Renewed Mind Is Poweful

Matthew 12:34-36 (NIV)
³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NIV)

³ For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

After presenting our body, we have to have our mind renewed. The renewing of the mind, which results from setting the mind on the spirit is the base for the transformation of our soul. Our mind is the leading part of our soul, and as it is renewed, our will and emotion automatically follow to be renewed also. To be renewed means that a new element is wrought into our being

We take captive every thought to make it obedient”. In the Message this passage is explained as “tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.” In order to identify the thoughts that need to be taken captive we have to identify which thoughts do not line up with God’s Truth. This is rather simple. When we identify unhealthy emotions like anger, judgment, jealously, inadequacy, and perfectionism etc. we can be sure there is a thought creating the emotion lurking.

Renewed Mind

Romans 12:2
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

1 Corinthians 2:6
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Philippians 2:5
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 4:23-24
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

The only way to replace the error of the world’s way of thinking is to replace it with God’s truth, and the only infallible source of God’s truth is found in his revealed word, the Bible. Transformation through renewed minds comes as believers expose themselves to God’s Word through the faithful exposition of it each week in church, personal Bible study and group Bible study. A solid church that believes in preaching the Word, reading the Word and singing the Word is invaluable in helping us renew our minds.

There are no shortcuts. There is no magical formula for renewing our minds. We must fill our minds with God’s word. As Jesus prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:7)

Rev Dr Ronnie Ng