Do you have negative thoughts stored in your head that refuse to go away? Our minds often prove to be our own worst enemies because bad memories take up a lot of storage space.
Our minds get weighed down by negativity, relationships-gone-bad, regrets, poor choices, years wasted, irretrievable words, hurts that won’t heal—it’s a never-ending list.
These negative thoughts play over and over in our minds, like CDs on auto-repeat. They fence us in and chain us to our past. We lie down to sleep, and they replay in our heads. We walk around in a daze while morose thoughts take hold. We turn on some noise to drown out our own hurts and fears. Making an impact on the world gets pushed off the feasibility list; we just want escape from our own bad dreams.
I have my own set of CDs I replay in my mind: the if-onlys, the what-ifs, the I-wish-I-hadn’ts. Since the past can’t be changed, I can feel locked in and spiral downward. Scripture memory to the rescue!
I can’t change the past, but I can change the channel.
I don’t have to dwell on mistakes and regrets. My other option fills my mind with God’s grace for the past, His power for the present, and His presence always.
I run to the Psalms, to words stored in my mind. I say them aloud and rejuvenate my soul.
Shout with joy to God all the earth!
Sing the glory of his name;
make his praise glorious!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
So great is your power
that your enemies cringe before you.
All the earth bows down to you;
they sing praise to you;
they sing praise to your name.”
Come and see what God has done,
how awesome his works in man’s behalf!
Psalm 66:1-5
These words breathe life into my spirit, and I rise up to praise Him. He increases, while I decrease. My mind’s pessimism bows in allegiance to the One who redeems me from the pit. Courage wells up, and I refuse to cower in defeat. Truth strengthens me, and joy revives me. I run to God’s Word and embrace victory in the moment. Many turn to alcohol or drugs or mind-numbing computer games as an antidote for sadness; I turn to God’s Word, and it never disappoints.
Please share how God’s Word rescues you from negative thinking.
On Sunday we had a guest speaker at church, Mark Gray, the NC Baptist Convention’s church planter. He spoke on the body, soul and spirit. He taught that when we accept God’s spirit into our “temple” He communicates with us personally. His spirit speaks through our soul (mind, will and emotions) and we then speak to our body to do His will. This leads to many “divine appointments”! He gave examples of times he had obeyed God’s voice and watched as people were touched. Amazing! Anyway, this helped me understand Haggai as he repeatedly is given words from God to speak to various people. I imagine things might have been a little different because their was no Messiah to accept, appararently only God’s voice speaking through him. But he must have had faith and obedience above and beyond the norm. I am curious to hear what others think about this.
that’s very insightful Lynette. My thinking is that each person is given assignments from God. When we obey, he empowers us for the tasks he has asked us to do. When we ignore him or dishonor him through sin, he can’t use us. Staying close to God, abiding in him, is the key to a believers life, whether Old Testament or New. That’s my thinking.
JANET!!!!!!!!
This post is SO STINKING AWESOME for so many reasons.
I have an OLDIES, POP, and PUNK CD collection.
OLDIES are my regrets or bad choices that the enemy doesn’t want me to forget. EVER.
POP is my current situation living with an adopted child who was drug exposed, neglected and has Reactive Attachment Disorder.
…”You really suck as a mom Chérie.”
…”Give it up, Chérie. Why even care for this kid anymore”.
…”You should never have been a mom”.
(And the #1 on the Billboard Charts)
….”any other mom could handle this kid better than you…you are pathetic…”
My PUNK CD collection is caused from something I—as an adoptee myself, inherited from my birthmom’s side of the family which is a weird form of OCD where —instead of obsessively washing my hands, I had music stuck in my head.
MAX volume. 24/7. No respite.
No medication helped, but memorizing my first chapters, Ephesians 3 and Romans 8 gave me my first experience of calm. The words of scripture replaying in my head gave me a massive reduction in volume and the words of scripture soothed and strengthened my spirit. My spiritual heritage got stronger and my genetic heritage got weaker.
When “POP” starts berating me about my parenting —I run to Psalm 27, Isaiah 61 or the book of 1 John.
Oldies constantly vie for a place on the turntable, but I run to Psalm 103, Ephesians 2 and the book of Colossians.
I have wondered something for years now. I know mental health is real—no question. Many legitimately need medication and Praise His Holy Name for the brilliant minds he has gifted who have figured it out and given people their lives back. Yes, we have a fallen DNA from when the events of Genesis 3 spilt the Cosmos. But I can’t help but wonder from my own experience how many might possibly be helped by a prescription of mega-memorizing. Surely a good percentage. CD collections are real and powerful. But God’s Word trumps them all.
Thank you Cherie for sharing your “collection” with us. I’m sure we all have similar ones. I tend to replay hurtful comments that people said to me, years ago. Some of them are true, and some greatly exaggerated, but they are stored in my brain and replay when I get other hurtful comments. The best solution is to wash them away with truth. I love the cleansing, and the fresh perspective. God’s Word has brought a lot of healing to me, and I am CERTAIN that everyone would benefit from mega-memorizing. There’s just no down side to it.
“Do you have negative thoughts stored in your head that refuse to go away?” Boy, do I! I’m glad I’m not the only one even though the enemy would like us to think we are alone.
Every day I engage in spiritual warfare by employing truth and promises to argue myself from a spirit of heaviness to a place of joy. Mega-memorizing has helped me because more is stored in my head and heart now instead of having to hunt for key words in a concordance or peel pages of the Bible looking for the location of a passage I may only vaguely know.
The channel I change to when those tapes run on auto repeat is adoration – evicting those thoughts by taking scripture I’ve memorized and telling God who He is based on what I have learned about Him in those scriptures, which takes my eyes off me and helps me focus on Him.
Examples from this blog are:
You are the God of mercy, God of one more chance. (Story of Samson – Judges 16:28)
You are the One Who lets me reframe my past. (Paul and Joseph – 1 Timothy 1:13,16)
You are the One Who makes me forget. (Joseph and Paul – Genesis 41:51)
God’s word is comforting and powerful.
Holly, I love what you said, It truly is spiritual warfare, but we have the sword which is God’s Word. And praise on our lips puts the delight in our hearts. I can’t even imagine where I would be if I hadn’t started memorizing God’s Word. Thank you Holly for encouraging all of us.
Great stuff Ladies! You all are such an encouragement for remembering the word.
As this fourth week of remembering Haggai, comes to a close, I would like to point out an issue that is similar to where we are at today. Israel had misused their God given resources. The resources had not only been misused, but they where also in short supply. But God, in His way as our heavenly Father says, “Take courage, I am with you. My Spirit is abiding in your midst. Do not fear.” Today our resources are not in short supply. It is our ability to use them that is in short supply. We must devote time daily to remembering God’s holy word. If we dine on God’s word, as we dine on fast food, the nutritional value is very limited. We must eat solid food, that requires a digestion process, the only solid food requires. This digestion process is time. Just say “no” to fast food. Say “yes” to a time of personal devotion. Remember the word.
Hi Mike, the fast-food analogy really fits. One reason I love memorizing passages is because it is a feast, little by little, and so satisfying forever.
Janet, Holly, Cherie and Lynette, thank you for sharing, all so encouraging to me and I couldn’t agree more. Romans 8 is medicine from the great Physician for my mind when feelings of condemnation grip my heart. When thoughts that I have messed up too big to be loved and I think my worthiness is based on my behavior. Philippians 4:8 brings me back when my thoughts start running away with me and I need to reign them in. My newest love, Colossians 3, where we are to put on “…the new man which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Memorizing large portions of scripture has been the key I was searching for to renew my mind and turn my thinking in the right direction.