Finding a Sound Mind: Replacing Lies with Truth

Victoria's Living Family is shared in Korea here and you are watching Stepping Forward, practical tools for living a life of victory and stepping forward in your faith, your healing journey. Um, and it's just so good to be with you here today. Um, who am I? Well, I am the VL digital, no, I was the digital content manager. I am the VL wellness program director. And what that means is I develop and help direct and create different wellness programs, um, for the corrections community. So it's a new extension of VL and it's very exciting to see what God is up to and what he is doing in and through this, um, this new extension of Victoria's Living Ministries. So stay tuned because in the next month or two, we're going to have some, um, some new content available that I think y'all will really be able to relate to and be very excited about. So, um, stay tuned for that and just, and just keep watching here for the new, new updates and new details about the exciting things that we'll be releasing and working through. So here at Stepping Forward, what we do is I share, um, practical tools for victorious living through my own life experiences and through the word of God, because we need both. We need, um, lived experience and we need the truth to really cling to. And, uh, cause, bam, would you agree? Our experiences, they can create lies and misbeliefs, um, within us, within our mind, our experiences, whether good or bad, positive or negative, the traumatic and tragic things that we've gone through, or the things that have really helped us, um, along our way, the positive connections and experiences that we have gone through. They all shape us and they, they shape our thoughts, our emotions, the way that we respond or reply, uh, or react to certain situations. Um, but most importantly, they create, or they shape and influence our whole belief system. Now, in this series, Finding a Sound Mind, belief system is everything, everything, right? In order to, uh, have the right perspective or a change in perspective, you have to have

something different. But if all you know is one fixed mindset and one fixed way to look at things, look at people, look at situations and experiences, you're, you're missing out, all right? You're missing out on a key component of transformation. And that is being able to replace the lies with truth. That is being able to, um, apply and live out 2 Timothy 1, 7, God does not give us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and a sound mind or self-control or self-discipline. Some interpretations, um, uh, interpret that word also. And it's all encompassing the same thing, a mind that is sound, a mind that is stable, a mind that is unshakable and, and, um, immovable is, uh, a mind that is, um, safe, okay? All of those words mean the same thing. Um, if we think about, you know, um, something that is sound, right? Um, stable ground. I was recording one of, uh, one of these episodes not too long ago, and I noticed these two doors behind me. And these two doors behind me represent the battle of the mind for me. It's really cool correlation. You have one door that leads to life and an abundant life where there's peace and Shalom and completeness and restoration and redemption, right? To step, to step through. And on this side, you have death and one that is destructive and unhelpful and unhealthy and disorderly and, um, there's harm there and, you know, it's ruled by our, our feelings. It's ruled by our flesh. It's ruled. By our desires to get our needs and wants met apart from God, it is one where pride and arrogance is. It is one where even lies are sovereign. They are ruling and reigning our entire life experience, and especially our belief systems, our psychological experience and landscape, our thought life, our emotional expressions, our feelings of how we feel and emote about things.

And we know that that influences our behavior as we learned in the either last episode or the one before. Our thoughts influence our emotions and our emotions influence our actions. But in the scriptures, it talks a lot about how belief determines or influences our behavior. So furthering the journey with finding a sound mind here, we are going to learn today how to work through any misconceptions, any lies, any distortions, that kind of stuff. Being able to think about the things we're thinking about, seeing where our mind and our thought life is camped out at, because that will determine whether we are experiencing a sound mind or not. We will be talking about how to recognize and correct our wrong thinking, getting rid of that thinking, thinking, and being able to talk to God about it. You know what to do about it in light of fill in the blank. What is that? What does that mean? How should I move forward? How should I step forward and now heed the truth or the lie? So first we're going to talk about how to fix my chair, sorry. I want you to imagine having a map that was drawn just incorrectly, all right? Just completely wrong. And if that was, if you have that in your hands, you'd get lost and you'd never find your way forward. Or if you didn't even know how to read a map, then like you're lost already. You're like, I don't know what to do with this. What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? What does this legend mean and say? And how do I step forward? How do I start my journey on this map? The same thing happens when we listen to lies and when we believe the wrong things, all right?

