For years I prided myself on being a rational thinker so why didn’t my mind convince me to eat the right things? I wanted my mind to automatically tell me what to eat to be healthy. However, I was going about things the absolute wrong way.
I finally figured out my mind won’t tell me what is right to eat unless I have programmed it to do that by consistently eating the right things. Those of us who have issues with weight, it is likely because we have convinced our minds that we desire to eat the things that are bad for us. So those are the suggestions our minds will always give us.
Transformation is Possible
The good news is Romans 12:2 tells us that renewing our minds is possible; which will then transform us. Understanding how this verse relates to my life has truly been life-changing. It is the main reason I have lost 250 pounds.
Romans 12:2 (AMP) tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].”
The Message says it this way: “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Keys to Renewal
In order to reprogram or renew our minds, following the advice here is vital. Here are five keys from this verse that have worked in my life.
First, to renew our minds, we can no longer just go with the flow. We can’t do what everyone else is doing. We can’t do things based on what the world is doing. We must stop and think about it. We must always keep in mind what God wants us to do in any situation.
To just go on autopilot without thinking through what we are doing is akin to are not being fully obedient to God. We have to ask ourselves, Is this really what is best for me or is it just what my flesh wants?
Changed From the Inside Out
Second, we must make it our focus to be changed from the inside out. We have to invite God to mess with our priorities, our habits and our comforts in order to transform us.
We thought this was going to be easy. This is not easy. We are letting God mess with all this stuff inside us and that’s hard because we have been leading this part of our lives based on our own selfish desires.
My body was the way it was because I had a lot of work to do on the inside of me: not just with my emotions but my mind, spirit and intentions or will. The extreme amount of weight on my body was a result of not dealing with what was going on inside me.
Transformation has to start on the inside, in our minds, wills and emotions. Then it will move to the outside of us to make our transformation complete. We always want to change the outside first but we’ve tried that and it won’t work until we deal with the reasons why we eat in the first place.
Let God Reprogram Us
Third, one of the biggest mistakes we make is to let our old programmed minds talk us into doing things that are not best for us. We have programmed our minds with our own wants, desires and wishes, and those are the choices it will give us.
When we accept Christ, our minds have the ability to be renewed. Salvation is where renewal begins but sanctification is the process the Amplified Bible talks about when it says we should be progressively changed as we mature spiritually by the renewing of our minds, focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes.
Our minds are like our headquarters. They are the acting rulers of us but they only do what we tell them we want to do. We tell them that by our actions. If we want to change our actions or behaviors, we have to show our minds what we mean.
We have to allow God to reprogram our minds with better choices. That means we must surrender to Him and trust Him to lead us. We have to readily recognize what God wants for us; remember that will always be for our good and not our disaster.
Do What God Wants
Fourth, it’s not enough to just recognize and know what God wants for us, we must quickly do what He wants us to do. We can’t second-guess God. We can’t falter. Our actions will show whether we are following God or not.
When we allow God to begin to renew our minds, it will change everything about us. It will change our inclinations, our desires and our thoughts. Our attachments will become more spiritual and heavenly rather than fleshly and worldly. We will begin to act from a feeling of newness and surrendered commitment to God.
We will no longer be who we once were. You will feel like an entirely different person because you are “All that is related to the old order has vanished. Everything is fresh and new,” (2 Cor 5:17, TPT).
Follow Your Purpose
Fifth, our goals should always be to follow God’s plans and purposes for our lives. This earth is a testing ground for us. Are we willing to follow what God wants us to do? Are we fully surrendered to Him in order to be obedient when He calls on us? Does God have our total attention?
This earth is a testing ground for us. Are we willing to follow what God wants us to do? Are we fully surrendered to Him in order to be obedient when He calls?
Does God have your attention? Or is your attention focused elsewhere? Are you consciously aware of what God wants you to do or is your mind on autopilot? Are you allowing yourself to be led by everyone that enters your life, everything you read and listen to and everything everyone else is doing?
Leap of Faith
What if God clearly told you to do something crazy, like jump off a cliff? It reminds me of the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” where Indiana has to step out to cross a chasm but his eyes tell him there is no bridge. He knows he has to cross over in order to save his father. There’s not much time so he takes a leap of faith.
He even whispers those words before he steps out into what seems to be nothing. Then when he steps out, the invisible bridge appears across to the other side. Sometimes this is what it is like to follow God. We can’t see the whole picture but God can. As 2 Corinthians 5:7 (AMP) says, “We have to walk by faith not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises].”
The key is we must truly believe that God keeps His promises. God promises us that we will be transformed. However, God does not promise our complete transformation will be immediate. It is all based on how desperately we want to live this beautiful life God has promised us as we follow Him. To do that, we have to take a leap of faith. If not, we will always try to be transforming ourselves instead of trusting God to show us how to have a total transformation from the inside out.
For more on this topic, check out Sweet Grace for Your Journey podcast episode 102: From the Inside Out: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/podcast. {eoa}
Teresa Shields Parker is the author of six books and two study guides, including her No. 1 bestseller, Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds. Her sixth book, Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds, is live on Amazon. She blogs at teresashieldsparker.com. She is also a Christian weight-loss coach (check out her coaching group at Overcomers Academy) and speaker. Don’t miss her podcast, Sweet Grace for Your Journey, available on CPN.
Curt Landry 
Michael L. Brown 
Rabbi Eric Tokajer