How Can You Transform Your Thought Life?
Our minds are always thinking. That’s good. But when our brains churn negative thoughts over and over, it leaves us drained and discouraged.
“You have an average of 60,000 thoughts every day, and up to 80 percent of those thoughts are negative. Almost all of today’s negative thoughts are recycled from yesterday’s negative thoughts.”
The apostle Paul advised bringing every thought under control to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). But how can we do that?
“Why don’t we tend to our thought lives? It’s because they aren’t seen by anyone else, same as the junk drawer. We keep hiding messy thoughts away because we think they don’t matter. We undervalue the importance of our thoughts.”
Sarah Geringer’s new book, Transforming Your Thought Life: Christian Meditation in Focus, is here to help us take captive of a wide variety of thoughts.
- Negative thoughts
- Anxious thoughts
- Self-critical thoughts
- Fearful thoughts
- Angry thoughts
- Self-focused thoughts and more
I already knew Sarah was a good writer. I knew she had a godly heart. I read her blog regularly. I also know she reads widely and loves to help people.
I can tell she uses all these gifts in this book. She methodically walks us through the process, step by step, on how to change our thought patterns from negative ones to God-honoring ones using the power of the Spirit through meditation on scripture and prayer.
“The Holy Spirit is the main agent in your thought-life transformation. His roles are perfectly suited for sweeping your mind clear of junk drawer clutter and filling it with ordered truth.”
Each chapter in the book has a key verse, personal and relevant stories from Sarah, a prayer, reflection questions, quotes from other authors, and a list of meditation verses related to the chapter’s topic.
Training our minds to stay focused on truths, not lies, is not an easy road. But as we stay on the path, we will see fruit. I’m grateful for books like Sarah’s that help us along our way.
“Taking control of your thought life takes practice. It may not feel natural or comfortable at first. It may feel painful to let go of deeply entrenched patterns of thought. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, your thought life will be transformed by God’s life and peace.”
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Is it hard for you to control your thoughts, too? Please share in the comments.
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Wow! This sounds like a book I truly need to read, Lisa. It’s definitely on my wish list.
Blessings!
Sounds like a great book!
I’ve enjoyed Sarah’s blog posts on this topic, so I am sure the rest of the book is good. We tend to just let our thoughts flow where they will instead of correcting them or “taking them captive” as one verse says. We do pull them back from some topics but think we can’t help them in others.
Controlling my thoughts – trying to take them captive – is something I’m getting better at…thankfully. Meditating on scripture is such a help! There is always room for improvment…and this book seems like it would really be a blessing!
Lisa, I so appreciate your sharing on good reads. I can’t wait to try Sarah’ book – it’s on a subject near and dear to my heart. Thanks!
Thank you for introducing both her blog and her book to me. Sounds like someone I need to read and get to know, Love all your resources!! Have a great weekend, Lisa
This sounds like a wonderful book. I am seeing a trend now for the call to take our thoughts captive. I see it in what others are writing about and in other books coming out. Thank you for sharing this review of Sarah’s book.
One of my favourite Christian books is “Spiritual Depression” by Martin Lloyd Jones. A quote I memorised and often tell people if they are struggling in their minds is, “Don’t you know that most of your unhappiness in life is because you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?” He encourages us to preach the Gospel to ourselves, it is an excellent book!
Coming via Grace + Truth 🙂
I am so interested in this book! I want to take the verse “take all thoughts captive” more seriously this year and work through unhealthy thoughts patterns. Are there any Christian books you recommend on processing and dealing with root issues causing anger?
It’s been awhile since I’ve read “Forgive and Forget” by Lewis Smede, but at the time I read it, it was very influential in helping me get rid of some intense anger I was holding onto. It might be a helpful one for you too?
Yes, controlling my thoughts is definitely an on-going battle. I’ve just finished Get Out Of Your Head by Jennie Allen, which had some excellent advice on doing this. I’m sure I’d benefit from Sarah’s book too!