A Brand New Person (Part 4)

Four Steps to Changing your thoughts

10.26.2025

Review

I am talking about how Jesus transforms life.

There are only spiritual solutions for the problems we face in the USA.

Oct 5, 2025

We face the same problems faced in Bible days.

Being born again is the rebirth of the human spirit from spiritual death to spiritual life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

October 12, 2025

I am a spirit being, I have a soul, and I live in a physical body.

October 19, 2025

What are you doing with your mind and body?

Today – 4 Steps to renew your mind!

Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

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. (2) 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.

James 1:21 (NKJV)

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

James 1:21 (NLT)

So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

 

The Soul Resists Change! You Have to Force it to Conform!

 

The soul has a life of its own. It makes the unreal seem real, and strictly opposes any movement to unseat its control!

Romans 8:7 (HCSB)

For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so.

 

The mind has a default set on self-centered living. It naturally opposes any control by the Holy Spirit and the Word!

Your mind will seek to keep you where you were and create its own reality in you. Refuse it!

Check yourself against the following lists of items that reveal a mind that still has a life of its own, and a mind that has been transformed by God’s Word. Some of the items seem to overlap, and to a degree they may. But they are showing similar things from different angles.

30 Symptoms of an Unrenewed Mind:

1. Little interest in the Word

2. Little understanding of who you are in Christ

3. Thinking only of the negatives in your life

4. Lack of joy

5. Lack of personal freedom and liberty to be yourself

6. Constantly dwelling on past thoughts, feelings, and actions

7. Lack of godly love and forgiveness

8. Fear of openness and honesty

9. Impure thinking and living

10. Lack of humility and submission – stubbornness

11. Weak faith in God and His Word

12. More concerned with what people think than with what God thinks and wills

13. Motivated by feelings more than God’s Word

14. Fear of financial failure

15. Fear of sickness and disease; obsession with symptoms

16. Fear of God and others

17. Fear of closeness and intimacy with others

18. Fear of exposure, of letting people know who you really are

19. Inferiority

20. Loneliness

21. Easily hurt and offended/overly sensitive

22. Inability to accept criticism

23. Fault-finding – reading bad motives into what others do

24. Pessimistic attitude

25. Sinful physical habits

26. Self-pity

27. Inability to give and receive love

28. Constant critical demeanor towards spouse

29. Gossip

30. Looking for negative thoughts and traits in others

30 Symptoms of a Renewed Mind

1. Genuine love and concern for others

2. Joy

3. Inward peace

4. Patience with people

5. Patience in circumstances

6. Seeing the best in others

7. Sense of fulfillment

8. Sense of acceptance with God

9. Lack of personal inferiority

10. Knowing your place in Christ

11. Forgiveness

12. Unconditional love

13. Purity in thought and life

14. Ability to be comfortable revealing yourself to others

15. Ability to enjoy close relationships

16. Thoughts of health and healing

17. Knowing you are materially provided for

18. Optimism even in tough circumstances

19. Believing the best of others

20. Faith in the Word over feelings

21. Confidence in God

22. Proper sense of personal boundaries

23. Freedom to be open and honest

24. Treating others with kindness

25. Lack of worry

26. Using words that bless and heal

27. Honesty

28. Keeping your word

29. Doing your best in all you do

30. A thankful attitude, even when life is hard

Your mind must be conquered before the spirit is free.

The first lesson we must learn if we are going to renew our minds is that we can’t believe our old carnal thoughts and feelings when they come back!

We have the mind of Christ! Our spirit is transformed! When old thoughts return, they are only an echo of the old self you were. They are an old, practiced, habitual way of thinking.

Our thoughts have a life of their own, and we must slay them!

When we are pressured by life, we tend to regress to old familiar patterns of thinking (ruts).

We all have mental ruts (like the grooves on a vinyl record). These ruts come from thought patterns that come from years of living and experiencing certain things in life.

They also come from thought patterns that are built into us in infancy and childhood.

A rut is an automatic way of thinking about yourself and life that you naturally default back to under pressure.

We all have mental ruts. We must choose to identify them, challenge them, and change them.

