Dr. Charles Stanley provides insightful guidance on the importance of reprogramming our minds with God’s truth. Discover how to transition from an old mindset filled with doubt and insecurity, to one anchored in faith and righteousness. Through biblical principles, learn how to overcome spiritual setbacks, ensure your earthly behavior matches your heavenly calling, and ultimately, experience the joy and peace that comes from walking in tune with God’s purpose.
00:00:01 Introduction to Consistent Christian Life
00:00:19 Paul’s Guidance on a Steady Christian Walk
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, July 11th. Does your spiritual life feel like a series of highs and lows? Stay with us as we explore practical guidance for walking a steady, consistent path of growth in Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
One of the most difficult things we face in the Christian life is learning how to live a consistent Christian life. And that’s what I want us to talk about today. So if you’ll turn to Ephesians chapter 4, I want us to read beginning in verses 17 and through verse 24. How do you get this rollercoaster attitude out of your Christian life? So Paul begins in verse 17 by saying, “‘This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord.'” That you walk no longer as the Gentiles or the unbelievers walk. In the futility or the emptiness, the purposelessness of their mind. Being darkened in their understanding. They don’t understand the truth. Excluded from the life of God. They’re dead in their spirit to the life of God. Because of the ignorance that’s in them. Because of the hardness of their heart. And they having become calloused. Now, there’s a very important principle in that verse. Look. That means doing the same old thing over and over and over again until you become insensitive to the Spirit. Then you give yourselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness. Then you are in bondage and imprisoned to that habit. But he said, you didn’t learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him just as truth is in Jesus. that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, that is, who you were before you were saved, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit. That’s the kind of life you used to live. And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, this is Christ, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Now, if I should ask you today, what is your purpose for living? You may give me many reasons, but the ultimate purpose, according to God’s book, is this. That God has saved you by His grace, and in doing so, here’s what He did. He recreated you. That is, you were created physically. You were born again, or you were recreated, as He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now… When the Lord Jesus Christ came into your heart, He didn’t patch up an old fella, make you look better and feel better. The Bible says you have become a new creation. Now you have the same body, maybe a little older, but what is it that became new in you the moment you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? Your spirit. Because He said in times past you were dead in trespasses and sins. Your body wasn’t dead. It was that your spirit was dead to the things of God. It would be wonderful if the day you and I were saved, we began immediately to do exactly what God wanted us to do every single time, right on schedule, living in obedience. But most of us discovered it wasn’t very long after we were saved that we found ourselves drifting back either in our thought patterns. And it doesn’t take long for the thought patterns to be followed by your feet. Before long, you were thinking and maybe practicing the same old things you used to practice. Not because you wanted to. You didn’t intend to. It was your sincere desire to be what God wanted you to be. And yet in spite of that, you felt this tug. And you felt this drag. And before long, you found yourself sort of straddling two ideas. You knew that righteousness and joy and being what God wanted you to be was His way. And yet you feel the tug and the temptation. Same old thoughts began to pop up. So after a while you begin to wonder if you were saved or not. Then you realize, yes, I know that I’m saved because I have been born again by the grace of God through faith in the atoning death of Christ. But why is it I am so inconsistent in my Christian life? One Monday morning I go to work, I’m sitting on cloud nine. The next Monday morning I go to work, I’m sitting on cloud nine minus nine. I’m way down in the dumps wondering what in the world’s going on. Why is it that Christian life is this way? Why is it that the victory is not there? Well, in Proverbs, you know this passage of Scripture which says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. Which says that my actions are… The result of my thinking. So my actions are the delayed results of my thinking. Am I responsible for my thinking? I am responsible. Responsible for my actions? I am responsible. So that, the Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And the principle is unchanging. Whether you’re a believer, my friend, or not, makes no difference. What you think is going to govern your behavior. So your beliefs govern your behavior. And so our behavior is an outworking of what we believe. If I feel inferior, insecure, inadequate, if I feel worthless, If I act towards you in an unbecoming way, it is the result of my thinking. If I think insecurity, feel insecurity, if I think inadequacy, then I’m going to respond in that way and I’m going to be saying, no, it won’t work for me. I can’t. It doesn’t happen. I don’t get the breaks. Our actions, our daily life is a result of what we think. So if my actions ought to change, then my thinking must change. But you see, if I see myself as an inadequate, insecure, If I see myself as one of those worthless little believers who’s creeping and crawling around in life, if that’s the kind of Christian I am, I don’t know who I am. Let’s look at this passage. He says, something wonderful has happened to you, he says, and therefore don’t go back to the old way. And he says, the