When you read God’s word, do you sometimes feel it’s not having the effect on your life that it should? Do you struggle with how to control your mind and master your feelings? Let’s get practical and break this down a bit by considering the Accepted Bible study Mary Kane wrote for Spaces of Grace this month.

I’d like to look at one of the verses in particular, Ephesians 1:6. 

to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. 

If you read the study and spent time reflecting on the word accepted, you may have found some of the meanings that I did. I looked up the word accepted in the Blue Letter Bible app (see instructions below) and found these meanings:

• To make graceful
• Charming, lovely, agreeable
• To peruse with grace, compass with favor
• To honor with blessings, 
• Indue with special honor
• Make accepted
• Be highly favored

Question to Consider

Do the thoughts I’m thinking about myself line up with the truth of acceptance God speaks over us in Ephesians?

Let’s dive even deeper with the following questions:

1. Do I consider myself graceful and grace-filled?
2. Do I see myself as charming, lovely, and agreeable?
3. Do I know that God compasses me with His favor?
4. Do I understand that God honors me with His blessings?
5. Do I get that he accepts me and loves me as I am?
   6. Do I believe that I am highly favored by God?

If you’re laughing skeptically, stop and think. God truly wants us to believe these things about ourselves because He believes them about us. 

But how many of us do?

It’s time to change our mindset. If you’re like me, you’re thinking, “How? I’ve thought like this for years. I don’t know how to change. I’ll try for a day or two and then I’m back into my old patterns.”

Until I earnestly started working on my thoughts, I had no idea how negative I had become.  

How to Control Your Mind From Unwanted Thoughts

For two years now, I’ve been focusing on renewing my mind. Let me be honest. This is a process. It’s a battle. The enemy wants our minds stuck in negativity. But God wants us FREE. Here are some steps to get our thoughts centered on God’s truth.

• Pick one thought you want to emulate from the list above, maybe the one you struggle the most to believe. Note: Perhaps there is some truth to your negative thoughts. Maybe, for example, your default is to disagree with what people say, and you’re not a particularly agreeable person – but you’d like to change that. 
• Write down the thought you want to emulate in a journal.
• Find a few scripture verses that reflect God’s truth about this thought.
• Begin memorizing the verses, one at a time.

Now practice doing the following things each day.

1. Read the verse aloud each day.
2. Pray the verse aloud each day. 
3. Write an affirmation about you based on the verse and state it often each day. Put it in your notes on your phone so you always have it with you.An example would be, “I am God’s daughter, and he loves to honor me with His blessings.” 
4. Use a spiral index card holder to write your verses on and/or use an app like VerseLocker to help memorize the verse. The idea is you’re training your mind to line up with God’s word. 
5. Begin to take a step of faith that acts on what you’re working on. For example, the next time someone voices a thought you’re apt to disagree with, really listen. Then answer thoughtfully and prayerfully – or perhaps just remain silent if it’s not that important.  

Make a commitment to try this for one week. Then evaluate and see what progress you have made. Extend the commitment for another week until you feel you’re ready to add another thought to work on. 

How to Use Blue Letter Bible

You can choose one of the following ways to use this resource.

1. On your computer, go to Blue Letter Bible. Type in Ephesians 1:6 in the Search the Bible search box. On that verse, put your cursor on tools and choose Interlinear. Choose Reverse in the menu that pops us. Scroll down and look for the word accepted. Put your cursor on Strongs G5487 and click. Scroll down and read through the Outline of Biblical Usage, Strongs Definitions, and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon for lots of insight.
2. Download the BLB app for your phone. Open the app. Click on the magnifying glass icon at the top. Type in Ephesians 1:6 in the search box that opens up and hit search. Tap on the verse. Choose Interlinear/Concordance. Choose Reverse. Scroll down and look for the word accepted. Put your cursor on Strongs G5487 and click. Scroll down and read through the Outline of Biblical Usage, Strongs Definitions, and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon for lots of insight.  

Change Your Thoughts

Let’s control our minds by lining up our thoughts with God’s word. It takes time, but the results last a lifetime! Would you share any tips you have on how you control your mind? We’d love to hear them.