Below is a video that I made to help people understand what it means to renew the mind…what it is, how to go about doing it and why!
I hope it helps you.
Thanks again to Barb Raveling for her help in understanding how to practically apply the wisdom of Romans 12:2!
Summary:
Renewing the Mind is, simply, thinking God’s thoughts after him.
First, choose a renewing of the mind goal. Why? Because it is our thinking that causes us to act. If we want to act differently and see different fruit in our lives, we need to start where actions are birthed–in our thoughts! What do you want to think differently about? The scale? Your body? Food? Your marriage? Your job? Probably, for our study coming up, you will want to select something that has to do with food, eating or weight, but it is your choice. Maybe you are an emotional eater, so you need to think differently about processing emotions. Maybe you don’t feel like you trust God. You might want to renew your mind about God’s character. So first thing, you want to pick a renewing of your mind goal.
Secondly, select times of the day when you will proactively choose to think God’s thoughts about whatever it is. First thing in the morning is a good idea for most of us since it might set the tone for the entire day. If you struggle in your marriage, you might also want to plan a renewing of your mind session for just before you see your spouse. If it is about food, you might need a mini-renewing of your mind session before you eat each time you eat! Let’s dive in and do this for all we are worth. Give it just a few weeks of diligence and hard work and you will be amazed at how you are impacted! You can also renew your mind in the middle of giving in to behaviors that are counter to your godly goal or after you have given in. It is best to plan a time before that happens, of course! But even if you “blow it,” you can renew your mind about whatever it is after the fact and it will help!
Thirdly, select strategies for actually thinking God’s thoughts after him. In this video, I share some ideas for that, but it is by no means comprehensive. You can use Barb Raveling’s I Deserve a Donut app. You can read scripture or review memorized verses. The bible is clearly where God shows us his thoughts, so it is a safe place to land to find things to think about for renewing your mind. If you want to be more specific, you can do what I have done. On an index card, piece of paper, on a file in your laptop or your cell phone or iDevice :-), you can create a file or jot down a list of TRUTHS about whatever it is that you want to think differently about. Then, each of the times that you renew your mind, you would read those things…preferably out loud. Pray over them and ask God to work them deeply into the soil of your heart and mind.
Also, in the video I say one of the things I like about 0 to 5 eating is that it is easy. Then I talk about Barb’s app and mention that 0 to 5 eating is hard. What I mean by that, is when I am tempted to stray away from it, THEN it is hard. That is when I need to stop myself from whining about how “hard” it is. It is always going to be hard to obey. But the principles are easy, simple, and doable!
I hope this helps clarify what renewing the mind is! 🙂
Mark your calendars for Mondays, starting one week from today–March 4th–for our study of Barb Raveling’s Weight Loss Bible Study. We will study putting a Thin Within Spin on the material.
Before we begin, I wanted to share with you some thoughts I have at the outset.
First, if you know me at all, you know that I don’t prefer focusing on weight loss. And that is one of the things I love about Barb–neither does she. Even though this study is called “Weight Loss Bible Study,” she focuses our attention on renewing our minds so that the transformation we desire physically is birthed by a deeper transformation inwardly. This is the only way to experience permanent change. It is only fair to warn you this requires a lot of work. You likely will be pushed out of your comfort zone. You may want to decide now what you will do when you are tempted to quit!
Secondly, Barb *does* use the word “diet”…be forewarned! So, when you see the word DIET or DIETING in Barb’s material during our study, please replace it in your thinking with “0 to 5 Eating” instead. Barb does a great job of speaking of boundaries. For those on diets, this may include points or calories or whatever else. For us, our primary boundary is to eat between 0 (physical hunger) and 5 (physical satisfaction). Please don’t let the use of the term “diet” throw you! God can use this material in our lives!
Thirdly, logistically, it can be easiest to work through the material if you print it out or have it on your own computer. I like to copy and paste Barb’s material into a Word document so I can interact with the material directly. This way, her blog posts become a journal for me that I save on my laptop. I can refer to it later or finish the study at a later time. If you don’t want to do that, you can print them out and/or journal in a notebook just as effectively.
What I do *not* recommend is to just do it in your head! 🙂 We tend to get lazy if we try that approach.
Given how much energy and effort and practice we have put into eating more than we need, causing us to carry extra weight, we can certainly spend time renewing our mind, thinking differently, by doing bible study. 🙂
So, what are your hopes, concerns, questions before we launch into this study?
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—
his good, pleasing and perfect will.
~Romans 12:1-2
Join me starting on Mondays for a “Weight Loss Bible Study” written by my friend, Barb Raveling at her blog. I love her stuff because it deals with the way we think. We want to CHANGE the way we think so that we change the way we interact with food permanently. God calls us to allow Him to renew our minds.
