Controlling Our Thoughts

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds.” - Ephesians 4:22-23

The Holy Spirit comes into you to make you like Jesus. He wants to make you like Jesus so that other people will want to know Jesus. When the Holy Spirit of God takes over your life, not only will your actions change on the outside, but also your attitude will change on the inside. This truth is illustrated in Ephesians 4:22-23.

The Holy Spirit not only listens to everything we say as believers, but He reads every thought that we think. He is so sensitive that when our minds go where they should not go – whether it is in the area of lust, jealousy, or bitterness – it grieves Him and breaks His heart. We often forget this truth, but it is just as wrong to think wrong, as it is to talk wrong or to act wrong.

Do you know what you are supposed to do with your thought life? You are supposed to let the Holy Spirit do His work exactly like Paul wrote to a church in Corinth when he said, “…we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Almost every time we fail to do what God wants us to do it begins in the mind. So often, the sin of adultery begins with lust in the mind. The poison of bitterness is poured from the glass of anger in the mind. Jealousy of the success of others begins with envy in the mind.

Everywhere your mind wanders the Holy Spirit is there waiting on it. Do you know why our thought life is so important to God? It is because the way we think determines the way we feel. And the way we feel almost always determines the way we act. If you think angry thoughts you will feel angry; and when you feel angry you will act in anger.

The Holy Spirit not only wants us to act godly; He wants us to think godly. He wants us to literally think the thoughts of God, because as believers we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). So how do you control your thought life? You fill your mind with godly thoughts. Fill your mind with Scripture. Ask the Holy Spirit to replace bad thoughts with His thoughts. The Holy Spirit is real and He can do what only God can do – because He is God.

Application: Is your thought life pleasing to the Holy Spirit or does it grieve Him? Practice filling your mind with godly thoughts today.