October 8, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode, we talk about how real change doesn’t begin with food rules or iron willpower, but with what’s happening in our minds before a craving even hits. We open Romans 12:2, Romans 8, and Colossians 2 to show how renewing the mind reshapes our desires at the root, breaking the old cycle of restriction, rebellion, and shame. Together, we share how God does the lasting work as we choose new thought patterns and take a gentler, steadier path toward freedom.
We also get very practical. We walk through identifying the thought before the craving, uncovering the belief behind the action, and using tools that meet real-life triggers like stress, comparison, or tough relationships. From the God List and quick Praise Fests to personalizing Scripture and using a Truth List, we show how to create new mental grooves that stick. With Look & Learn, we replace condemnation with curiosity, so stumbles become lessons. Our five-minute challenge helps you pause, renew your mind, and ask for God’s perspective in the moment—building a lifestyle of peace, clarity, and sustainable change.
Learn more about our Revelation Within Community: https://www.revelationwithin.org
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hi, and welcome to our podcast, Revelation Within
on the Go.
I'm Heidi Miles Emerson, one ofyour hosts, and the owner and
lead coach of theRevelationWithin.org industry.
SPEAKER_03 (00:13):
And I'm Christina Polly, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach, andHeidi Parker in all things
Revelation Within.
We are so happy to invite you tojoin us today.
SPEAKER_00 (00:44):
So for years, Peter have come to our ministry.
We were thin within until acouple years ago, and then we
became Revelation Within.
They came to us because theywanted support with a
Christ-like approach to changingthe way they look.
Yes, that's exactly, that'sexactly it.
(01:04):
If I'm just straight up, theywant to lose weight, plain and
simple.
And that is still the casetoday.
Many of you probably are stillhoping that you could lose
weight.
And yeah, well, that's fine.
Well, we changed our focus, notall of our ministry.
We didn't overhaul and throw outa whole ton of stuff.
(01:28):
We just changed our focus whenwe rebranded from Thin Within to
Revelation Within, because wesaw that those who experienced
lasting changes, and yes, thatincludes losing weight or
releasing weight and thenkeeping it off.
How about that?
Yes.
The people who did that werethose who were willing to work
(01:51):
on changing the way they think.
SPEAKER_03 (01:56):
Yes, that's that's it.
Okay, so today we're gonna godeeper to talk about why we
focus on mind renewal.
And this is Heidi and I lovetalking about this, as you know,
those of you that have heardsome of our other podcasts.
We get all excited, our eyes getall sparkly, and we we love
(02:19):
talking about the renewing ofthe mind.
This is where the real workhappens, but it's the good, good
work.
It's good work.
Before focusing on the food andeating, before trying harder,
before rules or restrictions oranything like that, because if
the mind doesn't change, we justgo back to our old ways again
(02:42):
and again and again.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
And this truth that we go back to our old ways when
we don't change our thinkingalways reminds me of a very
lovely passage in Proverbs 26,11 that says, as a dog returns
to its vomit, so fools repeattheir folly.
I've been there a lot.
I hate to admit it, but I'vebeen there a whole lot where I
(03:05):
am a fool repeating my follylike a dog returns to its vomit.
SPEAKER_03 (03:08):
Me too.
SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
You know, changing my eating and seeing the
physical changes that delightedme.
But it wasn't until I changedthe way I thought that I could
experience lasting change,change that was sustainable.
Yes.
Yeah.
So for years, we've kind ofwitnessed the same pattern in
(03:29):
people who come to our ministry.
They change what they eat, theywant to change what they eat and
how much or when.
But if their thoughts andbeliefs stayed the same, the
peace that they long for and thechanges they hoped to sustain
wouldn't last.
And you know what we found is,and this is just being again
(03:50):
straight up, behaviormodification isn't enough.
Right.
No, it's not.
Yeah.
The transformation we're afterhas got to start with the heart
and the mind and the way wethink and what we believe.
Yes, that is true.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
So that's why Romans 12, 2 is such a foundational
verse for our ministry.
Do not conform to the pattern ofthis world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind.
So this verse invites us to, youknow, basically a whole new way
of living, not just by rejectingworldly patterns, but by
(04:32):
embracing a mind that's made newin Christ.
Because what we think aboutdirectly shapes what we believe.
And what we believe inevitablydrives what we do, our habits,
our cravings, our reactions, ourdecision making, our
relationships, everything.
SPEAKER_00 (04:52):
Everything.
And the thing I love aboutRomans 12, 2, which we quote a
lot.
A lot, is that he, God, promisesto do the transforming, not
through our striving orself-discipline, but as we renew
our minds.
And so, yes, that's true, evenin the area of food and eating
(05:16):
and what we long for, so many ofus, to have less weight on our
bodies.
And we don't like to put theweight loss front and center
because it's like a lovely umbenefit to allowing him,
welcoming him to help me with anew heart, a new mind, a new way
of thinking, new passions, newdesires.
(05:38):
Let's take an example that manyof us probably are familiar with
dieting.
When you have gone on diets,maybe in the deep dark past long
ago, and me too, I can't counthow many times I tried to
restrict certain foods.
Don't eat this, don't eat that.
But in doing that, I actuallyset those foods up to be foods
(06:03):
that I would crave even more.
It's like I gave them power.
I handed them power.
I could tell myself I couldn'thave them, all I wanted, but
then all I could think aboutwas, I wish I could have that.
I wish I could have that.
And that one thought made thefood feel like the ultimate
prize or something.
Yeah.
Like something I was beingunfairly denied.
(06:25):
I was entitled to have that.
Right.
And once I believed that, yousee how what I thought formed
and shaped what I believed.
And then once I believed that itwas the ultimate prize, it
didn't take long before I didn'tjust cave in.
I caved in with gusto.
I'm like, delve in face first.
(06:47):
And that's when the oldself-defeating,
self-condemnation thoughts cameroaring back.
Those thoughts that stand inopposition to God's will for my
life, really.
Like, uh, see, you blew itagain.
You'll never get this right.
Right.
And there went the downwardspiral.
See, heidi go, go, heidi, go.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
(07:08):
So we just want to say it again.
The reason why mind or null isfront and center in the
revelation within ministry isbecause what we think leads to
belief.
You think it enough times you'regonna believe it.
Yeah.
And when you believe it, it'sgonna lead to your actions.
And then of course it continues.
Actions lead to more thoughts,usually of shame and failure, or
(07:31):
I'm awesome, or something like.
I mean, we just it's it goes onand on around and around and
around.
It does.
SPEAKER_03 (07:39):
And that was my life for like 40 years or something
like that.
Oh, I'm sorry.
No, you know what?
I I said this before, I know,but I just never, ever, ever,
ever realized that my thoughtswere so important, that my
thoughts were actually steeringmy life.
You know, I did not realizethat.
(08:00):
I didn't believe that, I didn'tunderstand it.
I had read Romans 12, 2 amillion times, heard it in
church and sermons, and seen itin devotions and everywhere, but
I never ever really understoodwhat it meant and how important
it was and how it was somehowconnected to my beliefs and then
(08:20):
to my behavior.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
My behavior remained the same.
No matter how many sermons Ilistened to on Romans 12, 2, my
behavior remained the same.
Yeah.
And so this was this was a hugeaha for me.
And even when I jumped in withtwo feet, when we first started
coaching, Heidi, and that was 11and a half years ago, when I
(08:45):
when I first jumped in with twofeet, I didn't really believe
that it was gonna change myactions.
Um, beliefs maybe, but I thoughtI have been struggling with my
actions for so many years.
I'm pretty, you know, kind ofhesitant, a little bit like, I
(09:06):
don't know if this is gonna goanywhere.
But let's try it.
I knew God had led me to you,Heidi, and you taught me, you
were the first person in my lifewho taught me how to renew my
mind with God's own thoughts.
And it did change my life andcontinues to every day, all the
(09:26):
time.
So around and around and aroundI used to go, and and maybe you
can relate to this, listener,unless we start where God tells
us to start, and that is ourminds.
Because lasting change, itdoesn't begin with the plate, it
begins with the pattern of ourthoughts.
(09:47):
That's where it begins.
SPEAKER_00 (09:49):
Oh, so true.
Let's just take a moment andthink about this uh a little
bit.