* Years ago, before paved roads, the roads were dirt. and ruts would form in the dirt roads. There was sometimes a sign posted on a long road – Choose your ruts carefully, you’ll be in them for seven miles!

My mental ruts

Nobody likes you; nobody cares; you’re not like everyone else; there is something wrong with you.

Do you think you can do anything right?

How I overcame them – 4 step process.

Four Steps to Changing your thinking and renewing your mind

1. Locate the wrong thought.

Philippians 4:8 (KJV)

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Psalm 90:8 (AMPC)

Our iniquities, our secret heart and its sins [which we would so like to conceal even from ourselves], You have set in the [revealing] light of Your countenance.

Colossians 3:17 (NLT)

And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

For me, this “rut” had been with me life-long.

God set me up! I got a job in a church with many well-to-do business people. I was 23 years old. I felt completely inferior!

I began to know that the ruts I was thinking in were wrong. I knew that I was a new creature in Christ, that I was the righteousness of God in Jesus, that God loved me, that I was favored by God (Jer 29:11)

But, my thoughts and feelings ganged up on me! They told me I was worthless! If I had yielded to them, I would still be bound today!

But I made a choice to resist. I knew they were lies!

So I decided to…

2. Find scriptures that refute the wrong thinking and feeling.

I wrote them on a card..

Psalm 119:9 (AMPC)

How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].

Psalm 119:11 (AMPC)

Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

Psalm 37:31 (MSG)

His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as a cat’s.

*1 Corinthians 4:3-4 (J B Phillips)

But, as a matter of fact, it matters very little to me what you, or any man, thinks of me – I don’t even value my opinion of myself. (4) For I might be quite ignorant of any fault in myself – but that doesn’t justify me before God. My only true judge is the Lord.

I refuted the thought and said out loud that it was wrong!

Then I chose to do the following:

3. Catch yourself when thinking and acting on the thoughts.

*Acknowledge to God that the thought has been a stronghold in your life. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you overcome the wrong thinking.

I acknowledged to the Lord that the thoughts and feelings of inferiority were strong. and I asked Him for grace to overcome them.

I began to catch myself thinking and feeling inferior at my job at the large church, and began to revolve the scripture over and over in my mind. It matters very little to me what you or any man thinks of me…

I would confess out loud what God said about me, and I would thank Him for freeing me from it.

Then, I made a choice to:

4. Siege the thoughts.

That is, I refused to allow my mind and emotions to rule my life. I acted contrary to what I thought and felt.

I made a decision to let God’s Word rule me and not my carnal thoughts and emotions.

In Eastern culture in Bible days, an enemy army would siege a city that had high walls and was impenetrable. They would cut off the supply lines to the city that provided food, water, and materials necessary for life. The inhabitants would be worn down, and then they would breach the walls. It took longer, but the city would be conquered!

I have been free for many years from the crushing thoughts and feelings of inferiority that come from fear-based thinking!

I have followed this pattern in so many areas of life to become free from thinking that inhibits who I am in Jesus. It works every time.

Example:

I started a church in a very small town in 1988. And my mind tried to hijack my spiritual life!

Every Monday I wanted to quit my assignment from the Lord, because my mind told me that my people just did not like me!

I called people and just engaged them in some simple conversation just to see if what I was thinking was true!

It wasn’t! My mind was trying to hijack my assignment from Jesus! It was a real eye-opener for me.

Look at the pattern for freedom from wrong thinking again:

1. Locate the wrong thought.

2. Find scriptures that refute the wrong thinking and feeling and meditate.

3. Catch yourself when thinking and acting on the thoughts.

4. Siege the thoughts.

James 1:21 (NKJV)

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Where do you struggle most?

Is it Guilt?

Is it Anxiety?

Is it Inferiority?

Is it Fear?

Is it Pride?

Action Points:

1. What are you most challenged with in your life right now?
2. What scriptures can you use to change your thinking in your areas of challenge?
3. Are you willing to catch yourself when these challenging thoughts come and speak out loud what God says about you?
4. Are you prepared to repeat the process of challenging this wrong thinking (siege it) throughout your day and week(s) until it breaks and doesn’t affect you?