Winning the War in Your Mind

The life you have is a reflection of what you think.

Like whitewater rapids rushing you downstream, your thoughts move your life in the direction of their strongest currents. The thoughts you believe, hold onto, and use to support your decisions determine your view of everything and everyone around you, including yourself. You probably don’t stop and think about the power your thoughts have over your life—which only increases the power they have to determine your decisions and shape your actions.

Simply put, what you think determines what you believe. Every thought in your brain produces a neurochemical change in your mind. And these thoughts shape your life. Once your thoughts determine what you believe, these beliefs then determine how you behave. In many ways, you become what you think about. Therefore, the better you grasp the importance of your thoughts, the better equipped you’ll be to change your life in powerful ways.

Even as scientists and neurologists continue to confirm the power our thoughts have on us, God told us this truth more than 1,500 years ago: “For as [a person] thinks in his heart, so he is” (Proverbs 23:7 NKJV). God knows that what we focus on mentally affects every aspect of our lives because he created us that way.

Drawing on what the Bible tells us about the power of our thoughts as well as what we can learn from modern psychology, particularly an area called cognitive behavioral therapy, we have the ability to change our lives for the better. We can live according to the principles and promises God gives us and enjoy being all that he created us to be. Otherwise, our thoughts will continue to sweep us away in dangerous currents of deception, misinformation, and lies from our enemy, the devil.

Craig Groeschel, Winning the War in Your Mind Workbook: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Grand Rapids, MI: HarperChristian Resources, 2021).