Feed It or Starve It

When it comes to fears, anxieties,and  insecurities (like double-thinking everything), we have two options. We can either feed these said fears and insecurities or we can starve them.

How do we feed them? By giving them our attention and thought. By dwelling on them and arguing with them in our head. By worrying over our worrisome thoughts.

How do we starve them? By ignoring them and refusing to give way to them. By not letting them get a foothold in our hearts and minds.

The gentle, quiet-spirited woman of 1 Peter 3 is "not afraid with any terror" (NKJV). She does not give way to fear, which means when fear comes knocking at the door, she shuts it out and does not invite it in.

Now this requires diligence and patience. If you are commonly giving way to these things, it is going to take real effort to break the habit. If you have already invited fear in the door, he's a tough guest to kick out. But it can be done.

Pay attention to your thought life. What are you thinking about? If your thoughts are all about these things, you must pick your thoughts up and set them somewhere else. I compare it to changing the station. Don't just let it go. Stop it. Kick it out. Set your mind on things above. Anything praiseworthy will do.

In Philippians 4:6, Paul says we are to be anxious for nothing, but to pray with thanksgiving. When we turn our hearts away from worry and give our concerns to God in prayer with thanksgiving, we are moving away from those things that trouble us. As we do this, the peace of God acts as a guardian around our heart and mind, which is the best kind of  protection. The next verse (8) tells us to think on all those things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and good. This is how we take our mind off the worries and fears and set our mind on other things. This is how we starve the worries.

This biblical principle of taking responsibility for our thoughts is helpful in many areas. When ever our thoughts are unedifying (the kind that displease our Father), we should change the station. We must turn away from the bad thoughts,  drop them, and think about something else. The something else doesn't have to be something spiritual necessarily. It may be we should turn our thoughts to planning dinner or thinking about what we're going to plant in our garden come spring. This is how we starve our insecurities. We cannot pet them and expect them to die out. We must totally ignore them, and they will go away.

Spurgeon said that we can't keep the birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from building a nest in our hair. But if there are already some nests settled in, ask God to help you pull them out. Then listen to what kind of company you have been keeping with your thoughts. If it's bad company, show them the door.