What we think determines our perception, which determines our feelings, which determines our actions. Think biblically.

27 Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

Yesterday, we looked at verses that spoke to our mastery of our bodies. Today, we will look at Mastering Our Minds. As was stated in the opening sentence, what we think determines how we perceive what is going on around us. We either react, which allows our circumstances to drive our feelings, or we respond with predetermined thought processes that give us (limited) control over how we feel. We act out of our feelings, so we need to get our thought processes right!

²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

The big question is, how do we renew the attitude of our minds? That answer lies in the following verse:

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. Romans 12:2

So, according to this verse, we are to:

1. Reject the status quo of this world.
2. We transform our minds by renewing them.
3. With transformed/renewed minds, we can determine what God’s will is.
4. His will is good, pleasing to Him, and perfectly fitted to His overall Plan.

But, we still haven’t discovered how to do this renewal thing. Let’s keep digging:

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷ and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27

Christ is our example:

1. Christ gave His life for His bride, the church.
2. His purpose was to make her holy even as God is holy. We are clothed in His righteousness.
3. He cleanses her by washing her with the water through His Word, the Scriptures.
4. By washing in the water of His Word, we become holy and presentable as His church, His radiant Bride.

The enemy would love nothing more than to keep you from being washed by Jesus in the water of the Word of God. When we read, though we often don’t fully understand it, His Spirit speaks to our spirits. We learn acceptance of His commands and obedience to His voice. The old song that says, “We will understand it by and by,” is exactly right. Whether this side of heaven or the other, we will eventually understand God’s instruction, His motive, His game plan, and His never-ending love for us.

How do I know what I have just told you? I have read His Word and studied what it means long enough to get a broader perspective of it. I have been washed by Jesus in the water of His Word. Also, I have discussed the Scriptures with people older and certainly wiser than I. I have experienced enough of life to get a hint of God’s driving factor: His everlasting love for humanity–actually, for all of His creation. Want to become wise? Read His Word and allow Him to whisper truth to you. Then, act upon what He has said to you. It really is that simple! You, too, will be washed by Jesus in the water of His Word.

Abba, thank You for speaking to me through Your Word. It really is alive with Your Spirit! Use it to cut through my feelings and get to my thoughts. Lay them bare before You and help me to align them with Your character (which means that I’ll be getting rid of a bunch, and tweaking a lot more). I answer to You and You alone, O LORD. Amen. (This prayer is based upon Hebrews 4:12-13, “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword [scalpel], piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”)