Before the craving, there's athought, and it may be just a
little niggling thought in theback of our minds.
Before the action, there's abelief.
Like that will make me happy.
(10:09):
Yes.
And God invites us to beginright there in these little
niggling thoughts we have.
Let me in.
He gently invites.
SPEAKER_03 (10:21):
Well, and sometimes I go backwards with this too.
Like if I am in the middle of anaction that I don't really want
to be doing, but I'm doing itanyway, I can actually stop and
think, what am I believing rightnow?
What am I believing about thisfood that I feel like is going
to somehow solve all myproblems?
(10:42):
Where, what is my belief?
And then I can back that up tomy thoughts, and that's where
the change begins.
So that was that was veryhopeful for me when I realized
that years ago.
So, in this situation, here's anexample.
You know, you might be justfeeling really, really tired,
really frustrated, like you'llnever break the cycle.
(11:04):
But the invitation today isn'tto try harder.
That's nice, isn't it?
Doesn't that feel good?
I mean, how many years maybeyou, certainly me, did I think,
if I just try harder, if I justtry harder.
No, the invitation today isn'tto try harder, it's to think
(11:25):
differently.
Not what should I eat, but whatam I believing right now?
And maybe even what do I needright now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
Yeah.
So let's pull this apart evenfurther.
SPEAKER_03 (11:40):
Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00 (11:41):
If I say I need chocolate, what I may really be
saying is I need comfort.
Yes, I need something to soothethe ache of my heart and mind.
Yeah, what if I pause there andbring that thought to Jesus?
What if I ask him, Lord, whatare your thoughts about what I'm
(12:02):
struggling with, about what'sdriving me, about this belief
that I'm holding that I need X,Y, or Z?
What's going on?
And what do I really need?
SPEAKER_03 (12:14):
So this is why the Godless, the Praise Fest, the
Breath Prayers, Praying ThroughScripture, and all the other
mind renewal tools that we shareare so important.
They're not just nice extrasthat will maybe make you feel a
little calmer or a littlebetter.
No, no, no.
(12:34):
They are spiritual tools,spirit-led tools that will lead
to transformation.
Yeah.
So we renew our minds on purposewith God's word and God's
character until our beliefs lineup with what is actually true
from God's perspective, not fromthe world's perspective, not
(12:57):
from social media's perspective,or you know, that neighbor down
the block.
What are your thoughts, God?
That's where I want to go.
I want him to be my true north.
I want him to be my firstsource.
And he promises to transform usright there.
SPEAKER_00 (13:18):
Let's take another quiet moment here and listener,
consider what craving has youfeeling defeated today if you
do, or what craving often causesyou to feel defeated.
What thought comes right beforethat craving kind of percolates
(13:41):
up from the bottom uh of what'sgoing on?
And and then consider is it trueor is it just familiar?
Because uh what's familiar canfeel strangely comforting, even
if it's a lie from the pit.
I mean, it really can.
And ask the Lord to show you,even now, if you can think of an
(14:05):
instance where you had a cravingand you gave into it, back up
and think, what was the thoughtthat came before?
What had happened?
What was going on?
Was there a belief that drove meactually giving in?
And is the belief I held true,or is it just familiar?
(14:25):
And then, Lord, what are yourthoughts about all of it?
And then just let the HolySpirit gently bring truth where
lies once ruled, and and letthat truth shape your next
choice.
We also want to encourage you.
I don't want to go past thismoment without mentioning look
(14:46):
and learn, of course, which wemention a lot.
It's one of the most importantways that we can incorporate
experience of God's grace in ourdaily lives.
If I do have those moments thatcause me to feel such defeat, if
there's a craving and asubsequent belief that results
(15:07):
in me giving in, and here I goagain, I can invite God to show
me, Lord, I see that I this iswhat happened, this is what was
going on, but what can I learnfrom this?
What would you like me to dodifferently?
How can I strengthen my own souland my own mind to make
(15:27):
different choices next time?
So if all things are equal, Icome out a victor instead of
feeling like I gave in and cavedin.
And we will let God'sinstruction teach us how to
approach this again the nexttime it happens.
And it will happen again.
SPEAKER_03 (15:47):
Yeah, what I love about look and learn is it's
something really good and reallystrong.
It's like a a plan that you cando right after messing up.
And for me, that was so hopefulbecause I never knew what to do
with my mess ups.
I never knew, you know, what doI do now?
Okay, I'm sorry, uh, I'll stopdoing that.
(16:11):
Um, you know, I hate that.
There was never a way for me togo to the Lord and learn from
it.
I didn't, I didn't even reallythink about that actually.
But I love look and learn nowand I love the rhythm of look
and learn because God is, he'swaiting for us to come to him.
He's excited about it, actually.
(16:31):
He's not disappointed, he heknows that I'm gonna stumble all
the time.
And he's ready to receive me, toreceive all of us with
compassion and joy.
He's like, oh, there she is,there she is.
We're gonna talk about whathappened last night.
I can't wait.
You know, he's excited andthinking about that is so
(16:52):
life-giving for me and makes mewant to go to him.
It doesn't take, it doesn't haveto take a lot of time either.
It can really be just a fewminutes.
So, anyway, that makes me veryexcited to talk about look and
learn.
Um, I love going to the Lord forthat.
SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
And for me, I think one of the things I like about
look and learn is I can look atsomething that happened years
ago, months ago, weeks ago, daysago.
Yeah, and I can still look andlearn about it.
If I didn't do it then, I candefinitely get all that wisdom
and glean what God has for me byinviting him into it now.
(17:29):
You know, I can say, you know,that time that I went on that
trip and did da-da-da withso-and-so.
Lord, what was going on?
Because I'm getting ready totake another trip to go see
so-and-so.
And maybe I want to invite himto show me how I can best
prepare for that.
Um, so that's cool.
You know, we all have triggers,we just do.
(17:51):
Yes.
And in this context, of course,we're thinking of triggers as
being something that makes us dothings or that prompts us to do
things that we wish we hadn't.
And we can reframe the wordtrigger and the concept of
trigger and actually turn itinto something beautiful and
wonderful with the Lord's help.
Yeah.
But let's talk about some ofthese difficult triggers for
(18:12):
just a moment.
Here are some from our lives,Christina and I, and from what
we hear from um you all in ourcommunity and that we see
online.
For me, wow, a big trigger isdifficult people because so very
often I wear my heart on mysleeve.
And if somebody is difficult insome way, I take it personally,
(18:32):
even if it's not, it could justbe the way they are with
everybody.
SPEAKER_03 (18:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:36):
But yeah, so that's a trigger for me for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (18:38):
Yeah, I think it is for all of us in some some way,
shape, or form.
That's a big one.
The next one is huge for me, andit's emotional overload.
This was really my main issuewith food and eating for years
and years, and it still comes upwhen I am emotionally
overwhelmed.
I'm stressed, my heart isbroken, maybe I'm lonely,
(19:01):
disappointed, somebody has hurtme, maybe I've hurt somebody.
Emotional overload is a big onefor many of us.
SPEAKER_00 (19:12):
It definitely is.
Holidays, you know, there'sfood, there's expectations,
there might be family dynamics,and we're entering into the
holiday season.
I mean, it seems early yetbecause we're still in September
when we're recording this.
Yeah.
But you know, it'll be on usbefore we know it.
So you know, again, inviting Godto show us what how can I be
(19:32):
prepared to take action and bevictorious rather than succumb
to these overwhelming triggersthat I experience at holiday
time.
What's another one?
SPEAKER_03 (19:44):
Oh, here's another huge one for me.
Much better about this now, butit still comes up.
And I feel like a lot of timeswhen things come up again with
the Lord, we're just goingdeeper.
So don't be afraid of that, youknow, for it to come up again
because we're he's taking usdeeper often when he does that.
So comparison.
(20:05):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know, comparing with aneighbor or comparing with your
friend or that family down thestreet or that co-worker, and
then that shame comes up becauseyou don't feel like you measure
up somehow.
This is huge for so many people.
Comparison and the shame thatcomes with it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
Right.
And all of these that we'retalking about as triggers can
cause us to think thoughtsrepetitively that are going to
form our beliefs, and thosebeliefs are what's going to
drive us to do things likeovereat.
And so it doesn't really matterwhat the trigger is.
