Cultivating a Kingdom mindset.
From the old self to the new self. From scarcity to Kingdom abundance. A guided self-research workbook for the believer who is ready to become a person of light, affluence, and connection.
by Will Mukes, LMFT
Get Anchored Ministry
Twelve chapters. One renewal.
A counselor, a husband, a believer.
Will Mukes is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a minister, and a teacher whose work sits at the intersection of clinical psychology and biblical formation. Veteran background. Master's in counseling. Trained in enneagram, brainspotting, trauma-informed therapy, solution-focused therapy, and spiritual discernment.
For two decades he has walked alongside men and women navigating the inner work — identity, recovery, calling, marriage, transition, faith. He hosts the Get Anchored podcast and serves in ministry, currently as youth minister with a path into evangelism and outreach.
He writes and teaches what he has lived: that scripture is a real weapon for renewing the mind, that the old self does not have to govern the new self, and that a life of light, affluence, and connection is the inheritance of every believer who is willing to do the inner work.
"Getting real, doing the work to heal."
Why this book exists.
Most people do not realize how much of their life is being directed by thoughts they never paused to question. The fear that runs in the background. The shame they inherited. The story they tell themselves about who they are.
This book is not about positive thinking. It is about transformed thinking — the kind scripture promises, the kind that produces Christ-like character, Kingdom outcomes, and a legacy worth handing down.
What follows is a self-research workbook. You will pause. You will inventory. You will identify the lies that have been governing your interior life and replace them, one by one, with what God says. You are not the only voice in your head. But you can be the one that decides which voice gets the last word.
Welcome to the work.
The Sow Chain.
Every life you respect, every legacy you admire, every transformation you have watched up close started in the same place. A thought. One thought, sown long before the fruit was visible.
- Sow a thought, reap a word.
- Sow a word, reap an action.
- Sow an action, reap a habit.
- Sow a habit, reap a character.
- Sow a character, reap a destiny.
- Sow a destiny, reap a legacy.
This is not theory. This is the order. Your thoughts are not background noise. They are the seeds of every decision you have not yet made, every relationship you have not yet built, every fruit you have not yet seen.
As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.Proverbs 23:7
Looking at your last twelve months, what fruit are you seeing? Trace it back. What thoughts were planted long enough ago to produce that fruit?
Old self vs new self.
Paul did not give the church a suggestion. He gave them a command in three movements: put off, be renewed, put on.
Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.Ephesians 4:22-24
The old self is not a personality flaw to manage. It is a way of seeing yourself, others, and God that was forged before you knew Christ. It does not vanish at conversion. It loses its authority — but it still speaks. The new self is who you are in Christ. Your job is to be renewed in the mind between the two so the new self consistently overrules the old one.
- Driven by fear and self-protection
- Identity built on performance
- Reactive to wounds
- Counts the lack
- Hides
- Anchored in the Father's love
- Identity received, not earned
- Responsive to the Spirit
- Counts the grace
- Walks in the light
Name three places in your daily life where the old self still gets the first word. Be specific. The hour, the trigger, the body response. Awareness is half the battle.
The battlefield of the mind.
Satan does not start with your behavior. He starts with your thoughts. If he can influence how you think, he will influence how you respond. If he can convince you of a lie about your identity, he can hijack your obedience.
Jesus did not argue with temptation. He answered it with scripture. Three times, three quotes, full stop. That was not because He had no other tools. It was because scripture is the weapon He chose, and it is the one He gives you.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Strongholds are not built in a day. They are built thought by thought, agreement by agreement, year by year. They get torn down the same way — one thought at a time, taken captive and submitted to Christ.
What stronghold in your mind have you stopped fighting because you assumed it could not be moved? Write it down. The first step to demolition is naming it.
Self-research inventory.
This is the heart of the book. You cannot replace what you have not first identified. The next ten prompts are not a test. They are a mirror. Sit with each one. Write more than you think you need to.
