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HopeLives365

Mark Finley

The Power of God’s Word and Renewed Thoughts

We begin with a quiz, and your quiz is this.

Well, according to 1, 500 scholarly papers, now I have not read them all, but I've read a summary of them.

According to 1500 scholarly papers, now get this, there are 36 trillion cells in the human body.

Now, of that 36 trillion cells in the human body, something is happening in your body today and it's this.

Of that 36 trillion, 330 billion cells in your body today renewed themselves.

330 billion cells are replaced every day.

That's about 1% of all the cells in your body.

Now you take the tiny little cells in the gut, they renew themselves within 1 week.

Our skin, which is the largest organ in the body, renews itself every 2 to 3 weeks.

Bone cells, though, take longer to renew themselves.

They renew themselves about every 10 years.

There are some parts of our brain that regenerate and grow new cells while other parts remain the same.

Recent evidence indicates that our brain cells are capable of regrowing and restoring lost functions.

That means that your brain cells can rightly be transformed and renewed so that past thoughts of hate, past thoughts of anger, past thoughts of anxiety, past thoughts of depression, past thoughts of guilt that have developed neurological brain pathways can be so renewed that new brain cells grow and new pathways in the brain are actually developed.

Now this is in harmony with the biblical thought found in Romans chapter 12.

So I'd like you to take your Bibles in turn to Romans, the 12th chapter.

The scripture says in Romans 12 too, and do not be conformed to this world.

Either from your Bible or from the screen, let's read.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is good and acceptable and the perfect will of God.

Now, I'm interested in this expression, the renewing of your mind.

What does it mean to have the mind renewed?

Phillips' translation translates Romans 12 to this way, and I think he really hits the target.

He says, don't let the world around you squeeze you into its mold, but let God remake you so that your whole attitude of mind is changed.

Thus, you'll prove in practice that the will of God is good.

So I'm interested in 2 expressions, the renewing of the mind, and also this idea that the attitude of the mind, the whole attitude of the mind can be changed.

And so that leads us to the question, how does God remake our minds?

What's this transformation that Paul speaks about?

How does this renewal of the mind take place?

Now, many people have interpreted this verse, as they've studied scripture, as meaning that the Bible transforms the way we think, that the Bible transforms our thoughts.

While this is true, new research indicates that it's much, much more than that.

Studies have proven that doing something frequently, like reading the Bible, not only changes the way we think, but get this, it literally changes our brain.

Brain cells are regenerated as we contemplate the life-changing truths of God's Word.

There are new neural pathways that are developed in the brain, and our mind is transformed and made new.

Let me share with you some of this research done by Dr.

Leslie Unhlander from the National Institute of Mental Health.

They did a fascinating study asking subjects to perform a simple motor task, like finger-tapping exercise.

So these subjects formed this finger-tapping exercise and they tapped and the doctors conducted an MRI to identify what part of the brain was being activated.

The subjects then practice this finger tapping exercise daily for 4 weeks.

So they have this MRI in the brain and the subjects are tapping, tapping, tapping with their fingers for a period of 4 weeks every day.

Now at the end of the 4 week period, they did another brain scan of the MRI, and this is what they discovered.

It revealed that the area of the brain involved in the task had expanded.

The simple task of finger-tapping exercise literally recruited new brain cells and rewired the neural connections.

It indicates that if you do a task over and over again, not only are old thoughts replaced, but there are new brain cells that are created within the brain.

So when we read scripture, something remarkable is happening in our brains.

The Holy Spirit is renewing our thoughts.

The Holy Spirit is redirecting our mental processes.

When you read the word of God, you're recruiting new brain cells in the brain.

You're rewiring the neural connections in the brain.

In a sense, we are downloading a new operating system that is actually reconfiguring the mind.

When we read scripture, we're developing new neural pathways in the brain.

Our brains are being rewired in alignment with the Word of God and we develop the mind of Christ.

Now the Apostle Paul urges us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed.

Now the renewed or transformed mind has 3 distinct characteristics and I want to study those distinct characteristics with you this evening.

First, the question becomes, how do we have this transformed mind?

How can we accomplish this in our own lives in a very practical way?

First, the mind is transformed as it contemplates the character of God.

As we seek God in prayer, and as we contemplate his character, and meditate upon his goodness, our brains are being rewired.

There are new neural pathways in the brain.

See, The brain functions by sending electrical impulses down the brain waves.

And those electrical impulses, when they form a connection at the end of the ganglia of the brain, it's called a synapse.

And when we study the Word of God in prayer, contemplating the character of God, there are new electrical impulses that form new brain pathways in those synapses.

So take your Bible and turn to Philippians 4, verse 6.

It says this, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guide your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Now notice it says, be anxious for nothing.

The older translations, if you have the old King James, you'll say, be careful for nothing.

In other words, as you contemplate God's goodness in his word, your life will not be filled with care.

Don't have your life filled with care and anxiety.

In everything by prayer, the scripture says this way, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding.

There may be many things in our life that we cannot fully understand.

There are events in our life that we cannot comprehend.

But we do not have to have understanding to have peace.

The Bible says that the peace of God that passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Now as we contemplate the character of God And as we seek him through prayer, the Holy Spirit replaces anxiety with calm.

The peace of God, now it's better translated the peace that comes from God, the peace that has its origin in God, that floods into our minds.

Now this peace that flows from a sense of God's abiding presence is grounded in God's love.

It's grounded in a faith in God and a personal knowledge of his love and his wisdom.

So as in prayer, we're contemplating the character of God.

God is reestablishing old brain patterns.

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The Power of God’s Word and Renewed Thoughts

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