Spiritual Detox: Our Thoughts

A penny for your thoughts? Have you ever heard that phrase? Well, today we are going to learn that our thoughts are worth more than mere pennies.

Hello everyone and welcome to Strengthen Your Walk! I’m Kim Crabill.

Watch Spiritual Detox with Kim Crabill

Before we begin the second half of our Spiritual Detoxing Boot Camp, let’s go ahead and add our next R … because I believe it’s time to celebrate all we’ve accomplished.

Zechariah 4:10 tells u, “Do not despise small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work.” So, let’s add to our list of R’s — Rejoice … because if God is rejoicing —happy with our progress — then certainly we can and should be as well.

Now, as we continue our detox, we will move from the heart to our thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 tells us, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Author and pastor John Maxwell puts it this way: “Where the mind goes, the man follows.”

Harvard professor Dr. Amsellem says, and I quote, “Our mind is the most powerful asset as far as shaping our behavior. And He goes on to conclude, “There’s nothing … good or evil that transpires without our first thinking about it.”

So, you can see why reading God’s Word to recognize unholy thoughts to reject and replace becomes crucial in our detoxing success.

A very familiar go-to verse about the thought-changing process is found in 2 Corinthians 10:5, but I must admit that for so long I missed the depth of its meaning. Let’s take time to truly understand what God means in this passage:

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

That’s the New International Version. In other translations like the Message and the Amplified, we find more descriptive words about thoughts: massively corrupt, warped philosophies, loose thoughts, emotions, and impulses. Sophisticated arguments filled with exalted and proud thinking that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God.

Here’s what stood out in my mind. We are very familiar with the latter part of the verse — taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ — but rarely are we taught how to recognize thoughts we are to take captive.

We must ask ourselves, “To what are we trying to make our thoughts obedient? To what Grandma used to say? To our particular denominations? To what the culture says is correct?”

Friend, unless we dig in and truly know the Word of God — detoxing our own thinking and standing on the truth and the fullness of Scripture — we will be so deceived! There are two dangerous thought patterns that must be demolished and detoxed according to this verse.

Today, we will glance at the first …

False Reasoning

False reasoning occurs when we arrive at a conclusion about something based on our own intellect and understanding. We exalt our own opinions, speculations, and reasoning without the consideration or the study of God’s Word.

Assertions that begin with I think — without scripture — are dead giveaways to false reasoning! And, I think we would all agree that we are seeing this running rampant in our society today … in our schools, our politics, and yes, in our homes. It surely creeps into the Crabill house.

I began this study sharing how my “false reasoning” was trying to justify my behavior! How are you experiencing false reasoning in your home or in other situations? Isn’t it easy to see how we use our own logic against God’s Word?

God wants to impart to us His thinking and knowledge: accurate, rightly divided, and borne of wisdom and righteousness.

1 Kings 10:24 recounts the wisdom we as believers strive to have: “The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.”

God has not changed! He wants to put wisdom in our hearts, but we must first detox what is not of God, and desire what is of God, separate from our own logic!

This week, let’s realize not only the pirce but the power of our thoughts. Let’s read through the scriptures and consider what thoughts or words can we reject and replace to have true wisdom.

Next time we look at the second thought process to be detoxed. Knowing that as you fix your thoughts on God, God will fix your thoughts will surely Strengthen Your Walk.

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