How to Think Spiritually: Tips from a Christian Counselor in Texas

How well do you know yourself, your personality? Do you understand how you naturally react when it comes to emotions? Do you lean toward suppressing your emotions or letting them out in ineffective ways?

Our thoughts determine the ongoing course of our lives. We all know the difference between positive and negative thinking. Normally, our thinking is more negative, human-centered, and egocentric. Positive thoughts are by far first-rate compared to negative thoughts; however, how does positive thinking relate to spiritual thinking to create mindful, transcendent living?

Positive Spiritual Thinking

The main goal of positive spiritual thinking is serving and pleasing God and others (our neighbors). Happiness is a by-product of a spiritual mindset. Consider transcendent thinking versus merely positive thinking. We are conditioned to believe that thinking positively will lead to worldly, self-success; however, spiritual thinking is an entirely different approach that reveals the power of the divine in our lives.

Spiritual thinking aims to serve God and others, not merely to get what we want. In Christianity, we seek to open the doors of true spirituality, including obeying the will of the Father with the right incentive behind the obedience. Read the following words from 1 Corinthians 2:13-15 –

This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments. – 1 Corinthians 2:13-15, NIV

The more we train to be positive spiritual thinkers, the more we will become like Christ and the more spiritually successful we will be. The journey is not easy. Because you want to be joyful and fulfilled, become spiritually mature. Forgiveness, conflict resolution, discipline, perseverance, repentance, reverent submission, trust, surrender, grace. Consider Psalm 126:5-6.

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. – Psalm 126:5-6, NIV

Looking at the Past

Gently glance at your past. Has it encouraged you toward positive or negative ideas about growth aches? What current situations are you dealing with that God may be attempting to use to shape your character? Are you trying to find the easy way out? What does submission to God look like to you? How does your view toward God’s training need to adjust?

These can be tough questions to ponder. For example, where does your forgiveness land on the range from easy to hard? What would your closest friends say? Which scripture regarding forgiveness is the most challenging for you and why? Think of a time when you needed to forgive someone for something you defined as huge. Before you said, “I forgive you,” how did you feel? What about after you saw their response? How did you feel?

This process of spiritual thinking looks at our responsibility to struggle and strive for deep healing, letting go of contempt and resentment that can anger, disappoint, and untether us. Fighting for the spiritual approach to life helps you listen to the call of awareness and carry your obligation to set yourself right with God and with those around you. This is where the deep meaning that calibrates you and protects you is located.

The way you process feelings and thoughts daily determines the trajectory of your life. What you focus on, highlight, and emphasize in your mind impacts you long-term. It takes consistent effort, energy, and intention to catch your thoughts, check them, and change them accordingly.

Filled With the Spirit

To be filled with the Spirit means that we are trained and guided by his words in our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. We cannot be occupied with his truths without reading them, memorizing, and practicing them. Regular prayer and Bible study are key.

The term meditation has been called mindfulness and is known by many other descriptions. It can seem trivial, needless, and far-fetched to strengthen our mindfulness muscle; however, practicing meditation/mindfulness regularly can bring grounding, clarity, and peace.

Paying attention to our present moment experiences with humility, openness, curiosity, and a willingness to seek the mind of Christ; that is a definition of spiritual thinking. Does this make God smile? Bringing our attention into the current moment, not in the past or the future, but right now, is purposeful, spiritual living.

Thinking spiritually encourages personal responsibility. Taking responsibility helps you learn where you are, who you are; it gives meaning. We aimlessly suffer without meaning. The sense of meaning indicates we are on the right path.

Mindfulness

There are several types of mindfulness practices – narrow ways and expansive ways. Imagine a photo – a focused snapshot or a panoramic view. Prayer is a form of meditation. We are naturally oriented toward the highest good (Ecc. 3:11). When we betray ourselves, we lose connection to things that matter to us – family, boss, friends, partner. Spiritual thinking is not a call to happiness, but happiness is a by-product of being spiritual. Moreover, it is the call to adventure, action that constitutes real life.

A clear purpose generates order, meaning, and positive emotion. Without purpose comes chaos, anxiety, and too many options. Are you hiding in the daze? First, identify your feelings. It can be tricky, as we tend to see that as a weakness; however, recognizing your feelings may help you see how they might be dislocated or mislabeled, which can guide you in the opposite direction.

Discovering what is causing emotional distress is courageous and battles the ignorance that keeps us in a fog and ineffective outcomes.

Read the Word

Second, read. “The Word – the tool God uses to transform us toward the depths of potential – is truthful speech,” (Jordan Peterson). Use his words to transform your mind, remake yourself, and activate untapped potential. May God help us to be truly healthy, wise, and to apply the Bible wholeheartedly.

Let’s always remember that our study is to aid us in understanding the heart and mind of Christ and to mirror them both. In this way, the degree of our gratitude and wonder will soar. Then our souls and minds will be filled with awe and love for him and our neighbors.

Keep going. Never back down, for He is completely on your side. Think spiritually. Look and see with faithful eyes. When you determine to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, fighting to share his mindset, you will begin to declare to all your struggles, over and over, “Even though       , God!”

Remember that the forever, unbounded God is the author of your soul and your future. Trust Him, His statutes, and you will replace the limitations of doubt with a faith that can transform your life.

It’s important to embrace spiritual growth with appreciation of God and the process he uses. Run after spirituality, in addition to its required challenges. Your character growth in the end will lead to Him. Christian counseling is a solid approach to personal rebirth.

It can be instrumental to renew, rebuild, restore, regain, repair, revive, relive, relearn, remember, recenter, rebalance, reinvigorate, relook, reopen, remove, reengage, reserve, redo, reauthor, and the like. When you get where you’re going, where will you be?

Next Steps

Who are you allowing into your heart and mind to help you see how you handle your emotions in spiritually productive ways? Please call or schedule an appointment with Texas Christian Counseling to embark on your next level spiritual journey.

Jesus’ yoke is light because he created it to fit us perfectly, and yet, at the depth of his good news is to pick up our cross daily. We all need help from every source, but we will never change and remain changed unless we deny ourselves daily.