Meditation is Easy Part 2 ~ Week 2
How to Dismiss Negative Thoughts!
Words. God given words, how sweet they are for our hearts and our minds. It's time to engage our minds in God's words. We have meditated on them enough to let them soak in our hearts. Can we now engage our minds to allow them to guide our path in life? When we let our minds get involved in his Word, there is no stopping us. We can meditate to learn it and allow it in our hearts. However, we can use our minds to put it in action in our lives. I feel that God is leading us to an application of his Word that is now in our hearts. “Word” is what I keep hearing from Him. Look at our words. Do our words reflect what we know in our hearts from God's Word? Jeremiah 29:11-3 for example, do we use words in everyday life that reflect our belief in those verses? Engaging your mind in the verses that you truly know will change your words. Your thoughts positioned in your mind determine the words that come out of your mouth. Correct? So to engage your mind in God's Word, that you put in your heart, requires some action on your part. The mind is Satan's battlefield. I am sure you have heard that before. A battlefield requires action. No longer is meditation enough. You have entered battle, you can't just sit back and think about your weapons and how strong they are. You have to use them. This is when words come in to use. Our minds form the words that come out of our mouths, the battlefield. Let's say a negative thought (that goes against God's Word) enters our mind, the battlefield has opened. Seriously. Satan has entered the battlefield. Is that too deep for you? “I can't go there,” you say. Well you better if you want to win this thing. Ephesians 6:10-13 NIV The Armor of God
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. It is plain to see right here in God's Word that Satan is our enemy ready to attack. God says to put on the full armor of God. We need armor for the battlefield. God's Word gives us what we need for the battle. Know that there is a battlefield in the mind, and Satan is using it. Engage your mind with words. The next negative thought, stop and go to: “God know the plans he has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me.” Now don't sit back on the battlefield with those negative thoughts invading. Engage! Fight back! Word. God's words. Get to work. “I don't care what I am thinking!” “I don't care what I am feeling!” “I only care about God's Word and his promises!” “I only care about God's plans for me, those for good and not for evil that give me hope and a future!” “That's what I care about!” This is your lesson and action for the week. Take those words from Jeremiah 29:11-13 and engage them. When you have a negative thought based on circumstances, feelings, or just random thoughts, focus on God's promise. Say the words out loud, “I don't care about anything except God's Word and it says HE has plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.” Say it, “ I only care about God's Word.” Says it over and over again. “I only care about God's Word!” “His Word says that He hears me when I pray.” In Jeremiah 29:12 God says “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” “I will find Him when I seek Him with all my heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Each passing negative, unproductive, depressing, disappointing, discouraging thought must be stopped, and it can be stopped. It comes and you dismiss it by saying:
“I don't care about that thought. I only care about God's Word and his promises!” We don't have a choice. If God has a way to help us be set free from negative thoughts, we had better jump. Jump with me! Remember what to say to that negative thought that does not agree with God's promises. Say, “I don't care about you, negative thought.” “ I only care about God's words and his promises.” Proverbs 3:5 NIV Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. This action of speaking against the negative thoughts is completely trusting the Lord and not your own understanding. This lesson is putting into play this verse. Learn this verse this week with meditation as you learn to engage your mind. Don't forget what to do with those negative thoughts. In fact take a day, how about today, and really focus on that plan. Use a reoccurring negative thought and give it all you've got. Each and every time it pops in your mind, give it an attack back with “I don't even care about this thought.” Say it out loud for even more power. “I only care about God's Word and He has plans for good and not evil. He has plans to give me hope and a future.” At least give it a day ladies. Try it and check out your thought life the next day. There is a good chance that thought no longer exists because you literally dismissed it. You dismissed it. You dismissed Satan's attack. It may take more than 1 day, but I would certainly try it until it is gone. That is my plan ladies. What you are doing is leaning on God and not your own understanding. You are dismissing thoughts that are not producing anything good and certainly not acting on God's promises. We are retraining our minds. We are dismissing what is not from God. Start soon and learn to lean on God's Word, not negative thoughts. It will make you so much stronger. It will give you joy despite your circumstances. It will become a light to others and draw them to Jesus in you. Take this challenge. Don't sit back on the battlefield and meditate. Take action with what you gained from mediation. I pray that you will take this powerful lesson from God, not me, and run with it. I pray that God will keep it fresh in your minds this week. I pray that He will support you with his love and strength when the battle heats up. If it seems to be getting more difficult to stop the negative thoughts when you start this, you know you have gotten Satan's attention. You will know that you have entered the battlefield, Satan is turning up the heat. Rejoice because you know that you are no longer sitting back on the battlefield, you have actually stood up and begun to fight. Don't expect Satan to run without a fight. So when it feels like it's getting harder to stop the negative thoughts instead of easier, remember you have now decided to fight back. You will no longer let negative thoughts and feelings rule you or your day.
Know as you walk through it, your Creator, your Heavenly Father is with you, beside you, never leaving you. I am very, very excited for us to get started engaging our minds with the words in our hearts. I love you all. I cherish writing for you. I pray that God works miracles in your lives to give you absolute freedom from negative thoughts. Thank you Jesus for taking our sins to the cross so that we may become more like you. Love, Truly
Proverbs 3:5 (NIV) 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding
