I am a big fan of that mighty woman of God – Joyce Meyer. Her television ministry “Enjoying everyday life” is touching the lives of millions of viewers from every corner of the world. Her total mastery over the Word, her phenomenal memory and her love for Jesus has made Joyce one of the topmost evangelists in the world today. We all know how God wants us so much to change our thinking and begin to think in line with Him and His Word. And Joyce has a favourite expression for this she uses of often – ‘stinking thinking.’ Joyce laments that few people can escape this stinking thinking. She is so right because what we choose to think and settle in our minds everyday will determine what we will eventually be in our lives.
God has so beautifully grabbed hold of this simple truth for us in His Word from the Book of Proverbs 23:7… “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” The crucial word in this Bible verse is obviously ‘thinks.’ Here God is aiming for our thought practice – what and how we think all the time. What exactly does the verse mean? When we paraphrase the quotation we get “As you think, so shall you be.” Take a look at all those people who are leading happy and satisfied lives. They have stayed focussed only on the encouraging and constructive things in their lives. They have used their free will on purpose for doing so; unlike those who lead miserable lives with their negative, gloomy and cynical attitudes. I agree we are living under a curse after the first man Adam sinned. But God Almighty restored everything by making His Son Jesus die. So we have within us the ability to create happy lives. So it is our thought life that is whipping the discrepancy.
Here again the Bible comes to our help. It clearly tells us how to control what we think. Take a look at these 3 verses…
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1)
“… that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4: 22-24)
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)
Note carefully that Paul is showing in the last verse how our mind is being renewed every day. God is asking us to do this renewal every moment. Soon we will have the mind of Christ himself. We will start thinking with the mind of Christ. With the Holy Spirit living within us, we are in contact with God all the time. We have the power to clean up our thought lives. We can be like Jesus exactly as He was while on Earth. As Christians we have this astonishing blessing – of being able to think with a clear, sound mind. When we are walking with God’s way on purpose we have the mighty Holy Spirit to lead us into all good circumstances. Our thoughts will then be created by God.
Friends, this takes time and commitment on our part. Whenever a negative thought like being in a sickness comes, we have to make this thought captive and not allowed to dictate our actions. If we are sick with flu, we only need to say it out loud “I reject this sickness like poison; I have God’s Word which says that His stripes I was healed. So according to His Word, I am healed!” Again if we are broke with no money we only to say and believe “I reject broke, God said He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” When we subject each thought and circumstance in the way that Jesus did, our lives only be for the better.
So ‘As you think, so shall you be!’
I shall explain more in detail the importance of following our positive thoughts with our words in the next post.
Bible commentator: Sunder Venkataram (Thane)
