Is my thinking clear, mature and full of God's truth? Peter wrote his two letters "as reminders to stimulate … wholesome thinking" (2 Pet. 3:1). Paul told the Corinthians to "stop thinking like children" and to start thinking as adults (1 Cor. 14:20). He also told them that true disciples "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). He told the Philippians to think about whatever is "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy" (4:8). And he told the Romans to think about themselves "with sober judgment" (12:3).

All this calls for clear, godly thinking; not thinking that is muddled, inconsistent, ever-changing, gullible, self-opinionated; easily influenced and led astray by the evil one. To what must our thinking be aligned? To God's Word; to the Bible and to nothing else. We need to have Ezra's spirit. He devoted himself to study, obey and teach it in Israel (7:10). The Psalmist wrote: "Strengthen me [and] renew my life according to your word … Oh, how I love your law" (119:28, 37, 97).

As believers, our thinking also needs to be open to the Spirit's fresh revelation. Ideally, we would have been brought up by Bible-believing, kind, loving, caring, unselfish, honouring-of-their-children and compassionate Christian parents; filled with the Spirit, with faith and with God's grace. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. And no parenting is perfect. Also we have all been raised in a fallen world so our brains need some rewiring. Our temperament also comes into play; are we pessimists or optimists for example.  To develop clear thinking, we should always remain teachable and eager for fresh insights in our progress to become more and more like Jesus.

We all view God's Word through a wide variety of filters. Some of these will be legalism or there's-nothing-wrong-with me, self-righteousness or self-loathing, a sense of worthlessness or of arrogance, and a myriad other things programed by the evil one to deceive us and to majorly discourage us. But God truly is on our side. "This is the one I esteem: the person who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word" (Isa. 66:2). When this is the state of our hearts he will always bring fresh revelation and clarify our thoughts.

Belief in the enemy's lies is the biggest barrier towards a clear understanding of the Bible concerning the character and the heart of God. It is also our biggest barrier to clear thinking. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit really are 100% for us not against us; even in our worst moments.