One Key thing that helped me with Mind Renewal - Practical tips for Mind Renewal

I was asked recently in a comment on one of my YouTube videos if I had any thoughts on the practical side of mind renewal. Immediately I wanted to sound wise, and I was thinking, well, 3, 7, 21, all important numbers. From my Physical Therapist training, these were taught to us as inflammation patterns, and bodily system change patterns. In scripture, 3 is the trinity, and we are spirit, soul, and body, and 7 is the number of completion or perfection; and of course, 3 times 7 is 21. On and on my mind went. Then I realized, without the right heart position, if someone doesn’t learn the truth of their true nature and character, and God’s amazing nature and character, it could be very easy to just try to memorize scripture with patterns like this. This of course isn’t mind renewal. Mind renewal is truly being changed, transformed, made completely new, from the inside out, by God, as we renew our mind. When its renewed, we can test and approve Gods good, pleasing, and perfect will. Isn’t that awesome. That means, that when we have a renewed mind, we are walking in the will of God, we are living life in alignment with the spirit, it is who we are and how we live, because the spirit inside of us is one with the Holy Spirit, and we are letting it shine. It’s a marvelous thing, and good things come from it. For ourselves and others, as we are blessed to be a blessing.

Praise God!

            There is nothing wrong with discipline. Self-discipline is one of the fruits of the spirit. I am so thankful for learning that, because I had started avoiding self-discipline with reading the word of God and prayer because I didn’t want it to become legalistic. That is just silliness. That is walking in fear. Instead, I had the opportunity to start thanking God that He created me to have self-discipline. That He created me able to focus, learn, and understand the word, and have patterns, and rhythms of life. Those patterns don’t earn me anything though. In the natural of course, there is reaping and sowing affects, but in the supernatural, there is no earning, Jesus paid it all, we are already righteous, and we could never better that. Jesus did it all. (I’ll put some more practical ideas at the bottom, with scripture to back it up).

            I’m not thinking… no, you shouldn’t read your word before bed, and in the morning, and have a pattern to group scriptures in a topic so that you can stay focused and learn what God is teaching you. That is fantastic. God wants us to have focus. He designed us with the ability. We could have a pattern of bowing before the Lord daily, or more than once a day too. Again, not as a ritual to earn, but as a pattern to help us remember to be present in our whole body with God, to present our body as a living sacrifice before Him, Holy, and pleasing to Him. All good things if done in the heart posture of zeal for God, and desire to commune with Him more, and obey Him, and walk according to the word and spirit.

            Instead of thinking avoid patterns for mind renewal, I am thinking… I want everyone to be having relationship with Jesus, with Father God, with Holy Spirit as the key. I remember when I started in a bible study where I started learning God’s true nature and character, and really renewing my mind more to Him, and just having increased zeal for God, the Holy Spirit helped me read His word.

            I started working on reading little bits, and actually trying to really open my heart to hear from Him. To set aside the wisdom in my owns eyes, and preconceived notions of what the scripture meant. I started to realized through the bible study, that my spirit really could confirm truth or not, that I could just read scripture with an open heart, and He really does lead and guide us into all truth. It’s fantastic.

            So Holy Spirit guided me to start reading little bits of scripture (I wasn’t yet able to focus for long), with thanksgiving, and prayer, and repeating the scripture in the understanding that came out as well. I would read a line, and start thanking Him for it if it was possible. As I thanked God for whatever the line, or chunk of scripture was, my mind really took hold of it so much better. I also spoke out the understanding of that scripture as I thanked Him, so I read it as it was written, but then basically reread it in my own words, with thanksgiving to God.

            I realize now, looking back, that was more key than I ever thought. To be honest, God has had to point this out lately, as an important thing to start sharing. I mean I’ve mentioned it a lot as a suggestion for people, but I just figured because it was helpful, but not how important it has been, and continues to be to my mind renewal, and my relationship with God. I loved doing it, still do of course, but it was so new to me. Just to sit and thank God for the truth in the scripture as I read it. I was still learning, so maybe I didn’t understand one enough to thank Him, and that was okay, but I just thanked Him for whatever I could.

            I started making little recordings of these, where I would read the scripture, maybe in a few versions, and then thank God for whatever truth I found in that scripture. Part of the reason for that was simply that I would have a greater ability to stay present and focused if I knew it was being recorded (strictly for my own use, never to be shared). I started listening to these as I fell asleep, and slept, and it was still going upon waking, since it was on repeat. It was a gift to have truth, and words of life upon waking, and as I slipped into sleep. Also, if I woke in the middle of the night, I could just tune my ears into those scriptures and truths. Since I only recorded the scriptures I had sat with and thanked God for, they were ones I was seeing through a new covenant lens, and really affected me positively to listen to as well. (currently I will just listen to a book or 2 of the New Testament on repeat for a month and I am loving that, but wondering if I should go back to my old pattern).

