Making A Difference Through Mentorship

Henry Ford is often quoted as saying, “whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.” From Henry Ford's perspective I have amended his statement slightly providing us the theme of today’s podcast.  If You Think You Can You Will.

Proverbs 23: 7 tell us, “as a man old woman thinks that's who we really are.” It was psychologist James Allen that stated in the late 1800s that, “if we alter our thinking, we alter our lives.” Most of us don't really think about how we think… we just think without thinking.

Whatever we think and dwell on is going to be playing on the movie screen of our mind.  So let me ask you… what kind of movies have you been playing in your mind?

Are they movies and scenes that includes thoughts of depression, negativity, grief, worry, despair and hopelessness, sorrow, anger, bitterness and resentment? What we think on repeatedly is going to determine our mindset and how we view ourselves, others and the situations in our lives. “If we alter our thinking, we alter our lives.”

Philippians 4: 8-9, in the Amplified Version gives us instruction as to what we are to think about and imagine. “ Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome,

Whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. 9 The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.”

God gives clear instructions about what we are to think about.  In order that we live in peace and prosper in our lives. If You Think You Can-You Will. You will experience the promise of Isaiah 43:19…”Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

“THINK LIKE GOD THINKS” (ISAIAH 55:8-9)

Psalm 102: 13, “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come.”Time is generally defined in the original Greek as “Chronos” and “Kairos”. Chronos represents a chronological time calculated in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years.

“Kairos” represents a God-appointed time when something is to occur. “Kairos” generally denotes God’s divine intervention in your life to accelerate or bring to pass some occurrence or event on your behalf. It is an unplanned, unexpected, and unscheduled moment in your life when God decides to bless or favor you according to His sovereign will.

Favor is an uncommon blessing or breakthrough God Himself has orchestrated and ordained for your life. The set time of God’s favor positions us for success and transcends any and all barriers erected by people. Whether they may be racial, social, cultural, financial, relational or even generational barriers. God’s favor rises above them all. The Set Time of Favor has come for us as God's people!

God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Learning to Think Like God Thinks is a lifelong journey. This doesn't mean that we don't ever Think like God Thinks, but when we are honest with ourselves, we know that we don't always Think Like God Thinks.

The mind can be likened to a warehouse of our imagination, recognition, perception, memory, judgment, and consciousness. This includes the good, the bad, and the ugly times of life. Our predominant thoughts influence our behavior and attitudes which further influence our actions and reactions.

Another way to view this point is that our thoughts are like a video that plays on the screen of our minds. To make changes in our lives, we must play a different video, a video that lines up with cultivating the ability to Think Like God Thinks throughout life.

How do we "think the thoughts of God?"  It is the practical application of the word of God on and in our lives, which is having the "mind of Christ" (Philippians 2:5).

Dr. Gregory L. Cruell

God Thinkers (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, 161-180 A.D. “The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.”  David, the man after God's own heart one day spotted Bathsheba bathing while walking upon his rooftop and then summoned her to his palace to sleep with her although she was married to Uriah, one of his soldiers. David then had Uriah killed in battle to cover his sins (1 Samuel 13:14; 2 Samuel 11:2; 2 Samuel 23:39). The color of David’s thoughts and soul was the catalyst for his sin.

A precept or life lesson that we learn from David is that if we allow our soul to be in control, then our soul will negatively influence our thoughts. In turn, negative thoughts will color our actions and conduct with potentially devastating consequences.

It is also important to note that David repented and declared, “Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires” (Psalm 51:10, TLB). At this point, the color of David’s thoughts and the pattern of his thinking were reshaped by repentance and accountability so that he was brought back to the attributes of quality thinking. The quality or color of our thoughts also reflects our values. 

When we are determined to Think Like God Thinks, we are better able to defeat and overcome negative thoughts that have the potential of destroying our witness of righteousness in representation of the Lord Himself.

The Mindset of An Overcomer is always aware of their spiritual condition and victorious in life when they have their spiritual eyes wide open and are not led astray by the world (Ro. 12:1-2). An overcomer is also a person who succeeds in gaining control of some problem or difficulty. They prevail in spite of opposition, difficulties, weakness, and hard times.

God's expected end for you and for me is we think more like God thinks and that we develop the mindset of an overcomer knowing that our sovereign God’s will covers us every day of our lives and we are more than conquerors because we are overcomers!

Proverbs 23: 7 declares, “that as a man or woman thinks, that is who we really are.” Our thought life, the way that we think, is an inseparable aspect of our human existence. Neuroscientists and neuropsychologists tell us that we have anywhere from 60 to 80,000 thoughts a day and half of those thoughts are negative.

And as we stated in last week's podcast, you don't have to be a negative person to have negative thoughts. Negative experiences with people, negative experiences on the job, even negative experiences with family members will produce negative thoughts.

Our lives move in the direction of our thoughts, like a current in a river, moving us either closer or farther away from becoming the best version of you that God has desired you to be. If you want to change your life, you and I must begin by changing our thoughts.

