The surge in gym membership activity across America since January 1 is beginning to fade. The percentage of Americans practicing body fitness is at an all-time low. Perhaps worse, people who identify as Christians are canceling their mental gym memberships in record numbers. Last week, Noah focused our attention on investing in your mind. Today, I want to walk you into Jesus’ Mind Gym and reacquaint you with your membership.
The key to LifeMastery is exercising control of your Mind. The Apostle Paul says a fruit of the Spirit is self-control. If your mind is out of control, so is your life. Exercise self-control by getting your mind in the gym.
I loved Noah’s video last week. He discussed the mind and the importance of connecting it with the Spirit. He asked how we can spend 18 hours each day without spending meaningful time in the word and presence of God. He quoted 2 Corinthians 10:5 with Paul’s advice to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.” Noah pointed out that if we are not focused and consuming Jesus’ truth, we won’t be able to take captive our thoughts because we won’t have a metric to identify the lie the enemy’s selling.
How does this work, and what is the process? How do I get my mind in the gym to exercise this ability that Paul teaches?
The answer is by having the words of Jesus dwell in you. The Apostle John says that the Word of God is Jesus, the light of men (John 1:1-4). Jesus has about 55 instructions that light our path. Each instruction is about loving God, loving people, or making disciples. If you want your mind to be ready to defeat the enemy’s lies, you must get in the mind gym and focus on perfecting each of Jesus’ words. Which one will you train on first?
Experts in spotting counterfeit bills don’t train by looking at the counterfeits. They prepare by becoming incredibly familiar with the real deal. They spend so much time exploring and reviewing $20 and $100 bills that they immediately know something is off upon seeing a counterfeit. They might not even see the flaw initially, but their mind already tells them it’s fake.
So it must be with you and the words of Jesus. One of His instructions is to love your enemies and bless those who curse you. The counterfeit of the enemy is that you should condemn your enemy and curse them. What would be the process of transforming your mind to quickly and automatically respond to an enemy with love and blessing?
Get in Jesus’ mind gym. First, become familiar with Jesus’ instruction on loving your enemy so that it begins to dwell in your consciousness. Become intimate with it. Ask the Father to teach you about it. Read Jesus’ additional teaching and parables describing it. Meditate on this truth. Visualize a past situation and imagine yourself loving and blessing someone who came against you. As you train the mind to focus on His truth, you will begin to see the enemy bring the counterfeit or lie in your life circumstances. You will have the opportunity to adjust your behavior to love and bless an enemy. You might fail at first. No one is perfect out of the gate. It will take time to practice His instruction. With every circumstance you enter, you train and renew your mind to automatically respond with Jesus’ word to love.
Can you imagine how much easier LifeMastery would be if you naturally loved and blessed your enemies? Think of the freedom and elimination of stress you’d experience! It turns out that living the words of Jesus’ instructions is the pathway to abundant life and perfecting LifeMastery in every area, but this is not absent of work from you. As more Christians lack the desire to live the words of Jesus, be different and choose to abide in His words. Pick one of Jesus’ instructions today and get in His “mind gym” so you can renew your mind so you may prove the will of God and discern the lies of the enemy!
We’re in your corner,
Rob Dayton
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