            So, I challenge you to thank God for scripture as you are reading it, and to speak out the meaning as you understand it led by the Holy Spirit. It’s also a great benefit to use scripture to pray over yourself and others as well, thanking God as you do. Its amazing, and really powerful. It helps us understand what the words we are reading and speaking repeatedly are about. It helps us keep the focus on God, and our relationship with God, because we are thanking Him as we read. Of course we are to thank God always, there are plenty of scriptures that talk about this, so it is even being a doer of the word, not a hearer only, to speak out these scriptures with thanksgiving to God.

            With that in mind, yes, it can help to be organized. One option that seems to be helpful is to have a topic, and ask God to help you find a couple scriptures on that topic, and sit with those scriptures before bed, and upon waking, thanking God for them, as you repeat them, and alternate scriptures each day, and do the same topic for 21 days, and then the same general topic for 63 days. I do like doing the method we do after my laugh with me sessions, which is emphasizing one word each time you read the sentence, so you end up repeating it a lot, and the emphasis sometimes seems like no big deal, but can actually help you notice words and meanings that you wouldn’t have otherwise.

            However, even better is, do these things, get scriptures to focus on, and as you sit with them, and repeat them, speak them to God, as a praise and thanksgiving, with a heart of gratitude for what God has done for you. Speak the truths over yourself and others and praise God for the truths.

            It all can be summed up with time praising God in my opinion. I love walking around and just thanking God, and saying praise the Lord. I love speaking and sing to God; “You are worthy of it all”. I didn’t know that He was so good when I started out, it was very much a conscious decision to thank Him and say He was worthy of it all, but I was learning it was true. Sometimes of course there are moments and days still where I don’t feel like praising at all, but I am not led by my feelings, but by the Holy Spirit. I am aloud to experience feelings, not a problem. However, they don’t rule or control me. I am spirit, I have a soul, and I live in a body, and I get to keep that hierarchy in mind, and everything is much better! So the truth is that God is praiseworthy, and I can even ask Him to help me praise Him, and to help me focus, and He does, it is beautiful. We just get to choose to turn our heart toward Him, and truly seek Him, not just for what we can get, but to be with our precious Lord and Savior, and the maker of this amazing world we live in!  

I realize that all the repetition I did, and still do of scripture reading was super helpful, but without the focus on thanking God for the truths in the scripture as I did it, I don’t think my heart would have been changed as much. Since the point of mind renewal is to truly be changed, to walk in the will of God, and shine His light, it only makes sense to me. Hope it was helpful to you. Share your thoughts!

If you missed it at the start, a video with demo is HERE. And below are some more practical tips for mind renewal! Join us for live free sessions to help renew your mind to the word of God, and to have accountability by subscribing HERE. (scroll to bottom to subscribe for free live mind renewal sessions)

In addition, sort of separate from the above blog, I thought it might be helpful to add in some more typical practical advice for mind renewal.

Scripture tells us that Blessed is the man who turns away from the things of the world, and who’s “delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.” Psalm 1:2-3 BSB. There are countless scriptures to tell us to meditate on the word of God, (the Law of the Lord, the perfect law of liberty). So what is meditate? It is to mutter, to perseverate, to run over and over in our mind, to speak, to declare, to ponder. So in other words, we are switching from perseverating on worry, and self-hatred, to perseverating on Jesus, the word made flesh. We get to choose to run it over and over in our mind, to ponder it, to speak it. I can’t tell you how much I repeat little bits of scripture and truths. Especially a few years ago, it was usually out-loud because if I wasn’t speaking something out that was truth (or listening to something of truth), my mind would definitely go back to its life-long pattern of perseverating on and pondering things that were not life giving. So this is key.

Daniel bowed before the Lord 3 times a day as his regular habitual practice, and if it was good for him, it is probably good for us. Not to earn anything, but again, as a practice to keep our heart turned toward the Lord in thanksgiving! (Daniel 6:10).

Psalm 63 demonstrates praying even in the middle of the night. If you wake in the night, don’t focus on your lack of sleep, but on God’s goodness. That’s one of the reasons I love the scriptures playing at night. I can just tune my ear in if I’m lying awake. “When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.” Psalm 63:6 BSB.  Other verses in Psalm 63 and may other places talk of blessing the Lord, and our lips glorifying Him, speaking praises to Him!

Psalm 19 and 119 are all about the word of God, and I find them inspiring for direction as well. Its not just about knowing the word, it is about delighting in it, delighting in Jesus, and praising the Lord.

References

The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB Copyright 2022 by Bible Hub Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.