We are talking about how to change unwanted thoughts. Everyone has intrusive thoughts from time to time. But what do you do when those thoughts can be the difference between life and death? Intrusive thoughts can range from the sudden discontentment in your marriage to vile images that are popping into your head. You don’t want them, but they seem to be taking over and God never intended for you to live your life in a mental state of slavery to your thoughts, to change your unwanted thoughts.
God’s way can set you free from the mental and emotional torment and set you on a path to true transformation.
So, how do you change unwanted thoughts? God’s way.
Step #1 – Recognize. Mark 7:20 says, “what comes out of a person is what defiles him” and our minds have a clever and persistent way of convincing us that something is true when it isn’t or vice versa.
And in this step, there are two things that I want you to recognize:
#1 – Where is this coming from? Is it coming from God, Satan, or yourself? It’s doubtful that it’s coming from God. If it’s bringing destruction into your life unless you’re misinterpreting convicting, thoughts for destructive thoughts, convicting, thoughts are meant to lead you to repentance. And if that’s not it, then it’s coming from Satan or yourself. And if it’s a thought that you’ve never had before or a reaction that you’ve never experienced. It’s possible that it is coming from Satan and you need to just rebuke and resist it. But if you have been fighting this a long time, then my friend. It’s likely you, meaning that the voice of a parent, an old partner, or your own habitual thoughts are playing into this dynamic. Believe me, my friend, this is actually good news because it puts you into a better position than you think.
#2 – The second thing that is important to recognize is what’s going on inside of you. No one can make you feel think or react any way that you don’t want to. So in order to overcome inappropriate reactions, you must recognize what is being triggered in you. I know it’s tempting to blame your friends who are always using you and that’s why you get so upset with him or her, but that’s not going to help with your healing. Instead, it will be helpful to consider the co-dependency, people-pleasing traits that are driving you to meet the needs of self-centered friends. Make sense? The first step in improving your reaction is to recognize the lies that are invading your mind.
Step #2 – Repent. Me? Repent? You say what do I need to repent of, they are the ones who make me feel insecure and they are the ones who are driving me crazy. But the truth is, we are all responsible for our reactions. Better said your response is your responsibility and I used to do a lot of marriage counseling in the past and the most toxic spiral that I would see couples go down is the, you made me tunnel. If you didn’t do this, I wouldn’t have done this to you justifying. You made me feel so angry, which is why I punched the wall, blame-shifting.
Romans 14:12 is so clear when it says, “so then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”
In other words, own your reaction. If it was inappropriate own it, repent of it. If your thoughts are not Life-Giving repent of it. If your reactions contribute to the toxic tango, repent of your parts. Don’t worry about what the other person does. Their bad behavior doesn’t excuse, your reaction.
Step #3 – Replace. Want to overcome the lies that are bouncing around in your head? Do you want to be free to think clearly before reacting? You have to replace the lies with truth. 2 Corinthians 10:5 reminds us to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought, captive to obey Christ.”
The lies that you’ve been programmed to believe must be challenged and the gauge that we used to challenge the lies is scripture. If the thoughts and feelings that lead to your reactions, can be found in scripture, then my friend you’re justified. If not those thoughts and those feelings need to be renewed to the word of God. If not, you will continue to react inappropriately and either blame others or be tormented by the guilt.
Step #4 – Resist. Habits take a long time to overcome and they require perfect practice and persistence. You also have an enemy who hates you, he loves to see you overreacting causing further, relational damage and being a questionable representative of Christ. He knows how to employ his demons, to influence you to think those old destructive ways. And if you give in, it won’t take much for his plan to succeed. But if you follow James 4:7, you will continue to live in victory. Here’s what it says, “submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee.”
It’s that simple. Stay submitted to God and resist the devil and his assaults to your mind will produce no fruit. My friend, apply these four steps and you will be well on your way to training your brain to respond and not react. And I throw in this one last one as a bonus step.
Step #5 Repeat. Renewing your mind is not a one-and-done. It’s a process, and from many thoughts, you will need to recognize repent, replace resist, and repeat. If you are struggling with reactions, that you are not proud of, I want to invite you to take our How Toxic are My Thoughts quiz, if you are tired of overthinking and want to renew your mind, check out my course called Renew Your Mind. If you are ready to take back your mind. I want to encourage you to jump on over to last week’s podcast and check out that episode right there.
Remember, all things are possible with God.