So many of us have eaten inresponse to just about anything.
(20:49):
I mean, we've had classes thathave met and sometimes coaching
groups, and we'll ask questionsand we'll share around the
circle.
And somebody might say, Well,this doesn't really have
anything to do with my eating.
And then I'll describe anappointment at the doctor's
office that really threw themwhen they saw something on their
chart or whatever.
And I'm like, Well, I don't knowabout you, but I've eaten over
(21:12):
that stuff before.
Oh, for sure, all of itqualifies, it really does.
And in those moments, like whenum I remember one doctor's
appointment for me was really,really hard.
Not because there was anythingfor me to be necessarily
convicted about or anything, butbecause of the mean dragon lady
I had as a doctor.
(21:32):
Oh, what was I believing in themoment that I felt so wounded by
her?
Oh my gosh.
It's helpful to ask God, well,what is really true?
SPEAKER_03 (21:42):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (21:43):
Anyway, some more triggers that you might
experience when self-worth kindof gets tangled up in
performance.
That's one I've experiencedquite a bit.
SPEAKER_03 (21:52):
Yes, for sure.
And then chronic illness.
Oh man.
So, you know, some of you knowthat I'm dealing with breast
cancer right now, and I'malready thinking, what are the
holidays gonna look like, youknow, at this low, low energy
level that I have?
And um, I'm, you know, having tokind of stay away from people
and crowds and all these things.
(22:13):
And life looks really differentright now.
The next holiday seasonhopefully will look really
different again.
That's what I'm hoping.
But chronic illness, those of usthat deal with pain, chronic
pain, or any kind of illnessthat is ongoing, physical
challenges that just go on andon.
(22:34):
It's hard.
And without the renewing of themind, honestly, I don't know how
I would be surviving.
I'm renewing my mind everysingle day about the illnesses
that I'm dealing with.
SPEAKER_00 (22:50):
And of course, we also have chronic pain.
I mean, you can name a millionof these that are triggers, just
about anything can be a triggerfor us.
Life transitions, you know,moving, relationships ending or
starting or whatever, on and onit goes.
SPEAKER_03 (23:06):
So well, and it might just be the things that
happen daily in your routine, inyour schedule, the kids getting
sick.
I mean, it could be anything, itdoesn't have to be a big, huge
event, it can be anything thatoverwhelms you and causes stress
or hurt or pain.
In those moments, our minds goto certain thoughts.
(23:27):
Thoughts like, I need comfort, Ineed a break, I need relief, I
deserve this, that that hurt me.
Or if I don't control this, I'lllose everything.
SPEAKER_00 (23:42):
And just think, if those thoughts are left
unchecked, if we don't say, God,what are your thoughts about
this thought that I'm having?
I mean, we will act on them.
It will form and shape a newbelief or resurface an old
belief, and that belief willlead us to take an action that
we will wish we hadn't.
Yeah.
Um, that isn't in alignment withthe God we serve and what his
(24:05):
hopes and dreams are for us, andhe only wants the best for us.
Let's talk for a minute aboutwhat scripture actually says
about thoughts, about mindrenewal and about our flesh and
all that fun stuff.
Yes, great.
SPEAKER_03 (24:18):
Let's go there.
SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
I'm in Romans 8, verses 5 and 6.
This is one that we also love,of course.
It says in this passage, thosewho live according to the flesh
have their minds set on what theflesh desires.
But those who live in accordancewith the spirit have their minds
set on what the spirit desires.
(24:41):
The mind governed by the fleshis death, but the mind governed
by the spirit is life and peace.
Yes.
Oh, and both Christine and Ihave used this passage in very
significant moments in ourlives.
SPEAKER_03 (24:55):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
To remind us to take captive our runaway thoughts and
to think thoughts that aregoverned by the Holy Spirit.
When thoughts are shaped by myflesh, seeking what feels good
in the moment, or what soothesmy shame, or what makes me feel
happy, or whatever it might be,we end up in cycles of regret.
(25:16):
I know for me it's not justregret, it's full on shame.
And when I go into that cycle,it seems to just keep going
around and around and around.
But when my mind aligns withwhat the spirit desires, truth,
peace, love, I know when I focuson those things, life and peace
(25:38):
follow.
The mind controlled by the HolySpirit is life and it is peace.
SPEAKER_03 (25:44):
It is.
Even just reading that passageright now, listening to you read
it, Heidi, is like bringing mepeace and life.
I just like I want to hear more.
So let's go to Colossians 2,verses 20 to 23.
And here's a passage that pullsno punches.
(26:04):
Since you died with Christ tothe elemental spiritual forces
of this world, why, as thoughyou still belong to the world,
do you submit to its rules?
And again, this was me.
Do not handle, do not taste, donot touch.
These rules which have to dowith things that are all
(26:26):
destined to perish with use, arebased on merely human commands
and teachings.
This is in the Bible.
This is amazing to me.
Such regulations indeed have anappearance of wisdom with their
self-imposed worship, theirfalse humility, and their harsh
treatment of the body, but theylack any value in restraining
(26:51):
sensual indulgence.
That's it.
That's exactly it.
That's been my experience forsure.
SPEAKER_00 (26:59):
Yes.
So if you come to us and want toexperience freedom from some
extra weight you carry, and weencourage you to renew your mind
instead of tell you what to eator how to eat or when to eat or
why to eat or whatever.
And you're wondering why are youdoing this?
(27:19):
This is why.
SPEAKER_03 (27:20):
This is why, right here.
This is why.
SPEAKER_00 (27:22):
Yes, the rules and the all of the stuff that goes
with conforming to this world'sways of doing this, it lacks any
value in restraining sensualindulgence, which is what this
is about.
It's about me giving into whatmy flesh wants.
And God is, He's not in thebusiness of being a cosmic
(27:44):
killjoy.
You like that?
I'm gonna smash you for eating.
That's not the way he is.
You know, that line that theylack any value in restraining
sensual indulgence.
It's like a spotlight on howrules alone can't change my
(28:05):
heart and it can't sustain anychanges physically that I may
have landed on because ofchanging my eating or whatever.
They don't change what we wantmost, like when we feel lonely
or painful or unseen or notheard or whatever it might be.
God wants to completely renovateour lives.
(28:28):
And he does that, like it saysin Romans 12, too, be
transformed, and God is thetransformer by the renewing of
your mind.
So focusing on how we think,what we think.
Am I thinking in alignment withGod?
What are your thoughts, God?
That is the key.
That is the key.
SPEAKER_03 (28:47):
You know, for so many years, I thought I was
supposed to do the transforming.
I thought it was all on myshoulders to fix this.
And then, I mean, I used to saythings to God like, I am so
sorry that I'm so messed up inthis area.
I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonnatry to do this better, I'm gonna
follow these rules andrestrictions, and then I'll I'll
(29:09):
come back and show you, and thenwe can move on to something
else.
I'm serious.
I mean, I I felt like this wassomething I was supposed to do
myself.
And so what joy, what a relief,what peace there was when I
realized this isn't my job.
This is God's job.
(29:30):
I do have a part in it.
If I don't renew my mind severaltimes a day, I'm going to be
going down my old trails.
Um, yes, me too.
My old thoughts, those old ruts.
I'm gonna go right down there.
That's my part, and I can do it.
I can do the renewing of themind.
It's it's not draining, it'sactually fun, it's life giving.
(29:54):
I love doing it.
I mean, I love it, it draws mecloser to the Lord, and so
that's.
My part.
God's part is the transforming.
That's off my shoulders.
That's his part.
It's it's his part.
And he does it so well.
He does it so well.
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
So I'm definitely way better than I ever did.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Right.
Nothing that we do really lasts.
It just doesn't.
You know, you might run into afriend that's transformed
herself temporarily and it'slike, oh, she did it.
She she did it.
And then you see her again thenext year, and things are
different again.
Because we can't make thingslike that last.
It's not the deep work.
(30:38):
So if rules and restrictions andpulling ourselves up and trying
harder, if that isn't the deepwork, what is what is the deep
work?
So we want to give you sometools that we have seen change
our lives and change lives ofthe women and men in our
community.
(30:58):
It's not just behavior, it goesdeeper than that.
It's desires.
We want our desires to line upwith God's desires.
And then it becomes easy.
