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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Toxic thoughts




The new series for the Pastors Sermon in August is going to Toxic situations: Thoughts, Tv, Movies, Books, and even Religion. This weekend was on our Thoughts. The toxic ones ~ the battle in our minds. When we allow those toxic thoughts to have room in our minds and leave them to be accepted & believed, it begins a downward spiral. I will be honest at first I was thinking to myself....I know this already! I know to take my thoughts captive and have them obey Christ. I know that I need to reject those thoughts that don't belong there and then as only the Lord can do, I started hearing examples of some of those toxic thoughts....

Do I worry? Yep
Do I think less of myself than the Lord says I am?? YES!!!
Do I get jealous in situations where I shouldn't? Mmmmhm I do
Do I focus on the Negative more than on the Positive? At times ~ YES
Do I feel discontented in my circumstances? Yes Lord I do

OUCH!! The Lord revealed to me and not only did I have to repent for those toxic thoughts but also my pride in thinking I "knew" all I needed to know about this sermon.

Each day we have an opportunity to be pliable to and for the Lord to mold us into more of HIM or we can be prideful, stubborn and miss out on all HE has for us. I pray I am surrendered to HIM and know that it is only through Him that I can do all things! I will never reach that pinnacle moment of arriving at my spiritual place because the moment I think I have arrived is when my pride will bring me down. The Lord longs to continue to love, mold, change and make us more like HIM. May I decrease Lord as You increase! More of you Lord and less of me!

Each and every day we will find what we are looking for....Are you looking for Gods goodness, His will & purpose for you on this very day? Or are you focusing on what you don't have, or what this person has done to you, or my marriage is awful, my kids are out of control, my finances/job is in so much trouble, etc,etc, etc.

Our thoughts are sooo important.....If you are having toxic thoughts. Identify them! Speak to the Lord about them and search HIS Word for what you can replace them with! It is amazing how things will begin to change ~ step by step, one day at a time, one thought by one thought!

Phil 4:6-9 in the Message version is so awesome for this:

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

21 comments:

Denise

Preach on dear sis, love you.

Kim @ Homesteader's Heart

Beautiful post my friend. It's amazing how our minds can mess with us. It's a lot of the reason why we don't watch TV or have cable. People actually get offended when we tell them that the movies they watch, we wouldn't watch, but we also have kids that we have to be accountable for. It's just not worth it.
Can't wait to hear more about your Pastor's series!!
HUGS
Kim

Sandy

Loren, this is what we all need to hear
and remember in our daily walk with
Jesus Christ. The enemy is always at
hand trying to fill us up with his
thoughts but we simply must put on the
mind of Christ and He will empower us
to have the victory in every
circumstance, every situation, every
day. Excellent post! I love the Message.
The Truth just jumps out when you read.
Hugs,
Sandy

Unknown

Great encouragement to start off our day, thanks for sharing!

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14

He & Me + 3

Amen on this one. I think we all have toxic thoughts that we need to turn over to the Lord. I totally want to decrease so that He can increase. It is so much better that way.
Hugs,
Mimi

Elizabeth Dianne

Oh wow! Loren this is an absolutely incredible post and goes hand in hand with a lot of what my pastor preached about this past Sunday--one of his sub-points was "Don't Go Slummin" (what the kids say)--going back to those old ways of life that we have been redeemed from--I was planning to write a post about it one day this week--and I will definitely link to this post if it is okay with you--awesome, a Word from God for sure.

Love you,
Dianne

Debbie

Oh Loren I can't tell you how much I needed to hear this post this morning. It was like the Lord had you write it just for me....It is soo hard to control my thoughts sometimes. Worry, stress, discontent, sin all start in our thoughts. We really do have to bring our thoughts captive. It scares me that aometimes it happens before I even realize it is....Have a wonderful day, and thanks for this post. HUGS, Debbie

Stacey

Love this post! I am definitely guilty of these toxic thoughts, but I am working on it! With God,of course!

Barbara

Yes we all have toxic thoughts, but if we do not let them linger and let satan have a field day, Jesus will shew him away, for great is he that is in me than he that is in the world, amen, blessing, Barbara

Steph T.

Loren! Great sermon series! Let me know what church and I might go online and listen to them!!
I have been thinking alot about what a jealous person I have been in certain issues in my life and how every time I start to think these things I am going to start praying God would take them and mold me into someone who just desires his Glory in my life...NOT MINE!! Thanks for this post! Love it!!

WE are started a new series August 22 called Home Wreckers...I think it's gonna be good too...check it out.
love ya!

Musings of A Minister

Good thoughts! Good post!....Thanks for the encouraging words about my upcoming preaching schedule. At one point Lincoln Heights switched over from tapes to CD's. But the preacher who replaced me was a seminary professor and he always used power point and without seeing what was on the screen the recording may not have been easy to understand. So I don't know if they continued to record or not. But even if they didn't they may record my messages. If they do I will send them to you. Thanks for your interest.

NanaNor's

Hi sweet friend, Thank you for this post-so important to be aware of what is going on that pollutes our spirits. Blessings to you today.
Hugs, Noreen

jayayceeblog

I find it amazing that it can be so hard to not fall into the toxic thought mind set. They just creep in there. Thanks for the reminder. Positive thinking can bring such wonderful results!

Sandy

Loren, thank you for sharing!
In case you didn't read it in my post this morning, I got a job!!! "Jehova Jira!"
God DID provide!
I began my job today as Special Ed. Teacher's Assistant at a great elementary school here in the town I live in. Thank you for your prayers!

Anonymous

Words so true Loren. Thank you for sharing these thoughts/verses with us today.

Rachel Renee

Oh my goodness, YES!! This is SO true! It is scientifically proven that if you start watching every thought and replacing toxic thoughts with positive ones, in four days you will reverse the negative damage that toxic thoughts have done. Did you know that toxic thoughts are like trees in your mind that start to take over when they are fed constantly. Each thought is connected to an emotion, and that is why when you remember something toxic, you have a bad feeling start to come over you. If you haven't read "Who Switched Off My Brain?" it is outstanding and deals with this exact thing. I highly recommend it! :) (Don't get me started... LOL I was talking to a friend about this exact thing earlier today.)

By the way, I changed my blog title and added a header FYI in case you think you came to the wrong blog! :)

Have a wonderful day!

carissa

amen! you said it so well. i'm so thankful the Lord is at work within me, changing me and giving me the mind of christ! i'm a work in progress! : ) thank you so much for your encouraging comment.

Anonymous

Thank you Loren for offering words I really needed today!! I am in tears (finally after holding my day in all day) because you are so right and I know all that too. But I let others stress me and make me angry when they have no right. I let them in instead of keeping God there so they would stay out. Great post!

Girly Muse

Doggone, left you a good comment and then lost it. Basically, I was saying, "YES, I struggle with toxicity!" Thanks for confessing your struggles and the encouraging words about it...it's a daily struggle, even on the best day! Keeps us all praying, that's for sure.

Love you, girl. Stay cool over there!

Angel

I still can't believe you went to church there, LOL!! Love this new series, he is such an awesome teacher and really hits the nail on the head. I too have found myself thinking I already know something and the Lord has to step in and knock the pride out of me!! You said this all beautifully, it is something I think we all struggle with and sometimes don't even realize it.

Miss you guys!!

Berry

Great post Loren... I needed to read that, and am sure I will read it again over and over..

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