WERE YOU ABLE TO TAKE THE QUESTIONS from last week’s post and put your
less-than-laudable life events into perspective?
It’s not easy. Humans tend to hold
grudges. For some of us, that’s all we hold. Or something triggers the memory
of a negative life event, and there we are. Right back in it, hearing words,
seeing the people, feeling the pain, with the adrenaline kicking in and the anger
festering. Reliving it in all its gruesome glory. Letting your life be consumed
by it.
That’s one of the things we need to
do—stop that process in its tracks, before we’ve opened the door on it and
invited it in. There are a couple of ways we can do that.
Take every thought captive
There’s a great passage in Scripture
that gives us the template for how to control our thoughts. You can find it in
Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 5. But I’m going to start at verse 3, to
get the full affect of the concept.
“ For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal but might in God for
pulling down strongholds, casting
down arguments and every high
thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (emphasis mine).
I like the way Eugene Peterson
renders it in his contemporary Bible reading, The
Message.
“The world is unprincipled. It’s a
dog-eat-dog world out there! The world
doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t
live or fight our battles that way — never
have and never will. The tools of
our trade aren’t for marketing or
manipulation, but they are for
demolishing that entire massively corrupt
culture. We use our powerful
god-tools for smashing warped
philosophies, tearing down barriers
erected against the truth of God,
fitting every loose thought and
emotion and impulse into the structure of
life shaped by Christ. Our tools are
ready at hand for clearing the ground
of every obstruction and building
lives of obedience into maturity.”
Certainly all of us have felt, at
one time or another, that the world is dog-eat-dog, fend for yourself, and that
the world doesn’t fight fair. Unfortunately, many well-meaning teachers tell
you that—inside—people are generally good. They’re not. All you have to do is
read the papers, listen to the news, and look at some of the things that have
happened to you to know it’s not true. I don’t need to give you Scripture
verification to prove it, although I could.
When it comes right down to it, hard
work never guarantees anything; and the world is a rough place. But there is
good in it, and that goodness comes from God’s mercy, love and Holy Spirit that
guides men’s good thoughts and right actions. Other, evil forces—and our
general bent toward selfishness, pride, and preservation—generate other
behaviors.
And knowing that helps us put all of
those negative events into perspective.
And knowing that God will give you a
new heart and make all things new when you turn your life over to Christ helps
immensely in navigating life and putting into proper perspective.
Unfortunately, we don’t always do that or know how to do that.
It took a while for it to dawn on me
that the passage says, “…take every thought captive…” I’d always prayed that
God would remove it from me. All I had to do was pray that he would. Beg Him to
remove it.
Then I realized the significance,
and meaning, of that word “take.” That meant the responsibility was mine to put
a lasso around it, bundle it up and actually cart it to God. And when I got it
to Him, I needed to leave it there and shut the door on it. I needed to trust
Him to know what to do with it, and then go on my merry way. With my load
lightened and my perspective altered. Or at last not hampered by my negative
thoughts, anxieties and fears.
If you’re a believer, you have the
tools. You just need to use them. It’s your responsibility. He’s not going to
just rush in and remove them. You need to take those painful, anger-provoking
memories to Christ. And then refuse to let them have their way with you
physically, emotionally and spiritually again! Enough complaining. Enough
negative reminiscing. Enough finger pointing. Take responsibility for your
thoughts and stop letting them control you.
In an on-line article on
Crosswalk.com (link below), you’ll find steps you can use to make this easier,
although it isn’t always easy. The more you practice it, the better it gets,
and the more power you realize you have over your thought life and behaviors.
The article title is “6 Ways to Take Your Thoughts Captive.” The six steps are:
1. Accept
responsibility for your thoughts.
2. Your mind—not
just your behavior—must change. (Romans 12:2
3. Think through
your problems rather than just react to them.
4. Take your
disabling thoughts captive through confession. (Romans 12:21)
5. Choose to
focus your thoughts on the right things. (Phil. 4:8)
6. It is
possible.
A second way you
can capture your thoughts is by—
Writing them down and then letting them
go
Journaling can be a great cathartic.
You can spill out your guts on a piece of paper. A place no one else’s eyeballs
can eavesdrop. A place you can stain the pages with your tears and no one else
will know. And then you can slam the book and never read it again. You can
symbolically let it go. And if you work really hard at it, the symbolism will
be effective in yanking it from your mind permanently!
And I found a great little journal
the other day at a local women’s store that could help you. It’s called Write It Down, Let It Go: A Worry Relief
Journal.
The little journal-sized book by
Lindsay Kramer offers a great introduction to the process of
lassoing negative and painful thoughts and transferring them to the written
page. (Hand writing them is much better than typing them on your computer
because of how handwriting engages and affects the brain.) I love how she says that after
writing down your worries and stressful words to
“decide that those worrisome and
stressful words are imprisoned on
the page, never to make their way
back into your body Allow them
to be held captive on the paper
because they have found a new
home and a new space to fill.”
Kramer also gives you prompts to get
you thinking and writing, and she intersperses the negative writing pages with
positive, uplifting prompts. Snapped one up myself! You can find the book on
Amazon.com (And I DO NOT get any royalties from the recommendation or sale of
this book!)
I’ve also done things like write
down my worries, agonies and pain, prayed over them and thrown them in a stoked
fireplace. Or ripped the paper into shreds and tossed it into the Pacific
Ocean. The physical act of letting it go serves as a reminder that you did let
it go and shouldn’t entertain its return when it does coming rapping on your
door again.
You always need to remember that
life consists of chapters that you cannot re-write or blot out. You are on a
transformational journey. As author James Scott Bell calls them “doorways of no
return.”
What you need to ask yourself right
now is:
What doorways do I need to close?
What doorways do I need to walk
through this year?
_______________________________________
Next week we’ll
continue putting life into perspective on our journey to develop focus
points and specific goals. Next week will be short, although perhaps a challenge. It’ll be
worth doing, though!
“6 Ways to Take
Your Thoughts Captive” link https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/prayers/take-your-thoughts-captive-509888.html
Until next week.
Blessings,
Andrea
May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul
prospers (3 John 2).
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