So we have many, many, manytools, many mind-reviewable
tools.
Many, many, many, many.
(31:19):
Some of them have been puttogether by our participants,
some of them by me, Heidi.
They've just kind of evolvedover the years, but we're going
to just give you a few here sowe don't want to overwhelm you.
So we want to start with the Godlist, which is actually where we
always start.
Pretty much every class that weteach, every time we're
(31:40):
coaching, we start with the Godlist because this is so
important.
It's so important that we seeGod as He really is.
And some of us, myself included,boy, I had a wrong view of God.
I needed to go to the Word andsee who He really is, who He
really was at that time in mylife.
(32:01):
And I use my God list all thetime.
I have them everywhere.
I have a whole bunch at thispoint.
Basically, all it is, it's sosimple listing who God is and
what he does for people.
So, for example, hisfaithfulness, his beauty, his
goodness, his kindness.
And you can go on and on.
(32:23):
If you've never done thisbefore, you can maybe start in
the Psalms.
That's a great place to begin.
But his attributes are all overthe word, all over.
And there are hundreds andhundreds of them.
So writing a God list is ourfirst mind renewal tool that
we'd love to give you.
Okay, so the second one is againso simple.
(32:47):
We call it the praise fest, likefestival.
And basically, you take your godlist and you speak out loud your
praises for who God is.
You declare truth when feelingslie.
So for example, God, you arefaithful.
God, you are the lover of mysoul.
(33:07):
God, you are beautiful.
God, you are good.
God, you are kind andcompassionate.
God, you are wonderful,majestic, amazing.
God, you are the one who makesthings so.
And it can just go on and on andon.
That's called a praise fest.
So the first one is the Godlist, and it's a list of God's
(33:28):
attributes.
And then the praised fest isusing that list to speak praises
to God out loud.
And it turns our hearts towardHim in the most beautiful way.
And then the third one ispersonalizing scripture,
claiming God's word in your ownlife.
(33:49):
So using your name in Scriptureto make it personal, using your
own circumstances or a lovedone's name and circumstances.
So for example, Psalm 145, 14.
The Lord upholds Christina whenshe falls.
The Lord upholds Christina whenshe struggles, when she falls,
(34:11):
when she needs help.
The Lord is there upholding me.
I'm taking that scripture andI'm personalizing to my own
situation.
Here's another one that I love.
Psalm 34.8.
Christina, taste and see that Iam good.
Blessed are you, Christina, whenyou take refuge in me.
(34:35):
So I'm personal, and I canpersonalize it even more if I
want to to a very specificsituation.
One of my favorite ways to renewmy mind is personalizing
scripture.
SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
If you're interested at all in learning how to use
these just these few minor nulltools that we've shared today so
far, we are going to be duringthe month of October focusing on
a new theme, crowned withbounty, which is going to take
us into Psalm 65 for the entiremonth.
(35:08):
And we are going to be renewingour minds using the God list
with Psalm 65, using the PraiseFest with Psalm 65, using Who I
Am in Christ with Psalm 65, andpersonalizing scripture from
Psalm 65.
And the list goes on.
Oh, I can't wait.
I can't wait.
That's gonna be awesome.
And uh so just check outrevelationwithin.org and there
(35:32):
will be a description of that uhas of October 1st.
So if you're listening to thispodcast after that, it's there
now, probably, unless it's wayafter October 1st.
But you can join anytime and geta free month.
Yes, so there you go.
Yes, come join us.
It's gonna be awesome.
That would be so cool.
So when we practice renewing ourminds, and you can do it any way
(35:54):
you choose, you just got to godeep and you've got to apply it
to your life.
God wants to target the lies webelieve in our lives, the
thoughts we have in our lives,so that the actions can be
changed.
He targets those with targetedtruth.
Yes.
And so when we practice thesestrategies, something shifts big
(36:14):
time.
For instance, we start to catchthe thoughts before they spiral,
before they cause me to act.
We've also found that as wepractice mind renewal, the
voices of shame get so muchquieter.
Yes.
And we also begin to enjoy thenow, the peace, the rest, the
(36:35):
gratitude, rather than trying toearn or prove something.
And it doesn't rest on me.
We begin to see that and believeit.
And here's some of the thingswe've seen as people have
committed to renewing theirminds.
And when we have renewed ourminds, first of all, there's
greater clarity.
(36:56):
We start seeing what's reallydriving us.
We don't just blow by it.
We're like, oh, look at that.
Aha.
Yes, exactly.
I had an aha moment last week.
We just started our brand newclass from Shame to Shalom.
And wow, God put a spotlight onways that shame is kind of
(37:20):
wiggling its way into mythoughts.
And it's like, what are yourthoughts about this, Lord?
And He just gives me beautifultruth to refute the shame.
So there's a lot less shamebecause God's truth speaks
louder.
That's another benefit.
Another benefit to renewing ourminds is more freedom, less
(37:42):
urgency to soothe myself withcounterfeit comforts.
And there's not this aversion tostillness.
I mean, that's huge for mebecause I'm somebody, I'm not
one of those busybody people whois so energetic, but I still
would avoid stillness.
I know that doesn't seem to gotogether, but anyway, and then a
(38:05):
fourth thing we've seen is we'reable to make better decisions.
Yes.
And the reason is probablyrelated to the fact that we do
it from who we are in Christ andfrom who he is, rather than our
impulses, which I think is soimportant.
A fifth one, we could go on andon about this, of course, but
(38:29):
long-term transformation, ourdesires shift, and that means we
don't want to overeat, we don'twant to overspend, we don't want
to overscroll.
All of that falls away when ourheart is filled with something
so much greater, so much morerewarding.
And it's true, I know there aresome of you who may be listening
(38:50):
to this game, well, that's notgonna be true for me.
Right.
That's what I thought.
Try it and see.
Look what happened withChristina.
SPEAKER_03 (39:00):
Yeah.
Well, and I just want toencourage you too, when those
truths come up for you, writethem down and put them into a
list.
That is one of our other tools.
It's a truth list.
It was one of the first tools Iever used.
And you can read those and saythose out loud over and over and
(39:21):
over until your thoughts becomeone with those.
That's so important.
God will give you his thoughts.
And we don't want to forgetthose.
Write them down.
Okay, so we want to invite youtoday, right now, right at this
very moment, to start here andnow with one tool.
(39:43):
Just one.
Just one.
So pick one trigger that youface.
Maybe it's a difficult person, aholiday that's coming up, an
emotion you're dealing withright now, stress, overwhelm.
When it comes, pause.
Use your God list, speak praise,find a scripture that counters
(40:05):
the lie.
Pray it.
Write it down.
Let the spirit fill your mindwith something true, something
from his perspective.
Ask him to show you what histhoughts are.
SPEAKER_00 (40:20):
And I just want to say, you know, try this
challenge.
I mean, you may be saying,that's not gonna work.
My favorite, put your favoritemorsel in this, you know, spot
right here.
That's going to satisfy me morequickly and more completely than
opening my Bible and praisingGod.
It's not true.
(40:43):
Yeah.
And so I just want to challengeyou.
Put your indulgence uh with thefood or whatever it might be on
hold for just five minutes, forjust five minutes.
Set it aside and give God anopening.
Say, okay, God, I'm giving youthis opening.
I want to take you at your word.
You say that you are enough forme.
(41:03):
You say that you are satisfying,that you will grant me the
desires of my heart when Idelight myself in you.
And right now I'm ready todelight myself in you.
Would you come into this momentand just put off eating or
scrolling or buying somethingonline, whatever, and see what
happens if you renew your mindat that moment.
(41:26):
I like praises the one thatcomes easiest to me and who I am
in Christ.
Those come easiest to me.
Another resource we often use isI deserve a donut and other
lives that make you eat.
You can pull that open and pullit out and renew your mind with
that.
Then see if after five or 10minutes you still have that
craving.
(41:47):
And I bet you don't.
I bet you don't.
Now you might.
That's true.
But if you keep it up, uheventually you'll see your
desires change.
Yes.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (41:58):
And we have seen that in hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of people over theyears and in ourselves as well.
SPEAKER_00 (42:05):
So walking this path isn't easy.
We're not going to pretend it'seasy, but it's real and it's
worth it.
It really is.
