Lesson for March 3, 2024
The Power of Thought
Lesson 1
Isaiah 55:7-9, “Let the wicked abandon their way, and the unrighteous person their thoughts; and let them return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on them, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
God allows us freedom of thought, as well as freedom of choice; however, He holds us responsible for what we think and what we choose, so our thinking and choices are of extreme importance to God. The choices we make as Christians determine what our lives will be like. No choice, no attitude, no action can be formulated without first having a thought. Therefore, the Christian Way of Life is a life of thinking. This series will examine the two areas of thought from God’s perspective. Others may judge you by your behavior! However, God judges you by what you think!!!!
Medical science has discovered a connection between physical and mental health. Many illnesses are a direct result of psychosis of the mind. In order that we might understand the correlation between the mental (what we think) and the physical (how we feel), we will define psychosis. The word itself comes from the Greek word “psuche,” meaning soul or mind and the Latin suffix “osis,” meaning abnormal. Psychosis is therefore an abnormal condition of the mind.
Medical science now knows what has been known in Scripture for a long time — that our thought processes can lead to physiological problems. Any mental attitude of continuous fear, worry, anxiety, or any way of thinking that causes continual mental tension, will eventually affect the body. Many diseases, disorders, and conditions of the body are often the result of negative thinking. Proverbs 23:7, “For as a person thinks in their own mind, so are they.”
The Two Viewpoints of Life
While there are many different mental attitudes, there are only two viewpoints for believers — divine viewpoint (God’s point of view) and human viewpoint (mankind’s point of view). Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Unbelievers are capable of human viewpoint only. Ephesians 4:17-18, “So I say this, and affirm in the Lord, that you are to no longer walk just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their minds, being darkened in their understanding,
excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.”
Believers are capable of both human viewpoint and divine viewpoint. Romans 7:21-23, “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully agree with the law of God in the inner person, but I see a different law in the parts of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, the law which is in my body’s parts.”
As believers, we constantly struggle between divine and human viewpoint. The reason we struggle with these two viewpoints is the negative influence of Satan’s world system upon our sin natures. While we are not of this world, as Jesus said, we must live in this world system which is controlled by Satan, and his system hates believers. (John 15:19). The thinking of Satan’s world system constantly tries to influence us away from divine viewpoint thinking and living. However, God desires us to be transformed to His way of thinking. (Romans 12:1-3) You cannot live God’s way, if you do not think God’s way. Your way of life right now is being influenced by what you think. Since you have free will, you can think whatever you want to think. (Colossians 2:8)
Satan’s world system has a way of thinking, called Human Viewpoint Thinking, that does not line up with God’s thinking. God’s thinking is found in the Word of God, called Divine Viewpoint Thinking. (I Corinthians 2:16; Hebrews 3:7, 4:12; II Peter 1:12-21)
In order to have Divine Viewpoint Thinking, you must know the doctrine taught in the Bible. The more Bible doctrine you know and apply, the more Divine Viewpoint Thinking you will be able to exhibit. The less Bible doctrine you know, the more Human Viewpoint Thinking you will exhibit. The more Human Viewpoint Thinking you exhibit, the more insecure and unstable you are going to be.
Consistent study of God’s Word keeps Divine Viewpoint Thinking fresh in the mind and helps counteract Human Viewpoint Thinking. (Psalm 119:129-135) Thinking your way through life with divine viewpoint will bring victory, peace, power, and stability. (Isaiah 26:3-4, 33:6) However, vacillating between Divine Viewpoint Thinking and Human Viewpoint Thinking makes a believer unstable, according to James 1:8. An unstable believer is an unhappy believer.
When Divine Viewpoint Thinking is developed through consistent study and application of Bible doctrine, it produces confidence and mental stability based on the absolute truth of God’s Word. This confidence and stability lead to spiritual maturity. Therefore, God wants all believers to grow up spiritually! (II Timothy 2:15; II Peter 3:18)
The Christian Way of Life is about what you think. And remember, you can glorify God by what you think! One biblical example of Divine Viewpoint Thinking is the story of David and Goliath. The emphasis is usually being placed on what David did. However, the Bible puts the emphasis on what David thought. I Samuel 17:37, “And David said, “The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So, Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
David habitually looked at life from divine viewpoint. He was “a man after God’s own heart (mind).” I Samuel 13:14, “But now your (Saul) kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought for Himself a man (David) after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” David’s greatest desire in life was to know the mind of God. (Acts 13:21-22)
The Christian Way of Life is a supernatural way of life, which cannot be lived apart from knowledge of Bible doctrine and the power of God the Holy Spirit. This way of life requires proper doctrinal thinking. All changes in our lives must come from the inside, and the true character of believers is determined by what they think. (Romans 7:6, 8:2; 12:1-2; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18)
The Christian life began with thought, resulting in a change of mental attitude towards Jesus Christ, which resulted in salvation. After salvation, believers make the choice of what their lives will be like. God never forces us into any course of action, we make our own choices. God designed the Christian life so that we can think divine viewpoint and be part of a much greater plan – the resolution of the Angelic Conflict.
God has provided each of us with a sound mind, under the filling of the Holy Spirit, based on the knowledge of accurate Bible doctrine. (II Timothy 1:7) This means that we have the potential for thinking divine viewpoint. As believers, we are told that we have the mind of Christ, which is Divine Viewpoint Thinking. (I Corinthians 2:16) Divine viewpoint thinking can be discovered only by study, knowledge, and application of accurate Bible doctrine. The result of this kind of thinking is peace, power, stability, and victory. This means that all believers are capable of having Divine Viewpoint Thinking. (II Corinthians 10:5)
During the Church Age, God has chosen to reveal His essence and plan through His written Word. Therefore, our attitude toward the Word of God is our attitude toward God. If we pursue Bible doctrine, we love God; if we only listen or study at our convenience or when we are in trouble, then we insult God. If we only study and fail to apply the doctrine we are learning, then it does us no good. Application of God’s Word means that it has become a part of our thinking.
If the Word of God is not changing our thoughts and actions, then we are not properly applying it! A wise believer is a believer who uses what they learn!