WEEK 1: BECOMING AWARE OF OUR THOUGHTS

WEEK 1: BECOMING AWARE OF OUR THOUGHTS WEEK 1: We Guard Our Hearts by Managing Our Thoughts We Must Identify the Author/Source of Our Thoughts Learning God s Word Removes Life Confusion and Helps Us Recognize God s Voice King David was 70 and near death. A palace coup was unfolding. David s eldest living son, Adonijah, had just assembled his brothers, key royal officials, and the army commanders of Judah at a banquet and had declared himself king without David s knowledge or approval! David s youngest son Solomon, his mother Bathsheba, and David s closest insiders had all been shut out. It was a high stakes power grab. David heard about it from his bed and, in an incredible reversal of fortune, told his closest advisors to blow the royal trumpets and announce throughout Jerusalem that David had appointed Solomon, his 12-year old son, as the new king. When they realized what was happening, all of Adonijah's guests jumped up in panic from the banquet table and quickly scattered (1 Kings 1:49 NLT). What advice do you give your young son after such a precarious transfer of power? What wisdom will protect him after you are gone? David said, Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve Him with your whole heart and a willing mind. (1 Chronicles 28:9 NLT) A thousand years later, Jesus emphasized that God s greatest commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:35-37 NIV). Clearly our heart and mind are critical building blocks of our faith. But why are they, and how does it work? There Is a War Being Waged Against Us The Bible tells us that we have an adversary in the spiritual realm (Satan) who is waging a war against us, trying to undermine us (Ephesians 6:12). The goal of this war is to influence our heart and separate us from God. But why a battle for my heart? My spiritual heart is the ultimate prize because it s the secret vault where I hold my conscious and subconscious beliefs. God tells us to guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23 NIV) and purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world (James 4:8 NLT). Whatever I let into my heart becomes a core belief that influences my life choices. Jesus said that a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart (Luke 6:45 NIV). Page 1

But how does this spiritual battle actually play out? It plays out in my mind - in the 70,000 thoughts I have each day. My mind acts as the gatekeeper to my heart. It closes off to certain ideas and opens up to others. Like a bouncer at a club, my mind regulates who gets into my heart and who is shut out. We sort of know this already: We say things like, I was really open to that idea, so I took it to heart. Much of our life confusion occurs because we unknowingly lack discretion about what we let take root in our heart. Everywhere we turn in the world, we encounter formulas for living a fulfilling life: Worldly Formulas For Happiness: You ll be Happy if You Get married and have a big family Are your own boss Get a good education and a great job Champion a cause Become the best at what you do Are friends with influential people Become famous, rich and powerful Are physically attractive and sexy Buy a big house and drive a fast car Stay young and fit Are different; it will make you significant Vacation in the nicest places We hear phrases in the world that subtly promote a worldview, like if it feels good, do it, I did it my way, the guy with the most toys wins, or nice guys finish last. A firehose of daily messages barrage us. Each message promises My way is the right way, yet no one is held accountable when a worldview proves incorrect. It s very confusing. We re not sure who to trust or what to believe in because a lot of these formulas are being pushed by people who benefit from promoting them. So what s my internal narrative? What worldview is stored deep within my heart that is influencing my life choices? For many of us, it s a hodgepodge of conflicting messages, some of which we re not even aware that we believe in. We ve picked them up from family, friends, role models and the media. Our Life Confusion is Not an Accident The Bible says that our confusion about life isn t an accident. We have an enemy in the spiritual realm (Satan) and our confusion is the intentional result of a war with my mind (Romans 7:23 NLT). Jesus said Satan is the father of lies, has always hated the truth and there is no truth in him (John 8:44 NLT). Satan s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10 NLT) the good things of God that are available to us. God hasn t given Satan any direct power or authority over us. God tells us to resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7 NIV). Think about it: What kind of enemy flees when you resist him? Only an enemy with no real power; one that doesn t want you to know that he can t force you to do anything! Most of us don t intentionally miss the mark. Satan deceives us into taking actions that serve his purposes. He does this through our thought life. Satan weaves a powerful web of false promises false formulas for living life that most of us unwittingly take into our heart as we encounter them in the world. Our mind acts as a poor gatekeeper, letting the wrong worldviews influence our heart. When Page 2

