About three weeks ago we had a guest speaker at our church and he said something about the need to renew our minds. Well, it was actually a confirmation for me to write this post! What’s On Your Mind? Because what’s on your mind has a huge impact on everything else in your life.

Every now and then I hear women say that they don’t have time to spend in the Word (Bible) on a regular basis, but yet they are struggling, stressed, full of anxiety etc. Other times I hear “Christians” swear like it is no big deal – this was the case about two months ago as I was talking to a believer and they kept using cuss words. It might be one thing to let a word fly because we stub our toe on the foot of a table or something, but to use swear words like every day normal language, that is not what the Lord desires for His people. What we think tends to impact what we say. We are told in the Word that our speech should be good and it should build up and encourage others. So why is this? Well, some of it is because a large part of the Church still prefers to be influenced by the culture we live rather than by the Holy Spirit and some of it is because of a lack of spiritual growth in the Church. We see in scripture that we are not to conform to the world (culture) we live in, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Why? Because, if we don’t allow the Word of God which is a living, active word transform our minds we are going to have a difficult time knowing and understanding what pleases Him, what He desires of us and for us, and we are going to have a hard time thinking the way He thinks. This transformation comes through spending time in His Word on a daily basis. How do you get to know someone if you never spend time with them? We can’t know God without spending time with Him, talking with Him, listening to Him – an important part of that process is reading what He has said to us in His Word.

In 2018 only 15% of surveyed Christians spent time reading their Bible on a daily basis. Yikes! 26% spent 15 – 30 minutes in their Bible when they did read it, and only 7% spent 45- 59 minutes in their Bible when they read it. Yet, on average people spend 3.5 hours on their phone or device daily and spend on average about 5 hours watching TV (it’s more if they are watching things that are on DVR). Maybe you are thinking, “I spend 5 minutes a day reading Jesus Calling” or something like it – Here is the thing. Even if we read a few minutes of scripture a couple days a week, even daily, the Word is still the least of what is being taken in and processed by our minds. We only think that we are ‘renewing’ our minds. In order for the Word of God to transform our minds it has to be what is taking up the most space in our minds! If I spend 20 minutes reading scripture then turn on secular radio for the next 3 hours of my day, what do you think is having more impact on my mind? Not the Word of God that I just read.  Ephesians 4:23-24 Paul talks again about our old nature being gone and being renewed in the way we think! It’s not that we don’t have time to spend with God in His Word, it’s that we are NOT willing to make time to be in His Word. The believer’s relationship with the Lord is just like any relationship they have with a spouse or friend…to develop them takes intentional time. If we want our minds to experience the transformational power of God’s Word, we MUST be intentional in making that time! If we do this we will be amazed to find that we are less stressed and have more peace rather than anxiety. So, what’s on your mind? That’s it. StraightUp!

“Finally brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest (noble), whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are praise-worthy, THINK on these things.” Philippines 4:8