It's like having a map that is drawn incorrectly. And while you want to get over here, maybe, right? Your desire is life and peace and abundance and shalom and mental wellness, not mental illness. But you might be experiencing all of this stuff over here. And our thought life and what we are choosing to believe determines the destination, right? We know that we've heard in previous episodes that our identity determines our destination. And so part of our identity is what you believe about yourself, right? So if you think that you're an inmate, you're a prisoner, you're an addict, you're unlovable, you are always going to be that way, ain't nothing going to ever change for you. And that's just it. And you have like this fixed mindset that doesn't allow renewal, doesn't allow a different perspective. Well, sorry, friend, that's what you're always going to be, then that's your life. And I'm saying that to empower you, because we have a responsibility, we have a duty, we have a responsibility to co-partner with truth, so that this is not the result anymore for our lives, but this one is, all right? So we're going to battle up, we're going to suit up and we're going to think about the things that we're thinking about. So being stuck, being stuck in negative thought patterns, being stuck in emotional entrapment, it feels like sometimes because it becomes so strong, intense emotions, being stuck and spiraling out in even our behaviors, gosh, I can't change. The very thing that I don't want to do, I can... continue to do. And so what is up with this? And how? Like, what is the answer? What is my hope? Paul writes about this in Romans, chapter seven, I believe. And listen, he experienced the very same things that we do down here. And I just love that his letters give us it's almost like his journal entries, right? It's almost like he is writing a textbook of of bat how to battle the mind and how to really walk out our

transformation and the process of sanctification, the gospel of sanctification, the gospel of transformation. So we all experience this, and it's our sin nature, if you don't know, and it's our flesh that wants to rule and reign over us. But God gave us a spirit of life. God gave us his spirit that brings us into life, and peace and restoration and renewal and regeneration, and sanctification, and all those gorgeous words. But following after our flesh, following after our emotional experiences, following after the lies that we have believed, following after the lie, even from the enemy that says you can't change, nothing will ever change, change is impossible for you. And you are too far gone, like, and following after those things, those that those things that we believe and we think are true about us. Friend, I'm here to tell you that that's those are lies and lies from the pit of hell. He does this to us to distort God's truth so that we stay stuck and paralyzed in fear, doubt, worry, confusion, having a double mind, you know, because once he's done that, he doesn't have to do very much else. Satan hates, hates, hates, hates, hates us to know the truth, to stand firm in the truth, as it says in in first Timothy chapter three, being a pillar of truth. And and and trying to knock us off kilter. And if he if he can get us to believe the lie, then he's done his job, then he's done his job. It's kind of easy for him. All right, so we want to wake up, we want to wake up, I want you to wake up. And I want you to activate your your frontal lobe here. And reason with me and reason with the Lord and renew, renew your minds. So I'm going to give you some practical application on how to carry this out. But being stuck in fill in the blank, whatever that is for you incarceration, oh my gosh,

never gonna out of here. I'm always going to be like this. I'm going to do my fourth bid. I just know it incarceration is my life. Being a prisoner is my destiny. And I'll just be like a professional prisoner because that's all I know how to be. Whether it's being stuck in unhealthy relationships, whether it's being stuck in, in a relationship that God is being that is restoring. And the circumstance, whatever you find yourself in whatever situation you find yourself in right now may not look so good. With with your natural eyes being stuck in the mud of loneliness, of depression, of fear of confusion, of doubt of worry is God really going to provide is God it are God's promises really true? I'm not sure. I'm being stuck in whatever, whatever you're stuck in, I just gave you so many different ones addiction. Oh my gosh, the the cycle, the harmful cycle of addiction being stuck in wherever and whatever you find yourself being stuck in is connected to the way you think. All right, the result of whatever you find yourself being stuck in, whether it's a circumstantial and situational, is a is connected to the way you think. In fact, there is a strong connected between what you think and feel like we've already gone over, and then do and then act it all out. So change happens when we renew the mind. And renewing your mind means you change the way you think about things you reframe or re get a new perspective. On the same situation, you turn the dial, I think of it like a like a diamond, right? And if you look at one facet of the diamond, it might look this way. But a lot of us y'all we're not turning the diamond because there's other facets. to look at. There's different perspectives to look at. So you can change your thought patterns by making a habit of evaluating your thoughts with truth found in God's Word. So let's play