this happens, it creates all kinds of havoc in our lives, because we make decisions based on faulty premises that don t create the results we hoped for. Many of these poor decisions also separate us from God. We tend to think that our circumstances are what tempt us to be ungodly: I operate out of self-interest at work because everyone else does too I was harsh with that guy because he deserved it I lost all hope because my situation was so difficult But the Bible tells us that temptation always starts in our mind - as a thought that we embrace and not in our circumstances. God tells us that from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts (Mark 7:21 NLT) and that internal desires give birth to sinful actions (James 1:15 NLT). You can see the problem: As a believer, there are three authors of the thoughts running through my mind: Me, the Holy Spirit, and Satan. The problem is that they all sound like my voice, because it s all happening within my mind. If I give equal importance to every thought, I m really giving equal loyalty to each author. God tells us that if I do this this I ll become as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind (James 1:6 NLT) because my loyalty is divided between God and the world (James 1:8 NLT). Non-believers have a much bigger challenge. They ve only got two authors contributing to their thoughts: Themselves and Satan. The Holy Spirit doesn t dwell within them yet because they haven t accepted Christ. God tells us that the person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV). The Bible says that before Christ and without the Holy Spirit, the situation was utterly helpless (Romans 5:6 NLT) and that our life confusion was a type of slavery (Romans 7:25 NLT). But God has given us a way out through Christ. God says He will transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (Romans 12:2 NLT) and to let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes (Ephesians 4:22-23 NLT). But how do I do that? How do I change the way I think? Managing Our Thoughts We can t control which thoughts run through our mind, but we can decide which ones we ll embrace and which we ll resist and quickly discard. The amount of attention and significance we give to each thought really matters! Whatever we chew on in our mind for a long enough time, we will eventually swallow into our heart. God tells us to think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth (Colossians 3:2 NLT) and to fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable (Philippians 4:8 NLT). We are to capture the rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5 NLT). Page 3

But how do I do that? How do I capture rebellious thoughts? It starts with learning and applying God s Word. God s Word Helps Us Recognize His Voice Freedom comes from knowing God s truth and it s found in God s Word, which is the entire Bible. God tells us that we have been saved, through faith (Ephesians 2:8 NIV), that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ (Romans 10:17 NIV). As we get to know God s Word, we gain familiarity with His voice and His ways. Think about it: If I wrote letters to someone on the other side of the world and they read them, they would get to know my spirit and perspective, even though they had never physically seen me. Words are containers for spirit, for transmitting thoughts from one person to another. Through the Bible, God is speaking directly to us. God s Word Is So Powerful Because It s The Truth Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32 NIV). God tells us that His word is alive and powerful because it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires (Hebrews 4:12 NLT). God promises that when people learn the truth, they will come to their senses and escape from the devil's trap (2 Timothy 2:26 NLT) because God s Word gives us awareness of what s real and what s a false life premise. God s truth is like turning on a light in a dark room. In the darkness, we stumble around and have difficulty navigating, constantly bumping into things we can t see (Proverbs 4:19 NLT). But once the light gets switched on, we can see clearly and can navigate with ease. Jesus said, I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in Me will no longer remain in the dark (John 12:46 NLT). Knowing God s truth turns our mind into a powerful gatekeeper that can purify and guard our heart. God tells us that His truth has the power to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments (2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT). A stronghold is a blind spot a place where we hold false beliefs and consistently make the wrong decisions based on false life premises. God s Word exposes these falsehoods, allowing our mind to spot the lie and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV). God can talk to us anyway He chooses, but it s usually through the Holy Spirit. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth and said that he will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13 NLT). The Holy Spirit helps us understand the deeper meaning of scripture as we apply it in our daily life. The Holy Spirit gives us a thought (or revelation/illumination). It s been described as a still small voice (1 Kings 19:12 KJV), a gentle whisper (same; NIV), and as an inner witness as the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit (Romans 8:16 NIV). Page 4

