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HOW TO RENEW YOUR MIND
Kris Vallotton | September 9, 2020
As believers, we have the mind of Christ. In this podcast, I share multiple attributes of a transformed mind and how we have access to spiritual intelligence that is far beyond anything we could do in our own strength. God is inviting us to think differently and learn to live with His perspective!
HOW TO RENEW YOUR MIND PODCAST NOTES
How can we learn to access the mind of Christ regularly? God doesn’t try to change our behavior, He transforms our minds which ultimately results in changed behavior. You can’t change your life, but if you change your mind, He’ll change your life.
How do I know if my mind is renewed? Here are 7 Symptoms of a Transformed Mind:
- You live in hope. Any thought in your mind that doesn’t inspire hope is rooted in a lie.
- The impossible seems reasonable. When you see an impossible situation you expect God to do a miracle.
- You live in peace, you don’t worry, and your speculations are positive. Your ‘what ifs’ are naturally positive instead of negative.
- You like yourself and rejoice in your weakness, knowing when you’re weak He is strong.
- You’re quick to forgive and you freely give others grace and mercy.
- You’re confident and thankful. Thankfulness inoculates you from pride.
- You believe in others and give them the benefit of the doubt.
What does it mean to renew your mind from neuroscience’s perspective? Neural pathways get wider and wider as you think in the same way over and over. You tend to take the same thought path toward that outcome. If you usually think that no one likes you, you’re more likely to think that way when something happens even if it’s not the truth.
When I renew my mind, I am creating new neural pathways to a better destination. When we hang out together, we tend to think alike. It becomes a mindset that dictates culture. If you watch the news 3 hours a day, and you read the Word 3 minutes a day, who is shaping your neural pathways?
Often what we think is a problem is actually a challenge and invitation to build new highways to better thinking. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. . .But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:2, 5
Biblical meditation is not about emptying your mind, it’s filling your mind. Like a lion goes after its prey, we go after the way we think and renew our minds by believing what God says about us!
We know a lot about IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which is the brain’s ability to process information. There’s EQ (Emotional Intelligence), which is the soul’s ability to process information. But I believe the Lord wants to open up the subject of SQ, which is Spiritual Intelligence.
It’s good to go to school and learn, but we’re training our IQ and EQ. But what if we proactively learned to connect to the Holy Spirit? What if we start thinking, “What is He thinking?” We often go to IQ or EQ because we have the neural pathway to go there, and often we don’t have the pathways built to SQ, Spiritual Intelligence.
Paul said in Ephesians 4:22-23, “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Your spirit has an influence over the way you think. Paul specifically says to be renewed in the “spirit of your mind.”
The smartphone is a great illustration of how IQ, EQ, and SQ work. Like the smartphone, IQ and EQ are limited to the hard drive of your brain. You can increase what’s stored in your memory, your hard drive, through education, experience, etc., but it’s still limited to you: your time, your space, your effort, and so forth. But Spiritual intelligence transcends IQ and EQ in the same way the internet has a billion times more information than the hard drive on your phone.
Spiritual intelligence is connecting to the Holy Spirit the same way your smartphone accesses the internet. Spiritual Intelligence is not just accessing what has happened in your own brain and spirit, but instead tapping into God’s Spirit Who is eternal, infinite, has all knowledge, and knows the future.
Scripture:
Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, James 5:9, James 1:2,5, Joshua 1:5-8, Isaiah 31:4, Ephesians 4:22-23, 1 Corinthians 2:16, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
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