Lesson for March 17, 2024
The Power of Thought
Lesson 3
Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Conformed to this world refers to the thinking of Satan’s world system, called Human Viewpoint Thinking. In other words, it refers to every thought and action which is contrary to the absolute standards of the Word of God. Believers must learn accurate Bible doctrine in order to distinguish between human viewpoint and divine viewpoint. Knowledge of God’s Word is the only way to accomplish this and understand the difference between human good and divine good. Thoughts lead to actions, therefore the necessity to renew your mind from human viewpoint to divine viewpoint. Colossians 3:1-3, “Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Philippians 2:1-2, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.”
There is one possible way to accomplish what these verses instruct us to do, which is unity of thought. As advancing believers, we should all be united in our desire to bring honor and glory to our Savior. This should be our one purpose in life. The “ifs” in these verses are first-class conditions, meaning “if and it’s true.”
We have encouragement in Christ through what He accomplished for us on the Cross and His example of how to live the Christian life by following His pattern of living. We can be consoled by the love of God, in times of disappointment or suffering, as we look to God and understand hard times are only temporary. We have experienced the love of God by our faith in Jesus Christ at salvation and continue to experience His love by receiving greater blessings from Him, as we increase our capacity to receive them.
We have fellowship with the Holy Spirit when we stay in fellowship with God by using the Rebound Technique based on I John 1:9. When we are in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit, He will empower and guide us, enabling us to think divine viewpoint and glorify Christ.
Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are fixed on You: because they trust in You.”
A mind fixed on Christ is the basis for perfect peace. You can neither know Christ nor love Him apart from the knowledge of Bible doctrine. The word peace has the connotation of spiritual prosperity, spiritual benefit, and tranquility. Peace from God is a stabilizer for believers in any circumstance they encounter in the Christian life. This stabilizer makes it possible for believers to face both adversity and prosperity with freedom from worry and concern. Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
The Christian Way of Life is designed for believers to always have peace in their souls, not only in times of prosperity, but also in difficult times. There are dangers in prosperity, as well as in adversity. The peace resulting from the application of Bible doctrine produces a confidence which will sustain you through prosperity without you becoming arrogant, and through adversity without you falling apart!
Philippians 2:1-2, “…if any affection and compassion.” The affection and compassion we have as believers refers to impersonal love and grace orientation toward others on the basis of the knowledge of the Word of God. How we think about others determines how we treat others. If we view others as God views them with compassion and kindness, then we are thinking divine viewpoint.
Philippians 2:2, “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.” Unity of thought among believers means they are on the same page spiritually when it comes to thinking the way Christ thought. When the purpose of believers is to glorify Christ by what they think, the love of Christ will be evident in their attitude, thoughts, and actions. Believers in a local church setting should be growing together spiritually – not necessarily to the same degree, but certainly with the same consistency.
II Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love, and discipline (a sound, stabilized mind).”
A stabilized mind is a direct result of a mind free from fear, worry, and guilt. There is a way to stop fear in its tracks, according to I John 4:18. This way is called “virtue-love” (“perfect love” in the King James Version of the Bible). The Greek word for “perfect” is “teleios,” which means complete or mature. It has also been used in connection with the Greek word “arête,” which means virtue. Therefore, virtue-love is spiritually mature love. Virtue is strength of spiritual character in believers; it is the character of Jesus Christ being produced in them.
Virtue-love is Christ’s character of unconditional love exhibited in the life of the spiritually maturing believers. This is the love that drives out fear and replaces it with faith. The reason this is true is that what you love the most is what you think about the most. If our love for God has matured into unconditional love for others based on our virtue and our integrity from God, we will not fear anything or anyone, because we have Divine Viewpoint Thinking. This virtue-love brings with it confidence and encouragement.
A companion sin to fear is worry. Worry is a result of fear. Worry causes all kinds of problems: spiritual, emotional, and physical. Worry keeps believers from experiencing all that God has designed for them to enjoy. God did not place us on this earth to be miserable and worry about every detail of life. The Word of God says in John 10:10 that God has given us life and has given it more abundantly. God wants us to be free of worry and anxiety by having a relaxed mental attitude.
A relaxed mental attitude is possible only when we are executing God’s plan for us under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. This means staying it fellowship with God a maximum amount of time. An understanding of who we are and what we have as a result of our relationship with Jesus Christ should cause us to relax and stop worrying. We will stop worrying about things over which we have no control, about what others think of us and/or about the future. God’s Word commands us to stop worrying and start trusting. (Matthew 6:25-33; Philippians 4:6-9)
An attitude of guilt is a mental attitude sin that destroys capacity for life and causes believers to become weary, stifling the ability to think clearly. Guilt, like all mental attitude sins, manufactures its own misery. All believers have failed. No one is immune to failure. All believers possess a sin nature, and we are all guilty before God. However, we are talking about the feeling, not the fact of guilt. We all have something of which we are ashamed, yet our lives are to be free from shame and guilt. For this reason, we must constantly examine our spiritual lives.
God does not want us to live with the millstone of guilt around our neck. Self-recrimination is a waste of time and energy… time and energy we could be putting to better use. This is why He has provided us with the solution to sin after salvation. So why get upset and feel guilty? Just follow God’s instructions.
We need to stop “buying into” the way Satan’s world system thinks about sin (this includes religion), which is that a person must make up for the wrong they have done by some system of human works. What we need to do is to start thinking the way God wants us to think about sin, which is keep short accounts by admitting our personal sins to God immediately when we realize we’ve sinned. Following God’s instructions found in I John 1:9 restores our fellowship with God, which results in restoring the filling of the Holy Spirit – the power we need to learn and think divine viewpoint.