12 Habits to Renew Your Mind

 

12 Spiritual habits that will change your thinking to be focused on Christ

~~ Watch the Video ~~

Outline:

• Introduction
• The Story You Tell Yourself Review
• The Christian Mindset Review
• Habits to Renew Your Mind
• Stop Breaking Promises to Yourself
• Practice of Gratitude
• Fellowship With Other Believers
• Memorize Scripture
• Quiet Time
• Worship
• Read Scripture
• Prayer
• Fasting
• Speak Positively
• Serve Others
• Think about Eternity

Scripture:

• Romans 12:2
• Romans 8:1
• Romans 8:2
• Romans 8:14
• Romans 8:18
• Romans 8:28
• Romans 8:31
• Romans 8:38-39
• 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
• Philippians 4:13
• Psalms 118:8
• Deuteronomy 31:6
• 1 John 4:4
• Luke 5:16
• Matthew 15:8-9
• Acts 16: 23-26
• 2 Timothy 4:1-4
• Matthew 6:5-6
• Luke 18:1
• Mark 9:28-29
• Proverbs 21:23
• Proverbs 18:21
• James 3:4-5
• Philippians 2:3-4
• Colossians 3:2
• 1 Corinthians 2:9

Is it possible to think about God all the time?

• What if someone told you they think about God all the time?
• Would you believe them?

Is it possible to think about sex all of the time?

Is it possible to think about being in a relationship all of the time?

When your relationship is going bad and that’s all they can think about?

• You’re about to ask for a divorce

Romans 12:2

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Renewing your mind is changing the way you think

Today you will get some practical ways to renew your mind

To change a thought pattern you can:

• Reframe it
• Replace it
• Invite the Holy Spirit to change it

Today we’re looking at habits

• lifestyle changes

Introduction

Seeking Wholeness

We are in our series called Seeking Wholeness

How can we be  _______ healthy

• spiritually
• emotionally
• mentally

Dealing with life’s current stresses and also being healed from past experiences/wounds

God is not only concerned with you going to Heaven and being righteous...wants you to be whole.

• Righteousness, joy, and peace

Traits of Wholeness

• Authenticity
• Honesty
• Kindness
• Not seeking external approval / validation
• Living by values and principles
• Setting Boundaries
• Knowing what is your responsibility and what isn’t
• Living with purpose and passion
• Optimism
• Confidence
• Healthy relationships with both genders
• Not losing control of your emotions
• Free from addictions
• Addressing Conflict
• Vulnerability
• Non Judgmental
• Not jealous
• Genuinely applaud the success of others
• Forgive those who have wronged you in the past
• Accept that God loves you as you are
• Not afraid to fail
• Free from irrational fear, worry, and anxiety
• Selfless encounters with others
• Not manipulating others trying to control their actions/reactions
• Empathetic
• You genuinely care about how others feel
• Don’t ignore warning signs
• In your life
• In your relationships

Uncontrolled Thoughts

Rick Warren

7 things that mess up people’s lives more than anything else

1. Uncontrolled Thoughts
2. Shame
3. Compulsions

• Lusts, habits, impulses

4. Fear
5. Hopelessness
6. Bitterness
7. Insecurity

• Rejection

We had a lesson on fear and shame.

For the past 3 lessons we’ve been focusing on: uncontrolled thoughts

• The Story You Tell Yourself

Changing the way you think -> change the way you act

Renewing your mind involves changing the way you think

God is often more interested in changing your mind than changing your circumstances

The Story You Tell Yourself Review

The thoughts we think and the stories we tell ourselves are influenced by

• Our experiences
• Past relationships
• Our mental consumption

These stories impact:

• How we view ourselves
• How we view others
• How we view God
• The company you keep
• The opportunities you take
• The decisions that you make

The current state of your life is a direct result of

• the stories you tell yourself
• what you really believe is possible

Common Stories We Tell Ourselves

The Dependence story

• I can’t cope with being alone
• I can’t trust my own judgment
• I need someone to take care of me and make me happy
• Life is too overwhelming to cope with on my own

The Unworthy/Defective Story

• I’m flawed
• I’m unlovable
• I am damaged
• I am less than
• If people really knew me they would reject me

The Disconnection Story

• No one understands me
• I rarely feel close to people
• I feel like there’s an invisible barrier between me and other people
• I don’t get the love I need
• Nobody cares about me or even tries to meet my needs

Seeing the world in third person can be a response to trauma

The Mistrust story

• Most people will use, hurt or take advantage me
• I need to stay on guard to protect myself
• People only do or think nice things when they want to get something out of me
• People will reject me
• People will not be there when I need them