Our primary focus for today’s podcast is a portion of what Paul taught Timothy as his son in the faith and as a young pastor of the church at Ephesus.

In 2nd Timothy 1:5 in the NLT, Paul says of Timothy, “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you.”

However, and whatever  Timothy thought about himself, Paul now reminds him in 1 Timothy 6:11,  "you are a man of God." And the man or woman of God is to pursue 6 things: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." (1 Timothy 6:11)

You and I can do all things through Christ that strengthens us in righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness (meekness). Thinking from this perspective influences our living that makes a difference in the lives of others for the glory of God.

At some time in your life, you have undoubtedly heard the theme of today's podcast. However, I would like to add to today's theme that most of us don't even think about how we think or what we think because we simply think!  And what we think influences and impacts our emotions and what we do.

The Bible reminds us in Proverbs 23:7, "As a man or a woman thinks, that is who we really are...” In addition to Proverbs 23:7, God says, in essence, to Isaiah, we've got a problem. You don't think like I think.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Neuroscientists and neuropsychologists tell us that we have anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day and half of them are negative. It is important to know and understand you don't have to be a negative person to have negative thoughts.

Negative experiences are going to produce negative thoughts. relationship struggles, the death of a loved one, a business that you created and established that fails, money issues, family issues, and the list goes on and on.

The aim of today's podcast is to review principles and precepts of how we can learn to THINK MORE LIKE GOD THINKS.

As we do so, God equips us to overcome negative thoughts that only come to hinder, harm, harass and keep us from God's promise of John 10:10 in the Passion Translation. "But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect--life in its fullness until you overflow!" YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK.

God is always thinking about us and He says, "I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for (Jeremiah 29:11, MSG Bible).

In the larger context of Jeremiah 29, God’s people were in exile in Babylon for seventy years, and it was important for them to adjust to their environment.

The thoughts that God had towards His people were imagined, invented, and purposed in His mind despite their captivity. God just needed them to "change their thinking."

In English, a thought may be defined as the “process of using the mind to consider something. It can also be the product of the process of an idea that has the potential to become that which we act upon or carry out.” 

The Voice translation gives this statement, “We are demolishing arguments and ideas, every high-and-mighty philosophy that pits itself against the knowledge of the one true God. We are taking prisoners of every thought, every emotion, and subduing them into obedience to the Anointed One.”

The word thought, as Paul uses it in the latter passage, means a design or purpose. In other words, what is the purpose of this thought? What is the potential action or outcome connected to this thought?  

The prophet Isaiah states, ”You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You”(Isaiah 26:3, AMP). 

Therefore, God says whatever we imagine, when our minds are on God, He will give us perfect and constant peace!  

God’s peace is the assurance of present and future security, deliverance, and success! God’s peace delivers a person through all the conflicts, strife, divisions, trials, and temptations of this life. The question that follows is, “How do I keep my mind, my thoughts on Him?”

One solution is to have purposeful daily reflection or reflective thinking about Him! It’s All About Him! Think Like God Thinks and be at peace in your mind!

A detox can refer to the process of removing toxins or harmful influences from our lives.

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company once stated, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right,” emphasizes how much attitude and the way that we think determines our success or failure.

In the Message Bible version of Romans 8:37-39, the Apostle Paul declares, “None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master and Lord has embraced us.”

Ford had his share of setbacks and failures, but chose to overcome the negative, toxic thoughts and sometimes people, and because he refused to give up or give in to his dream of affordable automobiles the Ford Motor Company is worth almost $126 billion today.

Any thoughts that are contrary to God's plan for your life require a detox. God says in Jeremiah 29:11 in The Message Bible, "I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for."

Stand on God's Word and detox toxic negative thoughts from your life because God knows the plans that He has for you.

The title of today’s podcast is Detox Your Mind. To detoxify refers to the removal of poison or toxic substances from something contaminated. For the purposes of this podcast, detoxifying means to counteract the activity or effect of toxic thoughts that contaminate our thinking. Paul tells us in the New Life Version of 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We break down every thought and proud thing that puts itself up against the wisdom of God. We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ."

Paul understood the war that takes place in our thoughts, how our circumstances and imaginations can become weapons that undermine our faith and hope. Knowing the truth of Romans 8:14… “They that are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.” The word led in this passage is translated as “ago.” Detoxing our mind begins with being determined to be led by the ago of the Spirit and not our ego.

Being led, the ago of the Spirit makes us to be, causes us to be, declares us to be the sons of God! Where our ego, rooted in our souls (emotions, intellect and will) has the potential and ability to cause our thoughts and emotions to run or govern our lives rather than our lives being governed or led by the Spirit.

As you listen to today's podcast God will provide you with principles and precepts enabling you to Detox Your Mind which further helps us to win the battle for your mind (Romans 12:2). 

Dr. Gregory L. Cruell, "God Thinkers" (Isaiah 55:8-9)