When these thoughts come to us, we need to pay close attention to them and believe them even before we fully understand them. Our mind must embrace them as truth and allow them to take deep root in our heart. The Holy Spirit can best teach us when we re learning through experience. This is why God tells us do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says (James 1:22 NIV). We have to be doers of God s Word in order to learn by experience. It s no different than most other forms of learning: I can read books all day long about playing tennis, but I won t make much progress until I start swinging a racket. That s when a coach can really start teaching me. Augustine, a colorful leader of the early church, stated it so aptly: God is said to be our helper. But no one can be helped unless he does something. (Second Helvetic Confession, 5.048) David Understood the Importance of Heart and Mind David knew the importance of managing his thoughts and using his mind as the gatekeeper to his heart. We can tell from David s song lyrics. David sang, How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? (Ps 13:2 NIV); Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind (Ps 26:2 NIV); and Create in me a pure heart, O God (Ps 51:10 NIV). David also sang, Your instructions are written on my heart (Ps 40:8 NLT); You have tested my thoughts and examined my heart in the night. You have scrutinized me and found nothing wrong (Ps 17:3 NLT); and My God turns my darkness into light (Ps 18:28 NIV). No wonder that God described David as a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do (Acts 13:22 NIV). Knowing God s Word gives us tremendous power to remove life confusion and to recognize God s voice. As we learn God s Word, we must guard our heart by comparing the voices in our head against the voice of God. We must become skillful at determining who has authored each of our thoughts (Romans 8:5 NLT). As we take back control of our mind, we start to take back control of our life! We must: Become aware of our thoughts, and evaluate our thoughts against God s Word Pay close attention to those thoughts that are consistent with God s Word Identify our rogue thoughts that are inconsistent with scripture, and resist them by trusting in God rather than what the rogue thought would influence us to do o Gain strength by standing on the truth of relevant scriptures Purify our hearts by filling our mind with godly thoughts: o Regulate what we take into our minds each day o Allow godly thoughts to take deep root in our heart Page 5

o o Discard ungodly thoughts and don t spend much time thinking about them; refocus our mind back to godly thoughts Trust God s voice and act on it When we make decisions based on God s instruction, we get the full benefit of God s truth even before we understand why it works. God s wisdom is embedded in it, and God s full support is behind it. For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith (1 John 5:4 NLT). Questions to Ponder: 1) What internal life formula has driven your decision making at various points in your life? Where did you pick up this formula? a. You can figure it out by looking back at the key life choices you ve made, and by thinking about your key assumptions that led you to make those (good or bad) choices. 2) What percentage of your waking hours do you spend focusing your mind on God s messages (from all sources) versus worldly messages (from all sources)? 3) If you started memorizing scripture passages, how many do you think it would take before you could start spotting the adversary s lies? a. Where s the tipping point? Is one passage enough? 10? 50? What do you think? 4) We ve talked about worldly formulas for living a fulfilling life. What formula does God tells us is the correct life formula? 5) If you choose to ignore your godly thoughts and to yield to your ungodly thoughts, will you get any benefit from knowing God s Word? Actions to Consider: 1) Knowing that God s Word will give you the power to discern between reality and the false promises of life, can you carve out 20 to 30 minutes each day to focus your mind on God s Word, which is His voice? a. If you aren t doing this, what currently prevents you from doing it? 2) Throughout the day, how can you keep God s voice in your thoughts so that you re constantly screening for ungodly thoughts which might pop into your mind? a. What s a workable solution that you can use in your daily life? Page 6

Week The Big Ideas LIVING THE SPIRIT-LED LIFE Week 1: We guard our heart by managing our thoughts. o God s Word turns our mind into a powerful gatekeeper. We must identify the author/source of our thoughts. o If it seems like God is the source, then pay close attention to it (but also test it against scripture), and think about what it might mean. o If it s a rogue thought that s inconsistent with scripture, then resist it and quickly discard it. Learning God s Word removes life confusion and helps us recognize God s voice. o The Holy Spirit often teaches us the deeper meaning of scripture as we apply it to daily life situations. As Rick Warren has said, The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to make us like the Son of God. Page 7