Select Page

I listened to my then four year old as she declared in total exasperation and defeat, “I will NEVER be able to do it!”

At the time, she was trying to learn to whistle. She was actually pretty close to achieving her goal but was getting frustrated with trying.

Me: “Keep practicing. You are so close.”

Four year old: “Why bother. I am not good at anything.”

Seriously. She had progressed from not being able to do one task to not being good at anything at all? How had she gotten to this point? And at four years of age?

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5, NIV)

It is so easy to let a thought weave its way through our minds, festering until it has grown to an entirely new level. There were many times in the past, when I have not only allowed a thought to grow, but let it grow to epic proportions, no longer recognizable from my original thought ….

  • Walking the floors at night with a colicky baby becomes, “I will never get a good night’s sleep again.”
  • A visit to our primary for an ongoing migraine headache … “I probably have a brain tumor.”
  • Relationships which change can bring on … “No one truly cares about me.”
  • Being a bit on the quieter side can foster the thought … “I will always be the outsider.”
  • Looking at finances .. “There is no way.”
  • Prolonged circumstances start the whole … “If God really loved me ….”

Our minds contain powerful thoughts, able to convince us they are true, when in fact, they are not. How do we handle this:

  1. We need to pull back, taking control of our thoughts before they dominate our actions.
  2. Recognize the lie.
  3. Fight back with the truth of God’s Word.
  4. Keep the thought captive, again and again.

For the record …

I have since had many nights of wonderful sleep.

I have not had a brain tumor.

There are many in my life who care about me.

I am not an outsider.

God provided abundantly.

God loves me more deeply than I could have ever imagined. And …

She became a great whistler!

We have the power within us to wage a war on our thoughts.

Not only power, but divine power.

Not only wage a war, but win the battle.

And it all starts with taking hold of that very first thought.

 

 

Today I am joining … Tell His Story and Wedded Wednesday and Women With Intention and Three Word Wednesday .