Renewing the Emotional Mind

Image via Wikipedia

“Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Behind every outward manifestation of weakness or dysfunction, there is a root cause. It should also be understood that at times the root cause for your behavior may be grounded in mental and/or emotional conflicts that you are not conscious of. Your mind is a major component of your soul. Your soul is a mixture of your emotions, your mind and your will. Where your mind is concerned, a thought is a means to activate your intellect. The intellect is the seat of reasoning. As your body has a built-in system to eliminate wastes, the intellectual activity of your mind controls your thoughts. Thought life is extremely important because your personality and character is reflected in the way you think.

The more steadfastly you fix your mind on a particular thought, the thought then becomes “an imagination.” The stronger the “imagination,” the closer you come to taking the action that the particular thought suggested. You can determined how close you are to making a mistake by monitoring your thoughts. In most cases, the innermost voice of the spirit will break through to your mind and tell you not to take the particular action you were about to take. However, if you are out of touch with your spirit, you will generally yield to the thoughts of your mind. If your reasoning is defective, your thoughts can manipulate you in a negative manner. For example, consider the person who thinks: “I can shoot heroin just once and I won’t get hooked or I can take just one drink and I will be okay.” Such a thought will bring about an action that will ultimately produce a major repercussion.

Rationalizations and justifications are the products of an unrenewed mind. In such cases, you make excuses for yourself by blaming others. In order to correct the thoughts of your mind, you must take the following actions:

1. open your intellect to examination by being

honest with yourself;

2. stop a thought in mid-stream and analyze it;

3. change the words of your mouth;

4. say “no” to that thought, out loud if necessary.

Anyone who makes decisions either by the influence of the mind or the emotions is usually weak in his or her will. Your will is the organ that examines, distinguishes, judges and makes decisions based upon the information received from your mind and your emotions. Choices can be enduring and long-lived. Unfortunately, you can make the decision but you cannot choose the repercussion.

The way to victory is to establish a value system or a set of principles that will be followed regardless of the emotional situation. Since feelings generated by our emotions are so changeable, we should never take any action during highly emotional times. Moreover, you should not allow any external force to create any feeling in you that is against your will. If you follow the leading of strong, negative feelings, your whole being will learn to thrive on these sensations, your willpower will be paralyzed, and your mind will become undependable.

In order to renew your mind, there are some key points that should be underscored:

1. You are what you THINK you are. Your thoughts have power to draw both positive and negative energy. If you have practiced negative “self talk”, in the same manner, you should consciously practice positive “self talk.” Positive thought will bring forth positive talk. Positive talk will bring forth the fruits of victory and success.

2. A part of renewing the soul is to learn how to deal with what is uncomfortable. Struggles and failures supply the necessary preparation. You must learn to picture in your mind a positive outcome in “all things.”

3. Once you discover what you need to learn about your own inner struggles, there are other people who will need your testimony and your influence so that they too can be victorious. A major purpose of struggling is that you can become consolers of those who are struggling in those areas where you have become triumphant. By planting new seeds of power into your minds, old patterns and habits will be destroyed. In a metaphorical context, the seeds are the “words of power.”

Deliverance counseling and mentoring is designed to renew your mind by the word of God.  Why not start the New Year with a commitment to take control of your thoughts by booking a telephone counseling session with licensed therapists from a biblical perspective. There is no commitment to continue. So call 518-477-5759. You won’t be sorry.

Related articles

• What Is a Born Again Christian? Salvation 101 (pamsheppardpublishing.com)
• Get Motivated – Get Renewed (633woman.com)