“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things". Philippians 4:8
It is not possible to get rid of negative thoughts by rebuking them or
praying and fasting. Unwanted thoughts must be placed with new
ones. What makes it possible for us
to take charge of our thinking is that although human beings can think only one
thought at a time, we are able to switch thoughts so rapidly that it seems as
though we are thinking many things at once. Every thought is accompanied by an
emotion - at any given moment we can have either a positive or a negative
thought in mind, but we cannot have both together.
Try this: Picture an apple in your
mind, see yourself taking a bite out of the apple. See yourself taking another bite. Rebuke the thoughts of eating. Do not think of apples. Refuse to think of apples. Are you still thinking about apples? Of course you are! Trying not to think about something only cause
you to think about it more. Any effort
to resist negative or sinful thoughts actually strengthens their hold on
you.
The cumulative effect of many little negative
thoughts, each seemingly insignificant, is what does the damage. The following is an example of some types of
negative thoughts.
I never have enough money – I do no have enough money to give in
the offering and go out with my friends after church; I will only put a little
in the offering the Lord knows I want too
I feel sick – My mother had kidney problems and I guess I do too
– The flu is going around, I hope I do not get sick
I might as well not even try – nobody likes me – nothing I ever
do comes out right anyway
I will no go - I would not enjoy it - I will not like it –
I wonder why they are being nice to me - If I try this, I wonder
why she invited me?
I will mess it up - I can not do it – I am so unattractive –
We are usually totally unaware of the fact that our thoughts are so negative - evil. Thought by thought, we build up a destructive pattern of
thinking. Negative thoughts are like
an insidious and slow-growing cancer, creeping up on us without our knowledge
or awareness. If we indulge in this type
of thinking day after day and week after week, it is no wonder that we feel
less than happy and confident. We are feeding our anxieties with our negative thoughts, which is why we can
end up depressed and in the same mental and emotional rut. Each seemingly unimportant thought has an
effect and contributes to our overall habit of thinking about ourselves.
Replace evil thoughts
with positive thoughts.
Make a conscious effort to feed positive messages to your mind.
Just as your body responds positively to correct feeding, so your mind
responds to being fed constructively. Everyone knows the long-term results of
overindulging in a diet without nutritional value, yet many people feed
themselves a diet of negative, self-defeating thoughts for years then wonder
why they tend to feel anxious, depressed, inadequate or unsuccessful. It makes sense that we can only be what we
think we are. Proverbs 12:25 says, “Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop:
but a good word maketh it glad.”
You are largely in control of what you think. You
alone have the power to decide what you will or will not accept and feed into
your mind. The
first thing you must do is believe that you can change the way you are thinking
and, through that, the way you are feeling. The Word of God gives us hope and encouragement for
every situation that we face in life.
Feed on the Word of God use it as your source for positive thoughts for
yourself and others. Use the Scriptural resources
that we have available on our website or use someone else’s. The important thing is to do what you can and
God will do the rest. He will work with
you, He will help you.
When you begin to think positive
thoughts certain things begin to happen. You will feel more confident and you
will find that you start to handle stressful situations better. You will
develop a more optimistic outlook on life and begin to enjoy it more. You will
become more cheerful and find it easier to motivate yourself.
Things you previously thought were beyond you will seem more within your
reach as you believe that you can succeed. Life will look better and you will feel better
about yourself because the old negative
evil thoughts no longer have control over your emotions.
Remember to monitor—check what you are thinking and to kill negative evil thoughts as soon as they arise by replacing them with positive ones. For example, if you catch yourself thinking, I do not feel well, I must be coming down
with something. Replace that thought with a positive scriptural one, “He
Himself took our infirmities and bore our sickness.”
Above all, do not blame or get annoyed with
yourself for having negative thoughts.
Blaming and feeling annoyed with yourself does not help to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. It makes you dwell on the negative thoughts
and helps to make you feel bad. At the
very least, it leads to self-pity.
Prayer—Father I repent and ask
You to forgive me for thinking evil thoughts—discouraging thoughts about myself
and others. Lord, I ask You to help me
replace every negative evil thought that does not represent how You think about
me, others or any situation, in Jesus Name. Amen.