God doesn't want us justmanaging life, He wants us
living and experiencing anabundant life, mind renewed,
heart aligned, free.
Doesn't that sound wonderful?
It sure does.
SPEAKER_03 (42:25):
It sure does.
We are so glad that you've beenhere with us today.
And we would love to invite youto join us for our next podcast
episode here at Revelation withit.
Hi, and welcome to our podcast, Revelation Within
on the Go.
I'm Heidi Miles Emerson, one ofyour hosts, and the owner and
lead coach of theRevelationWithin.org industry.
SPEAKER_03 (00:13):
And I'm Christina Polly, your other host, also a
Revelation Within coach, andHeidi Parker in all things
Revelation Within.
We are so happy to invite you tojoin us today.
SPEAKER_00 (00:44):
So for years, Peter have come to our ministry.
We were thin within until acouple years ago, and then we
became Revelation Within.
They came to us because theywanted support with a
Christ-like approach to changingthe way they look.
Yes, that's exactly, that'sexactly it.
(01:04):
If I'm just straight up, theywant to lose weight, plain and
simple.
And that is still the casetoday.
Many of you probably are stillhoping that you could lose
weight.
And yeah, well, that's fine.
Well, we changed our focus, notall of our ministry.
We didn't overhaul and throw outa whole ton of stuff.
(01:28):
We just changed our focus whenwe rebranded from Thin Within to
Revelation Within, because wesaw that those who experienced
lasting changes, and yes, thatincludes losing weight or
releasing weight and thenkeeping it off.
How about that?
Yes.
The people who did that werethose who were willing to work
(01:51):
on changing the way they think.
SPEAKER_03 (01:56):
Yes, that's that's it.
Okay, so today we're gonna godeeper to talk about why we
focus on mind renewal.
And this is Heidi and I lovetalking about this, as you know,
those of you that have heardsome of our other podcasts.
We get all excited, our eyes getall sparkly, and we we love
(02:19):
talking about the renewing ofthe mind.
This is where the real workhappens, but it's the good, good
work.
It's good work.
Before focusing on the food andeating, before trying harder,
before rules or restrictions oranything like that, because if
the mind doesn't change, we justgo back to our old ways again
(02:42):
and again and again.
SPEAKER_00 (02:45):
And this truth that we go back to our old ways when
we don't change our thinkingalways reminds me of a very
lovely passage in Proverbs 26,11 that says, as a dog returns
to its vomit, so fools repeattheir folly.
I've been there a lot.
I hate to admit it, but I'vebeen there a whole lot where I
(03:05):
am a fool repeating my follylike a dog returns to its vomit.
SPEAKER_03 (03:08):
Me too.
SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
You know, changing my eating and seeing the
physical changes that delightedme.
But it wasn't until I changedthe way I thought that I could
experience lasting change,change that was sustainable.
Yes.
Yeah.
So for years, we've kind ofwitnessed the same pattern in
(03:29):
people who come to our ministry.
They change what they eat, theywant to change what they eat and
how much or when.
But if their thoughts andbeliefs stayed the same, the
peace that they long for and thechanges they hoped to sustain
wouldn't last.
And you know what we found is,and this is just being again
(03:50):
straight up, behaviormodification isn't enough.
Right.
No, it's not.
Yeah.
The transformation we're afterhas got to start with the heart
and the mind and the way wethink and what we believe.
Yes, that is true.
SPEAKER_03 (04:08):
So that's why Romans 12, 2 is such a foundational
verse for our ministry.
Do not conform to the pattern ofthis world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind.
So this verse invites us to, youknow, basically a whole new way
of living, not just by rejectingworldly patterns, but by
(04:32):
embracing a mind that's made newin Christ.
Because what we think aboutdirectly shapes what we believe.
And what we believe inevitablydrives what we do, our habits,
our cravings, our reactions, ourdecision making, our
relationships, everything.
SPEAKER_00 (04:52):
Everything.
And the thing I love aboutRomans 12, 2, which we quote a
lot.
A lot, is that he, God, promisesto do the transforming, not
through our striving orself-discipline, but as we renew
our minds.
And so, yes, that's true, evenin the area of food and eating
(05:16):
and what we long for, so many ofus, to have less weight on our
bodies.
And we don't like to put theweight loss front and center
because it's like a lovely umbenefit to allowing him,
welcoming him to help me with anew heart, a new mind, a new way
of thinking, new passions, newdesires.
(05:38):
Let's take an example that manyof us probably are familiar with
dieting.
When you have gone on diets,maybe in the deep dark past long
ago, and me too, I can't counthow many times I tried to
restrict certain foods.
Don't eat this, don't eat that.
But in doing that, I actuallyset those foods up to be foods
(06:03):
that I would crave even more.
It's like I gave them power.
I handed them power.
I could tell myself I couldn'thave them, all I wanted, but
then all I could think aboutwas, I wish I could have that.
I wish I could have that.
And that one thought made thefood feel like the ultimate
prize or something.
Yeah.
Like something I was beingunfairly denied.
(06:25):
I was entitled to have that.
Right.
And once I believed that, yousee how what I thought formed
and shaped what I believed.
And then once I believed that itwas the ultimate prize, it
didn't take long before I didn'tjust cave in.
I caved in with gusto.
I'm like, delve in face first.
(06:47):
And that's when the oldself-defeating,
self-condemnation thoughts cameroaring back.
Those thoughts that stand inopposition to God's will for my
life, really.
Like, uh, see, you blew itagain.
You'll never get this right.
Right.
And there went the downwardspiral.
See, heidi go, go, heidi, go.
Yeah.
Oh my gosh.
(07:08):
So we just want to say it again.
The reason why mind or null isfront and center in the
revelation within ministry isbecause what we think leads to
belief.
You think it enough times you'regonna believe it.
Yeah.
And when you believe it, it'sgonna lead to your actions.
And then of course it continues.
Actions lead to more thoughts,usually of shame and failure, or
(07:31):
I'm awesome, or something like.
I mean, we just it's it goes onand on around and around and
around.
It does.
SPEAKER_03 (07:39):
And that was my life for like 40 years or something
like that.
Oh, I'm sorry.
No, you know what?
I I said this before, I know,but I just never, ever, ever,
ever realized that my thoughtswere so important, that my
thoughts were actually steeringmy life.
You know, I did not realizethat.
(08:00):
I didn't believe that, I didn'tunderstand it.
I had read Romans 12, 2 amillion times, heard it in
church and sermons, and seen itin devotions and everywhere, but
I never ever really understoodwhat it meant and how important
it was and how it was somehowconnected to my beliefs and then
(08:20):
to my behavior.
SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
Right.
SPEAKER_03 (08:23):
My behavior remained the same.
No matter how many sermons Ilistened to on Romans 12, 2, my
behavior remained the same.
Yeah.
And so this was this was a hugeaha for me.
And even when I jumped in withtwo feet, when we first started
coaching, Heidi, and that was 11and a half years ago, when I
(08:45):
when I first jumped in with twofeet, I didn't really believe
that it was gonna change myactions.
Um, beliefs maybe, but I thoughtI have been struggling with my
actions for so many years.
I'm pretty, you know, kind ofhesitant, a little bit like, I
(09:06):
don't know if this is gonna goanywhere.
But let's try it.
I knew God had led me to you,Heidi, and you taught me, you
were the first person in my lifewho taught me how to renew my
mind with God's own thoughts.
And it did change my life andcontinues to every day, all the
(09:26):
time.
So around and around and aroundI used to go, and and maybe you
can relate to this, listener,unless we start where God tells
us to start, and that is ourminds.
Because lasting change, itdoesn't begin with the plate, it
begins with the pattern of ourthoughts.
(09:47):
That's where it begins.
SPEAKER_00 (09:49):
Oh, so true.
Let's just take a moment andthink about this uh a little
bit.
Before the craving, there's athought, and it may be just a
little niggling thought in theback of our minds.
Before the action, there's abelief.
Like that will make me happy.
(10:09):
Yes.
And God invites us to beginright there in these little
niggling thoughts we have.
Let me in.
He gently invites.
SPEAKER_03 (10:21):
Well, and sometimes I go backwards with this too.
Like if I am in the middle of anaction that I don't really want
to be doing, but I'm doing itanyway, I can actually stop and
think, what am I believing rightnow?
