Author: Kevin Sherman

When I was a young boy, perhaps 9 or 10 years old, if someone had asked me to draw a picture of what I thought God looked like, I probably would have drawn something completely different than I would now. The picture I had in my mind as a child was that of a stern, menacing looking old man waiting for me to disobey. Punishment was surely awaiting me. God was the Great Punisher. That was my concept of what He was like.

That idea would shape my thinking and consequently my behavior for many years after that. When God is The Punisher, you live your life in fear of punishment. So why am I giving you this personal glimpse into my past? It’s an example of how satan will deceive us concerning the nature of God.

How different our world would be if we were all taught from birth the true nature of God and saw it demonstrated before us. It would be impossible to completely cover the topic of God’s nature in this one blog article, so I won’t attempt it. However, what I will do is share with you how God enabled me to tear down the “punisher” concept and replace it with the correct one.

As a direct result of this false concept of God, I had developed a toxic thought. That thought became an established way of thinking for me. To sum it up in one sentence, that thought was: I and others who fail should be punished. The Apostle Paul tells us as believers that we are to be casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5)

There were two character traits of God that I was missing revelation on –  God is Love, and God is Good. I’ll cover these two more in depth in future blog posts. I knew I couldn’t go on allowing this toxic thinking to have its way any longer. It influenced so many decisions I had made, not to mention the impact it had on relationships.

When a toxic thought is destroyed, it must be replaced with a healthy thought. For me, the new healthy thought was – “I see myself and others as the objects of His love.”

            1 John 4:10-11 (The Message) says “This is the kind of love we are talking about – not that we once upon a time loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

            My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other.”

We’re talking about unconditional love here. Love that is not earned or deserved. You can’t adequately love others if you don’t know that you’re unconditionally loved.

So, through the direction of the Holy Spirit, I was able to identify this toxic thought and replace it with “I see myself and others as the objects of His love.”

I did this for 21 days (said it to myself multiple times each day). I was blown away at the change that started happening in my mind. I began to see myself and others in a different light. There were regular (and still are) times alone in His presence when I would feel like I was literally being immersed in the love of God. A baptism of love, if you will!

1 John 4:18 (NKJV) says “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has torment (punishment). But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

In my journey I’ve been discovering what this perfect love looks like. Jesus! I’ve found myself more and more being drawn back to the gospels and studying the life of Jesus when he lived as a man on this earth. All of the libraries in the world couldn’t hold everything that could be said about this man and I sure won’t attempt to in this blog. Do you want to know what love looks like? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know what good looks like? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know what God looks like? Look at Jesus.

I’ll end with a quote taken from C. S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1):

“Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr. Beaver…”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

 

He’s good.

 

Kevin

I recently heard someone say, “One of these days when you cross over into eternity to stand before God and you’re able to see your adversary, the devil, you’re going to say, ‘Are you kidding me? This is the little wimp that caused so many problems?’”

Before you start accusing me of minimizing satan’s influence, let’s remember this, he is a created being. That means he’s lower than God. Much lower than God. I believe he gets credit for a lot more than he should. His greatest weapon against us is not his supernatural ability to do weird tricks through Ouija boards. His greatest tool is deception. Lies. He is the father of lies. (John 8:44)

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

            If this statement by Jesus is true, then what do lies do for us?  They bind us.

They hold us back from fulfilling the purposes of God. How does the devil lie to us? Obviously he doesn’t just walk up to us and whisper in our ear, “hey, you want to hear a good lie?”  He deceives us through thoughts, and those thoughts are built through our experiences, religious training, and yes, even our DNA. There was a popular comedian in the 70’s who’s most famous line was “the devil made me do it!” It was good comedy, but in reality the devil doesn’t make us do anything. Through lies he influences our thoughts and our thoughts make us do bad things.

