This week I am providing you excerpts from my book, “Level Up Your Life.” In the book, I provide you with Biblical principles designed to help you level up in five areas. Yesterday I shared a few things from the book on leveling up physically. Today I will do the same around leveling up internally (with your mental health and internal peace).
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s get into it.
1. You can have victory over negative stress.
(Phil 4:6,7 NLT)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Faith-based prayer is a major stress reliever.
One of the most powerful tools we have to combat negative stress is prayer!
In Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, he teaches them about receiving and walking in the mind of Christ (2:5), understanding the power we have in Christ (4:13), and the overwhelming joy that we can tap into by the power of the Holy Spirit (3:1 and 4:4). Sandwiched between all of this is Paul’s admonition against worry (or anxiety) and for prayer. If we don’t control our impulses to worry, stress (and getting ‘stressed-out’) is inevitable. Paul’s answer to worry is prayer.
When I first gave my life to Christ, one of the senior ladies in the church, one who I lovingly called “Mother,” used to say: “Baby, if you are going to pray, then don’t worry. But if you are going to worry, then don’t pray.” Her advice sounds simple, but it is also profound. Why? Because you can’t worry and trust God at the same time. Simply put, if you worry (you are stressed out), you don’t trust God.
Paul’s counsel was that we should take advantage of the direct access we have to the Father, in the name of Jesus, and take our issues to the Father in prayer. After we pray, if we truly believe the Father has heard us and that He will manifest His best in His timing, then we have no other option but to trust Him and walk in His peace. If we worry after we have prayed, it is an indictment against our faith. It means we did not believe or receive.
— Take advantage of the direct access you have to the Father, in the name of His Son Jesus, through the vehicle of prayer. Once you pray, you must then decide between trust and worry (or stress).
— If you believe the Father heard you in prayer and you have received (by faith) what God has already provided (by grace), then trust is your only answer. You must resist every temptation to cross over into doubt, worry, fear, or unbelief.
— If you allow worry to creep into your heart, you must reject it quickly. Because if you don’t, it will overtake your heart and mind. Once that happens, you will find yourself stressed! And this is NOT God’s fault. It has everything to do with you ALLOWING yourself to be stressed.
— If you pray in faith, and you truly believe, you will enjoy victory over stress.
2. Divine mental health is God’s will, but you have a part.
Solomon said, “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23 NKJV). The Easy to Read Version reads: “Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.”
(2 Cor 10:3-5 KJV).
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
Both God and satan are after your attention.
God wants you to willingly give Him your attention. But if you fail to do so, He may attempt to get your attention, simply because He loves you. He is watching you go down the wrong path, and He attempts to get your attention long enough to lead you to make a course correction. Satan, on the other hand, does not love you at all. He wants to see you fail. He also wants you to give him your attention. If you refuse, satan will most certainly attempt to get it. There is a battle then, in your mind, for your attention. If you don’t understand this, you can lose your mental health; you can literally lose your mind.
Don’t force God’s hand – willingly give Him your attention.
Of all the thoughts floating around in your mind, you actually have the power to focus and to purposely give your attention to whatever you choose. When you give your attention over to something, the object of your attention comes into focus. This is where you can become a powerful tool in the hands of either God or satan.
Don’t be ignorant of the battle for your attention.
— If satan can get your attention for five seconds, he can have your mind for five minutes.
— Satan knows what you like, and he will orchestrate tempting situations designed to grab your attention in order to lead your mind astray. He is also a master at painting images upon the canvas of your mind that project fear and failure. If you don’t control these thoughts, they can lead you into a downward spiral.
— God can also grab your attention if He needs to, but don’t make Him. Be cognizant of the battle for your attention and willingly give it over to God every day and throughout the day. When God has your attention, He is able to paint pictures upon the canvas of your mind that project success and victory. You want these thoughts. They lead you down the path to your destiny.
The point here is that, as Paul says, we must be cognizant of “every thought.” This is how we win the battle for our minds!
3. Thoughts can create strongholds.
We Start off with a thought.
Our minds are constantly flooded with thoughts from either (1) ourselves, (2) the adversary, or (3) God. We must learn to discern which thoughts are which so we can know which ones to receive and which ones to reject. This is critical because thoughts lead to actions. Every action, good or bad, starts with a thought. One quick way of knowing a thought did NOT come from God is when the thought is contrary to God’s Word. The Spirit of God will never lead you contrary to the Word of God.