way you don’t go back and the way you begin to live a consistent Christian life is, verse 23, by the renewing in the spirit of your mind. Now, to renew, as we said, means to change. It is to alter. It is to reprogram. The problem with many believers is, you know what they did? They got saved and they stuck the old program in. Now I’m a saved sinner. That’s old programming. New programming is, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. I am a saint of the living God. That’s new programming. That’s updating your mind. That’s what the word renew means. It means to update your thinking and to begin to see yourself and to think of yourself the way God sees you. Behavior is determined by belief. And the way I see myself, the way you see yourself, will absolutely irrevocably govern the way you act. You cannot act any other way than the way you see yourself. That’s the way you’re going to respond to life. And he says, now that you’re a new creation in Christ Jesus, update your thinking. Look in Colossians chapter 3 for a moment. Those first two verses is his admonition for us to do that. He says, if then or since then you have been raised up with Christ, having died with him, keep seeking the things above. Set your mind, spiritual things, knowing him, wisdom. Set your mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Listen, set your mind, anchor your mind, fix your mind, focus your mind, concentrate your mind, not on the things that are on earth, but on the things that are upon God. That is, set your mind upon spiritual truth. You see, this didn’t start in the New Testament. This started in the Old Testament. You remember that when Israel went into Egypt, only 70 members of that family finally came to be between two and three millions of people So here they were living for 400 years in an Egyptian culture. So God said to Moses, now I’m going to bring them out of Egyptian bondage, but it won’t do for me to take this bunch of Egyptian Hebrews to the promised land because they’re Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites. All kind of tithes up there, Philistines, everybody’s up there. And he says they’re all full of all kinds of idolatry. So if these people are going to be my people, which they are, what I’ve got to do is I’ve got to change their thinking. I’ve got to change their mind from Egyptian mindset to Jehovah mindset. So what did he do? He didn’t take them across the Red Sea, the promised land. He took them across the Red Sea into the wilderness down to Mount Sinai. So he said, Moses, here’s the way I think, and this is the way I want my people to think. Moses, you tell my people this is the way Jehovah God thinks, the great I am. The great I am says, thou shalt have no other gods before me. The great I am says, thou shalt bow down, neither bow down nor make unto thyself any other graven image. He said, Moses, you tell them thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not commit adultery. Moses, you tell them that in my thinking, one day a week should be set apart for me. In my thinking, they’re to honor their fathers and their mothers. Then he gave them the whole Mosaic law, the whole book of Deuteronomy just about. You know what God was doing? He was reprogramming a bunch of Hebrews who had been so highly influenced by the paganism of Egypt. He was changing, updating their thinking, changing their mind because what happens the day they crossed the Red Sea, they were a new nation, a born again nation. They were the people of the living God, Jehovah’s people. So now he has to get old Egyptian thinking out of their minds so they can begin to think about who they are. They are followers of Jehovah God, the great I Am who sent all those pestilences and freed them. He is now their God. And God does the same thing or chooses to do the same thing when you and I are saved. He’s got to update our old Egyptian thinking to think about promised land thinking. And how does he do that? By the renewing of our minds. When I think about years and years and centuries of people going to church and just sitting listening to sermons, no reprogramming of their thinking. They don’t even think about making application of great spiritual truths to change their mind to think like God thinks. It’s updating your thinking. And as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. If I think holiness and righteousness and peace and joy, if I see myself as worthy, belonging and competent in Christ, that I can do all things in Christ Jesus, I’m walking in the sunlight of God’s love. Christ is my life. I’m adequate for anything and everything. The Holy Spirit is the sole owner and operator of my life. Hallelujah. I’ve got the victory regardless of what happens. But if I see myself… Mope in through life. Sinner saved by grace. No, I’m going to blow it. Can’t be perfect. Nobody said anything about being perfect. We’re just talking about being a saint. Saints aren’t perfect. They’ve been created in Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God, and dwelt by the Holy Spirit to live lives of holiness and righteousness because it is, listen, not by effort. It is the overflow of the fountain of Jesus Christ within me expressing holiness and joy and peace. It isn’t me doing this and doing that and getting my needs met so I’ll be holy. It is the Holy One who is within us who’s free to flow out of us all of His wonderful love. Now, friend, listen. If you’re saved and you see yourself as a patched up believer and you’ve got to do better and work hard and do all of these things to get God’s favor, you know what you’ll do? You live in bondage all of your life. And when He says, renew your mind, renew your thinking, He says, man, I want you to think like I think. Freed. Liberated. The truth has set you free. But if you don’t know the truth, you’re not free. Now, How do you update your thinking? All right, number one. If I’m going to renew my thinking the way God wants me to, first of all, I have to acknowledge my new position. I am not an old sinner, patched up. