Thinking TruthSample

TWO KINDS OF WRONG THINKING

Thinking truth requires a daily commitment to prioritize listening to the voice of God over anyone else. When we fall off the wagon of right thinking, there are two ways we can go.

1. Self-loathing: Thinking less of ourselves than God thinks of us.

You can’t look confidently at God because of your shame.

You think God is disgusted with you, and you understand.

You don’t know how you could make a difference in the lives of others.

You look at God’s promises and tell yourself, “Those aren’t for me.”

2. Self-elevating: Thinking more of ourselves than we think of God.

You look in the mirror and see your highest authority.

You think God is a great help to the life you’re building.

You are focused on others primarily as a means to move up yourself.

You read the above three and self-implicate by saying, “This is never me.”

God loves to put His power on display by cultivating humble thoughts where pride once ruled and conquering thoughts where defeat once ruled. He does this to show us that He’s strong enough to bring down the prideful and gentle enough to lift the defeated.

Our minds are either under the control of God and guided by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) or under the influence of Satan and all that is evil. Satan is so skilled at influencing our thoughts and directing our life away from God’s best that he even tried to take out Jesus with his craft. This epic battle for control is described vividly in Matthew 4.

Satan tried to twist the truth in three distinct ways. He tried to take down our Savior by suggesting shortcuts, appealing to celebrities, and flexing some power. Jesus survived the desert and these three temptations because of two things: 1. He walked into the wilderness powered and guided by the Holy Spirit (see Matt. 4:1). 2. He was well-versed in truth so that He could fend off Satan’s twisted lies (see Matt. 4:1–10).

God’s Word is our first defense against the lies of the world, our flesh, and Satan’s temptations. Tomorrow we’ll take a more detailed look at how you can begin to wield it as a weapon to fight against those lies.

BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND:

• Take out a sheet of paper. Write down everything that you’re thinking about yourself. Good, bad, or ugly, don’t hold back.
• Next, read through the list of Scriptures from yesterday again.
• Now, on another sheet of paper, draw a line down the middle from top to bottom. On one side, write “Lies to Reject,” and on the other side, write “Truths to Own.” Separate the thoughts from your first sheet of paper into those two columns.
• Surrender the lies to God and ask for His thoughts about you to cover them.
• Save the truths to own for later this week.