Stefanie (00:00.274)
Welcome to the Life Changing Manifestations podcast, where it's all about creating real change, transforming your life from mediocre, from average to amazing. It's about learning to ask for more, become more, do and achieve more so that we as Christian women can glorify God. So with that, let's dive into this week's episode of the Life Changing Manifestations podcast. What does the Bible have to say about how you think?
If you're like me, you might be surprised to find out just how much God has to say about the way that we think. Throughout the Bible, there are so many different scriptures that speak to our thoughts, speak to the condition of our heart, which is our subconscious. Any of the content that I publish is always talking about how your thoughts are creating the reality that you have. Your thoughts seriously influence how you see the world, your perception of what is happening around you.
and thus how you feel about the things that you're experiencing, how you feel in order to go and create, to do, to just be who you are called to be. And with all that in mind, it's so important to realize that we can come back and we can learn at the root from our creator, the one who made us this way, who programmed us to have the ability to think, not what to think about. He didn't program us with direct thoughts, which is amazing.
God has given us free will to think as we like, as we choose, but He has been gracious to give us instructions on how to properly use our thoughts, what to think about, and how effectively to live out our lives using the power of our thoughts. In this video, want to introduce you to some of the scriptures that I'm using to help me to meditate, just the means to focus your thoughts on what
God tells us to think upon. And in addition to all of this, I have a special free bonus for you. I'm going to show you in just a minute, some beautiful slides every time I give you the verse. That way you can read along with what's on the screen. If you like any of that artwork and you want those verses so you can put them as a screensaver, just put them somewhere that you can look back and reflect on the scriptures. You can get this whole deck of beautifully stunning graphics with the verses printed right on them.
Stefanie (02:26.998)
and you can get those digital files for free. I'm giving that to you as a gift. Along with that, I'm giving you two meditations, meditations that I personally recorded to help you to meditate on these different scriptures. There's two so that we can go through a couple of different verses in each one. So I encourage you to get the link to download those free resources and start to use them as you focus, as you train your mind, and your heart on what God says we are to think about.
All right, let's take a look at these verses. The first one says, fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4, 8. This is one of the verses that I have shared with my children about how we are to think. The first thing I want to point out to you in this scripture is that it says to think about things that are true. So I always get my kids first to check on is what you're thinking true.
because they like to harass each other. They like to twist words and say things. then the other one's like, no, I didn't. And they just, you know, they're all at each other about this at this age. And it's, you know, it is what it is. But with that being said, I get them to stop and think, Hey, hold on. Is what he even said true? Like, no, he's lying or no, he made that up. And I'm like, so why are you even retaliating? Why are you creating this argument? Just walk away.
It makes no sense to argue with somebody who's saying things that aren't true. Like, okay. So teaching this basic core concept and I bring it back to this scripture. So it doesn't just say for us to think about things that are true, but then which elements of truth or we to reflect on. Keep going with that. When we think about things that are true, we also need to think about the things that are honorable and the things that are right and pure and lovely and admirable.
And so when I say things to my kids and I'm trying to break this down, I'm like, okay, could we say something that is true, but not lovely, something that is true, but not pure? Sure, there's a lot of things that are truth, but do we need to let our thoughts dwell there? Do we need to be consumed in thinking these things? And the fact of the matter is, friend, whatever it is that you get caught up in,
Stefanie (04:50.528)
If you think I'm not good enough, I don't have the experience enough, or I'm too experienced and nobody wants me now at my age, whatever it is that you start to think, that is your truth because you're connecting there. And you can even go out and find the evidence to say, okay, look, Stephanie, I could defend it. It's true. But friend, is that pure and lovely? Is it admirable?
Is it going to be uplifting to your spirit? It is an honoring of who you are that God has made you to be. I'm going to challenge you there that likely it's not. So you need to reflect on the things that are both true and all these other qualifications. And as an added bonus, they are excellent and worthy of praise. So if we're caught up in the negative thoughts, are we really thinking about things that are excellent and worthy of praise? God wants us.
to be in the place where we can be creating so that we can bring him glory, not in a place where we are tearing ourselves down and we are distraught and we're thinking about negative things. They might be true, but they're negative and they're lowering our value, our energy, and just who we are and who we can become moving forward. And so I challenge you friend to stop and reflect on what you are even thinking about and to catch those negative thoughts, release them or refrain them.
edit them or delete so that you can start thinking about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Our next scripture says, you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you and all whose thoughts are fixed on you. That's Isaiah 26, three, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. Friend, keeping the perfect peace, like to imagine that, is for those
who are keeping their thoughts on God. Do you see that if we keep our thoughts fixed on God, how that can create a calm, how that can create this ultimate peace in our lives? This is just an added benefit of how we take control of our thoughts. God gives us so many different directions for what we do with our thoughts, how we should think. This is one of those that we get to see this is the benefit of what happens when we fix our thoughts on Christ.
Stefanie (07:03.116)
Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Matthew 22, 37. No further explanation needed. Let's go to the next verse. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. Capture, think about that word. That's an intense word that vividly should put something into your mind.