There is good news, however. There is truth to destroy and replace every lie from the enemy. The greatest example we have of this Jesus Himself. When He was in the wilderness fasting for forty days, the devil came and tempted Him three times. Each time, the Son of God used the word of God (“it is written”) to silence the tempter. You can read it in Matthew 4:1-11. This is why it is so necessary that we have a close relationship not only with God, but also His written word. I love the way Psalm 1:1-3 reads in The Message version:

            “How well God must like you – you don’t hang out at Sin Saloon, you don’t slink along Dead-End Road, you don’t go to Smart-Mouth College. Instead you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.”

I have personally become aware of three areas in which the enemy of our soul can bind us through deception:

1. The nature of God. (Who He is and what He is like)
2. My identity. (How God created me and what He thinks about me)
3. The future. (Why am I here and where am I going?)

We are going to look at each of these areas in the next three blogs. I hope you’ll join me and get a taste of the freedom I’m experiencing. You’ll see how the truth really can set you free! See you next week!

 

Kevin

 

“Nothing ever goes right with me.” “I’m really worried about what might happen to me.” “I hope they suffer for what they did to me!” “You’ll never amount to anything.” “I always get sick this time of year.” “I can’t help but be anxious about it, anxiety runs in my family, you know.” “I’m stupid.” What do all of these statements have in common? They’re toxic thoughts.

What are toxic thoughts?

Dr. Caroline Leaf says, “Toxic thoughts are thoughts that trigger negative and anxious emotions which produce biochemicals that cause the body stress. They are stored in your mind, as well as in your body.” Wow! No wonder so many people are sick – physically and mentally. In fact, scientific research has shown that 75 – 98% of mental and physical illnesses come from our thought life.

Why would these toxic thoughts be responsible for such widespread damage? Because they are contrary to the original design. We were originally created for perfection. We were wired for love. We were designed for dialogue and relationship with our Creator. We’ve chosen thoughts that result in death rather than life. The words that God speaks are life. (John 6:68)

These toxic thoughts grow like little trees in our brain. They have branches that grow every time we think. God has graciously given us the ability to choose what kind of trees we want to grow in our brain. Do you want healthy trees full of life, or do you want toxic trees full of death?

Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live.”

Did you catch that last part, “so that you and your descendants might live?”

Not only do our thoughts affect us now, but also our children, and their children, and so on. Our DNA is actually changed either positively or negatively through the biochemicals released every time we have a thought, whether it be toxic or healthy.

I would like to share with you some practical steps I have used to renew my mind and thereby change my brain.

 

1. Catch your thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NKJV says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” We must recognize those thoughts that are opposed to the truth of God’s word. When we catch them and bring them into the light, then we can begin the process of destroying them and replacing them with healthy thoughts.

 

2. Replace it with the truth. Find out what God says about it. What God says about us or about any situation is truth. We replace lies with truth. It is His truth that sets us free. (John 8:31-32).

 

3. Meditate on it daily. When you find this healthy replacement thought, then you make a conscious decision to think about it throughout the day. Psalm 1 speaks powerfully to this. I encourage you to read it.

 

It has been proven that it takes at least 21 days get rid of a habit and replace it with a new one. We didn’t build these toxic thought patterns overnight, and we won’t get rid of them overnight. It’s a process that will take perseverance and most importantly partnering with the Holy Spirit.

You can begin by starting your day alone with Him. Thank Him, praise Him, and worship Him. Then ask Him to show you a specific toxic thought that needs to be destroyed. He is more than willing to reveal it to you. Chances are, you already know what it is! When you know what it is, write it down. (I suggest you get a journal if you don’t already have one).

Then, ask Him to show you the healthy replacement thought. You may already know. Write it down. Go over this thought at least 7 times or more during the day. Do this for at least 21 days. I’ve been doing this daily for the past year and it has changed my life.

Change your mind, change your life!

