Truly the mind and thought are a battlefield that war against one another: the flesh, the spirit and even against themselves. It shouldn’t but it does, it reminds me of that commercial years ago of a gentleman with a mini-sized white dressed angel on one shoulder and on the other he had a mini-sized red dressed devil. They both were whispering in his ear telling him what to do — one was sly in words (yet wrong) and the other was truthful yet honest in word, but the man was confused in which way to turn. He went nuts!
So, it is true today, though there is no such thing as a mini-sized white dressed angel or a mini-sized red dressed devil sitting on our shoulder whispering in our ear telling us what we should or shouldn’t do. But if we are honest with ourselves, our mind (and/or thoughts) battle for attention, direction, and desires that quiet frankly conflict more often then we care to admit. The war of what we know, what is right, wrong, and/or Biblical (meaning, squaring up with the Word of God: the Scriptures) and the daily choice of Colossians 3 — living the Word of God out with a heavenly mindset. We drive ourselves “nuts” like that man in the commercial when we do it our way and not God’s way.
Maybe we should be asking ourselves this question: “Why?”
Today, I would love to share with you something I have been personally working on myself and hope it will be an encouragement to you in your walk with Christ as well as in your heart and thought process of taking out the toxic and replacing it with GOD! Because our thoughts matter, because HE matters!
First, I am going to give you all three points, then we will go back and revisit each one briefly.
- To battle against our toxic thoughts {which are sinful} we first must 1) IDENTIFY THEM. This my friends, takes honesty — from within and with God. Remember He already knows you from the inside out, so don’t be shy with your Lord. You need to be honest with yourself for you will go nowhere in this journey without it. There is also a possibility that you may need to be honest with others in this stage as well. Be on your knees before your King and ask Him to show you. Don’t forget Jeremiah 33:3.
- 2) REJECT IT. This battle is like none other. It is not physical, though at times it may feel like it, but rather it is a spiritual battle that requires God’s help in fighting. You cannot identify or reject without God’s enabling power working within you. You are unable to complete this task in and of ourselves for we cannot fight or win this battle alone, but rather through Him we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37).
- 3) REPLACE IT. I cannot tell you how incredibly important this part of the puzzle is to rid yourself of toxic thoughts. If we do not replace that lie, falsehood, whatever it is in your life that is contrary to God, Himself, His Word, His Truth’s (promises, His character) and who He say you are in Christ — (I don’t write this to scare you into anything, but to help you understand the grave importance of this) it will return in some form or another but worst than the first time around! Guaranteed! (for example: if someone says that you are worthless, no good, the scum, etc, but uses you for their sexual pleasure — tell me my friend, where is the GOD-TRUTH in those statements? Tell me where the GOD-TRUTH is in the BIBLE!!!! Tell me which one LOVES YOU!!!!) CLING TO THE WORD!
- You must replace what you are striving to take out! Don’t lose hope — God will never leave you nor forsake you (Heb. 13:5; Deut. 31:6).
- Choose to trust God’s Truth even if you do not fully understand God’s wise and loving plan. God can never be unloving; He cannot go against Himself, NEVER!
Praying for you today as you seek first the kingdom of God and identify, reject and replace. Enjoy your walk with Jesus! Stick to the Word!
In Christ I am SHE 