What we believe is a result of our thinking. If we think wrong, we will believe wrong. If our believing is wrong, our confession will be wrong. In other words, what we say will be wrong. It all hinges on our thinking!
Our thinking must be in line with the Word of God, because we cannot believe beyond the actual knowledge we have of the Word of God.
People who have been involved in the past with metaphysical, mind-science religions often get this teaching about right and wrong thinking confused with those religious teachings, because they still think that man is just a mental and a physical being.
But man is far more than that: He is also a spiritual being! Advocates of metaphysics have taught so much about the mind that Full Gospel people are almost afraid to say a word about it—yet the Bible has a great deal to say about the mind.
For example, the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own UNDERSTANDING [mind]" (Prov. 3:5). The Bible says, "Casting down IMAGINATIONS [reasonings], and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every THOUGHT [thinking] to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). The Bible also says, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your MIND, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2). We renew our minds by studying the Word of God. The Bible teaches us to have "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16). The only way we can have the mind of Christ is to study His Word, believe it in our heart, and act upon it. The Word of God also teaches us to think on whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, or whatever has virtue or praise (Phil. 4:8). So the Word of God does have much to say about the mind!
However, we need to realize that thoughts can come into our minds from two different sources. In other words, the thoughts that come into our minds do not always originate in our minds. The devil puts many thoughts into our minds from outside ourselves. That's one source. Then, of course, thoughts from God come from within us. They come through our spirits into our minds.
Our confession is the result of our believing, and our believing is the result of our right or wrong thinking.
First, it is necessary that we know what God has wrought for us in Christ, and that we believe it and confess it. It is our confession of it that creates the reality, and then it becomes real in our lives.
Second, it is necessary for us to know what God through the Word and through the Holy Spirit has wrought in us.
Third, it is necessary for us to know what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing for us now in His present-day ministry at the right hand of God the Father in heaven.
Fourth, it is necessary for us to know what the Word of God will do for us through our lips, or what God can do through us. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." God works in us. God works through us. God does not work apart from us. God gave the Church the authority and the commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.
If our thinking is not right along these lines, our believing will be wrong. Then our talking will be wrong, and we will be confused and defeated. We need to realize what the Word of God can do through our lips because, as we have seen, the Holy Spirit is sent to help us.
We should all become God-minded—and the only way we can achieve this is to think God's thoughts after Him. In other words, think on what God says in His Word, and confess that it is true!
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