Most of us have prayed some version of it: Lord, change the way I think.
We’ve read the verses. We’ve underlined Romans 12:2. And still the same worry comes back at night, and the same reaction comes up when someone pushes our buttons.
So how does renewing your mind actually happen?
Scripture answers that question more fully than most of us realize. Let’s look at what renewal is, and then at the ways the Bible says God brings it about.
What Renewing Your Mind Means
In Scripture, renewing your mind means the continuing work by which God changes the way you think: what you value, how you judge, what you take for granted. Your life then increasingly reflects His will instead of the pattern of the world around you.
The phrase comes from one verse:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2 NKJV
The verse just before it gives the reason. Paul urges believers “by the mercies of God” to offer themselves to Him as “a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1 NKJV). Renewing the mind begins as a response to mercy already received. It’s what a life given over to God begins to look like.
The mind Paul has in view is more than the thoughts passing through your head at any given moment. It’s the way you perceive, weigh and judge: the settled outlook that your choices and reactions come from. That’s why renewal reaches deeper than swapping a few negative thoughts for positive ones. It reaches the assumptions underneath them.
(For a phrase-by-phrase look at the verse, see What Does Romans 12:2 Mean? (opens in a new tab))
Who Does the Renewing?
Paul describes the same transformation when he writes to the Corinthians:
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV
Three things stand out:
- The work is the Spirit’s: “by the Spirit of the Lord.”
- It has a direction: “into the same image,” the likeness of Christ.
- It happens by degrees: “from glory to glory.”
Yet Romans 12:2 is still a command. God transforms, and the believer takes part. Scripture holds both together, and so does every honest answer to the question “how?”
How Renewal Differs From Positive Thinking
Positive thinking can change how we feel about a situation. Biblical renewal changes how we understand it and respond to it, in light of what God has said is true. Feeling better may follow, but truth is the goal.
Renewal is the Spirit’s work in someone who keeps responding to God. Effort has its place, and the power to change is His.
And a renewed mind learns to recognize and embrace God’s will. Its aim is to be shaped by His purposes rather than to bend circumstances toward its own.
How Scripture Says Renewal Happens
Scripture gives us something richer than a formula. It shows the means God uses to renew a mind, and invites us to keep putting ourselves within their reach.
Through God’s Word
“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.”
Colossians 3:16 NLT
A mind is renewed by what fills it. Reading Scripture, hearing it preached, memorizing it and turning it over through the day give the Spirit the truth He uses to reshape how we see. A verse you carry with you is ready when the old way of thinking shows up.
By the Holy Spirit
“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”
Romans 8:6 NLT
Paul calls it “the renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5 NKJV). The renewing is His work, and our part is active: we ask for His help, attend to His Word, and respond to the truth He brings to light. That’s what letting the Spirit control your mind looks like. Prayer is where much of it happens.
By Where You Set Your Mind
“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Colossians 3:2 NKJV
What we focus on grows in us. Paul tells believers to fix their attention on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable (Philippians 4:8). That’s a choice we can make many times a day, and every time we make it, we’re cooperating with the renewal God is doing. (Read more: Set Your Mind on Things Above and Think on These Things.)
By Taking Thoughts Captive
Some thoughts need more than redirecting. Paul describes taking “every thought” captive “to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV). That means noticing a thought, holding it up to what God has said, and replacing it with His truth. It’s a skill, and like any skill it grows with practice. (Read more: How to Take Every Thought Captive.)
Together With Other Believers
The same verse that says “Let the message about Christ … fill your lives” goes on: “Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives” (Colossians 3:16 NLT). Renewal was never meant to be a solo project.
“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.”
Hebrews 10:24 NLT
Other believers see what we miss, remind us of what’s true when we’ve forgotten, and cheer us on when change feels slow.
Over Time
Remember “from glory to glory.” Renewal happens by degrees. In my book I compare it to a home renovation: it starts with a vision, follows a blueprint and takes time. God’s vision for us is the likeness of Christ, and His Word is the blueprint. If you’ve lived through a renovation, you know the house is still home while the work goes on.
What I Learned About Focus
My name is Daniel Lafleur. Before I wrote Renewing Your Mind or started Renewing Your Mind Discipleship Ministry, I spent a long season feeling stuck. As I wrote in the book:
“I was stuck in a mindset that had me making decisions based on circumstances and feelings. I felt like a victim, powerless and without any real choice at all.”
Daniel Lafleur, Renewing Your Mind: Living Life Intentionally (opens in a new tab)
I even wished God would take my choices away and simply direct every step. What changed things was a discovery Scripture had been holding out to me all along:
“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.”
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
I couldn’t control my circumstances, but I could choose where I fixed my eyes. In the book I put it this way: “Finally, I understood that what I needed to do was to control what I focused on and let go of the expectation of outcomes. Once I got that one figured out, things began to change.”
I didn’t invent that idea. It was in God’s Word long before I found it there. Studying Scripture while I wrote only deepened my understanding of what it had been teaching us all along.
What Renewal Looks Like on an Ordinary Day
It’s late. The house is quiet, and your mind goes back to the thing you can’t fix: a bill, a test result, a choice someone you love is making. The old pattern is familiar. You replay it, imagine the worst and lie awake.
Now picture the same night with a renewing mind. You notice the spiral starting. You remember what God has said:
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6–7 NLT
So you pray it through. You name what you need. You thank Him for what He has already done. You set your mind on what’s true about Him. The problem may still be there in the morning, but you meet it differently, because a different mind is meeting it.
That’s renewal: the same life, met by a mind God is making new.
Bringing It Into the Moments That Matter
Knowing how renewal happens is a gift. Drawing on it in the moment, when the old reaction is already rising, is where most of us need help.
At Renewing Your Mind, we teach a simple way to engage God’s Word in those moments. We call it The Process, and it has four parts: Recognize, Examine, Respond and Reinforce. Each part keeps God’s Word at the centre and leaves the transforming to Him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