We will start with the first installment of her study on Monday, March 4 (or that is the plan), but don’t fear if you start late. ANYtime is better than never! 🙂
Of course, you don’t have to participate here. You could, instead, go directly to Barb’s website and respond in her comments section.
Barb’s material is awesome and definitely applicable in many respects to our Thin Within journeys, but please be aware that she isn’t a Thin Within participant. So, there are a few things in her study that I will throw a “Thin Within Spin” on! LOL! I hope you will join me here and DIALOG with me about it. In fact, it is time for a new contest! I haven’t had one in a couple of years.
For the duration of our study, any time you post a comment, I will put your name in a drawing. So if you comment one time, your name goes into the drawing one time. If you comment five times, your name will go in five times.
I will be giving away two Thin Within books and two of the newest release from the Hallidays – Hunger Within (which is an updated version of Silent Hunger, Get Thin Stay Thin, and Thin Again). I am not sure how long it will take us to work our way through the material, so we will go from March 4th possibly into May, doing her questions from her study on Mondays. This is a slow pace, and it is possible I will adjust that, but for now, that is the plan.
If you want to get a head start, go ahead and head over to Barb’s blog and begin with this page.
Have a look and then let me know…are you in? If you comment here, your name goes into the drawing for one of the free books!
I have already been so encouraged by the time I have spent learning or reviewing God’s attributes and “behaviors” that I thought I would share some of this with you.
I know some who land on this blog have done a Search Engine search for “mini bible study” so here is one that I hope encourages those web wanderers that land here and also for those of you who are traveling this Thin Within journey along with me–which is really nothing other than the road toward increasing Christ-likeness!
1. Open your bible to Psalm 145 or use this link to land on it at Bible Gateway in the New International Version.
2. Read prayerfully and slowly, listing everything that God does or is from this chapter of scripture. Include writing the verse reference next to it. The first two that I got from this are done below:
God is my King (vs. 1) (Note: I can deepen this study by writing out under this point what this means to me…what it means for God to be King.)
God is praise worthy (vs. 1, 2, 3)
And so on…Your turn! Complete the list throughout the entire psalm.
3. List the things that psalmist says HE will do or others who see God as He is will do!
4. Go back through your list and do what it says! In faith, pray thanking God for these things. For example:
God thank you that you are my King, that you are the one before whom I bow, that you are worthy of all praise and devotion.
Even if you don’t *feel* like these things are true, His Word says it, so they are true. Praying them back to God has an amazing ability to do wonderful things in our lives. We get lifted up when we lift HIM up.
5. If you struggle with a repetitive sinful behavior such as overeating, bulimia, anorexia, sexual strongholds, spending, hiding in online chat groups, forums, etc., and you know that God is calling YOU to live the abundant life of rising above all of this, how can doing what we did in questions 1 through 4 above help in some way? Invite God right now to show you.
In other words, what does doing the above have to do with fighting the tendency to over-eat or releasing extra weight?
I hope that you discover these very things as you do this activity.
** For extra study and enjoyment of God and His Word, do the same with any of the Psalms. To get you started: Psalm 63, and Psalm 73:23-28
*** PLEASE post a comment here if you like telling me and others who visit how God uses this in your life, insights you glean, etc. Others can be ministered to through YOU! 🙂
The last week, as I prepared to share in my life Thin Within group on chapters 28-30 in the Thin Within book, I looked at my lesson notes from the last session I taught. Boy, God did it again! He used those notes to really encourage ME! But beyond that, there are things that he showed me on the pages of the book, Thin Within, and in His Word…again…His Word really IS living and active…I want to share this with you.
This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is,
and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
~ Jeremiah 6:16
With all the words that it is so easy for me to spout off and all the messages and voices that are crying in this world to be heard, when I read this verse *this* time, I felt something…it penetrated my heart.
Questions for you that God asked me…I hope they lead you along a joyful time in His Word.
1.) WHO speaks these words? Journal what it means to you that the God of the universe, the One who spun the universe into existence, who called, by His Word, everything into being…that HE has something to say to YOU.
2.) What do you believe about His character? Can you support this in scripture? If you think that the one speaking in Jeremiah 6:16 is an ogre, a “boss” that you have to impress with your “goodness,” or a disapproving, crotchety Father, then that will affect how you see *what* he says in these verses. If, however, you see Him accurately, as he IS, you will be more likely to have a correct perception of his intentions and desires for you, His precious child.
