Transcription
There is nothing as powerful as a changed mind. You can change your hair, your clothing, your address, your spouse, your church, your residence, but if you don't change your mind, the same experience will perpetuate itself over and over again. Everything outwardly changes, but nothing inwardly changes.
There is nothing as powerful as a changed mind. Change your thoughts, and you'll change your world. We cannot live a life of positivity when we have a thought life that is full of negativity. What are you choosing every single day to put into that mind of yours?
I've seen people who had the education to go up, the gifting to go up, and the talent to go up, but they didn't have the right attitude. Eventually, if that attitude, that heart, that invisible part isn't right, you can have all the talent in the world, but you will always end up getting spoiled by your own attitude. Yes, you'll get the opportunity, yes, you'll get the job, yes, you'll get the deal, but you won't be able to keep it because your attitude will corrupt every opportunity that life offers you, and you never saw it coming.
If I want to change the direction of my life, I'm going to have to change my thought life. If you're jotting down notes, I want you to jot this down: My thoughts shape my world. If you don't like where you're at today, consider changing your thoughts and watch how that will change the direction of your life.
Maybe the reason why you're at where you're at today is because your thought life is not where God wants your thought life to be. The battleground between God and the enemy, between right and wrong, between success and struggle, between destiny or that which is derogatory, is fighting for your mind. Because in your mind are your deep settings.
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If you don't change it in your head, you can't change it in your life. I don't care whether it's losing weight, going after a job, being faithful and committed, or being honest and true. It has to change up here, or it won't change anywhere else.
If I change the direction of the way I think, then I can change the direction of the way I live. Romans chapter 8, verse 6 (New King James) says this: "For to be carnally minded is death." Carnally is a word that we don't use a lot now, but it means flesh ruled. To be flesh ruled, in the Greek, it says it this way: to be flesh ruled produces death.
He's talking about your mind and your thoughts. If you think thoughts of death, you produce death in your life. Not death physically per se, but if all you do is ever think about how bad your marriage is and how you hate the person you're married to, that kind of stuff, you're going to produce death in your marriage. If all you're ever doing is thinking about how you hate your job, you'll produce death at your job. You might get fired, and you don't even know why.
What we put into our mind is vital. Paul says to be carnally minded is death; it produces death. But to be spiritually minded produces life and peace. I believe God wants you to have life and peace. I believe God wants you to have peace in your mind, and the only way that happens is if I grab onto what God says and put His thoughts in there.
In Luke chapter 6, Jesus tells us that our thoughts that we speak come out of our heart, and whatever your heart is full of, that's what's going to come out. Watch: a good man or woman brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. I want to say that again: for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Our attitude is an outward display of what's taking place in our heart. Let me say that again: our attitude is an outward display of what's taking place in our heart.
That's why we need to guard our heart. Proverbs 4, verse 23 says, "Guard your heart above all else because your heart's more important than your possessions. Your heart's more important than anything." And here's why: for it determines the course of your life.
Let me say this another way: guard your heart above all else, for it determines your attitude. Now, why would I say that? I say that because our attitude is an outward display of what's taking place in our heart. So whether you have a positive attitude or a negative attitude is really a choice, regardless of what you feel or what your opinion is. Attitude is our choice.
John Maxwell wrote a book on attitude, and the title of it was "The Winning Attitude." Here's what he said: attitude is the advanced man of our true selves. Attitude's roots are inward, but its fruits are outward. Attitude is our best friend and our worst enemy.
Attitude is more honest and more consistent than our words. Attitude is the thing that draws people to us or repels people away from us. Attitude is never content until it's expressed. And listen to this powerful statement: attitude is the librarian of our past, the speaker of our present, and the prophet of our future.
Our attitudes determine our success and happiness in life more than any giftedness, more than opportunities or circumstances. Our attitudes affect our life. We all, every one of us, are going to face difficulties in life and challenges, but our attitude will help us climb out of the difficulty with God's favor and direction.
James 1, verse 2 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
If our life is not going in the right direction, we need to take a look at our attitudes. If you want a better life, if you want to change your life, the number one way to do that is to change your thoughts. You're in control of your mind; you're in control of your thoughts.
Here's the good news: if I let Jesus change my thinking, He'll change my life. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. The way God changes you is He changes the way you think.
We have to quit looking at what everybody else is doing. You see, some of you are living your life concerned about what everybody else thinks. I want to challenge you to live your life this way: live your life trying to think how God wants you to think. What does He want you to think? How does He want you to perceive the world? How does He want you to live?
I'm sure you could come up with all kinds of ways and times you've been hurt, wounded, slighted, mistreated, or disrespected. Most of us have books—books of ways we feel mistreated, ways we feel abused, ways we feel picked on. But you know what? The Bible doesn't call us to make a list of the negative things that have happened in our life. The Bible actually calls us to make a list of the positive things.
You see, nobody has to force you to remember the ugly, but Jesus wants to teach you how to remember the beautiful. What are the good things in your life?