Developing a Biblical Growth Mindset

Growth mindset is a popular term in the personal development space, but it was truly a Biblical principal first. Find out specific steps you can start taking today to shift your thinking to maximize your spiritual growth.

Transcript

Developing a Biblical growth mindset is the foundation for overcoming patterns, bad habits, and toxic cycles in your life. 

Let’s dive right in today. I will be explaining some steps you can take and highlighting some verses to help you shift your thinking in a way that will give you the power to change your life. 

Before I lay those out, I want to talk about why it’s not something that comes naturally to most people. If you think about it growth, development, and change are all painful things, right? It’s uncomfortable to move to a new city, start a new career, go through puberty, switch to healthier foods, start a workout routine, right? All of these things mark a period of discomfort, struggle, and adjustment. Deep down, our subconscious is literally working against us. Our very human nature is striving to protect us from uncomfortable things, defend us against pain, to stop anything that isn’t pleasant. The reality is that most growth and change is necessary to help us reach our goals in life, to help us reach spiritual maturity, and to help us be successful at what we are called to do. The problem is that there is nothing comfortable or easy about growth and change, so we tend to seek the path of least resistance. We want to find the easier ways to do things, we want to results and rewards without the pain. That’s typical.

Understand this one thing I’m about to say, and if you only take one thing from today, please get this: Everything that you want out of your life is on the other side of your pain, fear, struggles, and discomfort. You must learn to persevere through challenges because they are unavoidable and they are necessary for you to become the person that God wants you to become. *repeat*

Ok, so how do you develop a Biblical growth mindset? Let’s look at scripture to define a Biblical growth mindset. What does that look like, what does it mean?

Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” The Christian life has it’s share of suffering, but our mindset is focused on the development of our character through that suffering. It is all about become more and more like Jesus, right? We have to let go of some things in order to do that. We have to surrender our own agendas, attitudes, and entitlements in order to become who God is calling us to be. It’s a process, and the only way to become mature and strong in our characters is to go through things. I don’t mean just survive things, come out the other side alive. No, it’s not about surviving, it about coming out stronger, smarter, wiser, more like Christ. It’s about allowing God to shape you and remove things from your mind and heart that don’t belong there, so the beauty of who he created you to be can shine through. Success for the Christian is not about money, promotions, or fame, success for the believer on this side of heaven is living out God’s will and bringing glory to His name. If your life can show the faithfulness of God, the power of God, the love of God, then your life is what it is meant to be. You can’t testify about how God can help you overcome if you never had anything to overcome. Does that make sense?

This is all about growth. James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. “ Every time I read this, I almost get chills. “not lack anything.” Does that excite you? This scripture is telling us that you need to get excited when you find yourself going through it.  Not because your happy about your circumstances, of course, we don’t feel like rejoicing when things are going wrong for us, right? But consider it joy because you know that at the end of this, if you don’t give up, if you don’t cave in, if you keep moving forward, you’re going to be mature and complete in the end. Nothing will be missing from you. You will get everything that you need to grow into the person that God wants you to be. Every need you have will be met if you just hang in there. Praise the Lord!

Let those trials come, do their job, and then you walk out in victory, brining glory to God, having everything you every needed. When trouble comes, pray “Lord, what do you want me to surrender? Lord, search my heart. Lord, change me to be more like you after this. Help me to bring glory to you even while I’m going through this. Lord, thank you for this opportunity for me to grow and change in your likeness.” Start facing your troubles with praise, and thanksgiving, and see yourself mature and rise above what’s going on. If you haven’t listened to my previous episode “How to Worship Through It,” I highly recommend you do. This is about growth. This is about finding freedom from the old strongholds and toxic cycles, and negative patterns in your life. Approach trouble with hope and joy and watch yourself break free from the things that oppress you.

The Biblical growth mindset goes beyond the possibilities for change. It brings faith to impossible situations. It looks for the chance to mature at the signs of difficulties and trouble. We have to humble ourselves and understand that until we get to heaven, we will never stop needed to grow. There will always be something in our hearts that God has to bring to our attention and deal with. It doesn’t matter how long you have been a Christian, there is something that God can still perfect in you. There will always be a new level of grace, a new level of glory, and a new level of knowing God. 

So let’s break this down into some clear points to keep in mind. Here is a quick outline of the basic principles behind a Biblical growth mindset. Here are 5 things that you want to remember.

Number one: Spiritual growth is a necessary part of the Christian life.

Number 2: Spiritual maturity is the goal of the believer’s life.

Number 3: Spiritual maturity is developed through perseverance through difficult and uncomfortable circumstances.

Number 4: Surrendering to God first and foremost when faced with difficulties is the fastest way to spiritual maturity. 

And finally, Number 5:  The result of spiritual maturity is being whole, complete, lacking nothing and bringing glory to God with your testimony.

Now, understanding these principles, what are the practical steps that you can take to shift into a Biblical mindset? How do you begin this process? Here are three steps.

First, reframe how you look at your circumstances. Every day, every trial, every difficulty is an opportunity for your character development. Instead of complaining about how hard your life is, start to look for the lessons in these moments. Pray in these times, asking for the Lord to show you what you need to surrender, what is in your heart that shouldn’t be there, and how this will bring you closer to being just like Him. So first step, reframe how you look at circumstances: opportunities for character development and personal growth.

Second, renew your mind with scripture. A fixed minset is going to prevent you from moving forward. You have to take those limiting thoughts and beliefs one by one, and challenge them with the truth of the word of God. You need to find those verses that cancel out the negative, limiting thoughts that you have. Start with Philippians 4:13 “13 I can do all things through [f]Christ who strengthens me.” It is not by your own talent, ability, or skill set that you will fulfill God’s will for your life. It is by Him and through Him, so you are basically off the hook. Surrender to Him, obey Him, and he does the rest. That verse can help you overcome all of those “I can’t” or “I could never” thoughts. That’s one example. Search God’s word for your specific fixed mindsets and undo them by memorizing scripture. Ok, point 2 renew your mind with scripture.

Third step, stop feeding your limiting beliefs. You have to be sure that you are not allowing what you are watching and listening to reinforce the thinking that you are trying to get rid of. Music, streaming/television, YouTube, social media, friends and family. Unfortunately, sometimes the people closest to us, well meaning people, give us limiting thoughts. They plant ideas in our minds that aren’t exactly scriptural. You have to guard your heart, and filter out the thinking that is going to support you in your spiritual growth, and what are the things that are going to distract you, hold you back or set you back. So point three, is really guard your heart. Protect your growth. 

Those three steps again, write this down if you have a pen, or take notes on your phone:

Step 1: View your circumstances as opportunities for growth.

Step 2: Renew your mind with scripture.

Step 3: Avoid feeding your limiting beliefs and guard your heart.

Begin with these three steps and you will be on your way to developing a Biblical mindset and it will change your life for the better. Remember that the goal is spiritual maturity. If you make growing into the likeness of Christ your primary focus, then every day can bring you closer to that goal, no matter what is going on around you. I want to encourage you to get started, and to keep persevering through it all with God on your side. Fix your mind on Jesus. Keep going and you will find yourself spiritually mature, complete, whole, and lacking in nothing. Praise God!

Thank you so much for listening today. Check out the free chat on patreon.com/jesuswomen I added a new chat called “That resonated with me” it’s open to everyone on the free email list, I’d love to hear from you about your favorite episodes and topics that spoke to your heart and what’s been helpful to you. Don’t be shy, I’d love to connect with you all listening and it would be great for you all to connect with each other and talk more about these topics. Take care, I’ll be posting again next week. Don’t quit get equipped!