Creflo Dollar - Impact Thinking
This is our key scripture here, Romans 12, verses 1 through 2, and let's read it in the King James, and I've got some good things I want to share with you. Verse 1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service". And then he says, "And be not conformed to this world," don't be conformed to this world. He says, "but be transformed," now, that's change. Instead of being like the world, he says you're gonna be changed from the world. You're gonna look at your life, and it's not gonna be like the world; but, unfortunately, you look at a lot of Christians today, and they're just like the world.
And so, you know, I'm thinking, well, maybe they never changed. You know, got born again but failed to renew your mind, and that happens a lot. People get born again, but nobody tells them that now that they're born again, the most important thing for you to do is to renew your mind. Because if you get born again, and you fail to renew your mind, guess what happens? There's no change. If you get born again, and you fail to renew your mind, there's no transformation. You stay conformed exactly like you were before you got born again. The only thing different is now that you're born again, you know, you have Jesus on your side, but I mean, dude, you have Jesus on your side, and you refuse to do, you know, cooperate with him by renewing your mind, so you can experience change? Your mind is the control center to life. That's why Satan is after your soul.
Now, your soul and spirit are not the same. People use the word "soul" and "spirit" interchangeably, as if they're the same; they are not. You are a spirit being. You possess a soul. That's your mind, your will, and your emotions. And you live in a physical body. And so this mind's got to be renewed. In order for us to access everything that Jesus has done for us, we have to do so by renewing the mind. The change comes when you renew the mind. Now, I want you to pay attention to some things right here.
Let me make this statement here and get into this. Where you set your mind will control where you go in life. Where you set your mind will control where you go in life. It's kind of, I think of a thermostat. You know, if you set the thermostat to 73, and it's 68 degrees in there, if you set it, all right, that's where everything's gonna begin to work together to arrive at that setting. Where you set your mind will control where you go in life. All right, so wherever you are in life is a result of where you have set your mind. Look at Isaiah chapter 26 and verse 3. I thought of this Scripture. Isaiah 26 and verse 3. Here's what he says. He says, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee". All right, so if I want to arrive at peace, my mind has got to be set towards that. "I'll keep you in perfect peace if your mind is set or stayed on thee," why? He says, "because he trusteth in thee".
You know, a lot of people don't set their mind on God's Word, because they don't trust God. Well, they don't know him enough to trust him, but that's the real reason. You have to trust God. And then when you trust him, then you will allow your settings for your life to be according to that Word. And when you do that, you will reach certain destinations. And here he's talking about peace. In my opinion, the most valuable asset you can have in today's world is peace. I mean, peace is a very valuable asset, and you're not going to get where you want to be without peace. Peace is the supplement for long life, and the way you get it is you have to set, like a thermostat, you've gotta set it. Now, you can sit in a cold room all night, or you can go and set the thermostat so it can take you to the place where you need to be, because where you set your mind will control where your life will go.
So, this is important. Control your mind, control your destiny. Control your mind, control your destiny. Look at 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 4 and 5. We looked at this in previous teachings. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. This is a big Scripture when you talk about renewing the mind. He says, in verse 4, he says, "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, every high thing that exalt itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ".
Now, I've said to you, I think it was a week ago, I said to you that you can be a good custodian over your thought life. You capture thoughts with words. You find out what the Word of God has to say; and when that negative thought comes in, you say the Word of God, and it'll pull down or capture those negative thoughts. So, you can control your mind. If you control it, you control your destiny. You've gotta learn how to capture negative thoughts. You don't just sit there and let the devil bombard your thinking with death, and condemnation, and defeat. You've gotta open your mouth and stop that. You don't fight thoughts with thoughts. You don't sit there and, you know, he's saying something in your head, mm, and then you get, you know, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.
Somebody look at you like you crazy. No, you fight thoughts with words. You fight thoughts with the Word of God coming out of your mouth. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1:7. Look what he says here, 2 Timothy chapter 1:7. He says, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear". He's given us power. He's given us love. Watch this. And he's given us a sound mind. I mean, say that, say, "I have a sound mind," which means you have sound thinking. So, you have a sound mind 'cause you have sound thinking, and God didn't give you a spirit of fear. That's not sound. God has given you a sound mind. So, by faith, you have to reach out and take possession of that sound mind.