-
01
What thoughts dominate your mind most consistently when no one is around?
Not the polished version. The real one.
-
02
What recurring thoughts create fear, insecurity, shame, or hopelessness?
Name the loop, not just the emotion.
-
03
What lies have you believed about yourself, others, or God?
Many of them were planted by someone else. They are still yours to uproot.
-
04
What scriptures directly challenge those lies?
If nothing comes to mind, that is data. Stay with it.
-
05
How would your life change if your thinking aligned fully with God's truth?
Picture it. The home, the work, the relationships, the calm.
-
06
What habits reinforce unhealthy thinking patterns?
Inputs matter. People, content, places, pace.
-
07
What practical spiritual disciplines help renew your mind?
Prayer, scripture intake, fasting, silence, fellowship. Which one have you neglected?
-
08
Whose voice do you hear most often in your head?
A parent. A critic. A wound. A teacher. The Holy Spirit. Be honest.
-
09
What season of your life produced the thought patterns you are carrying now?
You did not invent your thinking. You inherited some, and you formed some under pressure.
-
10
If God Himself sat across from you right now, what is one sentence you believe He would say about you?
If you cannot answer this one, the next chapter is for you.
Decoding stinking thinking.
Most unhealthy thought patterns fall into nine categories. Read each one slowly. Mark the ones you recognize in your own interior life.
The mind rehearses worst-case scenarios as if rehearsing will protect you. It does not. It only multiplies the rehearsal.
A constant low voice that says you are the problem, not the behavior. Shame attacks identity.
A loop of revisiting an offense and re-feeling it as if it just happened. It locks the past into the present.
The conviction that nothing will improve no matter what you do. It produces inertia disguised as realism.
Every encounter becomes a referendum on your worth. Energy that should go to the work goes to managing what others think.
The lens that measures your interior against another person's exterior. You always lose because the comparison is rigged.
A pattern that locates the cause of every difficulty outside yourself. It removes responsibility, but it also removes power.
A self-protective inflation that refuses correction. It looks like strength and operates like brittleness.
A baseline conviction that there will never be enough. It produces hoarding, anxiety, and small decisions.
Which three patterns show up most often in your daily life? When did each one first become familiar to you?
The mind of Christ.
For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.1 Corinthians 2:16
The mind of Christ is not a metaphor. It is a gift already deposited into every believer. Most Christians live below the access they have already been given because they treat the mind of Christ as a future promise rather than a present resource.
The mind of Christ reflects eight marks: humility, obedience, truth, compassion, faith, discipline, forgiveness, and trust in the Father. None of these are personality traits. They are postures you choose, hour by hour, until they become how you think by default.
Of the eight marks above, which one is the most underdeveloped in your interior life right now? What would your week look like if you intentionally practiced that one mark every day for thirty days?
Scripture-based self-talk.
You will not stop talking to yourself. The only question is what you will say. Self-talk that is rooted in scripture rewires the loop because it gives your mind a higher authority to default to.
Below is a starter map. Use it as a template. Build your own as the Spirit shows you which lies have been governing your days.
"I am not enough."
My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
"Nothing will change."
Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.
"I always fail."
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
"I am alone."
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
"I am defined by my past."
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, all things have become new.
"There is never enough for me."
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Choose one lie from your Chapter 4 inventory. Find one scripture that directly contradicts it. Write the pair down. Speak the truth aloud, every morning, for the next thirty days.
From scarcity to Kingdom affluence.
Affluence in the Kingdom is not measured the way the world measures it. Biblical affluence is the steady overflow of peace, wisdom, purpose, relationships, spiritual maturity, emotional health, and eternal perspective. Finances may follow. They are not the test.
- There is never enough.
- I will always struggle.
- Others are ahead of me.
- If I give, I will lose.
- My future is shaped by my history.
- God is my provider.
- My identity is secure in Christ.
