EXTREME MIND MAKEOVER
by Anita Kelly-Couch

Have you ever had the thought, “If only I could have an extreme makeover…!”

 If you have continually struggled with a behavior you’ve grown to hate and you deeply desire to experience change, an extreme makeover is exactly what you need--an extreme MIND makeover! Yet, you must be willing to be actively involved in this process of change (or transformation, as the Scripture calls it.) In other words, you must cooperate with God in bringing about this desired change. What must you do?

Romans 12:2 states, “Do not be conformed to the world, [literally, to the world’s way of thinking], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..”  Here is your responsibility clearly stated: you must “renew your mind.” How do I do that? The first step is found in 2 Corinthians 10:5:

“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up
 against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought
 captive to the obedience of Christ.”

Change is necessary, because you have believed and continued to focus on something that is not true. That is what Paul calls “speculations”.  So, what you must do is to “destroy these speculations” by “taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” How?

The first step required is to: Captivate your thoughts.  Be very aggressive about the thoughts you allow into your mind. You cannot allow your mind to “go neutral”, because your emotions and actions directly correspond to your thoughts. 

 If your thought is based on truth, you will, in turn, experience healthy emotions that will generate in you an appropriate response.

But, if your thought is based on a LIE and not the truth of what God says, then anger, depression, fear, condemnation, etc. will follow. You cannot underestimate the power of your thought life!

First captivate your thoughts in order to do the next step: Evaluate your thoughts.  Here is the criteria from God’s Word to “frisk” our thoughts:

“Whatever is true… honorable…right…pure… lovely…of good repute,
if there is any excellence or if anything is worthy of praise, think on these things.”

EVALUATE: Is this thought:

true to what I know about God? His Word? His purpose for me?
honorable: something that is beneath me as a daughter of the King?
right: reflective of the righteousness that Christ has purchased for me? Or is it part of the way I thought before I knew His love?
pure: something that I would be ashamed of if others knew I entertained it?
lovely: something that would draw others to Christ? Is it sweet or bitter?
good repute: does it send my heart trembling in fear away from the Lord? Is it an attractive thought?
moral excellence: overflowing with the excellencies of Christ?
praiseworthy: something that would cause others to praise God if they heard it? Does it cause my heart to be filled with thanks and worship? 1

If the thought does not meet each one of the criterion, you must reject the thought. Actively rejecting a negative thought is how you appropriate the truth. If your present thought does not meet the above criteria, you must reject it and then replace it with a truth from God’s Word! That is why it is critical that you saturate yourself in His Word.

When I learned that freedom was God’s design for me and that He, in His power, had provided everything I needed to walk in victory over bulimia, that’s exactly what I did: I saturated my mind with His Word in any form that I could have it! Throughout the day, I was either listening to godly music, memorizing what God said was true of me as I went through the day, purposefully reading and studying His precious Word. Then, when I could not do that, I was listening to taped messages while I was exercising or working.

Captivate, Evaluate, Appropriate!

 Captivate every thought. Evaluate that thought (in light of the truth given in God’s Word.)

 Appropriate the truth—Reject and Replace!

If you are a child of God, my friend, you must learn this process, if you have hope of every walking in victory! God is not going to do for us what He has instructed us to do and given us the power to do! In other words, He won’t take our thoughts captive for us;

that is something only we can do! He has so graciously done His part; now we must cooperate and do ours! 2  This is my prayer for you: I pray that you would know and understand

  “the hope to which He has called you..
and how rich is His glorious inheritance [that is yours] is…
and what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power
 in and for us who believe!” ( Ephesians 1: 19, 20, Amplified Version)

1 The questions in evaluating your thoughts was excerpted from Love to Eat, Hate to Eat, by Elyse Fitpatrick, Harvest House Publishers, 1999.

2 For more helpful information in learning this process, please see another article on this site entitled, “Don’t Keep Your Mouth Shut!”

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