Transformation is not mere change. Transformation is altering your way of being to become what you haven’t been before. Transformation is reimaging who you are being in the world. Your “being” is your habitual way of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, Romans 12:2 ESV

Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. Romans 12:2 TPT

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Romans 12:2 MSG

If we want to transform our lives, if we want to do something differently, we must renew our mind on God’s Truth. We must choose to think new thoughts.

If we want to break habits, cycles, patterns, in our life, and the results of our life are based on our thinking, then we must choose to think something we have never thought before.

And I say, we choose to think on God’s Truth!

We must be willing to do the work of questioning our thoughts, holding our thoughts up to God’s Word and seeing how they compare. We must realize that all thoughts are not true, or just because we have a thought doesn’t mean it is true. We must also take responsibility for our thinking. We have the power to choose what we think, therefore we can change what we think. We can choose new TRUTH thoughts.

When our brain says, “You are no good, you failed again, who are you to think you could… etc.” We have to tell ourselves, “I am a child of God, made in His image, and He makes good things. I am loved by The King, filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with grace and power. I am being made new. I am a sinner and a saint. I am enough just as I am.” Choose to tell yourself a Truth from God’s Word that combats the lie your brain is offering, which is usually based on what someone else said along the way in our life and we don’t have to let them have that power.

(Find a scripture and personalize it. If you don’t know where to look google the topic in scripture. Most of Paul’s letters, in the New Testament, have great prayers in the first chapter that are wonderful to personalize. The Psalms are also full of awesome Truths and easy to personalize. I can so relate to the Psalms because I can tend to swing from one emotion to the next and find comfort in the Word.)

If what we believe determines how we behave, then we need to examine our beliefs.

We can ask ourselves…

What do I believe?

What do I believe about myself?

What do I believe about God?

What do I believe about my spouse?

What do I believe about my work?

The list can go on and on….

What are my actions saying I believe?

Not sure what you believe, then practice paying attention to your thinking for a day, for a week.

What thoughts are you telling yourself about yourself?

What thoughts are you telling yourself about God?

What thoughts are your telling yourself about your spouse?

Our brains make up stories, fill in information based on our past experiences that often is not true. We must question these stories. Ask ourselves, is this true? Is this really true?

We must choose what we believe. Just because our brain offers us a thought, or a story does not mean it is true and ultimately we choose whether we believe it. We can tell our brain, “thanks for trying to protect me but I know this is not true….” and fill in the correct information based on God’s Truth and goodness, based on our worth and value being in Him, not in what anyone else says or does.

What you think determines what you believe.

Our beliefs are the thoughts that we have thought over and over and over again for so long that they have become seemingly automatic, we do them without even really thinking about them.

We may think “this is just how I am,” or “I’ve always been this way,” but actually we trained ourselves to be the way we are with our thinking.

If we want to change, do something different, we must first practice paying attention to what we are thinking, and create a pause, a split second between the thought and the reaction.

We practice noticing ourselves and our thinking. This takes work! We must be intentional, and gracious, and kind, to ourselves as we move through the process of observing and figuring ourselves out.

And we must ask God to help us! We must believe in the power of the Holy Spirit inside us to help us.

Are your beliefs, about yourself, about God, about others, about life, serving you?

Are your beliefs moving you towards the person you want to be? Towards the life you want to have?

Are you willing to questions your beliefs?

Are you willing to change your beliefs?

There is a miracle and mystery to the transforming work of God as we believe in His power at work in us, as we pay attention to our thoughts, as we claim His Truth about ourselves and about life. We practice believing and thinking new thoughts and slowly over time we will begin to transform and be a new creature, living from our true identity.

Keep seeking and discovering God’s better Way!