part of your quiet time, in your small group, or over coffee with a friend to help you apply what you learned in today’s message.
Reread our theme verse for Transformed, Romans 12:2. Look it up in a few different translations. In what ways do you conform to or copy the ways of the world? How does the “renewing of your mind” happen?
In what ways do you see your “new nature” and “old nature” fighting against each other? Do you cry out to God as Paul does in Romans 7:24? Commit yourself to God in daily prayer and watch as he transforms you!
Which of the three daily choices do you struggle with the most? How can your life group pray for you and encourage you in this?
As you submit yourself to God and take each thought captive to Christ, memorize his word to help you. Start this week with Philippians 4:8.