Yours in Him,

Kevin

It seemed fitting that this mind renewal project of mine would begin where it did – in the beginning. Literally. “Then God said, Let us make man in Our image, according to our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). We were designed for perfection. That was the original intent of our Creator in the beginning. His creation was good. It was very good. It was perfect. Now it’s not. What happened? Somebody believed a lie. How could someone made in the image of Almighty God Himself believe anything other than what He Himself had spoken? These caretakers of the garden, into whose nostrils God Himself had breathed life, chose death instead.

Like my ancient ancestors, I too had believed a lie. I had spent most of my life comparing myself to others. I never measured up. When I saw the damage this toxic thinking had done, I knew it was time for change. Yes, we can change. It’s as simple as asking Holy Spirit to uncover what we can’t see. I couldn’t see how this way of thinking had robbed me of the abundant life that Jesus had promised (John 10:10). So, what is the remedy that He gave me to replace this toxic thought? I am created in God’s image. His likeness! In fact, God is so creatively full of imagination that he made every one of us completely unique. Distinctly different! And to top it all off, in Christ He makes us a new creation! (2 Corinthians 5:17). There is not another person on this entire planet like me or you.

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” (Psalm 139:14).

Now I can say with complete confidence, I am marvelous!

Stay tuned…

 

Sometimes God is sneaky. He loves us, therefore He pursues us. He chases us down like a dad running after his toddler in the backyard. We can pursue Him, but when you ponder that, what it amounts to is us slowing down enough that He catches us. And then sometimes it’s just a collision.

One year ago, a new transformational process began in my mind. I’ve always believed the often quoted scripture in Romans 12:2 – “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” and had experienced my share of transformation and mind renewal in my 40 + years of following Jesus, albeit rather slow.

Ok, back to God being sneaky. Overhearing a conversation and then intently tuning my ear to what was being said might be considered eavesdropping, but in this case their conversation wasn’t necessarily private. They were talking about a woman named Dr. Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist (a brain expert), who also happens to be follower of Christ. Curiosity got the best of me and I went home and began to watch her videos online. Awestruck and fascinated at her discoveries about our brain and how God has created us with the ability to literally change it, I decided to try her 21 Day Brain Detox Plan. One year and 17 detoxes later, not only am I awestruck and fascinated by her research, but also how transformation can really happen through the renewing of a mind, because it’s happening to me!

I am beginning a weekly blog today titled “As You Think” to share some of what I have learned and experienced through this process. Hopefully you can be inspired and transformed through reading it. I welcome your comments.

If you would like more information about Dr. Leaf and her ministry, you can visit her website www.drleaf.com.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7)

Yours in Him,

Kevin

 

 

Sometimes God is sneaky. He loves us, therefore He pursues us. He chases us down like a dad running after his toddler in the backyard. We can pursue Him, but when you ponder that, what it amounts to is us slowing down enough that He catches us. And then sometimes it’s just a collision.

In 2017, a new transformational process began in my mind. I’ve always believed the often quoted scripture in Romans 12:2 – “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” and had experienced my share of transformation and mind renewal in my 40 + years of following Jesus, albeit rather slow.

Ok, back to God being sneaky. Overhearing a conversation and then intently tuning my ear to what was being said might be considered eavesdropping, but in this case their conversation wasn’t necessarily private. They were talking about a woman named Dr. Caroline Leaf, a cognitive neuroscientist (a brain expert), who also happens to be follower of Christ. Curiosity got the best of me and I went home and began to watch her videos online. Awestruck and fascinated at her discoveries about our brain and how God has created us with the ability to literally change it, I decided to try her 21 Day Brain Detox Plan. One year and 17 detoxes later, not only am I awestruck and fascinated by her research, but also how transformation can really happen through the renewing of a mind, because it’s happening to me!

So, I started this weekly blog titled “As You Think” to share some of what I have learned and experienced through this process. Hopefully you can be inspired and transformed through reading it. I welcome your comments.

If you would like more information about Dr. Leaf and her ministry, you can visit her website www.drleaf.com.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7)

Yours in Him,

Kevin