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How can something we can’t see control so much of who we are, determine what we feel and what we do and what we say or don’t, dictate how we move or sleep, and inform what we want, what we hate, and what we love?
how we think shapes how we live.2
why did I still struggle with some of the same fears, negative patterns, and other sins that I had been fighting for years?
Our emotions were leading us to thoughts, and those thoughts were dictating our decisions, and our decisions were determining behaviors, and then the behaviors were shaping our relationships, all of which would take us back to either healthy or unhealthy thoughts.
we can take every thought captive. Not only can our thoughts be changed, but we can be the ones to change them.
What we believe and what we think about matters, and the enemy knows it.
Even if you’re one of those who won’t be shut down and you are loving God and people as you go, a million toxic thoughts haunt you each step of the way.
Every lie we buy into about ourselves is rooted in what we believe about God.
I nod at the truth, but I never fully absorb it and let it shape my identity.
No human is ever meant to be the person who fills our souls or holds in place our worth. Only God can do that. But until I throw off the lie that God’s love isn’t for me, my emotions, decisions, behaviors, and relationships will remain twisted up in the mistaken belief that I’m worthless.
we would allow God to take up so much space in our thinking that our fears will shrink in comparison.
it is well worth the effort to face the recesses of our thoughts, believing that God can bring about life and peace.
while I believe that there is a real devil and that he has real demons working for him and that a battle for our hearts and souls and minds is playing out all around us all the time,
Doubt steals hope. And with no hope, everything that matters doesn’t feel as important anymore.
The danger of toxic thinking is it produces an alternate reality, one in which distorted reasoning actually seems to make sense.
In my soul I knew it. This wasn’t who I was. I loved God. I was a believer. I trusted Jesus and prized my faith. And God was not going to let go of me.
The fears. The doubts. The restlessness. The pain. None of it was who I was. God is real, and I am valuable. My life matters. He is real.
Part of me felt like a bother to my good friends, but the rest of me was desperate for help.
We’d pray for my confidence. We’d pray for my steadiness. We’d pray for my faith.
Because alone in the dark the devil can tell you whatever the hell he wants. Now I wasn’t alone. I was fighting, and in Christ I was given the authority and power to win.
God is mighty to save. In both cases He’s mighty to heal.
They don’t realize there is an all-out assault against them. They don’t see the enemy coming for them. They don’t know they’re about to get trampled. They’re living completely unaware.
But let’s not be naive: if our thought lives are the deepest, darkest places of stronghold within us, all hell will try to stop us from being free.
I saw healing quickly when I recognized the attack of the enemy and began fighting back.
In other spirals, where grooves have been dug deep, healing is taking place over time. But in all cases, the weapons we fight with are the same.
It’s all—always—about Christ.
You and I have been equipped with power from God to tear down the strongholds in our minds, to destroy the lies that dominate our thought patterns.
we can wield our power for good and for God, slaying strongholds left and right.
how we think directly results in how we live.
You are no longer a slave to passions, to lusts, to strongholds, to sin of any kind. You have a God-given, God-empowered, God-redeemed ability to choose what you think about. You have a choice regarding where you focus your energy. You have a choice regarding what you live for.
We are not subject to our thoughts.
How could I interrupt my downward spin? For you, the answer, at least in part, might lie in counseling. Or in community. Or in fasting. Certainly, in prayer.
the answer will center on God—on His presence, on His power, on His grace, on His Word.
When we think new thoughts, we physically alter our brains.
When we think new thoughts, everything changes for us.
You and I redirect children all the time. Why don’t we redirect ourselves?
A heavenly Father gave everything for me to be free.
we don’t just get better thoughts, we get more of God.
The battle for our minds is won as we focus on Jesus—every moment, every hour, every day.
