Christian Living

Self focused thinking to Christ centered mindset

by Lorraine Taylor
06/18/19
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In Philippians 4:8 Paul tells the Philippians to ‘think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praise worthy’. This is good advice for us today.

It is hard to be negative and have a poor attitude if we are spending our time praying, praising God for His blessings, and thinking on good things.

When entering into the process whereby we join with Holy Spirit to renew our minds as it is written in Romans 12:2 - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind….” we want to be careful we don't simply replace negative bad attitudes with a positive thinking mentality.

Positive thinking has its place but lacks the power to help in affectively bringing about the types of changes needed from life challenges such as traumatic events and/or violent/abusive relationships. 

We also want to avoid being overly critical with ourselves as we all succumb to having poor attitudes sometimes. We must remember changes are all part of God's redemptive work in us as He is the One who continually sanctifies our inner beings - molding us nearer into His image.

Any change is a process and we cannot expect immediate, easy or quick results. God created us with an amazing brain that is able to develop new pathways, including repairing damage that was done to us from childhood abuse, relational violence or other life traumas that caused PTSD and other mental health conditions.

As one who has been restored from severe mental health conditions that resulted from a lifetime of childhood traumas, I know this process is a very difficult one to enter into, but one that is more than possible with God as our source. Don’t feel ashamed to reach out for help in finding a spiritual mentor/guide/director/counselor to help disciple you in this process. 

How do we begin this process in renewing our minds/thought patterns?

1)      Ask the Lord to guard and direct our minds.

2)      Recognize and admit our need to change self-focused and self-defeating thoughts.

3)      Replace self-centered focused thinking with a God-centered focused mindset.

4)      Submit to Holy Spirit’s activity in choosing to participate willingly in this process.  

One of the best ways to begin, is to take a scripture verse(s) and meditate, ponder, think about, and reflect in considering the content and intent of the words in these verse(s) throughout your day.

To give you an example, scriptures verses I have been repetitively meditating upon in the past couple of weeks is found in the book of Psalms.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right and steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

As I have sung these versus, dwelt on the intent of the words, I am also asking Holy Spirit to cause my inner attitude to become God-centered, forming in me, His genuineness towards everyone I meet. 

Regardless of my determination and willingness to change wrong/poor/negative attitudes (grumbling, complaining, gossiping) that skew my mindset along with misunderstanding God’s truth, which all stem from faulty thoughts - it takes me relying on God's Holy Spirit to become the agent who helps to bring about radical and lasting transformation in my inner realm.

The above verse in Psalms is speaking about having a right attitude. An attitue that shows godliness. An attitude that is consistent in God's truth. An attitude that draws me nearer to God and shows sincerity, honesty, truthfulness and authenticity towards other persons.

My attitudes result from my thoughts; what I think about, what I obsess about, what I ruminate about. In reflecting on these versus I ask Holy Spirit to form a thought life and an inner attitude that bears fruits that blossom in thankfulness and appreciativeness of His Spirit in me, the gift of life itself and to perceive His goodness in each day.

As in any change we are seeking, we learn the necessity of digging into God's word along with His grace - allowing His love to be the trait that changes our thoughts - retraining and renewing them according to His truth.

This is the miraculous intercessory love where God desires to guide, direct, and lead us deeper, nearer, wider into His love as we think and process life; revealing our true identity as new creations - discovered only in His redeeming grace.

Thoughts have powerful ramifications in our everyday world. What we think about and what we think when interacting with all sorts of persons impact us on an emotional, physical and spiritual level.

When we actively choose to begin new habits, we find a power unknown to us prior, tapping into the unseen realm of the supernatural ability and activity of Holy Spirit. We learn it becomes necessity for our spiritual wellbeing to carve out sacred spaces in spending alone time in God to receive; refreshing of His love, empowerment, wisdom and continual spiritual reviving.

We develop new habits when we choose to be intentional with each new day to memorize, dwell, meditate, reflect, and incorporate scripture verses into our thoughts – which become rooted into our hearts and souls.  

Be mindful any change takes time, patience and a purposed focusing on our part to submit our thoughts to God. God's role is to fill us with His Holy Spirit who is the Christ life infused in us who brings about these lasting changes.  

The Christian is one who passionately develops a lifestyle implementing practical application of scriptures along with learning the art of Holy Spirit abiding in living out one’s faith; one moment, one hour, one day at a time; fixing our eyes, thoughts and attentions in Christ-centered ways of being.