Ways To Manage My Thoughts And My Mind

In review of Proverbs 4:23 it says, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.”

Bottom Line:

Be careful how you think; for your life is shaped by your thoughts.

What this means to me:

Above anything else, I am to carefully guard my thoughts; for my life will be influenced and shaped by them which will ultimately determine the course I end up taking.

When it comes to my life, God is far more interested in changing my mind and my thinking than he is in changing any of my circumstances.

My natural inclination is to want God to take away all of the problems, pains, suffering, sickness, and negative conditions. But what I’m learning is that God wants to work on me first, because ultimate transformation won’t happen in my life until I can renew my mind, and until my thoughts begin to change.

There are three important reasons that I need to learn how to manage my mind:

First, I need to manage my mind, because my thoughts control my life. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts” (TEV). The power of my thoughts has a tremendous ability to shape my life for good or for bad.

Second, I need to manage my mind, because it is the battleground for sin. All temptation happens in the mind. Paul explains in Romans 7:22-23, “I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin” (TLB).

One of the reasons why I get mentally fatigued is because there’s a battle going on in brain 24 hours a day. It’s debilitating because it’s intense, and it’s intense because my mind is my greatest asset. Satan wants to get a hold of it.

Thirdly, I manage my mind, because it’s the key to peace and happiness. An unmanaged mind will lead to tension. A managed mind will lead to tranquility. An unmanaged mind will lead to conflict. A managed mind will lead to confidence. An unmanaged mind will lead to stress. When I don’t try to control my mind and the way I direct your thoughts, I will have an enormous amount of stress in your life. But a managed mind will lead to strength and security and serenity.

Paul also said, “Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (Romans 8:6 NLT).

I can please God with my mind, when I allow it to be fed with His Word and His purposes as well as keeping my mind focused on loving Him and Loving people. I won’t please God when I allow my thoughts to drift toward selfish ambitions and ones that may not regard loving others.

The best way to practice managing my mind to is focus on what he has told me and to avoid filling it with worthless things.