Excerpt from Soul-vation by Dr. Joel McLeod

The "Thought Life" Described, pages 4 - 5

The "Thought Life" Described:

1.  The thought life is a manner of processing incoming data in the mind

2. It is the mind's way of organizing and filing daily Images to eventually recall.

3. It is the believers' perception on life based on the selective incoming data influenced by his/her peers, significant others, and life experiences

4. It is the cognitive world that the believer lives in

5. The "thought life" is the testing for Holy Living in the life of the believer. If the "Minds Temple" (holiness in your thinking) can be maintained, then holiness will prove livable, outwardly. Prosper in the soul, and its effects will be manifested in the natural (I John 3:2). If the mind is transformed, the effects of the transformation will become evident in the believer's behavior, attitude, and overall lifestyle.

6. Most Christian failure occurs at the mind level - in the thought life (Hebrews 12:2)

7. Don't become weary in well doing - you will reap, if you faint not - if you don't relent and "give in" in the area of the thought life (Galatians 6:9).

8. In the thought life, is where the laws of God should be recorded (Hebrews 8: 1 0). It is the place where the presence of God should be practiced and rehearsed.
 
9. It is where God's Word (Torah - the laws of God) should have the governorship, the rulership, and the Lordship. It is where God's Word should have the mastery and supremacy to govern and influence overt behaviors and actions. Whoever or whatever controls the mind, greatly influences the destiny of the believer. It is with this understanding that meditation in God's Word becomes extremely critical to every disciple of Christ.

10. Practice the Presence of God in your thought life and watch your intimacy with God intensify and your commitment to holy living heighten. Practicing the presence of God in your thought life is like living everyday as though you are preparing to enter the "Holies of Holy" (the most sacred place' known to Christians). Practicing and rehearsing His presence In your mind is the "fail safe" cure to unholy behavior because you are forever cognizant of His presence - therefore, wherever you go, He goes: whatever you do, you involve Him. Successfully approaching this practice/discipline will insure a deterrence from vain imagination and dishonorable behavior in the believer's life (Romans 12: 1,2)

E. The evolution of a vain imagination (satan has taken God's principles and have perverted them to the detriment of the believer). A "stronghold" does not start as a stronghold -first, the image is captured through the gateways (seed) - then the vain image is entertained and empowered (Watered) - as the "seed of niquity" (the deep seated tendency to sin) begins to germinate on the inside, it becomes a "weak hold"- finally, the vanity becomes so deeply seated and deeply layered, it is, now, a stronghold in the life of the believer (Mark 4:26 ~ 29).