What Will You Choose to Believe in 2025?
By Steve Backlund
“What should I believe in 2025?” is more important than asking “What should I do?” The transformation we desire to see does not come by trying harder, but by renewing our minds (Romans 12:2). “Renew” implies rehearsing specific beliefs over and over. (Certainly what we do is important, but not as vital as what we believe.)
One of the most important revelations we will ever receive is the understanding that we can choose what we believe. “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).
If you struggle to know what to believe, ask yourself what you need to believe to have hope for your life (or in a specific area of your life). “Now may the God of hope fill you . . . in believing” (Romans 15:13). Increasing hope is the evidence we are renewing our mind with truth and creating positive strongholds in our lives. Decreasing hope is the evidence we are renewing our mind with lies and building negative strongholds.
In the past, I mainly renewed my mind with my past and my feelings (which continually repeated the same feelings and experiences in my life). I subconsciously “chose” to keep believing lies such as:
I was unworthy to be radically blessed.
My area was hard for the gospel.
I was inferior to other leaders.
I did not have the gift of healing.
I was a victim of other people’s perceptions of me.
My fun book, Let’s Just Laugh at That, has an exhaustive list of lies I chose to believe in my past (and sometimes still do) and now I choose to laugh at them. Haha!
“Think on these things” (Philippians 4:8). What will we choose to think on in 2025?
“If you abide in my word, you are My disciples indeed; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). What “words” will we abide in so we can be increasingly free in our emotions and circumstances?
Here are the five sources for the most important beliefs I will renew my mind in for 2025:
God’s Promises - “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). The divine nature is true transformation.
Our Biblical Identity - “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16). The most important person we are not to regard according to the flesh is ourselves. We are who God says we are.
Prophetic Words - “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18). We “wage the good warfare” in our belief systems.
Testimonies - “Do you not remember” (Mark 8:18). Past testimonies are to influence how we think about current challenges.
Decisions and Commitments We Have Made - “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). A lack of cheerfulness in our relationship, assignments, commitments, and callings is usually an indicator we are not fully convinced in our faith about what we are called to be doing.
Once we decide what to believe, then we:
Keep renewing our minds with that belief (Romans 12:2)
Keep abiding in that word (John 8:31)
Keep setting our mind on it (Colossians 3:2)
Keep strengthening it until we are fully convinced (Romans 4:20-21)
Keep calling it as if already exists in our lives (Romans 4:17)
Keep imagining it as our reality (Hebrews 11:1)
Keep speaking it (Proverbs 18:21)
Certainly, our beliefs are to be combined with other important aspects of our spiritual journey like intimacy with Jesus, valuing His presence, walking in biblical wisdom, and pursuing healthy relationships, but if we choose poor beliefs, it will greatly limit what we will feel and experience in 2025.
I bless you in this new year with great grace to go where you have never gone before in how you think.