3.) Are you familiar with the designation in many translations of the bible when the word, “Lord” is in all capital letters? When you see “LORD” as opposed to “Lord?” Traditionally, when you see LORD in all capital letters, it is when there were four letters there, known as the tetragrammaton. It is the Name that God used to reveal himself to Moses. It is often translated “I AM” as well. In John 8, Jesus told those listening, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM.” Journal what it means to you that I AM speaks living words to you in this moment. Can you still your mind and heart and know that He is God? That He is I AM? When all questions are asked in our lives, He is the I AM…the answer…
“Stand at the crossroads and look…”
4.) When you “stand” what are you NOT doing? What must you do (with forward movement) in order to be able to STAND? Is your life characterized by GO GO GO? How might it change if you stopped…and stood…
5.) Where do we stop and stand?
6.) What is implied by the idea of “crossroads?”
When we have a “crossroads” in our lives, we have a choice. In any given moment, we have a choice as to who will own the moment. Flesh? Or the Spirit? God? Or self?
7.) In your stopping, according to this passage, what are you to do? Stop and _________.
The great I AM speaks…He gently admonishes. “Child…it is ME…I AM speaking to your heart. Deep calls to deep! STOP your frenzied pace for a moment. Stop…stand….be still…and now…look. The choices are before you. Which will you pick?”
“…ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is…”
8.) What verb is mentioned twice in this part of the verse?
9.) If one “asks,” what does that imply about their knowledge? About their need?
10.) Who is the One we are to ask? (implied at the beginning of the passage…)
11.) Prideful, humble. Which of these two attitudes accompanies the ability to “ask where the good way is?”
As we choose to stop, stand, look at the choices before us, ask God what HIS way is, we are choosing a heart of humility. In that moment, we are taking captive our willful stubbornness, our rebellion. We are offering ourselves to Him…to ask Him, to hear Him…and then…
“…and walk in it…”
12.) Once we have stopped, stood, looked, evaluated, asked…this part of the verse implies God WILL answer. He won’t hang us out to dry! What are we to do then?
Re-read the verse putting emphasis on the word “IT”…
This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in IT,”
13.) Once we have stopped, stood, looked, asked, and heard from God about which way at our crossroads we are to go, what are we to do?
14.) How would your life change if you took a single moment captive for the Lord and did what this verse teaches? What if you took another moment captive for the Lord and did what this verse teaches? And another? And another?
A godly life is comprised of a godly choice in a moment, connected to another godly choice in a moment…those moments are opportunities where we have stopped, stood, looked, asked, and heard God say “This is the way…walk in IT” and done it in that moment. Try not to think about an entire LIFE of godly choices…that is next to impossible to fathom and will put us on tilt. Don’t think about losing 56 pounds or 120 pounds or 15 pounds. Think about THIS MOMENT. Can you do something with THIS moment? You can. You know you can. Now this one? See there? You have already captured a bunch of moments for the Lord just by hanging out at this blog! 🙂
“…and you will find rest for your souls.”
15.) List all the things you are to do from all of Jeremiah 6:16.
16.) What will GOD do in this passage? (There are at least two…they may be implied…do you see them?)
God will answer if we ask. But he will also give REST to our SOULS IF we walk in His way.
17.) What does “rest for your soul” feel like, sound like, LIVE like to you?
18.) Can you stop, stand, look, ask and walk in His way for a moment? If so, what are you promised?
19.) Respond to this material. Journal a prayer or sing a praise to God!
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.‘
20.) What is another choice a person can make?
A related passage is found in Isaiah 48:17-18:
This is what the LORD says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands,
your peace would have been like a river,
your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
21.) IF only what?
22.) Then what?
Surrendering to God’s authority, submitting to Him…brings peace…the visual images used in this passage are of a never-ending river and ever-rolling waves of the sea…your peace would be never-ending and your righteousness steady forevermore IF…IF… (Note, too, who it is that is speaking here in this passage, too…again, it is the LORD, the “I AM…”)
Look up Matthew 11:28-30 in your bible or here. The Thin Within book points out that we can experience the rest Christ promises in the midst of our busy lives by:
1.) Coming to Him when he calls.
2.) By admitting we are weary and burdened.
3.) By bowing our heads and willingly placing our burdens in His yoke.
4.) By learning from Him.
–> Which of these four things are hardest for you?
Let’s cease striving. Let’s stop trying to do this in our own strength. Let’s take THIS moment captive for the Lord. The next moment we will worry about…well…in the next moment!
He calls, He beckons, He draws you close, further still, deeper yet…will you come?
Journal a prayer of commitment about how you will allow these truths move you to action today. What will you do in response to Jeremiah 6:16, in response to God’s voice?
