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By Isaiah-Phillips Akintola

THE PHRASE “AS A MAN THINKS IN HIS HEART” IS DEEPER THAN YOU MAY ASSUME CHANGING YOUR PATTERN OF THINKING MEANS MORE THAN YOU MAY ASSUME

As we journey further into the new year, many would have crafted laudable plans and initiatives that look compelling on paper. Many, I am sure have written down what they believe is God’s plan or vision for them in 2026, and that is a great place to start.

However, without the proper, kingdom driven mindset, the right attitudes and belief systems, designed through the power of ascended lifestyle in Christ, these ideas and written down visionary plans will struggle to materialize. Our limitation is rarely a lack of creativity or the ability to execute what we believe the Lord has given us. Rather, we are constrained by the quality and attitude of mindsets we apply to those initiatives.

The limitation of your mind is not merely a mental problem; by default, it is a spiritual problem. This speaks to how you understand life’s design; the challenges, issues, and problems integrated into your existence even before birth, burdens that have shaped your sense of identity and narratives.

These represent some of the greatest obstacles you must confront. But you cannot confront them with a merely intellectual or religious mentality. You must understand what the Word of God says and how to tackle these challenges based on the ascended principles of God’s Word, so that your life can move from the vicious circle of opposition toward the place of divine movement in entering your promised Land.

We cannot go beyond the quality of our mindset. This message is highly relevant because it will help you align yourself with the correct pattern of thinking, enabling you to fulfill what God has inspired in your heart without limitation. I invite you to read through this article as preparation for living a successful, productive, kingdom breakthrough life in 2026.

One of the greatest limitations confronting humanity, including many who are genuinely born again, is the persistence of old, rigid patterns of thinking and the inability to completely break the mold of this entrenched template. You are, by default, how you think.

The initial salvation of the spirit does not automatically eradicate old patterns of thinking, nor does it result in the transformation of the soul faculty, which is the residence of the mind. The condition of the mind determines the outcome of anyone’s life and impact. As long as our thinking remains unchanged, our outcomes will remain the same. The earlier Christians realize that the focus of their salvation begins with not only the renewing of the mind but its transformation, the better. Daily renewal is what leads to ultimate transformation, which then allows you to see things differently from your former preconditioned belief system.

Life consistently produces according to its formed, experienced thought patterns because how we think determines how we live, and how we live determines what we produce in the marketplace of ideas and the economic environment. This is why reading and studying God’s Word is not an option for any serious believer who truly desires change. God’s Word is the instrument of creation and recreation, including the way we reason and see.

The Heart: The Seat of Thought and Decision
The Word of God powerfully underscores this truth: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Your heart, which speaks to the realm of your thinking, the place of decision, choice, feeling, and intelligence, is naturally corrupt and rebellious because it is driven by self-will. The thoughts that usually flow in and out of the heart are self-determined, not Christ-focused or governed.

This was the plan of the evil one from the beginning: to push humanity toward self-autonomy. What seems right or correct, if not tested against the values and standard principles of God’s Word, will lead to destruction. As Proverbs 16:25 warns: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Solomon’s discovery that a person is a direct reflection of their default thought patterns is profound and should bring everyone to the place of self-examination. His statement further illuminates how our identity, productivity, and destiny are fundamentally shaped by the inner structure of our thought system. The reality is that, outwardly, our lives mirror the mental and spiritual frameworks we nurture within. If the mind remains unchanged, even those who appear spiritually engaged will find themselves restricted, unable to realize their full redemptive potential, not due to any limitation from God, but because their own belief patterns hold them back.

Understanding What Shapes Our Thinking
This forces us to confront essential questions: How do we think? More importantly, what shapes our default pattern of thinking? Beneath every thought pattern lie multiple layers: experiences, events, circumstances, beliefs, ideas, needs, expectations, excitements, fears, doubts, and internal narratives. These layers combine to form the framework through which we interpret reality. Over time, they crystallize into mental strongholds that govern perception, decision-making, and behavior, often without our conscious awareness.

Our environments play a decisive role in this process. Cultural exposure, relational influences, past trauma, education, religious conditioning, and repeated experiences all contribute to the beliefs we hold and the assumptions we make. These beliefs then trigger predictable thought patterns, and those thought patterns eventually solidify into mindsets and attitudes.

While thoughts may initially arrive through random external events, once they are permitted to settle in the mind, they begin to shape how we see ourselves, how we interpret life, and how we respond to situations. At that point, thoughts no longer remain neutral—they become directives.

Developing awareness of these dynamics is therefore not optional; it is essential. Mastery over one’s thought life begins with the ability to recognize what is influencing the mind, what is reinforcing limiting beliefs, and what is forming destructive cycles of reasoning. This awareness is one of the most critical disciplines required to confront, challenge, and dismantle negative thought patterns. Without it, renewal of the mind remains merely a concept. With it, transformation becomes a lived reality.

The Kingdom Mindedness Deficiency
One of the most pressing challenges within the Body of Christ today is not a lack of prayer, passion, or even prophetic activity, but a deficiency in what can be defined as Kingdom-mindedness. This deficiency affects:

• How we perceive God
• How we understand ourselves
• How we understand life/challenges
• How we engage Scripture
• How we view the Church/spirituality
• How we relate to the values and realities of the Kingdom of God

When believers do not see life from a Kingdom-ordained perspective, their engagement in spiritual matters will be powerfully regulated by religious ideologies and the opinions of men—particularly those who claim to be spokesmen for God.
Seeing and interacting with life from a Christ-centered perspective is not religious rhetoric but a powerful, ascended, prophetic position of authority and dominion that shifts and changes earthly human conditions. This was the life the Father ordained for the first man in the garden before he abdicated it to the enemy.

