Renewing the Mind
31 August 2008
1. Introduction:
· 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - “The weapons of our warfare is not carnal but mighty through God…”
· Our warfare is in the mind – what controls your mind will control your life.
· Vain imaginations release: Fear; confusion; self-consciousness; conflict; lust; witchcraft; self-importance; religious self-importance, assumptions and pride.
· To have victory we must:
i) Engage in warfare – recognize and confront vain imaginations, discipline and sort them through your mind.
ii) Renew the mind – change patterns of thinking, believing and responding.
2. How your memory works:
a) Impressions – how a memory is stored/recorded::
· Experiences are stored in the mind as memories.
· Information received is passed by electrical pulse along a new chain.
· What causes a memory to be deeply recorded to the emotion that occurs during the experience.
· When the experience is violent – the memory is so deeply recorded it is called a ‘trauma’.
· Repetition of the memory can cause the neurons to form a rut in the brain, imbedded in.
b) Repetition – how memories are reinforced:
· Repeating an activity over and over causes a ‘habit’ to form.
· Memories travel along the same neural path into the brain forming a ‘rut’.
· Memories the flow along these paths of least resistance.
· When and activity becomes a habit no conscious thought is needed – action happen without our awareness e.g. tie a shoe lace.
· A person has thought a certain way for so long, they no longer think, they just do.
· If there is emotion – the experience is remembered easily e.g. 1st kiss.
· If there is no emotion – the experience must be repeated e.g. multiple tables.
c) Association – how memories are connected:
· Associations are connections or links in the thinking, one can trigger of another.
· One thing relates to another and brings memories and feelings to the surface.
· What is recorded in the memory are highlighted parts:
i) What was experienced – the situation is recorded as a mental picture.
ii) What were the feelings – the emotions and the reactions experienced are recorded.
iii) How it is interpreted – the beliefs formed based on the feelings are recorded.
· Anytime you see a person, have an experience where those emotions are felt the memory is triggered along with its imbedded emotions and beliefs.
· Conflict = see it as bad and unsafe (child in marriage breakup). An illusion of conflict operates as a person is reminded of past hurts and stored memories, if triggered at a later stage.
· NB. Demons infest these memories, emotions, beliefs and control the person.
Note: Ungodly Beliefs:
Examples:
* I don’t belong * I will never have any money
* No one cares what I feel * My value is in what I do
* The best way to avoid hurt is to isolate * I am unattractive/ugly
* I am the problem, something is wrong with me * I am too fat
* I am bad – if people knew me they would reject * I should have been a boy
me
* No matter what I do, it is not good enough * I need to plan everything
* It must be my fault * I must guard my feelings
* If I let anyone close, they will hurt me * Never trust anyone in
authority over you
* God loves other more than me * I mustn’t make any mistakes
If the heart and mind is not renewed a person will stay in wrong beliefs/conclusions/assumption/blame.
As a Christian, if not dealt with the pattern will repeat itself and condemnation will follow, don’t feel like moving ahead.
3. How the Holy Spirit brings healing:
· John 16:13 - “When the Spirit of Truth has come He will guide you into all truth”.
· Truth = 225 = without concealing or covering or leaving unaware of anything.
· Guide = 3594 = to lead you on the right path, to assist a person travel through or reach a destination by accompanying and giving directions. To accompany you on a journey to healing, truth, take you where you need to go.
· People think the Lord will take out a spiritual eraser, scrub out the file and remove it from the memory.
This is not His way – this would be like denying the incident ever took place.
The Holy Spirit takes you back to the incident – shows you the spiritual truth and superimposes the trauma or pain with truth – Psalm 84:5
No longer are we impacted by the lie of the emotions that held us in bondage.
The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us and what we see and hear overwrites the old memory.
· How the Holy Spirit heals:
i) He brings back to memory what happened.
ii) He brings back the emotions we felt.
iii) He uncovers the ungodly beliefs we hold underneath.
iv) He reveals the truth – the full picture from the spiritual perspective. He enlarges vision, show you something you’ve never understood before – this is how you would know.
4. How to Renew the Mind:
· James 1:21 - “Receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls”.
The Word of God is able = 1410 = dunamis = to have supernatural power and ability. To heal,
· Engrafted = 1721 = to implant, engraft root.
Implant = to plant so it takes root and grows e.g. titanium implant.
Engraft = to merge the written word of God with our ways of thinking.
· Healing takes place through the Holy Spirit – Psalm 23:3, and the Word of God – Psalm 19:7
· How do you do this?
i) Your Imagination:
· Romans 12 :2 - “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind”.
· Transformed = metamorphosis = total change e.g. caterpillar => butterfly.
· Renew = 342 = to renovate, new in form/quality.
a) Use your imagination to ‘see’ scripture:
· Picture the truth of the scripture
· Hold it in your imagination
· Embrace what you see
b) Use you imagination to ‘feel’ scripture:
· Picture the truth of scripture
· Imagine the feeling associated with it
· Feelings associated with pictures bring increased retention
c) Repeat it day after day:
· Repetition = to learn by heart
· New renewal tracks form in the mind
· New habits of thinking form
ii) Your Tongue:
· John 6:63 - “The words I speak are Spirit Life”
· Speaking the word of God imparts Spirit and life into our inner man
· Personalize and speak scripture over your life repeatedly
· Hebrews 10:23 - “Let us hold forth the confession of our faith without wavering”
· Confession = 3671 = homologia = to say the same thing that God says
· Saturate your mind and emotions with the Word of God until the truth takes root and produces fruit
Note: Matthew 12:24 - Beelzebub = lord of flies
i) Fly’s life expectancy = 40 days - keep up practice for 40 days
ii) Flies lay eggs every 6 hours - keep making confession every 6 hours