Take steps on regaining control over your thoughts! Follow along with me as we dive into this topic that I know I will continue to work on even in my every-day life.
Bible verses to ponder before we begin:
- Philippians 4:8-9 “…focus your thoughts on what is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovable, or admirable, on some virtue or on something praiseworthy. Keep doing what you have learned and received from me, what you have heard and seen me doing; then God who gives peace will be with you.”
- Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
- Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
You may have heard the saying What you water grows, but if not, it’s quite self-explanatory. If you continuously allow your mind to focus on something, your heart begins to produce emotions towards it, and then your mind begins to believe it – being influenced by it, and being directed this way or that by that seed that you watered by dwelling on it (thinking about it a lot). The point: trouble begins in the mind, so we must have control over our minds in order to reign in our thoughts so that our feelings do not lead us astray. If you keep watering feelings that are not good by dwelling on that repetitive thought, fear, etc. and allowing them to sway your behavior and mood, then you’re nurturing a seed that will grow bigger and bigger. This is good for when we have Godly seeds to water in our minds and hearts, but not when we water a bad seed – whether we do this unintentionally or intentionally!
Our feelings can and are used against us – for the weapons formed against us are not physical (2 Corinthians 4). What else are they, then, than spiritual weapons that are able to permeate our hearts and minds?
There is a reason as children in Sunday School we learned the song that sang “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.” In Proverbs 4: 25-27 we are instructed to “Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.”
Here, the Proverb is speaking about controlling your mind by not fixing your eyes on something to your right or left, but directly before you. By doing so, you encourage your ways to be established on the right path. A simple fact is that the adversary (Satan) tries to draw us away from keeping our eyes on the path before us. If we are children of God, seeking His word and following Him and the Word of His Son, then our eyes should be fixed on the type of life God calls for us to live by. However, there is so much around us (music, movies, magazines, text messages from a friend group) that can cause our necks to turn and look at something that truly damages our minds. God knows how are minds – and hearts – work; we are creatures who can be desensitized from evil.
When I was younger, I used to watch horror movies all the time. Slasher movies were my favorite – I didn’t mind the gore. It truly did not bother me. The only horror movies I really couldn’t watch were ones with ghosts and possessions of evil spirits – those scared me, but the gorey, bloody movies did not. I remember when I began to notice how off-course I had gotten in my walk with God and began to try to pick out the habits in my life (or normalcies) that really didn’t align with God. I started by simply asking myself objectively: Does this glorify God? At first, I genuinely thought that this question was quite extreme because it’s not like a slasher movie was really hurting me. However, as I began to spend more and more time in God’s word, the desire to watch horror movies began to feel more and more uncomfortable until I was finally able to respond to that question with honesty. Of course a gorey movie was not glorifying to God – it didn’t matter if it was made up because I was still allowing my mind to be filled with those images and had developed a “so what” response to someone being tortured, maimed, murdered, etc. This is classic desensitization.
God does not want us to grow neutral towards evil things. When we do, it can lead to being desensitized from other things that draw us away from the character of Christ He calls us to be. No, watching a horror movie wasn’t going to influence me to become a murderer, but it did pull my guard down to other things that continued to turn my head to the right and left – until I said hold up! and began to work on guarding my eyes, ears, and heart from what I was taking in from the world around me. Change didn’t begin to take place in my mind until I stopped the action of watching scary movies – I removed something that wasn’t glorifying to God from my life and opted for healthier options of something for my mind to ingest. Soon, I began to see more and more things in my life that were not glorifying God (ultimately, drawing me away from Him).
The First Step:
My friend, I encourage you to ask yourself: Does this thought glorify God? If you have a thought in mind you can address this question to, chances are, it’s a thought that needs to be considered as something drawing your eyes to the right or left.
Confronting the scary bits:
Now, I want you to practice drawing thoughts to the surface that you feel are not glorifying to God. This may not be an easy task for you. If you feel fear or anxiety beginning to bubble up, do not panic; take a deep breath and hold onto this truth: God is in control. He sees your efforts at trying to confront the ugly things you keep hidden in your mind – self hate, doubt, lustfulness, jealousy, fear, confusion… our minds can make us feel downright horrible at times. But, it’s just a thought – it does not define you, it does not control you.
But, if this is too much right now, then start by simply reading a Bible verse or two every morning or night. By being around His word more and more, your mind will begin to fortify itself against things that do not align with God. Pray for guidance in this, and then when you feel ready, start drawing those ugly thoughts to the surface so God’s wisdom (that you’ve been reading and learning!) can help you put an end to them running through your mind.
How To Rewire Your Brain & Align God’s Truth With Your Peace of Mind:
When you take notes – yep, the ole’ pen and paper! – your brain physically builds new pathways that knit together and form a literal physical store-room of that information (new neural pathways!). I want you to write these truths down time and time again:
I am victorious over sin. I am not a victim to fear. I am not those silly thoughts. I am victorious over all silly fears. I am clean and healed from my past. I am a new creation, made in the loving image of God. I am altogether new; I am no longer my old self. I am dearly loved. The goodness of God is living in me! I will honor God with my thoughts and let go of silly thoughts and emotions that are not for me and that do not Glorify God.
It’s a mouthful, but I beg of you – write these TRUTHS down, or a variation of these truths that match what you need to hear! Your thoughts will build new pathways around them. In short: write truthful statements about who you are in God’s eye, followed by what you WILL DO from now on. You have to have this combination – both of God’s truth, and then how you will respond and how you will act in response to these truths! Be persistent about writing this down each time you require a reminder and these truths will be built in your mind and heart!
You deserve to have truthful tenants living in your mind and in your heart. Start capturing these thoughts and writing them down, every morning, every night, every lunch break you have, in a journal – any moment you need to remind yourself of these truths! DO IT. Be a creature of faith through your actions of pursuing the truths that God speaks over you! The repetitive action of re-writing these truths down will help heal your brain and literally rewire your mind!
Here are a few quotes from Dr. Caroline Leaf that may help validate this:
- “When you think, you build thoughts and these become physical substances in your brain.”
- “As we think, we change the physical nature of our brain. As we consciously direct our thinking, we can wire out toxic patterns of thinking and replace them with healthy thoughts.”
Additional Steps You Can Take:
Mentally tell yourself…
- “Nope! Not going to think about that!”
- “I’m not going to put stock into that thought right now, it doesn’t feel good, so it’s not for me”
- “I’m going to now think about… (ex. The pretty branches on that tree!)” – force your attention to something else – I like to look towards little details that help remind me of God’s masterful hand that designed the beauty around me! Go on a walk and look at the scenery around you!
- “That’s so silly!/ How silly is that!” – laugh it off, force it! Fake it ‘till you make it!
- “This thought isn’t life-giving, so I’m going to push it aside” and then think of something you can be grateful for, even scribble down a list on a sticky note to change your mind and choose something else to think about! “In all things, give thanks, for this is what God wants from you who are united with Jesus Christ” (1 Thes. 5:18).
I love you all, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and pray that this series can help kick off your victorious battle over fear, doubt, guilt, and shame!