Now look at this, Mark 7:20-23. Mark 7:20-23. Now, y'all know this is Bible study, and we just hit it. We get right in it, man, Scripture, by Scripture, by Scripture. Verse 20 says, "And he said, That which cometh out of the man is that which defileth the man". Verse 21, "For from within, out of the heart of men". Remember, we said that the heart, from the heart flows the issues of life. He says, "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts". It's coming out the heart of men. What's been planted in your heart? "Proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from with, and defile the man". I like what I found in the New Living Bible. He says, "It is the thought-life that pollutes". It is the thought life, that's verse 20, "It is the thought-life that pollutes," or defiles.
I'm telling you, man, don't let your thought-life pollute. Don't let your thought-life pollute. And the way to do that is don't get a polluted thought-life. So, you've gotta guard now and think about what you are thinking about. Now, the key to pulling down strongholds is really taking time to meditate in the Word. Meditate, mutter, consider the Word over, and over, and over again, and pull those strongholds down. Now, there are four ways of feeding your mind. Just think about these, these are simple, but if you put them into action, they'll do some things. There are four ways of feeding your mind.
Number one, reading. Read the Word, read the Word, read, amen? I heard it said a while back, that readers are leaders, all right? I also heard, if you want to hide something from somebody, put it in a book. And I heard it like this. If you really want to hide something from somebody, stick it in the Bible. The second way to feed your mind is to schedule time to listen. Taffi and I used to, and still do, listen to an enormous amount of tapes. Back then they were tapes, and then they went from tapes to CDs, to all that other stuff now. But we listen to the Word of God, and we hear the Word of God.
So, number one, read.
Number two, schedule time to listen.
Number three, you want to feed your mind, study, study. "Study to show yourself approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". Study, spend time studying.
And then number four, this is interesting, use your imagination. Use your imagination and begin to imagine, begin to imagine things, things that, you know, you see in the Word.
I remember when we were believing God for our church, the first church we had. We started church in a school cafeteria. And man, I started getting Scriptures and believing God for a home and a place that we can build ministry. And I remember taking those Scriptures and seeing myself walking those Scriptures. You know, the imagination is a strong, strong, powerful element that God has given to born-again believers, if we'll use it. You know, he said in Genesis, you know, when they were building the tower, trying to reach heaven, he says, whatsoever thing, God said, "Whatever they imagine, they'll be able to do". Your imagination is the blueprint for the thing that you're believing God for. And so now, again, four ways to feeding our mind. Read; number two, schedule time to listen; number three, study; and number four, use your imagination.
Some of you scheduled time to hear the Word tonight. I mean, you know, people try to wonder, "Well, what's the difference between this guy and that guy? And how come he's doing well, and the other one's not"? Look at what you do. You're scheduling time to hear the Word. Whatever you were doing, what kind of day you had at work today, you scheduled time to hear the Word. And when you do that, you understand that when I control my mind, I can also control my destiny, and that's what you're doing.
Now, let's go and look at some Scriptures, and let these Scriptures really speak to us. Before I do that, let me give you a definition of carnal, because that's gonna be coming up a lot. What does something mean when it's carnal? It means that it's from the flesh. It's governed by human nature, instead of by the Spirit of God. It's fleshy. It's with the idea of unspirituality. And now those are great definitions, but here I want to simplify it. It means of the five senses. Basically, when a person is walking in carnality, he's allowing his five senses to govern his life. In other words, if I can't see it, I don't believe it. So, what he believes is what his five senses can pick up. And so carnality, it's of the five senses. You're allowing your five senses to govern your life.
Now, let's look at this in the book of 3 John. You're familiar with that, 3 John verse 2, 3 John and verse 2. Now watch this. He said, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, be in health, even as thy soul", that's your mind, will, and emotions, "prospers, even as thy soul prospers". Now, look at verse 2 in the NLT. So, notice he says, if you're going to prosper, your soul's got to prosper. In the NLT, it says, "Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit". Go to verse 3. He says, "Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth". So, according to verse 3, what he said in verse 2 is gonna be accomplished when you have success in your mind. "I pray that you have success, even as you have success in your soul or in your mind". Again, whatever happens up here is gonna be responsible for what happens on the outside.
Look at 1 Peter chapter 5:8. 1 Peter 5:8. You're talking about getting in the Word. I want to give you just a bunch of Scriptures here; because, you know, I'm just concluding that Satan will not have authority over the way you think. You have that authority. 1 Peter 5:8, he says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour". All right, so he wants to devour somebody that's intoxicated, somebody that's not thinking right. So, he starts off, and he says, "You be sober". You think in line with the Word. Think right. Don't be intoxicated. Be vigilant about this, because you have an adversary. There's an enemy loose. He's the devil, and he's going around like a roaring lion, and he's seeking whom he may devour. He devours those people who don't have the right mindset. He devours people who are thinking outline or outside of the Word. He devours people who are intoxicated in their thinking.
