My last blog was about how people can believe a lie without realising it. However, identifying our proneness to this kind of behaviour is not always easy. Our perception and experience of reality is not necessarily true or actual reality.
Our thoughts are the root of our behaviour patterns. So if we want to change our behaviour (eg. avoid believing lies), the place to begin is our mind.
Here are a few guidelines to what I believe are healthy ways of thinking:
I’m sure most of you will aspire to think in the ways I have listed here. I certainly do, though I am often unsuccessful (for the truth, ask my wife!).
We can all engage in behaviour modification, and we may well see some improvement. Earlier in our marriage, Susan and I made an agreement: Whenever I behaved like my father, she would tell me; whenever she behaved like her mother, I would tell her. We both would accept what the other said. The time periods between not speaking to each other as a result of the implementation of this agreement gradually reduced over the months and years, and it was quite successful. That is, we stayed together and our behaviour was modified.
However, there is one major problem associated with changing our way of thinking. If we want to transform our behaviour, rather than simply modify it, our mind (way of thinking) needs to be renewed. This requires external help, and it cannot be based on feelings: feelings are good servants, but terrible masters.
The fact is you and I cannot change our lives. But if we change our mind and align it with the truth, God will change our life.
This means that we have to add a 7th way of thinking to the previous list: When God says he is going to do something that has not been done before, we need to believe it can and will happen.
When we do that, the transformation of our way of thinking will start to become a reality, and we will be on track to become the person God created us to be.
Post Script: Use the 7-points listed to assess your current way of thinking. Don’t be discouraged by the results. Remember, you are a work in progress.
Being powerful is like being a lady, if you have to tell people you are, then you aren't. | Margaret Thatcher |
The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but God will make us good because he loves us. | C S Lewis |
Fear is misplaced faith. | Kris Vallotton |
God has already seen every mistake, every failure and every weakness, and the good news is he's already forgiven you. He is not holding it against you. | Joel Osteen |
God is not nearly so interested in changing your circumstances as he is in changing you. | Joyce Meyer |
Pray, and let God worry | Martin Luther |
Those who never change their mind never change anything. | Winston Churchill |
What you do (for a living) is not who you are. | Celia Apeagyei-Collins |
People who write you off when you fail know nothing about history and even less about life. No person ever fully succeeds until they fully fail. | Lance Wallnau |
There is no uncreated being except God. God has no opposite. Satan, the leader or dictator of devils, is the opposite, not of God, but of Michael. | C S Lewis |
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. | Jim Elliot |
You never know how much you really believe anything until it's truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life or death to you. | C S Lewis |
If you know you are loved, faith is easy. It's easy to trust someone you know loves you. | David Forster |
Every moment that you spend upset, despaired, anguished, angry, afraid or hurt, because of the behaviour of someone else in your life, is a moment in which you have given up control of your life. | Unknown |
Remember, you do not have to live today by how you feel, nor by what you think about yourself, nor by what someone else thinks about you. The person who created you thinks you are wonderful, and he waits with open arms for you to agree with him. | David Forster |
Shift gears from doing something in God's presence to simply being in God's presence. | Lance Wallnau |
Your future doesn't depend on what is in front of you, it depends on who is in you. | Lance Wallnau |
Did you know that you are utterly and completely loved by God, without doing a single thing, good or bad. | David Forster |
no one knows how bad they are until they have tried very hard to be good.. | C S Lewis |
If we are living daily by faith, we will be constantly over our head; Beyond our ability to do this our that. We should all be in that place in some area of our life. If we are not, we will be like an old wineskin; too rigid and inflexible to receive the Lord's new wine. | Rick Joyner |
For a believer intimacy with God is not an option, it's a necessity. Guidance and direction depend on this intimacy and sensitivity to Holy Spirit. There is no substitute for the latter. | Graham Cooke |
Jesus reveals the Father to us. He gives us peace and rest. He is not a hard taskmaster. | David Forster |
The God who creates everything, pursues you. Don't let anyone tell you you're are worth less than that. | Louie Giglio |
In the kingdom, physical obedience brings spiritual release. | Bill Johnson |
Don't be surprised if you pray for nearness to God and he sends a trial. Nearness always requires dependence. | Desiringgod.org |
Our corporate worship doesn't meet a need in God, it meets a need in us. | Sam Storms |
How you feel is not who you are. Feelings are great servants and terrible masters. | Kris Vallotton |
There is a lot that is good in your life. Don't take it for granted. Don't get so focused on the struggle that you mis the gift of today. | Joel Osteen |
The enemy commits identity theft when you believe you must earn what God freely gives. | Alison Brown |
If you agree with your creator and receive what he freely gives, you will have serenity in your identity and confidence in your countenance. | David Forster |
If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. | David Forster |
A satisfying and exciting life organises around an identity focused on Jesus, not the church.. | Graham Cooke |
Satan cannot impose his will on anyone, he has to have our agreement. | Graham Cooke |
Every day adjust yourself to where God is taking you, that is, toward the prophetic vision he has given you. | Lance Wallnau |
Real faith is not faith in an outcome (of a particular situation or circumstance), it's faith in a person. | David Forster |
Be in no doubt that God will redeem the losses and mistakes of your past life. | David Forster |
God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from himself, because there is simply no such thing. | C S Lewis |
Wealth, women and status; these are the major temptations that can draw a man away from God. Each is morally neutral; yet given the appropriate significance, each can control us. | David Forster |
The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he doesn't exist. | Anon |
Fear is the enemy of love. The two cannot exist together. We have to choose daily: Fear or Love. | David Forster |
You are not saved because of the quality of your faith. You are saved because of the object of your faith; The Redeemer! | Tim Keller |
Revival goes from the bottom up; Reformation goes from the top down. Therefore reformation is institutional and revival is personal. | Lance Wallnau |
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts. | Albert Einstein |
Inner peace is key to experiencing God's presence. Rest is a weapon against the enemy | Graham Cooke |
Fairy tales don't tell children that dragons exist. Children know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. | G K Chesterton |
When you are at peace with God, you will be at peace with yourself and with other people. | David Forster |
You can believe in Christianity in the same way you believe that the sun has risen; Firstly, because you see it and secondly because by it you see everything else. | C S Lewis |
A little while ago I became old enough to start believing in fairy tales again. This means there are far better things ahead of me then what I have left behind. | C S Lewis |
Your unfinished destiny is your most potent argument with death. | Graham Cooke |
I am not focused on what I am not, I am focused on what he is for me. | David Forster |