Guard the Gates
Your thoughts matter and have extreme consequences. Guarding the gates of your mind will help you embrace your God-given identity and walk in the freedom God intended for you to have.
As you venture to examine the thoughts that you have towards yourself it is important to take a look at the impact of inherited thoughts and behaviors because of how it affects your spiritual journey. Your thoughts are not your thoughts, your thoughts are inherited. Every person is inspired by someone or thing that they have encountered in one way or another.
Inherited thoughts can become inherited behaviors that become inherited sin, inherited identity, inherited iniquity or open doors to demons. In the sermon series “Inherit Your Freedom” Pastor Mike Signorelli emphasized the importance of understanding that one's “thought life is connected to the spiritual realm.”
Romans 12:2 advises followers of Christ not to conform to the world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may be able to discern the will of God. Conform means to be molded. The believer must learn how to break the mold of this world. We come from families that produce behaviors and behaviors operate in patterns. We have to learn how to break those patterns. Break out of secularism, tradition and behaviors as well and allow the truth of God's word to transform you.
Renew Your Mind
What we behold with our eyes is also very important in guarding the gates of our mind. Some people guard the gates of what they put in their mouths by eating healthy but will then watch filth on their phones or TV. The eyes are connected to the brain and scripture confirms that one's eyes are the windows to their soul.
Watching the things of this world for enjoyment can be dangerous because Pastor Mike says “the world will normalize something that God will send us to hell for.”
“Disciple means to be a disciplined learner who obeys Christ,” he maintains.
Maturation comes by renewing your mind. If you are saved but are still in chains it’s because you have been regenerated but not renewed. Jesus regenerated you but it is your job to renew your mind and that is the reason why so many Christians are not living victoriously today.
Christians mature in the secret place with God. The cocoon stage of a butterfly is what determines the outcome. One can not paste wings on a caterpillar and make it a butterfly. Spiritually, there are too many caterpillars because believers do not want to discipline themselves to enter into the cocoon and grow. Pastor Mike said people do not need a Zoom call with the senior pastor, they need to develop a prayer life and let God mentor them through the Holy Spirit.
The stage of metamorphosis means a time of renewal. In the Greek translation, renewal means “renovate.” To renovate something, one must destroy the old construction to make room for the new installations. Christians tend to want to install the new, without destroying the old. Destruction is painful, for the believer that means dying to self – selfish ambitions, desires, and dreams. However, in Christ, we are empowered to break the mold and renovate.
One must deal with the roots of pain, and trauma, and choose God over making bad choices that lead them to addictions. Alcohol, porn, and drugs are all bad solutions that people choose when dealing with pressure. Everyone is really good at being on the receiving end of God’s blessings but not everyone wants to pick up their cross and follow Christ daily.
Common Negative Thought Patterns
A follower of Jesus must guard their heart. In Proverbs 4:23 the heart is a synonym for mind. King Solomon is advising us to guard our hearts. A way to guard your heart is to filter out all demonic things that try to infect it – Worry, anxiety, lust…etc. Do not fall for the lie that we can listen to, watch, or do anything that we want and not get polluted by those things. We must renew our mind because, for the rest of our lives, we will have to filter our thoughts.
“The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We can be encouraged to know that the peace of God is a guardian at the gate with us. When the lies come, God’s peace will guard us. Our job is to continually make the decision to choose God as refuge and nothing else. People have a budget for alcohol and sports games but struggle to give to God’s church. Culture has conditioned us away from the things of God. We will need to live counter-culturally.
There are common negative thought patterns that we can look out for to help guard against. Self doubt, insecurity, the victim mentality. In scripture we are taught to fight back against vain imaginations, the spirit of doubt and every demonic attack. Promotion comes from God and we are to not lean on your own understanding but in every way acknowledge Him.
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:4, 5
Humans at a minimum have 6000 thoughts a day. We can only imagine the structure in our mind that the negative thoughts are creating. Let us replace demonic strongholds with righteous strongholds instead. Renew your mind by installing the word of God and His righteousness and partner with His peace to guard the gates from any evil that may come our way.
About the Author
Jeannie Ortega Law is a chart-topping singer, evangelist, media personality and author from New York City. She can be reached on social media: @JeannieOrtega or emailed at Info@JeannieO.com
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