How Do You Renew Your Mind?

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If you’ve been around the church for very long, you have likely heard people talk about renewing the mind.

You may have heard verses like Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

or Ephesians 4:23, “…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,”

In my post What Does Renewing Our Mind Mean?, I shared with you what the Bible means when it talks about renewing our mind and how this applies to us today.

In Ephesians 4:17-22, Paul reminds us that we are not supposed to walk like the “Gentiles” or heathens, unbelievers, do. They are depraved and perverse in their mind; their way of thinking and feeling is darkened; and their moral blindness has alienated them from God.

Their calloused hearts have caused them to stop feeling pain or grief over their sin, which has given them over to unbridled lust and lewdness, to engage in all uncleanness with greediness.

Wow! This really sounds like the culture we are living in today!

He then goes on to remind them that they have been taught the truth of Christ that calls us to throw off the old man of sin and walk with a renovated mind.

Finally, he instructs us to, “…put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

But how do we do that?

How Do You Renew Your Mind?

Grab a journal, because you’ll be using it a lot in this process.

If you’re artsy, you may want to grab some of your favorite art journaling supplies. But just a word of caution, don’t get so caught up in the process of the journaling that you forget the reason why you’re journaling.

If you’re not artsy, grab a journal anyway.

I’ll be honest, I’m not terribly artsy, but I’ve found Bible journaling to be a tremendous way to slow down and soak in what God is saying through His Word.

Even if all you use are a notebook, pen, and highlighters, that’s enough.

1. Identify your battle

What area of your life are you battling the most? Is it lust, greed, insecurity, overeating, substance abuse, anger, bitterness?

Write this down on your first journaling page and write a prayer to God about your battle.

It is important to be very specific when identifying your battle, because you will be using Scripture to target this area and rebuild that part of your mind.

2. Find 4-5 verses or passages that deal with your battle

I have used several Bible study apps, and have found that I like Blue Letter Bible the best. It is very easy to use and has tons of free resources to help you go into deep study of verses and passages in the Bible.

Once you have found 4-5 verses or passages that deal with your battle, write only the book, chapter, and verse(s) as a list.

Don’t write them out yet!

If you want, you can write them out as a calendar, but you’ll want to space them out as one verse or passage a week, or even every two to three weeks.

You’re going to take a lot of time on each verse or passage.

3. Write out one verse or passage in your journal

Just copy the verse or passage straight from the Bible, not adding in additional words for clarity. This step is just writing out the verse or passage word-for-word from the Bible.

Next, you’ll go back and highlight all of the key words in the verse or passage.

4. Write out and study the key words

Below or in a column next to your verse or passage, list out your key words, leaving a good amount of space between each word.

If you’re using Blue Letter Bible, click or tap on the verse and choose “interlinear” to find the Greek or Hebrew word for that key word and write it out.

Also, write out the applicable meanings for that word.

In this video, I take you through these first four steps:

5. Rewrite out the verse or passage to yourself and your situation in your own words

You want to make this verse personal to you and your situation, so start off by writing out the verse to yourself in your own words, using what you learned from studying out the key words in this verse.

Get detailed with this part, because what you’re doing is you are taking the truth of Scripture and applying it to your battle.

You are shining the light of God’s Word on the lies and deception that has clouded your thinking in this area.

You are digging out worldly philosophies based in man’s perverted and futile thinking and replacing it with the holy, perfect, and acceptable will of God.

6. Memorize this verse or passage

Steps 1-5 will not completely eradicate Satan’s temptation in this area. If anything, it’s only going to cause Satan to come at you more, because he wants you to live in defeat.

You will be tempted at the very time you don’t have your journal, or any Bible, with you.

So you will need to have this verse hidden in your heart. Like David said in Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

This allows us to access that verse or passage whenever you need, wherever you are.

Here are two articles I’ve written about memorizing Scripture: 3 Easy Ways to Memorize Scripture and 4 Basic Tips for Memorizing Scripture.

7. Meditate on this verse or passage several times throughout the day.

Two of the best times to meditate on Scripture is in the morning, during your quiet time, and at night as you are falling asleep.

Meditating on Scripture as you fall asleep gives your spirit tools to “instruct you in the night”. (see my video here about what this means)

In this article, I give steps for how to meditate on Scripture: 5 Amazing Benefits of Christian Meditation

But you’ll want to pick other times as well, obviously you will meditate on this verse or passage any time you are tempted in this area.

By following these seven steps, you will begin to replace worldly thinking with godly, scriptural thinking.

In this video, I take you through these final three steps:

Resources for Renewing the Mind: