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Speaker 1: If we want peaceful lives, Philippians four eight tells us
Speaker 1: to think on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent,
Speaker 1: and anything worthy of praise if we want to be
Speaker 1: transformed into the people that God is calling us to be.
Speaker 1: Romans twelve two tells us that this only happens by
Speaker 1: the renewing of our minds. If we want to combat
Speaker 1: the lies of the enemy that contradict the truth of God.
Speaker 1: Second Corinthians ten to five tells us that we are
Speaker 1: to take every thought that we have and make it
Speaker 1: obedient to Christ. In today's episode, I want to share
Speaker 1: with you three powerful points of prayer to renew your
Speaker 1: mind so that you can think the thoughts of God
Speaker 1: that change your Welcome back, friend, you are listening to
Speaker 1: the Teach Us to Pray podcast, where we teach believers
Speaker 1: practical and real life tips on how to grow your
Speaker 1: faith and a relationship with God through the power of prayer.
Speaker 1: I'm Christina Patterson, host of the Teach Us to Pray
Speaker 1: podcast and founder of Beloved Women, where I encourage, equip
Speaker 1: and empower women in the love of Jesus Christ and
Speaker 1: the truth of God's word. Maybe you're like me and
Speaker 1: you have thoughts popping in your head a mile a
Speaker 1: minute of what needs to get done today, tomorrow, and
Speaker 1: even ten years from now. Maybe you struggle with negative
Speaker 1: thinking about yourself and must constantly fight off bad thoughts.
Speaker 1: And maybe you're focused on what everyone else is doing,
Speaker 1: and these thoughts leave you depleted and envious. Our thoughts
Speaker 1: can be a very powerful guiding force in our lives.
Speaker 1: Where our minds go, our actions will soon follow. When
Speaker 1: we lose control of our thoughts, we are quick to
Speaker 1: get off course and off track in our lives. So
Speaker 1: if we want to live lives that God has purpose
Speaker 1: for us to live, we have to be diligent about
Speaker 1: guarding our thoughts. A renewed mind does not do the
Speaker 1: things of the world. A renewed mind transforms us out
Speaker 1: of the harmful patterns of the world and into a
Speaker 1: life that glorifies God. So how can we start to
Speaker 1: have those types of thoughts? And if that's a I shouldn't,
Speaker 1: that's on your mind today, You're in the right place
Speaker 1: because I want to show you how prayer can drastically
Speaker 1: change your thoughts and in turn your life for the better.
Speaker 1: That's right, you can pray about what you actually think about.
Speaker 1: And we should be praying about our thoughts because they
Speaker 1: are one of the most powerful guiding forces in our lives.
Speaker 1: And so the first powerful prayer point that I want
Speaker 1: to give you to pray over your mind is to
Speaker 1: first pray that God will help you to become aware
Speaker 1: of your thoughts. Now, this is so important because you
Speaker 1: can't change your thinking. You can't transform your mind if
Speaker 1: you aren't even aware of the thoughts that are coming
Speaker 1: into your mind that are actually being lived out by you.
Speaker 1: And you might be thinking to yourself, well, Christina, how
Speaker 1: is that even possible? Let me tell you there are
Speaker 1: so many thoughts that we subconsciously hold onto that we
Speaker 1: don't even realize, and we find ourselves acting in ways
Speaker 1: and responding in ways that we don't even expect, and
Speaker 1: we think to ourselves, where did that come from? And
Speaker 1: most of the time, it came from a thought. It
Speaker 1: might be a thought that you weren't aware of. It
Speaker 1: could be a thought that you internalized when you were
Speaker 1: five years old or five years ago, but it started
Speaker 1: as a thought that is guiding your life. And so
Speaker 1: we need to be aware of those thoughts, and so
Speaker 1: to pray about that and ask God, is there any
Speaker 1: thought in me that does not align with your will
Speaker 1: and your purpose for my life. Psalm nineteen fourteen says,
Speaker 1: let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
Speaker 1: my heart be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord, my
Speaker 1: Rock and my Redeemer. Are Oftentimes we pray about our
Speaker 1: actions and what we want to do and what God
Speaker 1: actually wants us to do in our lives, and that's great.