this out. In 2 Corinthians 10 5, I wrote a whole article about this, about taking thoughts captive. And I can't remember which year or which issue it is in, but it is so good. It is so good. And again, I have to do this for my life daily. It's a daily discipline of self that I have to do. So in 2 Corinthians 10 5, the second part, it says we take captive, which means we bring under control, self-control. All right. This is me stepping forward and saying, all right, God, I'm going to apply this and I'm going to do it because I want that as the result. I want a sound mind that you are offering to me freely. So we take captive, we bring under the control every thought and make it obedient to Christ. And what this means is that we take every thought and we put it up against the Word of God, right? Who is the true pillar of truth. Jesus is the way, the truth of life. Jesus says, know the truth and truth will set you free. The spirit of the Lord, wherever the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. All right. That involves truth because the spirit of Lord only knows about truth. He only talks and, and, and, and talks. I mean, he might not do it to me. He, he talks and he in his word, it is, he only knows truth. That's all he knows. He doesn't know anything else because that's what he is. He's, he's nothing else. We know that the, the father of lies is Satan. It is not the Lord. All right. So we need some weapons to combat against this. All the lies that are circulating through our life and through our mind. Here's another one. Romans 12 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So here's two. I want to, I want to give you two thought patterns and tell me which one is more like you. The first one, this is hard. I'm never going to succeed at this. I'll, I'll never be able to change. I'll always be this way. I'm never going to get out of this situation. Once an addict, always an addict. I'll just be in the system forever. The system is against me. Um, this is just the way it is. And my life is going to be this way and woe is me and, and I'm a victim and, and et cetera, et cetera. All right. You have a second thought pattern. Let's flip that coin over. This is hard. And I'm not sure how I'm going to change. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to cope with, um, the difficulty and the challenges that I find myself in right now. I'm not sure even how it's going to all play out, but with God's help and God's word and safe, healthy community around me, I can make it through. I'm going to make it one step at a time. Two very different thought patterns might be looking at the same thing. And, uh, you know, uh, a parallel, a good example, a reflection of even the last episode in numbers 13 and 14, is that right? Um, about our story about, uh, Caleb and Joshua looking at the same thing,

but you're thinking two different things, right? So friend, which one are you, which one do you relate to most? And if you find yourself in the first thought pattern, well, I have good news for you and I'm going to help you out of there. Um, but in order to renew the way that you think, you need to look at the situation with a different perspective. Remember perspective is everything where we're focusing on determines our perspective and our perspective determines our attitude. And then our attitude determines what we're going to think and feel and do even, uh, in response to this whole experience. So it's important. We got to get a grasp on this. We got to get a handle on it. Um, in light of God's promises and truth, that's how we want to think that is called renewing our mind. It's not just, um, creating a whole bunch of different scenarios in life. Like replaying them all. That's not necessarily renewing it. It is how we how am I going to change my perspective in a way that brings me into a into a soundbite brings me into a place in the land of prosperity and wellness and completeness and Shalom and rest and peace and presence and and one that is. Adding to me alright not taking away like in John 1010 where they eat the thief comes only to still kill and destroy. But God came to give. He came to add and grant you certain. Things for your life, which bring you into that gorgeous promised land that we all want to get into. So for instance, if you feel alone, you would have to remind yourself you would have to. You would have to remind yourself with truth. With the truth. Is God says he always with me? He's always with me like in Psalm 348. OK, if you're experiencing loneliness,

if you're experiencing separation from relationship and and separation from connection with other people, it is. It is your job and I I'm saying this with love. OK, it is your job and your responsibility. To be able to remind yourself of the truth to combat all of the negative thoughts that are probably evasively attacking you. Alright. If you're angry about an injustice, something that happened to you that you didn't get to say so. Alright, there's a lot of injustices in our childhood and even adult life. We didn't get to say so and how it all rolled out and played out and we got all harmed because of it. So if you are angry about an injustice, the truth is God will make sure justice is served. Vengeance is his, not ours, so we can take our hands off and say Lord, I trust you and take care of it and I can let it go and surrender and take that big old stick out of my backpack and I'll be toting around everywhere. Alright, that's the truth. That is what God says. In Romans 1219, that is what he says. So I want to. There is this gorgeous area where science and faith emerge together and they support each other. This Bible, the authoritative Word of God, it is.

