What comes to mind when you hear the words life and peace? For me, I go to a briskly moving stream in the middle of a forest. Nature is loud but everything else is quiet. My thoughts move slower here. What is it for you? And what if I told you life and peace were things you could experience every day?

“So, letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (Romans 8:6). Paul is writing about what it’s like to live life with God. This verse plainly points out the benefits to the Spirit leading and ruling in our minds. What Paul also says is that we have agency here. What are the things you’re “letting” rule your thought-life?

Paul again in his letter to the church in Philippi says this, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:8).

We are not ruled by our feelings nor are we at the mercy to our thoughts. There’s freedom in this truth. Our culture today says things like, “you just have anxiety, therefore you’re going to be anxious.” Now, anxiety is a very real thing – trust me, I know. But it’s not a character trait. It’s not a piece of our identity.

I love what Paul says in the above verse to the Philippians. He charges his readers to fix their thoughts. He’s saying, use this list as a way to filter good and productive thoughts from bad and harmful thoughts. We have the ability to do this, friends. Yes, it takes practice, but like any skill the way to begin is to first recognize it’s possible.

There’s much to be said here, as the thoughts we choose to cling to largely determine the narrative we live in. Paul again says in Romans, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Believing in Jesus kickstarts a narrative change in our minds. The narrative begins to shift from self-focus to God-focus. Paul gives us tools here to partner with God as our minds begin to shift. We are to filter out the bad thoughts by holding them up against Paul’s list, we are to allow our minds to be ruled by the Spirit, and this is something that happens more and more as we grow in our understanding of who God is and how He interacts with us.

As we put these things into practice, with the partnership of the Holy Spirit, we begin to change because the way we think begins to change. Friends, the point I want to leave you with is that this is a practice. It is not a list of 12 magic words to make your life better. It’s a daily, habitual, rhythmic way to train our minds in tandem with God working inside of us. The more we practice fixing our thoughts on the things of the Lord, the more room we give Him to work in us.

What rules your thought-life? Does it tend to be fear, anxiety, excitement, dreams, what is it? I want to encourage you to practice the thought-filter of Paul’s list in Philippians. Does this thought fall under what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or worthy of praise? If not, cast it aside and don’t give it another moment. If it does, then fixate on it. Allow it to ruminate. God’s way of changing us is wholistic and He does so in partnership with us. Join me in partnering with the Lord today, in practicing and allowing Him to change the way we think.