THE BATTLE OF THE MIND (Part Four)
| The most potent and effective spiritual weapon for mind renewal is the Word of God. The Word of God is the only tool that has the ability to penetrate the three realms of man (spirit, soul and body) and bring the desired change. It has an inherent power of creation and transformation, it is spirit and life, it is light and cannot fail.
Knowing what the Word of God can do is not enough. What guarantees change and defeat of evil forces is a conscious application of what the Word says. I want to clearly express here that making God’s Word to work in one’s life is not an automatic thing. It is a process that will take some time, but will eventually bear fruits if the person co-operates with God. It will take faith, hope, patience, consistency and perseverance for the Word of God to produce the desired result for the user. The process that guides mind renewal must be strictly adhered to in order for its efficacy to be ensured.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2
THE PROCESS OF MIND RENEWAL
Meditation: The Latin root of the word meditation, mederi, means “to heal.” It is a concentrated state of mind, a systematic and conscious effort in pondering, reflecting and contemplating on selected Scriptures that address your needs, fears, habits and philosophies. For instance, a person who constantly experiences sudden or involuntary flashes of sexual images, unhealthy fantasies, traumatic events, fears and the likes in his conscious mind from the unconscious mind can decide to stop this through meditation. This process works according to the law of displacement. As you meditate on the Scriptures that counter these flashes, the root of the flashes in your unconscious mind is displaced and the space is occupied by the Scriptures, as two things cannot occupy the same space at the same time. The more Scriptures you meditate on, the more displacement of the things you do not want will occur.
Visualisation: This is an act of creating mental pictures of what a person wants to be or accomplish. It is capturing the picture and making it stick in your mind. You cannot be what you have not seen. When a person who wants to change begins to create a mental image of the responsible, loving, respectful citizen he wants to be, his old life pattern will begin to gradually disappear.
Verbalisation: This is an act of expressing feelings, ideas, mental pictures and convictions in words. It is a statement of what you want to be. It is a fact that spoken words have a great deal of impact on our life. To reconstruct your character you have to align your words with your thoughts. Your words must correspond with your thoughts and mental pictures.
Personalisation: This is an act of characterising your thoughts. It is acting out what you want to be. This should not be loud or exaggerated. It is putting flesh to your thoughts. It is an act of faith.
Affirmation: This is an act of validating that you are in consent with your thoughts and that they are true. It is an affirmation, a confirmation and declaration of your thoughts. It is a stamp of approval. No one can approve you if you do not approve yourself. It is taking your stand, maintaining your position, course and focus.