Scripture Must Be Interpreted From a Stewardship Mindset
A major reason believers struggle to produce solutions in society is the way Scripture has been presented and interpreted. When the Word of God is approached merely as a religious textbook, it produces religious activity. However, when the Word is understood as God’s living wisdom, His divine strategy, and His blueprint for life, it produces insight, courage, innovation, and capacity to reform lives and societies.

Jesus Himself declared that the Scripture testifies of Him (John 5:39). This means the Word carries within it the life, mind, and wisdom of Christ. The problem has not been the Word, but the mindset through which it has been taught and received. Many teachers, though sincere, approached Scripture from a religious framework rather than a Kingdom stewardship framework. As a result, generations of believers were trained to be morally upright but societally ineffective.

The Bible was never designed to address only church life. It was given to shape every dimension of human existence, including leadership, economics, governance, education, science, community development, and culture. When Scripture is seen holistically, it becomes clear that God has already provided direction and solutions to what we describe as modern challenges.

Jesus warned that new wine cannot be poured into old wineskins (Matthew 9:17). The wine represents fresh movements of the Spirit, and the wineskin represents the mindset and capacity to contain and steward those movements. The crisis in the Church has been an attempt to contain Kingdom innovation with rigid, outdated thinking. Without a transformed mind, believers cannot effectively translate spiritual insight into practical solutions for complex environments.

The Architecture of Thought Determines life’s Outcome.
Our lives are defined by the framework of our thinking. Thinking functions like spiritual and mental hardware. If the internal system is programmed to process life in a limited way, it will continue to produce limited results. A rigid, religious, low self-esteem, or even high-self-esteem mindset cannot pivot, adapt, or innovate, even when surrounded by opportunity.

This is why Romans 12:2 is foundational to Kingdom productivity. “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Transformation does not begin with external change but with internal reconfiguration. When the mind is renewed, behavior, decisions, and outcomes naturally follow.

We now live in a rapidly evolving world. Economic systems, cultural values, educational models, governance structures, and technological realities have shifted dramatically. Navigating this environment requires a renewed and elevated way of thinking. This does not mean compromising righteousness, holiness, or sanctification. In fact, these core values enhance our capacity to function at a higher level, because purity sharpens spiritual perception and strengthens discernment.

Biblical Models of Renewed Thinking
When Scripture is studied with spiritual intelligence, distinct patterns of divine thinking emerge. These patterns enable movement from one level of existence to another. Figures such as Daniel, Joseph, Esther, Ruth, Abraham, Joshua, and Paul operated from a mental and spiritual framework that differed significantly from those around them.

Daniel functioned in an ungodly political system yet operated with superior wisdom because “an excellent spirit was found in him” (Daniel 5:12). Joseph solved economic crises because God gave him insight beyond natural intelligence (Genesis 41). These individuals did not rely on human wisdom alone but accessed a higher operating system through intimacy with God and alignment with His Spirit.
This was not mysticism or spiritual elitism. It was the result of renewed minds shaped by divine revelation. Their thinking allowed them to outperform the best of human science, governance, and strategy, not by force, but by wisdom.

Seeing Differently Is the Birthplace of Innovation
The enemy is not primarily afraid of believers who are busy, loud, or emotionally spiritual. What truly threatens the powers of darkness is believers who sees and think differently. The moment perception changes; solutions emerge. Innovation is born when perspective shifts. God is the ultimate innovator, and those who walk with Him inherit this capacity. Innovation is not merely creativity; it is the ability to create solutions that resolve real problems. When believers enter environments such as finance, education, science, politics, or community development with a renewed mind, they carry within them the resources of the Spirit of God.

Isaiah 11 describes the sevenfold Spirit of God as wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. These are not abstract concepts. They are operational capacities embedded in the new identity of the believer. As intimacy with God increases, access to these resources increases, enabling believers to address human needs with divine insight.

When perception changes, engagement changes. When engagement changes, outcomes change. The purpose of Kingdom productivity is not self-promotion. It is the revelation of God through transformed lives. When believers operate with excellence rooted in righteousness, people cannot deny the source. Solutions that cost less, work better, and restore dignity provoke curiosity and open hearts. This is how the Kingdom advances. Scripture declares that through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God is made known to principalities and powers (Ephesians 3:10). This wisdom is expressed through renewed minds that produce visible, measurable impact in the world.

Taking the mountains of society does not begin with physical domination but with mental and spiritual influence. These mountains are systems of thought, belief, and values. When believers model a higher pattern of life rooted in Christ, society begins to question its assumptions and seek alternatives.

“Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?” (Psalm 24:3). This ascent is not geographical. It is a movement into a higher realm of thinking, perception, and operation. The hill of the Lord represents clarity, authority, and perspective. From this position, kingdom-oriented believer sees beyond fear, limitation, and cultural or economic limitation. You engage life strategic thinking, not reactively attitude. you think, reason, and decide from above rather than from beneath.