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Back to Basics Part 1: Our Thoughts

Charles F. Stanley

Scripture: Philippians 4:8

Have you grown in your relationship with Christ since you trusted Him as your Savior?  Are you still excited about the Christian life, or have you sort of drifted from the Word of God and grown stagnate?  If you are to become what God wants you to be, there are six areas of your life that must be brought under discipline.  And today I want to deal with one of those areas—”Our Thoughts.”

I. The power of our thoughts

The mind is the control tower of our life.  Our thoughts govern our relationship to God, others, our successes, our failures, and the direction of our life.  Godliness is the result of thinking rightly; thinking like God thinks.

II. The problem with our thoughts

  • The influence of our past
    • When we were saved God gave us a new spirit, a new life, and a new beginning, but He didn’t blot the past from our mind. Why?   God wants us to use the good and bad of our past in ministering to other people.  We will be sensitive to their needs because of our past experiences.
    • The more God uses us, the more Satan will attempt to harass us.
  • The wrong input
    • What we allow into our mind each day greatly affects our thoughts. (Examples: television, magazines, newspapers)
  • Results of wrong input:
  • 1. Ungodly input creates an appetite or acceptance for the things of the world.  Things that were once sinful to us become just a different set of values.
  • 2. Ungodly input can create a spirit of hostility toward the things of God.  When we develop an appetite for ungodly things, godly things begin to irritate us because they make us feel guilty.  We begin to edit God from our life, and strongholds develop.
  • A stronghold is an area of thinking in which we allow Satan entry.
  • Satan cannot force his way into our mind.  It’s our private space.
  • Satan blinds the mind of the unbeliever. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
  • Satan deceives the believer. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

III. Programming our thoughts

God is looking for people who are thinking His way and looking at things from His viewpoint.