What am I believing about thisfood that I feel like is going
to somehow solve all myproblems?
(10:42):
Where, what is my belief?
And then I can back that up tomy thoughts, and that's where
the change begins.
So that was that was veryhopeful for me when I realized
that years ago.
So, in this situation, here's anexample.
You know, you might be justfeeling really, really tired,
really frustrated, like you'llnever break the cycle.
(11:04):
But the invitation today isn'tto try harder.
That's nice, isn't it?
Doesn't that feel good?
I mean, how many years maybeyou, certainly me, did I think,
if I just try harder, if I justtry harder.
No, the invitation today isn'tto try harder, it's to think
(11:25):
differently.
Not what should I eat, but whatam I believing right now?
And maybe even what do I needright now?
SPEAKER_00 (11:37):
Yeah.
So let's pull this apart evenfurther.
SPEAKER_03 (11:40):
Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00 (11:41):
If I say I need chocolate, what I may really be
saying is I need comfort.
Yes, I need something to soothethe ache of my heart and mind.
Yeah, what if I pause there andbring that thought to Jesus?
What if I ask him, Lord, whatare your thoughts about what I'm
(12:02):
struggling with, about what'sdriving me, about this belief
that I'm holding that I need X,Y, or Z?
What's going on?
And what do I really need?
SPEAKER_03 (12:14):
So this is why the Godless, the Praise Fest, the
Breath Prayers, Praying ThroughScripture, and all the other
mind renewal tools that we shareare so important.
They're not just nice extrasthat will maybe make you feel a
little calmer or a littlebetter.
No, no, no.
(12:34):
They are spiritual tools,spirit-led tools that will lead
to transformation.
Yeah.
So we renew our minds on purposewith God's word and God's
character until our beliefs lineup with what is actually true
from God's perspective, not fromthe world's perspective, not
(12:57):
from social media's perspective,or you know, that neighbor down
the block.
What are your thoughts, God?
That's where I want to go.
I want him to be my true north.
I want him to be my firstsource.
And he promises to transform usright there.
SPEAKER_00 (13:18):
Let's take another quiet moment here and listener,
consider what craving has youfeeling defeated today if you
do, or what craving often causesyou to feel defeated.
What thought comes right beforethat craving kind of percolates
(13:41):
up from the bottom uh of what'sgoing on?
And and then consider is it trueor is it just familiar?
Because uh what's familiar canfeel strangely comforting, even
if it's a lie from the pit.
I mean, it really can.
And ask the Lord to show you,even now, if you can think of an
(14:05):
instance where you had a cravingand you gave into it, back up
and think, what was the thoughtthat came before?
What had happened?
What was going on?
Was there a belief that drove meactually giving in?
And is the belief I held true,or is it just familiar?
(14:25):
And then, Lord, what are yourthoughts about all of it?
And then just let the HolySpirit gently bring truth where
lies once ruled, and and letthat truth shape your next
choice.
We also want to encourage you.
I don't want to go past thismoment without mentioning look
(14:46):
and learn, of course, which wemention a lot.
It's one of the most importantways that we can incorporate
experience of God's grace in ourdaily lives.
If I do have those moments thatcause me to feel such defeat, if
there's a craving and asubsequent belief that results
(15:07):
in me giving in, and here I goagain, I can invite God to show
me, Lord, I see that I this iswhat happened, this is what was
going on, but what can I learnfrom this?
What would you like me to dodifferently?
How can I strengthen my own souland my own mind to make
(15:27):
different choices next time?
So if all things are equal, Icome out a victor instead of
feeling like I gave in and cavedin.
And we will let God'sinstruction teach us how to
approach this again the nexttime it happens.
And it will happen again.
SPEAKER_03 (15:47):
Yeah, what I love about look and learn is it's
something really good and reallystrong.
It's like a a plan that you cando right after messing up.
And for me, that was so hopefulbecause I never knew what to do
with my mess ups.
I never knew, you know, what doI do now?
Okay, I'm sorry, uh, I'll stopdoing that.
(16:11):
Um, you know, I hate that.
There was never a way for me togo to the Lord and learn from
it.
I didn't, I didn't even reallythink about that actually.
But I love look and learn nowand I love the rhythm of look
and learn because God is, he'swaiting for us to come to him.
He's excited about it, actually.
(16:31):
He's not disappointed, he heknows that I'm gonna stumble all
the time.
And he's ready to receive me, toreceive all of us with
compassion and joy.
He's like, oh, there she is,there she is.
We're gonna talk about whathappened last night.
I can't wait.
You know, he's excited andthinking about that is so
(16:52):
life-giving for me and makes mewant to go to him.
It doesn't take, it doesn't haveto take a lot of time either.
It can really be just a fewminutes.
So, anyway, that makes me veryexcited to talk about look and
learn.
Um, I love going to the Lord forthat.
SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
And for me, I think one of the things I like about
look and learn is I can look atsomething that happened years
ago, months ago, weeks ago, daysago.
Yeah, and I can still look andlearn about it.
If I didn't do it then, I candefinitely get all that wisdom
and glean what God has for me byinviting him into it now.
(17:29):
You know, I can say, you know,that time that I went on that
trip and did da-da-da withso-and-so.
Lord, what was going on?
Because I'm getting ready totake another trip to go see
so-and-so.
And maybe I want to invite himto show me how I can best
prepare for that.
Um, so that's cool.
You know, we all have triggers,we just do.
(17:51):
Yes.
And in this context, of course,we're thinking of triggers as
being something that makes us dothings or that prompts us to do
things that we wish we hadn't.
And we can reframe the wordtrigger and the concept of
trigger and actually turn itinto something beautiful and
wonderful with the Lord's help.
Yeah.
But let's talk about some ofthese difficult triggers for
(18:12):
just a moment.
Here are some from our lives,Christina and I, and from what
we hear from um you all in ourcommunity and that we see
online.
For me, wow, a big trigger isdifficult people because so very
often I wear my heart on mysleeve.
And if somebody is difficult insome way, I take it personally,
(18:32):
even if it's not, it could justbe the way they are with
everybody.
SPEAKER_03 (18:35):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:36):
But yeah, so that's a trigger for me for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (18:38):
Yeah, I think it is for all of us in some some way,
shape, or form.
That's a big one.
The next one is huge for me, andit's emotional overload.
This was really my main issuewith food and eating for years
and years, and it still comes upwhen I am emotionally
overwhelmed.
I'm stressed, my heart isbroken, maybe I'm lonely,
(19:01):
disappointed, somebody has hurtme, maybe I've hurt somebody.
Emotional overload is a big onefor many of us.
SPEAKER_00 (19:12):
It definitely is.
Holidays, you know, there'sfood, there's expectations,
there might be family dynamics,and we're entering into the
holiday season.
I mean, it seems early yetbecause we're still in September
when we're recording this.
Yeah.
But you know, it'll be on usbefore we know it.
So you know, again, inviting Godto show us what how can I be
(19:32):
prepared to take action and bevictorious rather than succumb
to these overwhelming triggersthat I experience at holiday
time.
What's another one?
SPEAKER_03 (19:44):
Oh, here's another huge one for me.
Much better about this now, butit still comes up.
And I feel like a lot of timeswhen things come up again with
the Lord, we're just goingdeeper.
So don't be afraid of that, youknow, for it to come up again
because we're he's taking usdeeper often when he does that.
So comparison.
(20:05):
Oh my gosh.
Well, you know, comparing with aneighbor or comparing with your
friend or that family down thestreet or that co-worker, and
then that shame comes up becauseyou don't feel like you measure
up somehow.
This is huge for so many people.
Comparison and the shame thatcomes with it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
Right.
And all of these that we'retalking about as triggers can
cause us to think thoughtsrepetitively that are going to
form our beliefs, and thosebeliefs are what's going to
drive us to do things likeovereat.
And so it doesn't really matterwhat the trigger is.
So many of us have eaten inresponse to just about anything.
(20:49):
I mean, we've had classes thathave met and sometimes coaching
groups, and we'll ask questionsand we'll share around the
circle.
And somebody might say, Well,this doesn't really have
anything to do with my eating.
And then I'll describe anappointment at the doctor's
office that really threw themwhen they saw something on their
chart or whatever.
