Importance of the Mind

"...Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your Mind

Often Christians focus only on the spirit and the soul.  Yet, it's the mind that plays a huge part in determining how deep and how far you grow in your walk with Christ.  The mind also plays a huge role in the quality of our lives as followers of Christ and pursuers of our callings. 

Basically, as the mind goes, so goes your life in Christ.  As the mind goes, so goes the power and the quality of that life. 

You go in the direction of your mind.  Your mind is the gateway to the heart.  This is true regardless of what enters your mind.  Of course, what enters our mind can be negative or positive.  It really doesn't matter if what enters our mind is negative or positive.  What enters your mind will guide you.  This is why it's so important to guard what goes into your mind.

Two Basic Parts of Your Mind

Your mind is made up of two basic parts...the conscious mind and the subconscious mind.  Your conscious mind is where you have conscious thoughts and make conscious decisions.  

The other part of  our mind is the subconscious mind.  Our subconsious mind is where all of our beliefs (both negative and positive),  and perceptions are stored.  

Roughly about 90% of our decisions, are subconscious decisions made from our subconscious minds. Your subconscious mind is designed to protect you.  Thoughts and reactions you have, if you dwell on them will become ingrained in your subconscious mind. The subconscious is the large part of your mind that you can't see.  The conscisous mind is the part of your mind you can see.  

Whatever you tell your subconsious mind, will be held by your subconscious mind as true.  So, if you tell yourself you're not loveable or something is impossible to do, you're subconsious mind will look into its memory banks (just like with a computer), and give you reasons why you're not loveable or why is something is impossible.  This is why the mind and  specically your subconscious mind, plays a huge roll in how effective you'll be in fulfilling God's call on your life and your destiny. 

The very important thing to remember is, you will go in the direction your subconscious mind wants you to go.  

What You Focus On Expands

What you focus on expands.  Again, it doesn't matter if what you focus on is negative or positive, it will expand.  For example, remember a time when you kept on focusing on a problem you and how bad it was?  Remember when the longer you focused on it, the worse it seemed to be?  What you focus on expands. 

Why is this?  Have you ever heard the statement "let me sleep on it"?  Have you been in a situation where you've tried to find a solution to a problem? You've wracked your brain, trying to find a solution, but only drew a blank?

Out of frustration, you get go of your problem.  Later on, "voila!" a solution came to your mind.  You might've wondered "why didn't I think of this before?".  

What you focus on expands.  Again, it doesn't matter if what you focus on is negative or positive, it will expand.  For example, remember a time when you kept on focusing on a problem you and how bad it was?  Remember when the longer you focused on it, the worse it seemed to be?  What you focus on expands. 

Why is this?  Have you ever heard the statement "let me sleep on it"?  Have you been in a situation where you've tried to find a solution to a problem? You've wracked your brain, trying to find a solution, but only drew a blank?

Out of frustration, you get go of your problem.  Later on, "voila!" a solution came to your mind.  You might've wondered "why didn't I think of this before?".  

This was your subconscious mind finding a solution to your problem. Your subconscious is designed to give you solutions to your questions.  When you focus on something or a question, your subconscious mind goes into "detective" mode to find answers for you.  It takes what your focusing on and seeks to give a solution, if it's a question, or to agree with you, if it's a statement. 

Reticular Activating System

So, if you start your day, and something negative happens, early in our day, what do we often say?  You say something like; "I can see this isn't going to be a very good day".  Guess what?  Your subconscious (actually a part of your brain called the reticular activation system), seeks to find reasons to agree with your statement.  

Remember when you were thinking of buying a new car?  While you were looking at cars, all the time, it seemed, you'd see cars parked or on the road, just like the one you were thinking of buying.  

What was going on?  Was there, all of a sudden, all of these cars just like the one you wanted to buy on the streets and in the parking lot?  No.  You're reticular activation system was filtering out information irrelevant to your car purchase and would only bring to your attention, information pertaining to your purchase. 

Going back to the example of saying you weren't going to have a good day, your RAS filters out all information that doesn't pertain to having a bad day.  So, you start noticing things and having things happen to give you reasons to continue to believe you're having a bad day.  So, remember; what you focus on expands. What you focus on will either help propel in your calling and destiny or play havoc with it. 

• When you focus on God, who He is, His love for you, His mercy and power, His willingness to help you, strengthen you, be with you and give you solutions; these things will expand. 
• If you focus on your anxieties, worries and the things that cause you to worry or be anxious, obstacles to solutions to your problems, these too will expand.
• If you focus on your own abilities, with no need of God and apart from God, these will expand.  This is true whether you are focusing on your lack of abilities, small thoughts, or your past or past regrets.  These will expand. 

"Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth"

Colossians 3:2