Bill Johnson - How to Make Your Thoughts Work In Your Favor
The lies that you and I have dealt with throughout our lives must be addressed. It’s not good enough that we get out of the red; we have to get into the black. It’s not sufficient that I stop the bad thoughts; I must replace them with what God says. I must replace them with what God actually says. What does He say? Here, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Faith doesn’t come from the mind; we know that faith comes from the heart. But the renewed mind is like the banks of a river, creating the context for faith to flow in. The renewed mind will always work in cooperation with faith. Faith sees, faith perceives, and the renewed mind will always function in the perception of what faith sees and cooperate with that very thing that God has designed.
So, number one: the renewed mind makes possible or gives occasion for the miraculous. You know your mind is renewed when the impossible looks logical. There is reasoning available to us that is not hype; it’s not sweaty, and it’s not through human effort. It’s actually the mind of Christ. It’s revealed in Scripture, page after page after page. The renewed mind anchors into what God has said above every other voice. The Bible says, «Let God be found true, and every man a liar.» If I spend more time receiving input from mainstream media than I do from the Word of God, then my depression is self-imposed, right?
If I believe a lie, I create it. If I embrace a lie, I create a place for that seed to germinate over time through my thinking. I water that seed with my confession until it sets down roots into my personality and actually affects how I interact with people. That kind of lie can only be removed through repentance. We know that repentance means to change the way you think. However, the part that I don’t always emphasize, but I am purposing to highlight from here on out, is that Scripture says godly sorrow produces repentance. Repentance is not a mental exercise; it is not mind over matter. It is not simply choosing to think differently about this. It comes from a place of deep sorrow.
Let’s say you entertain thoughts of self-doubt. I understand it’s easy to spot the devil’s suggestions of immorality, stealing, or lying—those are easy to identify. That’s the devil wearing a red rubber suit. It’s easy to spot. It’s when he comes looking like Jesus that we have a hard time. That’s pertinent. He is called an angel of light; Scripture says he comes as the angel of light. When he comes with a suggestion that is actually self-doubt, it feels humble, and it’s embraced by believers. Self-focus in the name of humility is just quiet pride. Self-absorption is the issue. If I embrace that lie—let’s say of self-doubt—where God has said I am to obey the Lord and go in a certain direction, and I’m filled with self-doubt, I tell myself, «I just don’t think I can do that.»
I think, «I’m just not that kind of person. I don’t have that personality. I don’t have that gifting. I don’t have the right training; I don’t have whatever.» That kind of self-doubt is actually feeding into a lie because it is contrary to what God said. I might think, «Well, I don’t think too highly of myself,» but I fall for the lie that that is humility, when it is not humility at all. It is arrogance and pride because it wars against what God has said. That kind of sin, which all of us have fallen into, is uprooted only through repentance. Repentance is, «Father, I have chosen to believe the opposite of what you said. Forgive me.» Godly sorrow produces change.
The first thing that the renewed mind does for us is position us to partner with God to see the impossibilities of life bow to the name of Jesus. The renewed mind opens the miracle realm. Secondly, it connects us— as I’ve just been discussing—to true godly self-esteem, which is essential. Self-esteem that is contrived from our own discipline is, you know, it’s not something I mind. I wish more people would do it, actually. Just fake it if you have to. The world would be a better place if you just lied to me—I don’t care. Scratch that last part; that was unnecessary. But biblical self-esteem is seeing what He sees, saying what He says, and believing His word over everything else in our lives.
The war against identity is so huge and significant. It’s behind the absolute destruction of the concept of fatherhood in our nation. I don’t mean to say that a single mom cannot impart any identity to her children; it’s just that there’s such a war over identity. That’s the whole point. Unfortunately, what happens out there doesn’t always stay out there. Sometimes, what happens out there comes in here. The very battle that your neighbor faces, if you fight the same battle as your unbelieving neighbor with the same tools they use, you’re going to have the same outcome they have, regardless of the fact that you’re going to spend eternity with Jesus.
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They are divinely designed to fit in your hand—well, they are divinely designed to be grasped by every single individual in this room. It’s not an ill-fitting sword; it’s a perfectly fitting sword that is in accordance with your design, your purpose, and what God has said over you. It is possible for you to completely annihilate every lie thrown at you. Paul told Timothy to wage the war according to the prophecies made about him. Take the word of the Lord and fight your fight! In other words, your destiny is on the other side of this war. Come on! So take God’s word and get there. Do whatever you need to do to get there. That’s His design; that’s your purpose. But take this word to get there.
Part of what we do, in terms of self-esteem and purpose, is not to work on our self-esteem so that we feel better about ourselves; that’s a nauseating conclusion. I should say it more delicately. It’s a conclusion that could be better. How was that? Did I do alright? Was that kind? It was a gentle way to say, «Don’t do that; that’s not wise.» What is the purpose of your self-esteem? Your self-esteem is anchored in the nature of God. You don’t find out who you are until you find out who He is. Yes, self-esteem is our confidence in design, which means we are automatically devoted to our designer.
Alright, let’s go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I spoke, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I spoke this week to some of our students from this chapter, and I don’t want to say this verse is haunting me, but it truly is; it keeps following me everywhere I go, and I can’t shake it, nor do I want to. The Lord is definitely trying to build something. I feel like this is a now passage for us to better understand the hour we live in.
So, verse 3: «For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.» Picture with me a stronghold: if we were in biblical days, you would see cities made of huge, carved stones, and each wall would consist of various stones. Inside, there would be houses or castles. If you’re from Europe, they have these beautiful castles built from these stones. A stone is not a stronghold; a single stone does not create a dwelling place. But repeated stones, when connected together, eventually build a place where the enemy can hide unrecognized. He hides behind illegitimate thoughts. When I embrace an illegitimate thought that the enemy has suggested and dwell on it or meditate on it, I am building a habitation for the enemy to dwell unrecognized.
Does that make sense to you? This castle-like edifice, and the enemy hides inside. We can’t see him. He comes out at night to attack, but we don’t spot him during the day because he hides behind a way of thinking that is illegitimate. So, he says, «The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for the purpose of pulling down strongholds.» Pull down the illegitimate thought patterns that enable the enemy to kill, steal, and destroy.
Verse 5: «Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.» Every lie I’ve ever believed was thrown at me to get me to question what He is like. Every lie aimed to get me to question His nature, His promises, His covenant. «Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.»
Let’s say, for illustrative purposes, that this is an army in here—an actual physical army fighting an actual physical war. Outside this room is an enemy army, and within that enemy army is a world-renowned terrorist who kills, rapes, and maims for pleasure and delight. We put together a team of Green Beret-type operatives, and we send them out. They sneak behind the enemy’s camp and take that world-renowned terrorist captive and bring him into our camp. Now, imagine that terrorist is here, and we retrain him with his zeal and willingness to put his life on the line. We train him to fight not against the purposes of God but for the purposes of God. That is exactly what happened to the Apostle Paul. Saul of Tarsus, who sought to kill, was apprehended by the Lord and brought to the front lines of battle. He became the captive thought that now works on behalf of the kingdom of God.
The lies that you and I have dealt with throughout our lives must be addressed, but it’s not good enough that we get out of the red; we have to get into the black. It’s not good enough that I stop the bad thoughts; I must replace them with what God says. I must replace them with what God actually says. What does He say? Here, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It’s apprehending that which was working in me to undermine my identity, confidence in God, and faith. Now that very thing that was working against me is now working for me, building up my faith, confidence in God, and sense of esteem and purpose. My thought life is now used for my welfare, not against me.