And I'm like, Well, I don't knowabout you, but I've eaten over
(21:12):
that stuff before.
Oh, for sure, all of itqualifies, it really does.
And in those moments, like whenum I remember one doctor's
appointment for me was really,really hard.
Not because there was anythingfor me to be necessarily
convicted about or anything, butbecause of the mean dragon lady
I had as a doctor.
(21:32):
Oh, what was I believing in themoment that I felt so wounded by
her?
Oh my gosh.
It's helpful to ask God, well,what is really true?
SPEAKER_03 (21:42):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (21:43):
Anyway, some more triggers that you might
experience when self-worth kindof gets tangled up in
performance.
That's one I've experiencedquite a bit.
SPEAKER_03 (21:52):
Yes, for sure.
And then chronic illness.
Oh man.
So, you know, some of you knowthat I'm dealing with breast
cancer right now, and I'malready thinking, what are the
holidays gonna look like, youknow, at this low, low energy
level that I have?
And um, I'm, you know, having tokind of stay away from people
and crowds and all these things.
(22:13):
And life looks really differentright now.
The next holiday seasonhopefully will look really
different again.
That's what I'm hoping.
But chronic illness, those of usthat deal with pain, chronic
pain, or any kind of illnessthat is ongoing, physical
challenges that just go on andon.
(22:34):
It's hard.
And without the renewing of themind, honestly, I don't know how
I would be surviving.
I'm renewing my mind everysingle day about the illnesses
that I'm dealing with.
SPEAKER_00 (22:50):
And of course, we also have chronic pain.
I mean, you can name a millionof these that are triggers, just
about anything can be a triggerfor us.
Life transitions, you know,moving, relationships ending or
starting or whatever, on and onit goes.
SPEAKER_03 (23:06):
So well, and it might just be the things that
happen daily in your routine, inyour schedule, the kids getting
sick.
I mean, it could be anything, itdoesn't have to be a big, huge
event, it can be anything thatoverwhelms you and causes stress
or hurt or pain.
In those moments, our minds goto certain thoughts.
(23:27):
Thoughts like, I need comfort, Ineed a break, I need relief, I
deserve this, that that hurt me.
Or if I don't control this, I'lllose everything.
SPEAKER_00 (23:42):
And just think, if those thoughts are left
unchecked, if we don't say, God,what are your thoughts about
this thought that I'm having?
I mean, we will act on them.
It will form and shape a newbelief or resurface an old
belief, and that belief willlead us to take an action that
we will wish we hadn't.
Yeah.
Um, that isn't in alignment withthe God we serve and what his
(24:05):
hopes and dreams are for us, andhe only wants the best for us.
Let's talk for a minute aboutwhat scripture actually says
about thoughts, about mindrenewal and about our flesh and
all that fun stuff.
Yes, great.
SPEAKER_03 (24:18):
Let's go there.
SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
I'm in Romans 8, verses 5 and 6.
This is one that we also love,of course.
It says in this passage, thosewho live according to the flesh
have their minds set on what theflesh desires.
But those who live in accordancewith the spirit have their minds
set on what the spirit desires.
(24:41):
The mind governed by the fleshis death, but the mind governed
by the spirit is life and peace.
Yes.
Oh, and both Christine and Ihave used this passage in very
significant moments in ourlives.
SPEAKER_03 (24:55):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (24:56):
To remind us to take captive our runaway thoughts and
to think thoughts that aregoverned by the Holy Spirit.
When thoughts are shaped by myflesh, seeking what feels good
in the moment, or what soothesmy shame, or what makes me feel
happy, or whatever it might be,we end up in cycles of regret.
(25:16):
I know for me it's not justregret, it's full on shame.
And when I go into that cycle,it seems to just keep going
around and around and around.
But when my mind aligns withwhat the spirit desires, truth,
peace, love, I know when I focuson those things, life and peace
(25:38):
follow.
The mind controlled by the HolySpirit is life and it is peace.
SPEAKER_03 (25:44):
It is.
Even just reading that passageright now, listening to you read
it, Heidi, is like bringing mepeace and life.
I just like I want to hear more.
So let's go to Colossians 2,verses 20 to 23.
And here's a passage that pullsno punches.
(26:04):
Since you died with Christ tothe elemental spiritual forces
of this world, why, as thoughyou still belong to the world,
do you submit to its rules?
And again, this was me.
Do not handle, do not taste, donot touch.
These rules which have to dowith things that are all
(26:26):
destined to perish with use, arebased on merely human commands
and teachings.
This is in the Bible.
This is amazing to me.
Such regulations indeed have anappearance of wisdom with their
self-imposed worship, theirfalse humility, and their harsh
treatment of the body, but theylack any value in restraining
(26:51):
sensual indulgence.
That's it.
That's exactly it.
That's been my experience forsure.
SPEAKER_00 (26:59):
Yes.
So if you come to us and want toexperience freedom from some
extra weight you carry, and weencourage you to renew your mind
instead of tell you what to eator how to eat or when to eat or
why to eat or whatever.
And you're wondering why are youdoing this?
(27:19):
This is why.
SPEAKER_03 (27:20):
This is why, right here.
This is why.
SPEAKER_00 (27:22):
Yes, the rules and the all of the stuff that goes
with conforming to this world'sways of doing this, it lacks any
value in restraining sensualindulgence, which is what this
is about.
It's about me giving into whatmy flesh wants.
And God is, He's not in thebusiness of being a cosmic
(27:44):
killjoy.
You like that?
I'm gonna smash you for eating.
That's not the way he is.
You know, that line that theylack any value in restraining
sensual indulgence.
It's like a spotlight on howrules alone can't change my
(28:05):
heart and it can't sustain anychanges physically that I may
have landed on because ofchanging my eating or whatever.
They don't change what we wantmost, like when we feel lonely
or painful or unseen or notheard or whatever it might be.
God wants to completely renovateour lives.
(28:28):
And he does that, like it saysin Romans 12, too, be
transformed, and God is thetransformer by the renewing of
your mind.
So focusing on how we think,what we think.
Am I thinking in alignment withGod?
What are your thoughts, God?
That is the key.
That is the key.
SPEAKER_03 (28:47):
You know, for so many years, I thought I was
supposed to do the transforming.
I thought it was all on myshoulders to fix this.
And then, I mean, I used to saythings to God like, I am so
sorry that I'm so messed up inthis area.
I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonnatry to do this better, I'm gonna
follow these rules andrestrictions, and then I'll I'll
(29:09):
come back and show you, and thenwe can move on to something
else.
I'm serious.
I mean, I I felt like this wassomething I was supposed to do
myself.
And so what joy, what a relief,what peace there was when I
realized this isn't my job.
This is God's job.
(29:30):
I do have a part in it.
If I don't renew my mind severaltimes a day, I'm going to be
going down my old trails.
Um, yes, me too.
My old thoughts, those old ruts.
I'm gonna go right down there.
That's my part, and I can do it.
I can do the renewing of themind.
It's it's not draining, it'sactually fun, it's life giving.
(29:54):
I love doing it.
I mean, I love it, it draws mecloser to the Lord, and so
that's.
My part.
God's part is the transforming.
That's off my shoulders.
That's his part.
It's it's his part.
And he does it so well.
He does it so well.
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
So I'm definitely way better than I ever did.
SPEAKER_03 (30:16):
Right.
Nothing that we do really lasts.
It just doesn't.
You know, you might run into afriend that's transformed
herself temporarily and it'slike, oh, she did it.
She she did it.
And then you see her again thenext year, and things are
different again.
Because we can't make thingslike that last.
It's not the deep work.
(30:38):
So if rules and restrictions andpulling ourselves up and trying
harder, if that isn't the deepwork, what is what is the deep
work?
So we want to give you sometools that we have seen change
our lives and change lives ofthe women and men in our
community.
(30:58):
It's not just behavior, it goesdeeper than that.
It's desires.
We want our desires to line upwith God's desires.
And then it becomes easy.
So we have many, many, manytools, many mind-reviewable
tools.
Many, many, many, many.
(31:19):
Some of them have been puttogether by our participants,
some of them by me, Heidi.
They've just kind of evolvedover the years, but we're going
to just give you a few here sowe don't want to overwhelm you.
So we want to start with the Godlist, which is actually where we
always start.