It was the first neuroscience book ever written. It helps us to understand and not only understand, but to really support and move forward within our mental health within finding a sound mind. Or if you are experiencing anxiety and worry and that is causing an unsound mind and a disorderly mind in the Word of God, it tells us what to do about that. Guys, it is this. This book is unfathomable. It is unfathomable and I'm living proof of it. I'm living proof of it. When you apply the Word of God. And do like God's way you experience transformation. That's it. There's a truth for you. OK, that's a trustworthy saying. I'm sure the enemy wants you to believe that now that's just stories from back then. It don't apply to real life now. I'm sure in that you ain't, you know, you always gonna stay the same. You need to read these other books. You need to get into witchcraft. You need to get in tarot cards. You need to get in. You know what is that called when the like every day or horoscope, you know, follow your horoscope. Cause that's going to really lead you into that. That is crap. OK, that is crap and it's witchcraft straight up.

It is not the Word of God. It is not relying and depending on the voice in the Word of God, because that is the only thing that will bring you into that gorgeous place that promised land that we all want. OK, I scrolled out. I'm so sorry. Alright, so here are two things that you're going to do, and I'm just going to say two right now. So when you are experiencing. You know you're you're getting stuck in your mind. You're kind of spiraling out or you're you notice you recognize maybe that you're having negative thought patterns that you are. That you are thinking irrationally. You are thinking disturbing thoughts and negative thoughts, alright? You want to be able to defend yourself. The most important part of battle is a strong defense system. is a strong defense system. You have to be able to have a stronghold, right? Where you hold your heart guarded and close, where there is literally a guard standing in front of this heart and is immovable, unshakable. Ain't nothing gonna take this thing out. That's the, we gotta think of this in military terms because that's how Paul even wrote it. And that is true of the spiritual warfare that is going on and how that is manifesting

in through our lives in the physical realm, all right? The spiritual realm and the physical realm are direct reflections of each other. So we gotta get a strong defense system. And when negative thoughts are bombarding your mind, focusing on God's truth in the Bible is the best way to defend yourself from the, or against the wrong thought patterns that really influence and shape everything that we do, everything internally and externally. So the first thing you're gonna do, you're gonna write down a feeling you've been struggling with, a feeling and or a lie, all right? And let me say this, behind every feeling, like I feel unlovable or I feel depressed, all right? Behind every feeling, there is some other thought that happens before that. There is a lie that happens before that or a worry or a fearful thought, all right? But you're gonna write down that feeling or that thought. I feel blank because blank, or I think blank because a blank, right? This girl looked at me all sideways or she ignored me when I said hey to her. And so now she's probably mad at me. She don't even like me. Oh my gosh, and here comes, you know, I'm rejected and so I'm gonna isolate.

I'm gonna like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Could it be that that girl's just having a hard day? All right, she probably stuck in her head. She probably just ain't being nasty. Maybe she is being nasty, but that does not mean that you are rejected. I feel rejected, therefore I am rejected. That's not real, that's not real. That is a scripture. Whatever I think I am, or I am what I think. That is a proverb, I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong, write in and correct me, but I ain't got time to watch. It is somewhere in the Bible. What you think is what you are, okay? I wrote another article about that. You know, what we think about and the lies or truths that we believe is what we become. And so we wanna slow down this process a little bit. So I feel, or I think blank because blank. And on the next line then, you want to prayerfully write down what God's truth is, okay? So I feel rejected because she looked at me sideways or she didn't say hey back to me when I said hey to her. But the truth is, and then you wanna fill in that blank. And if you don't know, I need you to be strong and courageous and I need you to go talk to some people, some safe people who can help you find your way out of this map that has been drawn incorrectly for you.

