“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV.
Marisa Peer is a world renowned speaker, Rapid Transformational Therapy trainer and best-selling author. One of the quotes I love from her is, “My mind’s job is to do what I tell it to do. My job is to tell my mind what to do.”
Many of us missed that lesson in kindergarten. It more often feels like the mind is wagging us around instead of us having any significant control over it. But even the Apostle Paul spoke of the renewing of the mind in Romans 12:1-3. He knew that the mind, left to its own devices, was bent on the endless churning of meaningless chatter that often leads us into negativity, inactivity, and paralysis. So much for accomplishing anything cool with that going on.
Peer’s thought resembles the biblical idea of taking dominion of the earth, much as God’s directive to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. The closest piece of earth we need to take dominion over is right between our ears. The first city we conquer is our own mind, taking authority over it so it won’t completely ruin us. Whether a negative, weak mindset is a product of the Fall of Humanity or not is irrelevant. It’s what we start with in life. But we can exercise it. We can become mentally stronger in time.
Telling our minds what to do feels awkward, at least at first. We argue that we shouldn’t have to tell ourselves what to do, but we must if we want to change. The ugly truth is that our unregulated inner chatter is already telling us what to do. A lifetime of pre-programming has gone into it with its myriad experiences, good and bad. It rightly tells us not to touch a hot stove, but then turns right around to convince us that a little self-protective lie is always appropriate. Become aware of your noble call to train your mind.