Pretty much every class that weteach, every time we're
(31:40):
coaching, we start with the Godlist because this is so
important.
It's so important that we seeGod as He really is.
And some of us, myself included,boy, I had a wrong view of God.
I needed to go to the Word andsee who He really is, who He
really was at that time in mylife.
(32:01):
And I use my God list all thetime.
I have them everywhere.
I have a whole bunch at thispoint.
Basically, all it is, it's sosimple listing who God is and
what he does for people.
So, for example, hisfaithfulness, his beauty, his
goodness, his kindness.
And you can go on and on.
(32:23):
If you've never done thisbefore, you can maybe start in
the Psalms.
That's a great place to begin.
But his attributes are all overthe word, all over.
And there are hundreds andhundreds of them.
So writing a God list is ourfirst mind renewal tool that
we'd love to give you.
Okay, so the second one is againso simple.
(32:47):
We call it the praise fest, likefestival.
And basically, you take your godlist and you speak out loud your
praises for who God is.
You declare truth when feelingslie.
So for example, God, you arefaithful.
God, you are the lover of mysoul.
(33:07):
God, you are beautiful.
God, you are good.
God, you are kind andcompassionate.
God, you are wonderful,majestic, amazing.
God, you are the one who makesthings so.
And it can just go on and on andon.
That's called a praise fest.
So the first one is the Godlist, and it's a list of God's
(33:28):
attributes.
And then the praised fest isusing that list to speak praises
to God out loud.
And it turns our hearts towardHim in the most beautiful way.
And then the third one ispersonalizing scripture,
claiming God's word in your ownlife.
(33:49):
So using your name in Scriptureto make it personal, using your
own circumstances or a lovedone's name and circumstances.
So for example, Psalm 145, 14.
The Lord upholds Christina whenshe falls.
The Lord upholds Christina whenshe struggles, when she falls,
(34:11):
when she needs help.
The Lord is there upholding me.
I'm taking that scripture andI'm personalizing to my own
situation.
Here's another one that I love.
Psalm 34.8.
Christina, taste and see that Iam good.
Blessed are you, Christina, whenyou take refuge in me.
(34:35):
So I'm personal, and I canpersonalize it even more if I
want to to a very specificsituation.
One of my favorite ways to renewmy mind is personalizing
scripture.
SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
If you're interested at all in learning how to use
these just these few minor nulltools that we've shared today so
far, we are going to be duringthe month of October focusing on
a new theme, crowned withbounty, which is going to take
us into Psalm 65 for the entiremonth.
(35:08):
And we are going to be renewingour minds using the God list
with Psalm 65, using the PraiseFest with Psalm 65, using Who I
Am in Christ with Psalm 65, andpersonalizing scripture from
Psalm 65.
And the list goes on.
Oh, I can't wait.
I can't wait.
That's gonna be awesome.
And uh so just check outrevelationwithin.org and there
(35:32):
will be a description of that uhas of October 1st.
So if you're listening to thispodcast after that, it's there
now, probably, unless it's wayafter October 1st.
But you can join anytime and geta free month.
Yes, so there you go.
Yes, come join us.
It's gonna be awesome.
That would be so cool.
So when we practice renewing ourminds, and you can do it any way
(35:54):
you choose, you just got to godeep and you've got to apply it
to your life.
God wants to target the lies webelieve in our lives, the
thoughts we have in our lives,so that the actions can be
changed.
He targets those with targetedtruth.
Yes.
And so when we practice thesestrategies, something shifts big
(36:14):
time.
For instance, we start to catchthe thoughts before they spiral,
before they cause me to act.
We've also found that as wepractice mind renewal, the
voices of shame get so muchquieter.
Yes.
And we also begin to enjoy thenow, the peace, the rest, the
(36:35):
gratitude, rather than trying toearn or prove something.
And it doesn't rest on me.
We begin to see that and believeit.
And here's some of the thingswe've seen as people have
committed to renewing theirminds.
And when we have renewed ourminds, first of all, there's
greater clarity.
(36:56):
We start seeing what's reallydriving us.
We don't just blow by it.
We're like, oh, look at that.
Aha.
Yes, exactly.
I had an aha moment last week.
We just started our brand newclass from Shame to Shalom.
And wow, God put a spotlight onways that shame is kind of
(37:20):
wiggling its way into mythoughts.
And it's like, what are yourthoughts about this, Lord?
And He just gives me beautifultruth to refute the shame.
So there's a lot less shamebecause God's truth speaks
louder.
That's another benefit.
Another benefit to renewing ourminds is more freedom, less
(37:42):
urgency to soothe myself withcounterfeit comforts.
And there's not this aversion tostillness.
I mean, that's huge for mebecause I'm somebody, I'm not
one of those busybody people whois so energetic, but I still
would avoid stillness.
I know that doesn't seem to gotogether, but anyway, and then a
(38:05):
fourth thing we've seen is we'reable to make better decisions.
Yes.
And the reason is probablyrelated to the fact that we do
it from who we are in Christ andfrom who he is, rather than our
impulses, which I think is soimportant.
A fifth one, we could go on andon about this, of course, but
(38:29):
long-term transformation, ourdesires shift, and that means we
don't want to overeat, we don'twant to overspend, we don't want
to overscroll.
All of that falls away when ourheart is filled with something
so much greater, so much morerewarding.
And it's true, I know there aresome of you who may be listening
(38:50):
to this game, well, that's notgonna be true for me.
Right.
That's what I thought.
Try it and see.
Look what happened withChristina.
SPEAKER_03 (39:00):
Yeah.
Well, and I just want toencourage you too, when those
truths come up for you, writethem down and put them into a
list.
That is one of our other tools.
It's a truth list.
It was one of the first tools Iever used.
And you can read those and saythose out loud over and over and
(39:21):
over until your thoughts becomeone with those.
That's so important.
God will give you his thoughts.
And we don't want to forgetthose.
Write them down.
Okay, so we want to invite youtoday, right now, right at this
very moment, to start here andnow with one tool.
(39:43):
Just one.
Just one.
So pick one trigger that youface.
Maybe it's a difficult person, aholiday that's coming up, an
emotion you're dealing withright now, stress, overwhelm.
When it comes, pause.
Use your God list, speak praise,find a scripture that counters
(40:05):
the lie.
Pray it.
Write it down.
Let the spirit fill your mindwith something true, something
from his perspective.
Ask him to show you what histhoughts are.
SPEAKER_00 (40:20):
And I just want to say, you know, try this
challenge.
I mean, you may be saying,that's not gonna work.
My favorite, put your favoritemorsel in this, you know, spot
right here.
That's going to satisfy me morequickly and more completely than
opening my Bible and praisingGod.
It's not true.
(40:43):
Yeah.
And so I just want to challengeyou.
Put your indulgence uh with thefood or whatever it might be on
hold for just five minutes, forjust five minutes.
Set it aside and give God anopening.
Say, okay, God, I'm giving youthis opening.
I want to take you at your word.
You say that you are enough forme.
(41:03):
You say that you are satisfying,that you will grant me the
desires of my heart when Idelight myself in you.
And right now I'm ready todelight myself in you.
Would you come into this momentand just put off eating or
scrolling or buying somethingonline, whatever, and see what
happens if you renew your mindat that moment.
(41:26):
I like praises the one thatcomes easiest to me and who I am
in Christ.
Those come easiest to me.
Another resource we often use isI deserve a donut and other
lives that make you eat.
You can pull that open and pullit out and renew your mind with
that.
Then see if after five or 10minutes you still have that
craving.
(41:47):
And I bet you don't.
I bet you don't.
Now you might.
That's true.
But if you keep it up, uheventually you'll see your
desires change.
Yes.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (41:58):
And we have seen that in hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of people over theyears and in ourselves as well.
SPEAKER_00 (42:05):
So walking this path isn't easy.
We're not going to pretend it'seasy, but it's real and it's
worth it.
It really is.
God doesn't want us justmanaging life, He wants us
living and experiencing anabundant life, mind renewed,
heart aligned, free.
Doesn't that sound wonderful?
It sure does.
SPEAKER_03 (42:25):
It sure does.
We are so glad that you've beenhere with us today.
And we would love to invite youto join us for our next podcast
episode here at Revelation withit.
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