Day 1 - Reconditioned: Think on Things Above | Set Your Mind on Higher Ground

Colossians 3:1–2 (NLT) “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians, he wasn’t giving them a suggestion. Rather, he was calling them to a new posture.  “Since you’ve been raised with Christ,” he said, “lift your perspective.” 

Today, we must always imagine ourselves in these positions so that we can better appreciate what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to us in these times.

Paul told them, basically, if your life has been raised, then your mind must rise with it. So we can’t get water baptised, serve in all of the positions in church, preach on the pulpit, or on the radio, or on the street, or at work, and then behind closed doors, living any old how to please our flesh and other people.

Why? Because to be reconditioned means to retrain how we think, to allow the Holy Spirit to reset the patterns of our mind so that fear, frustration, and failure no longer lead our decisions. 

What are we saying here? Renewal begins in the realm of thought. What we say and what we do must have been thought of before. Whether we make excuses and call it an impulsive or knee-jerk reaction, or whatever. 

Psychologically, every action begins as a thought because cognition - how your mind takes in information and turns it into understanding or action - precedes behaviour. Meaning: What we think about first determines what we feel, what we say, and ultimately what we do.

Daniel, in the Bible, is one of the clearest examples of someone who set his mind on higher ground. As a young man taken captive into Babylon, everything around him changed — the language, the food, the expectations. 

Yet Daniel 1:8 (NKJV) says, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies.”

That phrase “purposed in his heart” means he made a conscious decision before pressure ever arrived. He didn’t wait until the test came to decide his loyalty. Daniel’s heart was already fixed, his focus already lifted. 

Though Babylon surrounded him, it could not redefine him.  Hallelujah.

We know Babylon here refers to a corrupt or worldly system that opposed God’s values. Babylon surrounded Daniel physically and spiritually, testing his faith and loyalty to God. Same with us today. How are we doing?

Family, Daniel’s mind stayed on the God of Israel, and that’s what preserved him in a corrupt environment.

Many of us are in modern Babylons: places where compromise is easy and truth is unpopular. The pull to fit in is constant. But the same call that rested on Daniel rests on us: set our mind higher. We must not let the world around us shape the world within us.

Romans 12:2 (AMP) says, “Do not be conformed to this world … but be transformed and progressively changed by the renewing of your mind.” 

Transformation doesn’t happen in one church service or one emotional moment. It is a process. Each day we decide: Will I think like the world or like the Word?

Daniel’s renewal came through consistency. Daniel 6:10 (ESV) says, “He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” 

Family, don’t think going to church, watching inspirational videos on social media, doing your devotions, praying, encouraging someone in the Lord, coming by here on ZJoyVI for us to study the Word of God together, is a waste of time. It is a good thing and we must remain steadfast, constant, and unwavering in these practices.

Look at Daniel’s example: That rhythm of prayer and gratitude kept his mind aligned with heaven’s perspective. He didn’t pray because trouble came; he prayed because that’s who he was.

When the decree came that anyone who prayed would be thrown into the lions’ den, Daniel didn’t panic or hide. His peace wasn’t based on outcomes. It was based on obedience. 

Family, that’s what happens when your mind, my mind, is reconditioned. We stop reacting to circumstances and start responding from conviction. 

Ohhhh that’s good. Let me say that again in another way: When our minds are reconditioned, we stop letting life happen to us and start living from the truth that’s already in us. Yes, Lord! Thank You.

Philippians 4:8 (NLT) gives us the blueprint: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Notice the word fix. We don’t casually think on these things we hold them steady. Whatever we fix our thoughts on will eventually fix our direction.

A low mindset says, “Look at what’s happening.” A renewed mindset says, “Look at what God promised.” Low thinking sees obstacles; higher thinking sees opportunities. 

When we think of things above, we begin to interpret life differently, not as victims, but as someone victorious in Christ.

Daniel’s peace in the lion’s den didn’t come from the absence of danger; it came from the presence of focus. The lions were real, but so was his faith. The noise of the world didn’t drown out his awareness of heaven.

That’s what God is calling us to — a faith that remains calm even in chaos, a mind that stays elevated even when circumstances descend. It’s choosing to believe that God is still good, even when life feels uncertain.

So, how do we apply this practically? 

Start by deciding early what our mind will feed on. Begin our morning with gratitude instead of scrolling. When worry rises, quote the Word instead of rehearsing the fear. When someone offends you, respond from peace, not pride.

It’s not denial; it’s discipline. It’s training our minds to dwell where truth lives. As Colossians 3:3 (NIV) reminds us, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” If our lives are hidden in Him, then our thoughts should be hidden there too: safe, secure, and steady.

Maybe today you feel surrounded by confusion, noise, or disappointment. Remember Daniel: he didn’t need perfect conditions to keep his focus; he just needed consistency. His heart stayed lifted even when his body was surrounded by lions. And God honoured that focus. He shut the mouths that sought to destroy him.

So today, lift your inner gaze. Refuse to dwell in the valley when you’ve been called to think from the mountaintop. We can’t always change what happens, but we can change how our minds receive it.

That’s the mindset that keeps us unshaken. That’s the posture of someone reconditioned by heaven’s reality, a believer who walks through Babylon but keeps their heart in Zion. Hallelujah.