Change your Mind

 

When I was younger, I had a very influential friend. Though I wasn't usually easy to persuade, she had a very cunning way of changing my mind. I remember we were both in college when my friend wanted to earn extra money, so she took a housecleaning job. As her start day approached, she decided she didn't want to do it anymore and asked me to go in for her and complete the job. I said I was totally not interested, but each day that followed, she gave me at least five convincing reasons why I should do the job for her. I still told her I didn't want to do it, but by the day of the appointment, I went ahead and did the job.  It took her about a week to entirely change my mind.

I've learned that it doesn't take very much to change someone's mind.   An expert once explained that a change of mind does not necessarily occur over time, but rather by the number of times the same thought is repeated in the thinking pattern.  The more a thought or conviction gets repeated, the more convinced we become.

That is why the Bible calls us to continually renew our minds in the word of God. The more we stay in the word, the more convinced we become of what it says. As we repeatedly expose ourselves to the word, it changes our minds from wrong thinking and aligns them with God's word, so that we begin to agree with the word. This is why Paul wrote that our methods of warfare are different.  

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments…We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.  (2 Co. 10:5)

Just as my friend convinced me to take her job, we start to align with the word of God and agree with his will.  The more we adhere to it, the more he is able to direct us to his call and fulfill his mission for us here on earth.  

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.  (Ph 2:13)