- God multiplies what I surrender.
- If I give, I sow.
- My future is shaped by His promises.
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.3 John 1:2
Name three areas where you have unconsciously settled for scarcity. Name three areas where you are already walking in Kingdom affluence. Both lists matter.
Person of light. Person of affluence. Person of connection.
God did not design you to drift. He designed you with a purpose, with gifts, with a unique combination of strengths that the body of Christ is incomplete without. The renewed mind is what allows you to see that purpose clearly enough to walk in it.
You were made to reflect, not to compete. Light does not announce itself. It just stops the darkness. The renewed mind learns to carry that light into every room without effort and without apology.
You were made to overflow. Kingdom affluence is a posture of having enough and giving from the overflow. Scarcity hoards. Affluence multiplies. Which one are you practicing today?
You were made for relationship, vertical and horizontal. The renewed mind is what allows you to stay close to God and close to people without losing yourself in either direction. Connection is the fruit, not the goal.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.Matthew 5:14
Write one sentence that captures the kind of person God is calling you to become this year. Put it where you will see it daily. Let your decisions answer to that sentence.
The daily renewal practice.
Transformation is not built in a weekend. It is built in the small repeated decisions of the next thirty mornings. The seven steps below are not new. They are scripture compressed into a practice you can run before your day owns you.
Notice what you are already thinking before the day does.
Ask whether that thought aligns with scripture.
Take the unhealthy thought captive instead of letting it run.
Substitute the lie with the truth from your self-talk map.
Speak the truth aloud. Your ears hearing your voice agreeing with God is a weapon.
Take one small obedient action that lines up with the truth you just spoke.
Same loop, tomorrow morning. And the morning after. Consistency is the entire strategy.
Pick one specific time and place. Write it here: I will run this seven-step practice at ____ AM in ____. For thirty consecutive days.
Biblical models of a renewed mind.
You are not the first to walk this road. Scripture is full of men and women who had to put off the old self and renew their mind in order to step into who God called them to be. Their stories are not memoir. They are precedent.
Forty years in the wilderness rewrote a man trained for palace leadership into one who could lead a nation in obedience. The mind that thought "I am not enough" had to be renewed before the calling could move.
A king who fought discouragement repeatedly. He did not deny the discouragement. He strengthened himself in the Lord. Renewal sometimes looks like reaching for what is true when nothing feels true.
Persecutor to apostle. The encounter on the Damascus road was the spark. The renewal happened over years of re-thinking everything he had assumed about God, the law, and himself.
Learned through public failure and private restoration that grace transforms identity. You cannot grow what you do not let God restore.
In the wilderness, He answered three temptations with three scriptures. The mind of Christ is not just our standard. It is our weapon.
Your legacy inventory.
Every thought you sow today is writing the legacy you will leave tomorrow. Not by accident. By chain. Sow a thought, eventually sow a legacy. This is the last chapter and the longest answer you will write in this book.
Take an unhurried hour. Write to the version of yourself you intend to become — and to the people whose lives will be shaped by who you decided to be.
-
01
What legacy are your current thought patterns producing? Be specific.
-
02
What legacy do you sense God is calling you to leave instead?
-
03
What one thought pattern would have to die for that new legacy to live?
-
04
What scripture will you carry into the next thirty days as your anchor?
-
05
Who in your life needs to see the renewed version of you? What does that look like?
-
06
If God were to write one sentence over your next chapter, what do you believe He would write?
Transformation begins internally before it manifests externally. The battle for your future often begins in your thoughts.
You are not powerless against destructive thought patterns. Through Christ, you have access to wisdom, renewal, peace, discernment, and the power to cultivate a legacy that reflects God's Kingdom.
Sow a thought. Sow a word. Sow an action. Sow a habit. Sow a character. Sow a legacy.
Download the full workbook as a PDF.
Download PDF · printablePrint it, write the answers by hand. The discipline of writing matters.