I want you to think about that when you go and you start to acknowledge what it is that you're thinking, you become aware of it, and then you capture those thoughts that are negative and you're going to need to get rid of them. You're going to take them captive and make them obey Christ. You are obeying Christ by taking your thoughts captive and your thoughts can come under submission of Christ.
and so that you are thinking about those things that are true, are honorable, are admirable, all the things that are excellent and worthy of praise. You see all these verses, if you start to build them together, start to finesse how we are thinking and how we are shaping our lives. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
It is Romans 12 to. OK, so a lot of people wonder what is God's will for my life. Well, friend, if you're seeking to know this verse out of Romans is a good place to get started. Psalm 1914 says, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. And I love the visual that goes with this verse because it's just
It's It's sweet. It's bringing the heart under submission. It's bringing your thoughts captive to put them and lay them at the feet of Christ and say, Lord, please lead me. Please guide me so that the words of my mouth, the things that you're speaking and the meditations of my heart, what I am feeling, what I am believing inside of me may be pleasing to you, O Lord. That's powerful. Friends, there's so much for you to unpack here.
Stefanie (09:21.27)
meditate on these scriptures. Colossians 3.2 says, think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. And Ephesians 4.23 and 24 says, instead, let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and holy. For us, as Christ-centered women, when we are learning to take control of our thoughts, we go the extra step.
that we are following biblical principles, what is outlined here in scripture, to take our thoughts captive and to think how God wants us to think, not how the world is thinking. Our worldview, which means just our lens and perspective, how we view things and how I've always said it's shaped by the way that we think. This is why it is so important that what we are thinking, the source of it is coming from scripture, is coming from God, so that we are looking through the lens.
how God would want us to look at the world. Not that so we can become and be like the world, but so that we can see what needs to be seen, where we can step in, where we can glorify Him, where we can be a ministry, where we can be serving, where we can be a light to the world. There's so many different things there. And this is a part of you stepping into your own calling and how you are going to live out your purpose to glorify God.
Friend, it all starts by how you take control of your thoughts. Are you seeing this? Like I keep saying that because that is the foundation. Is you understanding how you take control of your thoughts because that is what creates the life that you are going to live. Study this book of instruction continually. That's the Bible. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. Joshua 1, 8.
There is a study that they did that showed that people who only get into the Bible once a week, it has barely any effect in their lives. Well, she was. If you only go to the gym once a week, or if you only eat once a week, or if you only talk to your spouse once a week, what kind of relationship are you going to have? Like, what are we expecting? But just using the average to show up on a Sunday, hear the word of God, go about the rest of your life, you're wondering why people don't have a deeper experience with God, don't have a life that reflects God.
Stefanie (11:43.197)
We are to meditate on the word of God day and night. And so the study that they did, it goes on to show that it's not until somebody is in the word at least four times a week that they start to see real transformation happening in their lives. It's right there. We're not surprised by that study, are we friend? We know because the scripture tells us right here in the book of Joshua that we are to meditate on the word day and night. We're to be in it regularly.
letting it guide our thoughts and thus guide our lives. Proverbs 4 23 says, guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. There's not space in this conversation to go into the heart and the mind. And I like to think of it as your conscious and your subconscious. There's two ways that we think and we function as humans. And so, but this is guarding your heart. And one thing that I will say,
is your conscious mind. Like you can actually say yes or no to thoughts. You have that control in your conscious mind. But once it goes past your conscious mind, once you have allowed in a thought and you've allowed it to sink in, it becomes a part of your subconscious and it takes greater amount of work to get it out of you because anything that you have taken on as a belief, anything that has become a part of your program is going to start running your life. It's going to start being a part of who you are.
And so friend, it's so important to guard your heart from what other people say, what other things you're allowing to be filtered in and come into your life. Friend, become aware of what you are allowing to sink into you. Become aware of what you're allowing to just be coming without even a filter, without even a guard. You've got to put up your defenses. You've got to guard your heart. And our last scripture comes out of Isaiah 26, three. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you.
all whose thoughts are fixed on you. And that is God. friend, there's so much here and I hope that you will get those meditations and use them to help you to start reflecting on the scripture and meditating on it day and night, paying attention to your thoughts, guarding your heart and taking your thoughts captive to fix them on God. He knows what is best for you. And because he loves us so much, he gives us these instructions to help us to guide our lives. Friend,
Stefanie (14:08.137)
Just let me close out this session with just a quick prayer and encourage you once again to get those meditations to take this work deeper. Dear Lord, thank you so much for your guidance and for your instruction on how we are to take control of our thoughts and to be able to know what it is that you want us to think about, what matters, where our focus should be so that we can create better lives that are going to glorify you. We thank you for our free will.
to be able to think what we want to think. I mean, that's amazing. Thank you for that. Thank you that we get to allow our personality to come out in our thoughts and we get to think about the things that we delight in. And we just know that there's so much more that we can be doing and achieving and just using to glorify and using our lives to glorify you. And so please help us to take control of our thoughts and help us to meditate more on your word, to get into your word, to start to read it on a regular basis.
so that we can apply this into our lives. In Jesus' name we ask and believe, amen.