Speaker 1: We even sometimes pray about our words and have to
Speaker 1: write words to say and maybe a difficult conversation or
Speaker 1: to say to our kids. But we also need to
Speaker 1: be praying about our minds. What are we meditating on?
Speaker 1: What might be in our minds, in our thoughts that
Speaker 1: are not in alignment with God? And as we pray
Speaker 1: to God, he's faithful to bring that up and to
Speaker 1: illuminate what those thoughts may be. So, for example, if
Speaker 1: you're struggling making friends with other women or other men,
Speaker 1: someone of the same sex as you, right, but you
Speaker 1: have an underlying thought that women can be trusted or
Speaker 1: men are boring, whatever the thought may be, that thought
Speaker 1: is going to prevent you from actually pursuing fellowship with others.
Speaker 1: If you have a thought that it's like just nobody
Speaker 1: can be trusted, I just can't trust anybody, You're gonna
Speaker 1: have a really hard time developing intimacy in any of
Speaker 1: your relationships. So do you see how those thoughts dictate
Speaker 1: our actions and impact our lives. Now, if you aren't
Speaker 1: aware of that thought in the first place, then guess
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. You're just gonna keep living life and
Speaker 1: doing what you do and wondering why certain things aren't
Speaker 1: working out for you, wondering why certain patterns continue to
Speaker 1: happen and show up in your life. But our God
Speaker 1: knows our minds and our hearts better than ourselves, and
Speaker 1: so when we pray to him and say, God, please
Speaker 1: reveal my heart and my thoughts that I may align
Speaker 1: them with you, he is faithful to do just that.
Speaker 1: The second powerful prayer point that I want you to
Speaker 1: be praying over when it comes to renewing your mind
Speaker 1: is to capture negative thoughts that don't align with God truth.
Speaker 1: So the first step is to be aware. Pray that
Speaker 1: God will help you become aware of your thoughts, but
Speaker 1: then that He will give you the strength to capture
Speaker 1: the negative thoughts. Tewod Corinthians ten to five says, we
Speaker 1: destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge
Speaker 1: of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Now,
Speaker 1: our thoughts are so powerful, especially when it comes to
Speaker 1: the Gospel, because what we believe about God is going
Speaker 1: to impact our relationship with Him and how we love
Speaker 1: Him and how we love others. And essentially, this is
Speaker 1: what the writer of Second Corinthians was addressing thoughts and
Speaker 1: knowledge that were going around about God and the Gospel
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ that were not true. And he's saying, no,
Speaker 1: we take these thoughts captive and we make them obedient
Speaker 1: to Christ. And how do we do that We align
Speaker 1: them with the truth of God. Whenever you have a lie,
Speaker 1: it cannot stand in the truth of God. So as
Speaker 1: we assess our thoughts and become aware of our thoughts,
Speaker 1: we always want to align them with the truth of God.
Speaker 1: And ask yourself, does this thought align with God's truth?
Speaker 1: Is that really true? Right? And so in order to
Speaker 1: be able to do that, we have to know God's truth,
Speaker 1: so we need to also be in prayer, but also
Speaker 1: in Bible study. We need to know God's truth, that
Speaker 1: God will not only make us aware of our thoughts,
Speaker 1: but that He will bring his truth to remembrance to
Speaker 1: us when our thoughts especially do not align with His truth.