The Failure Story

• I don’t measure up
• I am not able to succeed
• There’s no point in trying because I’m just going to fail
• I never seem to get things right
• What if people realize I’m not as good as they think I am

The Abandonment story

• People don’t really care about me
• No matter how good things seem it will never last
• I am destined to end up alone
• I worry about people I care about leaving or dying
• Everybody leaves
• I knew they weren’t going to stay anyway
• It was just a matter of time

Limiting Beliefs

Our beliefs can be what is holding us back in life

Common limiting beliefs include:

• I have to be perfect
• My life is harder than everyone else’s
• If I can do it anyone can do it
• “If I ignore it, it will go away.”
• “I’m too young, or I’m too old.”
• I’m just not that type of person
• Happy, emotionally expressive, outgoing, serious, successful

Practical Steps

Can you name some of the practical steps we looked at?

Which of the practical steps we discussed have you found the most _____ ?

• Useful
• Interesting
• Challenging

Christian Mindset Review

We used Romans 8 as a guide to see how Christians should filter their view of the world.

God Forgives You of Your Sins

Romans 8:1

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Your Value isn’t Dependent on Your Works

Romans 8:2

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

• Your works don’t save you
• Your works don’t define how good of a Christian you are
• Your works aren’t the evidence of your salvation

Grace is not opposed to effort it is opposed to earning

• The works you do is volunteer work

You are a Child of God

Romans 8:14

14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God.

• Put your identity in Christ

Me       https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMe1vHVcf/

Sophia https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJuC7tKL/

Your Future is Bright

Romans 8:18

18For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

God is Using it All for Good

Romans 8:28

28And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

• God can use the good and the bad

God  Wants You to Succeed

Romans 8:31

31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

• V26 - The Holy Spirit helps you to pray
• V27 - Jesus intercedes

Nothing Will Stop Jesus from Loving You

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you feel that any particular one of those is the most important?

Habits to Renew Your Mind

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

5We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ

Stop Breaking Promises You Make to Yourself

When you don’t trust yourself that means you can’t trust your own internal cues

• Keep the promises you make to yourself

Practice of Gratitude

• Count your blessings before you go to sleep
• Pay attention to the good things that are happening to you throughout the day

Fellowship With Other Believers

Healthy relationships serve as a buffer against stress

Find a group of people that:

• Share vulnerabilities
• Mirror back to each other goodness and appreciation
• Addresses conflict to deepen understanding
• Listen deeply
• Bring a presence to your communication
• Spiritually aligned

Example

• Growth group, Life group, cell group, small group
• Unchained Disciples
• UBF

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJKjyYgv/

Memorize Scripture

Have Memory Verses

• Replace your thought with scripture
• Encourage yourself with scripture

Philippians 4:13

13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Psalms 118:8

8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD

Than to trust in man.

Deuteronomy 31:6

6 “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

1 John 4:4

 4You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

5 smooth stones

Quiet Time

Luke 5:16

16But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

What is quiet time?

Quiet time is a regular individual session of Christian spiritual activities, such as prayer, private meditation, contemplation, worship of God or study of the Bible.

  --Wikipedia

A regularly attended time that you spend privately with God

Worship

Singing worship songs

• Worship is the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for God (a diety)
• Worship is a response to worth

We usually use the term when referring to the act of singing songs that worship God.

Worship is Honoring God

Matthew 15:8-9

8 ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS,

BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

9 ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME,

TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’”

It takes the focus off of you

Give God glory as if it has been done

Acts 16: 23-26

 23When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; 24and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25Now about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; 26and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

• Worship unleashes the supernatural

Celebrate the victory before it comes

You praise to God based on His goodness not based on your circumstance

Sing a song that speaks to your situation

Sing a Christian song to help you through what you’re going through

• Break Every Chain (addictions)
• Oceans (faith)
• Worth (low self worth)
• I Won’t Go Back (when tempted)
• We Fall Down But We Get Up (repenting from sin)
• Even If (when feeling discouraged)

Other examples?

Read Scripture

Practical ways to read the Bible

• Schedule it
• Have a plan (30 day, 90 day, read the bible in 1 Year, specific book of the bible)
• Pray that the Holy Spirit reveal the truth to you
• Study
• Book
• Topic
• Commentaries

You Need to Know the Word For Yourself

2 Timothy 4:1-4

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:

2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

How do you know I’m telling you the truth?

Prayer

Matthew 6:5-6

5“And when you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Ask the Holy Spirit to give me better thoughts

Set a time and place

It’s Building a Relationship

It’s a response

• God spoke first in His Word.
• It is a continuing conversation that God started first.

It is not just an exchange of needs and wants

Listening

It’s a two-way communication

Response may come in the form of an inspired thought.

It’s Worship

Acknowledging that you can’t do everything that needs to be done

Turning away from ourselves to God

It’s Okay to Petition

Luke 18:1

1Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not become discouraged,

Prayer is Powerful

• Some battles can only be fought by prayer

Mark 9:28-29

 28When He came into the house, His disciples began asking Him privately, “Why is it that we could not cast it out?” 29And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything except prayer.”

The only thing the disciples asked Jesus to show them to do is to pray

Fasting

People fasted in the bible when they wanted to

• Get guidance and  direction from God
• Get closer to God
• Make petitions to God
• Repent

When you get too fleshy

• When you are in a season of temptation
• Quiets your mind

Taming Your Gut

More signals go from your stomach to your brain than from your brain to your stomach

• Microorganisms in your stomach communicate to your brain
• Send signals for: food cravings, sexual arousal, mood, cause brain fog

Enteric Nervous System

• is the intrinsic nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract
• Called Second brain
• Operates independent of the brain and spinal cord
• 90% of bodies serotonin is here

Serotonin helps regulate your mood as well as your sleep, appetite, digestion, learning ability, and memory.

• “Happiness hormone”
• 
  

Story: mood bias

“Listen to your gut”

Speak Positively

Your Words Can Change Your Life

Proverbs 21:23

23One who guards his mouth and his tongue,

Guards his soul from troubles.

Proverbs 18:21

21Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

And those who love it will eat its fruit.

Change Your Speaking To Change Your Mind

James 3:4-5

4Look at the ships too: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are nevertheless directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot determines. 5So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

Don’t speak what you feel all the time, otherwise your mind can’t change.

• Learn to speak God’s word instead.

Don't use your mouth as a thermometer, reading the temperature of your current condition, allow God's word to turn your mouth into a thermostat, which changes the temperature of your life by confessing what God says.

Serve Others

Philippians 2:3-4

 3Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; 4do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

It’s not about you

It’s only in giving your life away that you will discover what it means to live

Think about Eternity

Colossians 3:2

2Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.

There is more to life than just here and now

1 Corinthians 2:9

9but just as it is written:

“THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,

AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HUMAN HEART,

ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

Instructor: Michael Leadon

References

Learn How To Be Set Free From Self-Destruction with Rick Warren

Bill Johnson - Power Of Worship In Spiritual Warfare

Why You Should Speak Things Into Existence

The importance of god's word

Francis Chan

7 Steps to Renew Your Mind | Hungry Generation

Extra

Imposter Syndrome

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJo4QMRH/

Worship

Isaiah 54:1

“Shout for joy, infertile one, you who have not given birth to any child; Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor; For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous Than the sons of the married woman,” says the LORD.

The barren woman will pass the woman with many children

Praise Him in advance

Worshippers  worship when no one was looking

David was worshiping when no one was looking.

• Don’t ask to be on the worship team if you don’t worship at the house

• John Gray, Bill Johnson

I don’t know anyone who hears from God who doesn’t worship at home alone

Prayer

Believers do not pray with the view of informing God about things unknown to Him, or of exciting Him to do His duty, or of urging Him as though He were reluctant. On the contrary, they pray in order that they may arouse to seek Him, that they may exercise their faith in meditating on His promises, that they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into His bosom; in a word, that they may declare that from Him alone they hope and expect, both for themselves and for others, all good things.

—John Calvin

We will not receive some things if we don’t ask

Guard Your Mind

• Stand on God’s word (the truth)

Proverbs 4:23

23Guard your heart with all diligence,

for from it flow springs of life.

The heart has about 40,000 neurons that operate independently from the brain.

• Broken heart

Your imagination can become more real than reality

Your Flesh

Romans 7:22-23

 22For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, 23but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in [x]my body’s parts.

Do you ever find yourself doing things that you don’t really want to do?

Have you ever engaged in self-defeating behavior?

Satan

• Satan cannot force you to do anything
• He makes suggestions

The worlds value system

1 John 2:16

 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

• Money
• Sex
• power

Promoted by

• celebrities, advertising, movies, songs
• Television program

Strongholds

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage battle according to the flesh, 4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but [b]divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

A stronghold is a lie that I believe

• God really doesn’t love me
• I know better than God what will make me happy
• The Bible is not relevant because it was

• written so long ago
• written by men

philosophical system

• All this matters is being happy
• The only thing that matters is having fun
• The only thing that matters is making money

Inner vow

• If someone does me wrong I will never forgive them
• I can never forgive myself for what I did
• I will never amount to anything
• If something bad is going to happen is going to happen to me

Solution

You cannot stop birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from building a nest in your hair. Bad thoughts come, but do not have to stay if we speak against them with the truth of God’s Word.