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus and dwelt by the Holy Spirit. I must acknowledge my new position. I’m different. I’m changed. I’m new. I’m not patched up. I’m brand new. Secondly, I must choose to set my mind on truth. To set my mind on truth. Isn’t that what he said in Colossians? Set your mind on the things of God. By the renewing of your mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That is, get your externals compatible with your internal. And you do that by renewing your mind. You choose to set your mind on the things of God. Where do you find the things of God? Right here in this book. Listen. If you will start renewing your mind by focusing your mind and filling your mind with three books of the Bible. They’re all short. Ephesians. Philippians, and Colossians. Just those three. I mean, the rest of the Bible is important, but I’m saying for the renewing process in your mind, you can’t take it all in, so just start the book of Ephesians, the book of Philippians, the book of Colossians. They’re all short books. And just begin to renew. That is, focus your attention upon the teachings of these three books and ask God to fill your mind with the truths. Secondly, choose to set your mind on truth. Number three, now watch this one. Sift your thoughts as to their origin. Now, let me show you something very important. Here you are. You say, well, I’ve begun to renew my mind. I want to think God’s thoughts. And you’re reading the Bible, and boy, here comes one. Man, I mean Satan. He points his arrow, and he sends one your way. I mean, you think, where in the world did that come from? Most people think it comes from within, though it doesn’t. Who’s living in you? Holy Spirit, that is Christ. He says, He’s your life. So where do all these evil thoughts come from? They come from Satan. They come from the devil. When it comes through, what you do is you just let it sift. Oh, that goes on through because that’s not of God. And here’s what I want you to see. All the thoughts that come your way, they’re not yours. You know the thoughts that come from Satan that become yours? The ones you grab them whole and want to satisfy some need. And so you just milk that thought until you get your need met. Only to come up disappointed. Don’t own what’s not yours. You’re living in Christ Jesus. He’s your life. Don’t own that. Just sift those thoughts. And what you ask is, what’s the origin of that? If that’s not from God, that doesn’t fit me. Listen. Here’s what the devil will tell you. He sends one of these thoughts. You say, oh my goodness, how could I be saved and think these things? How could God ever be pleased? I must not be saved. Even if I’m saved, I must be backslidden. God must be, he must be, oh, he’s so disappointed. God, I’m not fit to pray. I’m not worthy to pray. I can’t teach my Sunday school class Sunday. All these horrible thoughts. That is strictly from the devil. Those are his thoughts. They’re not your thoughts. Don’t own what doesn’t belong to you. Satan is a liar. He is a deceiver. Look, if you will, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Paul is expressing a warning and a fear here for the Corinthian believers. And he says, He says, He says, And here’s what Satan says. Look what you thought. Shame on you. You don’t think, how could God love you? And you just tell Satan, Satan, I resist that. I don’t accept that. That’s not from God. That’s from you. I don’t have to accept it because I’m in the process of renewing my mind. I fixed my mind on the things of God. And once you start doing that, Satan, listen, he’ll break all hell loose on your mind. Just let them go. They can just come either way direction. Just let them go because you have within you the power to fix your mind on the things of God. You don’t have to think that stuff. All right, now watch this next one because this is the key. Choose truth over feelings. If you forget everything else I’ve said today, my friend, don’t forget that. Choose truth over feelings. Most people live by their feelings. They’re apt to say, well, I feel hungry. The truth is, are you hungry? No, you’re not hungry. You just got up from the table an hour and a half ago. So the truth is you aren’t hungry. You just sort of feel like you’d like to have something to eat. So what do we do? We take advantage of other people in all kinds of ways to get our needs met because we have feelings, some of them legitimate and some of them not legitimate. Acting by feelings. You’ve been going by your feelings. You say, this is the way I feel. So that must be the facts. Therefore, that’s the way I’m going to act. When you reprogram it, you say, this is the fact. This is the truth of what God said. I’m going to act on the truth and my feelings will catch up. With my actions. Now, you remember that. Your feelings are going to catch up with your actions, but you can’t go by your feelings. Because the truth is that you’re a new creation in Christ Jesus. You are somebody absolutely brand new. If you act on the truth of who you are, your feelings are going to catch up with that eventually, ultimately, but to renew your mind is a process that you and I practice by faith. And I can tell you this, the moment you accept His forgiveness, and the moment you forgive those who’ve wronged you, and the moment you begin to reprogram your mind, and you begin to think the way God thinks, I’ll tell you, it is the most beautiful, wonderful, comforting experience to know that Christ, who is within you, is beginning to demonstrate Himself through you. And my friend, I don’t know who you are, but I can tell you this. Wherever you sit, wherever you are today, God will free you. If you will ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life. If you’re willing to forgive those who’ve wronged you, every single one of them. If you’re willing to forgive yourself. Because God has forgiven you. And accept yourself the way you are. Get in the Word of God and tell Him you want Him to focus your mind. And you want to focus your mind on the things of God. And you’re choosing today to renew your mind. And you’re going to think truth over feeling. God will revolutionize your life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Living a Consistent Life. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
