Renewing the Mind | Your Hope Renewed: Christian Mental Health

Mental Health Professionals use CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)…

to help their patients correct distorted thoughts. These faulty thoughts, or cognitive distortions are often the source of a downward spiral in our mental, spiritual and physical health. An explanation of how this works could fill volumes, and at the same time we still don’t fully understand the extent to which our thought lives effect us. In an article The Plant Experiments Don Robertson reports on the siginficant effect music can have on plant growth. If music, something external, can impact plants significantly, how much more must our own thoughts affect us? Can our thoughts even change us on a cellular level?

CBT is current psychologies version of The Bible’s renewing of the mind, and it is a very effective treatment. The question that comes to mind is: are some words more potent than others? When we are striving to correct our faulty thoughts – is there some corrective feedback we can use that is more powerful than others? We believe that all truth comes from God, and as long as we are correcting our thoughts with truth we will change our mind, and in turn, improve our lives.

We don’t really have to work at our automatic thoughts. They most often sneak into our mind as a conversation with ourself. Some people are not even aware of these automatic thoughts. But aware of them or not, they direct our perceptions, feelings and behavior. They are the very food our spirit and soul feed on.

Let’s return to the question “Are some words more potent than others?” The Bible tells us in Hebrews 4:12

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Now that’s powerful! God has other important things to say about our thoughts in His Word. We’ll take a look at some of them here:

“He who teaches man knowledge – the LORD – knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.” ~ Psalm 94:10b-11

“You know when I sit down and when I rise up;you discern my thoughts from afar.” ~ Psalm 139:2

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” ~ Psalm 139:17

“The simple believes everything,but the prudent gives thought to his steps.” ~ Proverbs 14:15

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” ~ Psalm 139:23

We will explore these verses and more in our next article. Until then, why not begin your self-growth by asking God to examine your thoughts.