Episode Notes
We’re excited to bring you excerpts from Pastor Louie Giglio’s book, Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table. Today’s excerpt focuses on renewing your mind through God’s word and 7 truths to live by.
What follows are seven seeds from God. Wait—don’t close this book before it’s finished because you’re positive that planting seven new truths in your thinking is just too much for you. You can do this! It will take time, but you can change your mind and, thus, change your life.
My encouragement to you is to start small. Realigning your thinking with God’s thinking is a process. So take one step at a time. Take one thought each day. Dwell on that thought and memorize the scripture. By the end of the week, you’ll be well on your way to cultivating the garden of your mind. Or maybe you just want to take one thought and verse each week for seven weeks. Either way, plant and begin to cultivate these seven thoughts in your mind now. Personalize these statements for yourself, and memorize these verses.
1. I am in God’s story.
The story of who you are is part of God’s larger story. The story is bigger than you. Ultimately, the story is not about you. You have been invited into the story of God’s great glory and grace. It’s all about Him. But you have a seat at His table.
Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, God knew you. Jesus the Good Shepherd guides you always,
and the Lord makes firm the steps of those who delight in Him (Psalm 37:23).
So plant this thought in your mind by memorizing this verse: “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
You matter to God. But ultimate meaning won’t come from putting the spotlight on you. Your life will have the greatest significance when you choose to make it about the One who welcomes you into His never-ending story.
2. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
You weren’t born by a random act of the cosmos. God made you with intention, and God made you wonderfully. God has redeemed you and knows your name (Isaiah 43:1).
So plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13–14).
You are not the maker. You are made. God is not created in your image, how you might think He should be. You are created in His. He decided that He wanted you in His universe. He imagined and fashioned you. You are not accidental. Nor incidental. You are divinely crafted.
Plant this seed every day. In time, you’ll have an oak providing shade for you and those around you. You’ll begin to believe that you are who God says you are. Unique. Special. Valuable.
3. My life has purpose.
You were born for a noble reason. God has good things for you to do. He has called you to live for what matters.
So plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).
Random things are random. Evolved things are void of specific meaning. But created things have purpose. There is just one you. You have a unique calling, a reason for being. Something to do in God’s great story that is important and needed.
Don’t buy into the lie that you are expendable. You’re not. God put you on earth for a purpose. Your life matters, to Him and to those He is positioning you to serve.
4. The cross has the final word.
The work Jesus did on the cross defines your life. It gives you victory over death. You are identified with Christ. You are a brand-new creation. You are not unwanted, unlovely, or worthless. You are wanted by God, made in the image of God, and worthy of Christ’s love because He has chosen to
place worth upon you. Your identity was born in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Don’t let anyone try to convince you of anything that wasn’t demonstrated to you when Christ gave His life for you. You are forgiven. Made right. You are holy in Christ. You are born into a new family. Woven into divine plans and purposes. Your guilt is gone. You are free.
So plant this thought by memorizing this verse. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 bsb).
5. I serve at the pleasure of the King.
The work of Jesus transforms your work. You don’t merely work at a job. You serve Jesus Christ, the King of kings.
In light of this truth, here is a new personal vision statement, one you can remind yourself of each day: I am dispatched by the Holy Spirit, on kingdom assignments, to be light in a darkened world, so others can see Jesus.
Plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).
6. Jesus is Lord, and Jesus is my Lord.
Your God is stronger than anything, higher than anything, and worthy of all praise. Your God is the Great
King. His kingdom is forever; His plans are unassailable and sure.
Plant this thought by memorizing this verse: “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).
7. My God turns evil into good.
Life doesn’t always work out as you hope. You’re living on a broken planet. But no circumstance can hinder the seeds we’ve just discussed from being cultivated in your mind. No hardship or disappointment or disease or divorce or darkness or desert can stunt the growth of godly thoughts from becoming mighty trees in your way of thinking.
So plant this in your mind: “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 nasb).
Start there. God has spoken these truths in His Word. Now it’s up to you to plant these truths in your mind, and keep tilling them and nurturing them until the Word takes root and grows and produces a crop.
Let the pictures we’ve drawn illuminate truth for you: the garden is your mind, where you’re growing a transformed person by planting God’s Word. That person is sitting at the table, the place of fellowship with the Good Shepherd, where you don’t want to give the Devil a seat; you want to enjoy the meal with your Lord. The mountain represents the grandeur of the Lord Himself, and your privilege is to ascend higher and higher in getting to know Him. All these pictures are about the deep and deepening relationship with the God of the universe that you are invited into. Don’t be scared. Jesus the Good Shepherd guides you every step of the way.
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