Think Differently: As Your Mind Shifts, So Will Your Life
One of my personal prayers for the New Year is inspired by Romans 12:2. Every day, I’m praying, “Lord, transform me by the renewing of my mind.” May seem like a simple prayer, but for me, it’s one that I must daily pray so that I don’t find myself stuck in stinky thinking that hinders me from progressing and prospering along my God-ordained path to destiny. I don’t want to find myself expecting a new way of being while operating in an old way of thinking.
As I sat thinking about how important it is to have a renewed mindset when desiring better for our lives, the very first article I wrote for EEW back in 2010 came to mind. At that time in my life, I discovered the significance behind the slogan “Change your mind, change your life.” I’d been praying, hoping, fasting, and believing God to change my life, all the while stuck in a defeated way of thinking.
How often does that happen? You tell yourself things are going to be different at the beginning of each New Year, only to find that months down the road, absolutely nothing has changed. You’re praying and believing God for change, but still, nothing. Oftentimes, it’s simply because your mind hasn’t shifted. Until you come up in your thinking, you won’t come in your living. After all, according to Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he…”
If you want life to be different as you move forward in 2013, you first have to think differently. A defeated mind will never lead you to victory.
Change begins in your mind. Once you get it in your mind, your heart will believe, and through your actions, you’ll achieve your desired goals of success in life, love, and liberty.
I’m sharing my vintage article “Change Your Mind, Chang Your Life” with you below. May it encourage you to daily pray, Lord, transform me by the renewing of my mind.
“Good riddance,” I thought to myself as 2009 officially came to an end. I was too happy to step over into a new year, because 2009 had proven to be one of the most trying years of my life. Facing one situation after another, depression, despair and distress had become all too familiar to me. But, I told myself that 2010 was going to be better…things were going to change.
A few months into the year I realized something – nothing had gotten better. In fact, things were worse. How could this be? I’m praying; I’m in church every Sunday; I’m praising and quoting scriptures, so why isn’t God changing the situations in my life? Why am I sinking deeper into depression, and continuing to feel defeated?
One day, smack dab in the midst of one of my lowest valleys, I had an Aha moment – Your situations haven’t changed because your mind hasn’t changed. There I was, expecting victory when my mind was still wrapped around defeat. I had to realize that change first began in my mind. Before anything else, the paradigm of my thinking needed to shift. It was then that I adopted the motto Change your mind, change your life.
Through continuous prayer, fasting and meditating on God’s word, God began to destroy the yoke of bondage in my mind. Although it wasn’t easy, it was in the changing of my mind that the spirit of depression and defeat were lifted and I learned how to deal with the trials in my life, instead of allowing them to deal with me. Though not every wrong situation in my life has been made right, because my mind has changed, my life is changing for the better and it’s absolutely amazing.
Change begins in your mind. The thoughts you think determine your attitude. Your attitude determines your actions. Your actions determine your outcome. The adversary wants nothing more than to entangle your mind with thoughts of defeat, hopelessness and despair, in hopes of causing you to give up on life. I encourage you to tell the devil he’s a liar and seek God for a mental makeover. Ask Him to rid your mind of every debilitating thought that keeps you from moving forward, and help you to take on the mind of Christ.
As your mind begins to change, so will the situations in your life. Your thoughts will change; your attitude will change; your actions will change; your outcome will change. Think victoriously!
As your mind shifts, so will your life. It may not be an easy process to weed out old ways of thinking and adopt the mind of Christ, but with pray, patience, and perseverance, all things will become new. Happy New Year! Happy New Thinking!
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Reader Comments (2)
I am FOREVER thankful & grateful for anything I've had to go thru and endure in my 29 plus years of living, it was THOSE things that made me the woman i am TODAY, in life there are times we MUST go thru in order to obtain the tru blessing/calling the LORD has in store for you. I have no power/control over any1 else, however i do have the authority to control how i react to others and things I take on in my life, when i started to see things with a positive & faithful mind, i saw things thru a whole new perspective, fully knowing that GOD was NOT going to put anything on me that i could NOT handle, nor should i take on things knowing that the outcome in the end was not going to justify the right NOW satisfaction. The changed thinking brought upon PEACE, which then brought about (what seems like to others) unexplained JOY but, that's okay, I can explain it-thanks LaKeisha Rainey-Collins, i just love your articles, it be right where my head is at (CONFIRMATION)
Although you wrote that "vintage" article in 2010 it is FOR ME today. Thank you! By the way, I have been reading your column for quite some time now. I notice that you are very open about struggles and what you go through in your life. I just want to say thank you for always keeping it 100. You don't know how many times you have hit the nail on the head for me and touched on something I was going through. I don't really like to comment on blogs but I had to say something today. You are a blessing to me. Happy New Year and New Thinking! :)