And you know what Romans 12:3 talks about intoxicated thinking? He says it's intoxicated thinking when you think higher of yourself than you ought to think. And so Satan can devour those people who are intoxicated in their thinking, thinking that doesn't line up with the Word, thinking that's lined up with pride, all that kind of stuff.
Now look at this, Isaiah 14:24, Isaiah 14:24. We're talking about impact thinking, impact thinking. And verse 24 says, "The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass". Boy, that got my attention. "The LORD of hosts, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it comes to pass". A lot of things in our life, it begins up here, and so shall it comes to pass. Again, I'm gonna say it over, and over, and over again. You've got to start thinking about what you're thinking about. You've got to start thinking about what you're thinking about, okay?
Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 and 9. So, what should we be thinking about? Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. Now notice what he says here. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are," watch this, "true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise," he said, what? "Think on these things". Verse 9, "Those things which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me," he said, "do: and the God of peace shall be with you". So, you know, you can take this verse and use it as a checklist to evaluate what you're thinking. Are you thinking on the right things? Think on these things, all right?
Now, let's look at 2 Corinthians 4:4. You're familiar with this Scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. Now, this is very, very important. As a man thinketh, of course, in his heart, then as a man thinketh, then in his heart so is he. So, whoever you are is gonna be a result of what you're thinking. If you change the way you think, you're gonna change the way you live. If you change the way you think, you're gonna change the way you live. I'm gonna say it again: if you change the way you think, you're gonna change the way you live. Your living, your life is a sum total of your thinking and what you choose to think about. Verse 4, he says, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them".
Now, why would you suppose the enemy is interested in blinding minds? He wants to blind minds. I mean, one of the greatest things that we see today is spiritual blindness. And Satan wants to keep people blind to the gospel. He wants to keep people blind to the gospel of grace. He just don't want them to see it. And I'm telling you, it's the light of God. It'll come in, and it'll change your life. But notice, he blinds minds. He don't want you knowing it. He don't want you thinking it. He's trying to blind your mind. And, you know, the other morning on our confessions, I started talking about three forms of belief: ignorance, disbelief, and natural unbelief.
And one of the things I said was probably the worst one of all was disbelief, 'cause disbelief is a result of wrong teaching, and it's actually a refusal to believe what is true, because you're so stuck on the wrong belief. And that's what I find in church today. We have made the wrong belief the tradition. And man, it's just, it's something. It takes God to get people out of their wrong believing and walking in right believing, and so Satan uses incorrect teaching. He uses wrong teaching about something to blind your mind. That's what he does, he just gets you focused in on the wrong thing, so you can't see the right thing.
Remember the Scripture says your tradition has made the Word of God of no effect. So, what happens, he'll get you focused on your traditional belief about something, and you're blind to what he's trying to show you. Oh, my goodness, so you've gotta understand how the enemy works. He has a strategy to try to steal, kill, and destroy, and he also has a strategy to try to keep you blind, to try to keep you blind. I can, I remember some of the stuff I was blind to. I was blind to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. I was blind to the finished works of Jesus Christ. I knew we had Easter every year, and we would celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but that was about it. I didn't have a clue. I would ask myself, as a kid, "What's the big deal"? It's like, you know, we're celebrating Jesus, you know. And the only thing I'd know is, you know, he died. And I'm like, "Okay, so and what else"? And he rose. I'm like, "Okay, that's cool".
nd we look at the Ten Commandments in Jesus movies, and I was so blind to the reality of why Jesus died and how he paid the ransom, because I didn't see Jesus coming and doing it for me, I didn't know I was in trouble. I didn't know that I was gonna go to hell. I didn't know somebody had to pay a ransom for me to be delivered from hell and delivered from all that other stuff, I had no idea, I was blind. And thank God, thank God I'm not dead and gone, that I was able to see the gospel. I was able to see it, and Satan could no longer blind me. And that's why I just keep preaching.
And I know people have a hard time with it. They don't want to hear this grace message. They've got a thousand rebukes for me and all that kind of stuff. They'll see it one day. I just keep teaching it, and they'll see it, and they're gonna either see it or change the channel. But I'm gonna keep teaching it, because it's the truth. It was something that you were blind to. Can you identify the area in your life where you have been blinded in your mind? Satan blinds the mind so that the light of the glorious gospel won't shine, you know, who is the image of God should shine unto them. He wants to stop the image of God from shining unto them. I'll tell you what, man, that's a powerful, powerful thing that we've got to get a hold of.