I used to live in a cycle of flawed thinking. At the time I thought my life was great by my own mental standards; yet I entertained limitations, carried a skewed view of life, and allowed lies to dictate how far I could go.
My realization of how flawed my mindset only came later, after repeatedly confronting the outcomes of my life and noticing a gap between what I desired and what I was actually experiencing. My desires were valid, but my thought patterns were too limited to sustain them.
This world runs on principles and laws that operate whether you are aware of them or not. One principle I had to confront was simple yet sobering: “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” If my harvest didn’t look like what I desired, then the real question was: What had I been planting?
I had to reflect on what I was meditating on, speaking, listening to, and allowing into my mind; because these were the seeds shaping my reality.
Like the twelve spies who went into Canaan, I too had a choice. Ten of them saw defeat before the battle even began. Two of them, Caleb and Joshua, saw victory because they aligned their thinking with God’s promises. I had to make that same choice: to stop magnifying the giants, shake off the lies, and believe God’s Word about who I am.
Today I am convinced that I am for signs and wonders, with dominion over the earth, air, and sea; because that is what God declares about me.
This journey birthed my passion for teaching about mindsets. Many of life’s troubles stem not from circumstances themselves but from how we see ourselves and the world around us. Perspective determines whether you see yourself as a victor or a victim. And if life is not responding to you the way you expect, perhaps the real issue lies in how you are perceiving and processing it.
I once listened to a man who grew up in abject poverty share a powerful insight. Even after God lifted him, opened doors for him to travel the world, and blessed him abundantly, he still found himself returning home to buy mtumba (secondhand clothes) from the local market. Why? Because although he had physically left the village, the village mindset had not left him.
That is the Power of Perspective. Perspective is the lens through which we interpret life. Two people can face the same reality, yet their outcomes differ drastically depending on the lens they use. Imagine standing before a glass of water: one person says, “It is half empty,” while another confidently declares, “It is half full.” Nothing about the water changed, but everything about their perspective shaped their reality.
In the same way, many people carry limitations into the very spaces God has elevated them into, not because they lack opportunity but because they never dealt with their mindset.
So let me ask you: What is your meditation like? What do you allow into your mind? Because the greatest battles of life are not fought outside, they are fought and won within, in your thought life.
Philippians 4:8 offers us a powerful filter, a substitution system for our thoughts, to measure whether they are worth keeping or discarding. Before you entertain any idea, emotion, or imagination, test it against these eight levels:
- Is it true? Or is it built on lies and assumptions?
- Is it noble? Does it uplift or degrade your heart?
- Is it right? Does it align with God’s Word and standards of righteousness?
- Is it pure? Or is it polluted by hidden motives or sin?
- Is it lovely? Does it inspire love, compassion, and beauty?
- Is it admirable? Would others respect and be inspired by it?
- Is it excellent? Does it lead toward growth and godly excellence?
- Is it praiseworthy? Does it point you back to glorifying God?
This is the battlefield of the mind: learning to discard the thoughts that diminish us and replacing them with what aligns with God’s truth. For as Proverbs reminds us, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.