All right, I need you to get in God's word, get in God's word and find out what the truth about you is. Find out what God's heart on everything, what God's heart is about everything, about how he thinks and feels even about our mental health, about how he thinks and feels about the lies that we believe and how they affect us, about how he thinks and feels about even like boundaries, right? Truth should be a boundary. Boundaries are there to protect us and to preserve us and even restore us. So truth is a boundary. And you gotta draw that line in the sand, you gotta exercise. and self control. Second Timothy 1 7 and say I am not doing this anymore. I'm not believing that crap. I'm not going to do it. And learn to renew your mind and replace that lie with the truth. Now this is over and over. This is a daily discipline. All right, being able to replace the lies with truth. And if you don't know, then go seek and find. This is it's not a hide and seek, not necessarily, but it is like a seek and find. All right. Jesus says in Matthew, come knock, seek. I will answer. I will open the door. All you got to do is come to me and I'll let you in. That is that is good news. That is good news. If you seek the scriptures and you seek God's heart, you will never be disappointed. You will never lack. You will. It will all it will never return void. God's word and God's truth never returns void. So, guys, you got to get in the Bible. You cannot. If we are influenced by. Completely our surroundings, the people that we are surrounded with, like that's it. Or by the Internet. If you're on the Internet and you probably shouldn't be OK in prison. And if social media, the news, even like what what we listen to and what we surround ourselves around and with influences us, it shapes us. If you are in isolation and all you got is you and every every time you turn around, there you are and it's only your thoughts

and they're probably they might be full of distorted thinking, allowing the difficult challenges and of your experiences in your life to be shaping your whole belief system. You better check it. You better challenge it. OK, challenging your thoughts is finding a sound mind, knowing the truth to bring up against the lie is finding a sound mind. I think I was all over the place in this one because I just have I get so excited and I have so much so much different information and ways to that that I even apply this to my life so that I can win the war in my mind so that I can experience a sound mind so that the 37 years, 30 years of mental illness that I experienced is like gone. There's not disorder and a bunch of lies reigning and ruling within my mental experience because I have learned through the word of God, through godly people and community and discipleship programs and so many different things, even trial and error, like, OK, that didn't work. Let me go back over here and figure this out again with God's help. But guys, I say this to you as a hope and an encouragement. God is not a respecter of persons. He is not only granting some people a sound mind and ordered mine. All right. Taking us out of disorder and and putting only some people into order. That's not God. He is not a respecter of persons. And what he has done for me, he can absolutely do for you. It is a. Being a student of the word and being a disciple of Christ means following where he stepped is stepping where he stepped. And Jesus also had to exercise a sound mind. He had to exercise self-control. He had to exercise self-discipline. If you look at his life, it is. Billboarded and neon with ways to find that sound mind and and becoming more like Christ, you know, being a child of God and having a mission, having a a calling on our life to become more like Christ, to become and growing in in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to grow in our holiness and our godliness, transformative journeys. That is being able to do life as Jesus did. And there's good news. Look, don't don't if the enemy is coming in right now. like yeah that'll never happen he can't do that for you you always gonna be messed up because you imperfect uh reaching to toward perfection and trying to be this perfect christian that just thanked me because i mess up all the time great news so do i and so does everybody else but god has not left us alone in the inadequacies of our human nature he has granted us his spirit dwelling within us to help us he has granted us and his word which guides us and which counsels us and which directs us into his way the way of everlasting life all right i would just want to

encourage you as the bible does that you can pray about anything and everything troubling you all right in philippians 4 6 through 7 it says to pray about anything and everything that is troubling you this is a good spiritual discipline and uh an exercise of self-control and self discipline also prayer is simply just talking to god and you can talk to god anytime anytime anyplace you don't have to have formal words you don't have to speak eloquently you don't have to say uh you know make sure you have it all together to approach the throne of grace you just share your heart that's what god wants he wants your heart but be encouraged by psalm 4 1 answer me when i call to you my righteous god give me relief from my distress for the things that are stressing me out and that's the things that we're thinking about is usually stressing us out because it happens right here and that that scripture continues to say have mercy on me and hear my prayer part of god's merciful gorgeous plan and his gracious gorgeous plan is giving us truth to combat the lies giving us a defense system all right putting on that armor of god cinching up that belt of truth because that's what's that's what's holding us together that's that's what's bringing the whole thing all the rest of the pieces of the armor that's what's keeping it all together is that truth when it says in um in first timothy 3 i'll just go to 14 i'm writing these things to you now even though i hope to be with you soon again again so that if i'm delayed you will know you will know how number one people must conduct themselves in the household of god okay you're part of the church number two this is the church of the living god which is the pillar and foundation of the truth if we are a part of the church which you are if you belong to christ and your new identity is now a child of god you belong to the church also the church of the living god is a pillar of and foundation of the truth what does that mean for our lives that's not just some abstract like oh that sounds really great that means that you are a pillar and foundation of the truth you also i think of when um when paul is writing this you know when he lives in that that beautiful greco-roman time where there is massive buildings that they're building and they have these gorgeous huge pillars that are upholding and supporting um these massive structures and pillars aren't back then they weren't just for supporting these massive structures they are also very very beautiful they were adorned adorned with beautiful inscriptions and colors and there there's something to behold if you've ever been in dc and looked at any of those things or i mean some of the other state capitals and their buildings they have those huge pillars and they are they are

gorgeous and and that's what that's what we are supposed to be we are supposed to be even pillars and foundations of the truth jesus is the truth the way and the life the truth will set you free wherever the spirit of the lord is there is freedom it brings us into a state of truth and so guys i i just want to encourage you to think about the things that you're thinking about god is there to help you in your weakness he is there always there to help us in our time of need especially when we are battling thing in our minds. And if you find yourself stuck and spiraling and squirreling out and can't get out of a thought pattern or a cycle of negative thinking, there's good news. There's good news. And I need you to stop and just pause and breathe and write this out. If you do it in your head, you're just going to get all lost. Still, you have to write this out. Get your brain on paper and see the things that are happening in your brain. If they are pinballing back and forth in your head and that's where they stay stuck, it ain't. Listen, you got to get it out. You got to get it out, put it on paper and get it out of your mouth then and speak it out. Remember, it takes 40 to 50 times of speaking something out loud to create a new neuropathway in your brain. So if you find yourself stuck in the battle of lies, well then I have good news for you. You are going to speak out the truth and it's not just one time. It's going to be every single day, all the time for the rest of your life because that's how the war is won. That is your new weapons. That is a weapon, a tool of weaponry in your toolbox to take out, apply, know how to use it, apply and defeat the enemy and step forward in a very victorious life. I hope you've enjoyed this. I hope all that makes sense. We love you so much. I love you. Always just thinking about y'all, praying over y'all every day, morning and night and let me just pray over right now. Father, we need you. Lord, we are desperate for you. Some of us have been experiencing a disordered and an unsound mind our entire lives and Lord, I just intercede for them even right now. Father, I plead the precious and mighty blood of Jesus over every mind listening, Lord. I pray that your truth would reign in their lives, that the word of the unchangeable word of God would get into them and change their minds, change their thoughts, change the way that they express themselves emotionally and how they feel about certain things and change even their behavior. Take it all the way, God, because you can. That's what transformation is, bringing us into a whole new creation and a whole new identity

that people don't even recognize. And there are still people in my past life that don't even recognize who I am and just all the amazing things God has done in my life. So, Lord, we trust you. We believe you. And even if we don't believe you, we're still going to trust and walk forward and stand firm in that place because here's a little teaching moment along in the prayer. Lord, the facts are facts. The truth is going to lead us, not our feelings, not our feelings, Lord. So help us to follow the lead of the spirit, which brings us into life and peace and soundness. Lord, help us to put off our flesh and to put on the spirit and the truth. We love you so much. Thank you so much for meeting us in this place, understanding our demise down here and for giving us a way out, giving us tools to activate and use and apply and reflect on to help ourselves grow and enter into your abundant life. Gosh, we love you so much. And I just pray over all of our IFAM watching right now and in Jesus' mighty, mighty name, we pray. Amen. or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples.