Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts

by Jennie Allen

It’s so that you can see plainly how your thoughts are building a story line about God that is either true or untrue.

countering any lies we believe about God with the truth that interrupts the downward spiral.

redeemed.

our minds exchanged for the mind of Christ.

We are not made to think more good thoughts about ourselves. We are made to experience life and peace as we begin to think less about ourselves and more about our Creator and about others.

The only true self-help is for us as followers of Jesus to believe who we are as daughters and sons of the King of the universe and to know that our identities are secured by the shed blood of God’s own Son.

When we believe that about ourselves, we think less about ourselves and more about the mission we have been given to love God and the people God puts in front of us, no matter our circumstances.

We do it because we want to live a new-creation kind of life, a life that truly matters, a life in Christ that God has promised.

Before Eve ate the fruit, she had a thought: it was “pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” And then “she took some and ate it.”1 David, before he sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, had a thought: “The woman was very beautiful.”2 Before Mary birthed Jesus, she had a thought: “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.”3 Before Jesus chose to go to the cross, He had a thought: “Father…not my will, but yours, be done.”4

Every great or horrible act we see in history and in our lives is preceded by a thought. And that one thought multiplies into many thoughts that develop into a mind-set, often without our even realizing it.

One God-honoring thought has the potential to change the trajectory of both history and eternity. Just as one uninterrupted lie in my head has the potential to bring about unimaginable destruction in the world around me.

Satan knows that we are what we think—so if we are believing things that are not true about us, then we are believing what the devil wants us to believe instead of what God wants us to believe.

The enemy will tell you that change is hopeless, that you’re a victim of your circumstances and your thought patterns.

The enemy will urge you to accept that “this is just who you are,” that your thinking is rooted too deeply in your personality or your upbringing to ever make a shift.

Taking every thought captive is not about what happens to us. It’s about choosing to believe that God is with us,

is for us, and loves us even when all hell comes against us.

You, as a believer, are a citizen of another reality. Let’s learn to think like it.

“we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”6

If one of the greatest tools of the enemy is confusion, when we’re confused, he wins the day.

Every toxic thought, spiraling emotional cycle, and trap of the enemy we fall for somehow deep down involves a wrong belief about God.

It is not a one-time decision but a day-by-day, moment-by-moment choice to move from chaos and confusion toward the peace of Christ in various areas of our thought lives.

In the stillness and quiet, not only do we connect with God but we are also able to more clearly identify what is wrong.

To put it plainly: all hell is against us meeting with Jesus.

Because if I slowed down enough to look at my soul, I might be overwhelmed by all that needed fixing in me. I didn’t want to hear what God might want to say to me—or take the risk that He would remain silent, hidden, deepening my doubt about His existence, His love.

We are often doing so much for God but barely meeting with Him. And we feel as if we are failing everywhere we look.

But we are also afraid of facing ourselves and, in turn, facing God.

We are afraid of being found out. We forget that He not only loves us but actually likes us too.

Yep, He sees all; He even knows every thought before we think it, the psalmist said.2 But somehow, unlike...

What are we afraid might be found out?

Because I was afraid that if I reached out to God, there would be nobody home to take my call.

Quiet time isn’t so quiet, is it? Our heads actually get noisier when the noise all around us falls away.

I cannot face God as I am.

“God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”4

“When we draw near to God…,” what truth follows it? “He will draw near to us.”

When we humble ourselves before God, submitting fully to Him, regardless of what has kept us away—and regardless of what we were doing while we were away and for how long we allowed that chasm to grow—we find He was always there, waiting for us to come back.

We build entire narratives that begin to take on lives of their own, based on assumptions and our overactive imaginations—all because we attend to fears, attend to distractions, attend to worst-case scenarios.

we aren’t alone in our spirals.

The mind is a broken thing. It runs, races, and paces, taking me places that consume me, distract me, and tempt me to believe I’m not good enough, no…never will be.

Yes, the mind is a broken thing. If unguarded and let loose, it can attack you and snatch you and trap you, leaving you stuck, self-obsessed, asleep, and enslaved.

You’re not a victim of your own mind, because if you’re in Christ, you have victory.

Yes, the mind is a broken thing, But God’s Spirit dwells deeper, His Word rings truer, For in Christ Jesus we are free.17

We are free.

God Himself exists in community, the Trinity relating as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God.

Loneliness can make us think that everything is a threat, even if there is no real threat to be found.

But the strongest bonds get forged through difficulty.

But every valuable relationship in my life is one I have had to fight for.

if you never, ever say yes to an invitation, those invitations will cease to exist.

Seen. Known. Loved. Let’s fight for this!

The enemy has ensnared us with two little words: “What if?”

We are “what-iffing” ourselves to death.