Speaker 1: Which then leads me to my last powerful prayer point,
Speaker 1: to pray over your mind, which is to replace any
Speaker 1: negative thought or any untruth thought with the truth of
Speaker 1: God's word. This is called renewing your mind. Romans twelve
Speaker 1: two says, do not be conformed to this world, but
Speaker 1: be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by
Speaker 1: testing you may discern what is the will of God,
Speaker 1: what is good and acceptable and perfect. There is a
Speaker 1: pattern to this world, and it's so easy to just
Speaker 1: fall into that pattern and do what everybody else is doing,
Speaker 1: do what the majority says it's the right thing to do,
Speaker 1: even if the word of God says is wrong and
Speaker 1: the Bible is telling us that's not how we're to
Speaker 1: think as Christians. We don't just fall in alignment with
Speaker 1: a pattern that does not represent God's truth, even if
Speaker 1: it is held by a prevailing majority, God's truth is
Speaker 1: what should prevail in our minds. But because we live
Speaker 1: in the world, sometimes those thoughts and those patterns can
Speaker 1: come into our lives. And so we need to be
Speaker 1: renewing our mind every day, being aware of our thoughts,
Speaker 1: capturing our thoughts, and replacing any other truth with God's truth.
Speaker 1: And so we need to be praying for the strength
Speaker 1: to be able to do that, because sometimes we don't
Speaker 1: want to believe the truth. It's easier to just go
Speaker 1: with the pattern of the world and the way things are.
Speaker 1: But it takes the strength of God to help us
Speaker 1: to actually renew our minds, to accept his truth and
Speaker 1: know that His way is the better way. And so
Speaker 1: we need to pray that God will not only help
Speaker 1: us to know his word, something that we need as
Speaker 1: we capture our thoughts, but we need to believe his word.
Speaker 1: That God will give us a conviction for a belief
Speaker 1: in His truth that then renews our minds and transforms
Speaker 1: our lives. Let me pray for you, dear Heavenly Father,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the minds that You've given
Speaker 1: us so that we can know you. May our thoughts
Speaker 1: be aligned in your truth, God, and may they glorify
Speaker 1: you forever. In Jesus Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Did
Speaker 1: you know that God made us all beautifully different even
Speaker 1: in the way that we pray? That's right. Your prayer
Speaker 1: personality is the unique way you are most likely to
Speaker 1: communicate with God, and knowing which of the three prayer
Speaker 1: personality types you have can equip you to hear from
Speaker 1: God more clearly and overcome any obstacles to your communication
Speaker 1: with Him. I invite you to take my prayer personality
Speaker 1: quiz to learn how you best hear from God, how
Speaker 1: you most likely connect with Him in prayer, and just
Speaker 1: to have a little fun. Take the quiz now at
Speaker 1: prayquiz dot com or find the link in today's show notes.
Speaker 1: It is my hope that today's episode has provided you
Speaker 1: with insightful and helpful tips on how you can pray.
Speaker 1: We have so much more to talk about when it
Speaker 1: comes to prayer, so I hope that if you were
Speaker 1: encouraged by today's episode, you will share it with the
Speaker 1: friend and subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes
Speaker 1: of the Teach Us to Pray podcast, where we will
Speaker 1: continue to learn how, just like breathing, prayer can become
Speaker 1: a natural, consistent, and life giving part of your everyday life.
Speaker 1: Until then, be sure to connect with me at Belovewomen
Speaker 1: dot org and check out the show notes to download
Speaker 1: my free five day prayer guide. I also want to
Speaker 1: invite you to study the Bible with me by downloading
Speaker 1: the Beloved Women app, available in the Apple and Google
Speaker 1: play stores. Thanks so much for taking time to listen
Speaker 1: to say God Bless you, and I'll talk to you
Speaker 1: in the next episode. Teach Just to Pray is a
Speaker 1: production of Life Audio and Salem Media. If you like
Speaker 1: what you heard today, please take a second to rate
Speaker 1: and review this podcast in your favorite podcast staff so
Speaker 1: that more listeners like you can find the show. For
Speaker 1: more faith filled inspirational podcasts, visit us at lifeaudio dot com.