Our thought life is so powerful. There's no telling what we are thinking right now. You could be smiling at someone and saying everything is fine but yet last night you had a thought of killing yourself. You could be holding your wife's hand and yet be thinking of another woman. You could be saying "amen, I believe God meets all my needs," but yet at the same time you're thinking, "Where will I get the money to pay these bills?" 

Whatever you meditate on, you will eventually act upon. Proverbs 23:7 says "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."

We all have thousands of thoughts running through our minds on a daily basis. Think of the thoughts that are going through your mind right now. Do you realize that your thought life has everything to do with where you end up? Thoughts are a very powerful force in our lives! Your life right now is the sum total of what you have been thinking. How you think determines what you become.

Let's look at the word think: to formulate in the mind, to ponder, to reason, to visualize or imagine, to devise, to invent, and to consider.

It is so vital that we think like Christ! Satan will always bring thoughts to tempt us. Thoughts of fear, doubt, insecurity, offense, lust, etc. You name it, he will bring them. As children of God, we should not be thinking like the world. We have the mind of Christ therefore we should think like Christ, thinking like the Word. This kind of thinking is so contrary to the way the world thinks.

There are 2 ways of thinking: flesh thoughts and spirit thoughts. At any given time during the day, we are either thinking flesh thoughts or spirit thoughts. No one is exempt from fleshy thoughts; they come to everyone, but it's what we do with them that makes the difference. Negative thoughts will try to veer you off the path God has for your life!

You don't wake up one day and want to sin; it always starts with a thought. Our thoughts lead us to our actions and actions become habits.  Each time you sow a thought, you reap an action; either a negative action or a positive action. However, when we begin to conquer our thinking, then we begin to conquer our world!

What you give you thought to is what you desire. What is down in your heart is what you have meditated on, what you have thought on and put your attention to. Satan can tempt you with negative thoughts, but you are the only one that can decide to yield to the thought or take it captive. You always do something with your thoughts; entertain them or cast them out.

2 Corinthians 10:5 in the English Standard Version says: "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,"

We have to take captive those thoughts! The most powerful weapon Satan has is suggestion with thoughts! The only way you can take captive negative thoughts is by the renewing of the mind with the Word of God. Renewing the mind is a major part of casting down negative thoughts.

Romans 12:2 in the New Life Version says: "Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect."

The world does not think like God and if you spend too much time in the world you will think like the world. You will act like the world and then you will have habits like the world, e.g., sleeping around, committing adultery, being sick all the time, broke all the time, lying all the time, etc.

If you have no Word in you, when negative thoughts come, you will not be able to resist them. You may KNOW scriptures or have memorized them, but if you do not truly BELIEVE the scriptures with your heart, then you will go the way of the negative thoughts!

The Word of God has to become your OWN thoughts not just God's thoughts and you have the responsibility of making them your own! Renewing the mind is a daily process. When you begin to renew your mind, your thinking will change.

I promise you, your mind will not become renewed just by going to church on Sunday or Wednesday, it's a start, but it is not enough! Renewing your mind is a constant process. You have to saturate your mind with the word of God.

To saturate means to soak. Saturate also means to fill thoroughly. You will have to fill your mind thoroughly or completely with the Word of God. Picture it like filling up your gas tank. If you drive your car everyday, you will not be able to stay "filled" on what you put in your tank a month ago. It won't last you that long. It's a continual process of filling. As long as you drive your car, you have to fill it up.

In the same way, as long as you live in this world you have to renew your mind daily! We need to saturate, soak and fill our minds with the Word so that our thoughts begin to line up with the Word and plan of God. And when negative thoughts come, because they will come, we can combat them quickly with the Word, because we are FULL of the Word.

Remember, you cannot combat thoughts with other thoughts, you combat thoughts with the Word and you must SAY the Word, not just "think" the Word. What is down in your heart will affect your thought life, which will affect your speech, which will determine your actions!