In his book, Winning the War in Your Mind, Craig Groeschel outlines four principles to change your thinking and thus change your life. Groeschel firmly believes that “our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. What we think shapes who we are.”
The four principles are:
The Replacement Principle – is recognising the lies we believe and replacing them with truths from the Bible.
The Rewire Principle – is realising that our regular thoughts form a rut in our brain. If these thoughts are mostly negative, then we have to create a trench of truth to rewire our brains. Building a trench of truth is more than reading God’s Word, it’s meditating on it.
The Reframe Principle – is learning to see a situation, either past or present, from God’s perspective, looking for his goodness.
The Rejoice Principle – is staying mindful of God’s presence and praising him for who he is and his goodness to us.
These principles take time to develop, as Groeschel explains. He also provides illustrations and often amusing personal anecdotes to help readers apply these principles. My favourite illustration was about the Magic Eye books. To see the pictures in these books, which appear to be just a random collection of dots, you have to focus your eyes beyond the page, which allows you to see the picture in your peripheral vision. Groeschel uses this illustration to convey that we must look beyond our present circumstances to grasp God’s perspective.
Overall, a practical and helpful book that teaches how to overcome an anxious, fearful, or negative mindset.
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