Our thoughts create images (imaginations).
We do not think in words. Words are containers for images. For example: if I say, “Please do not think about an elephant, with his big ears and long trunk,” invariably you already pictured that elephant. Thoughts from either God or satan will create images of success or failure. God wants you to see yourself successful by His grace, and satan wants you to see yourself as a failure, today, tomorrow, and forever. Thoughts from God paint images of Godly success upon the canvas of your mind. When you open your heart to the thoughts of God, He is able to paint a picture of His plans for your future. This is why we must take every thought CAPTIVE.
If not controlled, ungodly images can create strongholds.
Uncontrolled and unchallenged thoughts allow ungodly images upon the canvas of your mind’s eye. If this process is allowed to be repeated, the ungodly images will ultimately lead to ungodly strongholds. These strongholds can be very difficult to escape from. The word Paul used here for “stronghold” is the same word used for “fortified city.” In Biblical times enormous walls were built around cities to keep everyone inside the city safe and to keep unwanted visitors out. If you don’t capture and reject ungodly thoughts, you will find yourself trapped behind a stronghold in your own mind. These strongholds can lead to depression or addiction.
A person battling the negative thoughts of depression or the one addicted to pornography, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sexual immorality, gossip, etc., is a person who allowed ungodly thoughts in, unchecked, and now they are dealing with a stronghold. They are literally trapped behind a fortified city, a prisoner in their own mind. When a person gets to this point, it is hard for Godly words to get over that negative wall.
Here’s the good news: the opposite is also true. Godly thoughts can create Godly images, and if you allow the process to repeat itself long enough, the images will ultimately lead to a Godly stronghold. You can have a Godly fortified wall around your mind, to the point where it is hard for negative or ungodly thoughts to get in. This is where you want to be. The more you get the Word of God down in your heart, the more Godly images will be produced, and the more susceptible you will be to Godly influence.
The battle for your mind is spiritual.
— Paul taught us that we do not war after the flesh. This is not a flesh-and-blood fight.
— The devil wages a spiritual war on the battleground of our natural minds.
— The only way to win a spiritual fight is with spiritual weapons. Natural pills can only deal with the “fruit” of the issue. It takes the power of God — Paul called it weapons that are mighty through God — to deal with the true “root” of the issue.
4. The mind is so powerful that it can cause you to RE-LIVE the pain.
— The mind has the power to remember an event in a way that is so vivid that you can literally re-live the moment.
— When you remember something, the mind is so powerful that you can actually make REAL in the present those things that happened in the past.
— The devil attempts to use the power of the mind against you. He will replay the mistakes of your past over and over and over again, upon the canvas of your mind, in hopes that you re-live the pain over and over and over again.
Let it go.
— If the devil can get you to re-live the pain of your past over and over, he can keep you from focusing on your future.
— God has forgiven you of the mistakes of your past. It’s now time for you to forgive yourself and move on.
— Don’t allow satan to cause you to re-live negative moments. When he reminds you of your past, you remind him of his future.
— Don’t judge your future by your past. Judge your future ONLY by the plans God made for you before the world began!
5. The connection between your thoughts and your feelings.
Do you realize how important your thoughts are?
— Your mind is the control center of your life (Proverbs 4:23). If you can control the way you think, you will be in control of the way you live.
— God has given you the grace to take control of every thought because He wants you to be in control of your life.
— God gave you feelings to enjoy life. Feelings are a blessing when they are under control. You were designed to control your feelings, not for your feelings to control you!
— It’s your mind, and it will focus on whatever you make it focus on. Believe it or not, you are actually in control!
You don’t have a feelings problem.
Uncontrolled thoughts can lead to uncontrolled feelings, and the results can be devastating. I hope this helps you understand the progressive picture Paul painted for us, one that goes from thoughts to images to strongholds. Along those lines, let’s address feelings. Feelings (or emotions) are great when they enhance your life, but if uncontrolled, they can make life miserable.
The job of your feelings is to amplify your thoughts. I will use the praise-and-worship portion of a church service as an example. If you sit in an atmosphere where people are leading you to sing songs of praise, causing you to think about the goodness of God for 10-15 minutes, no matter how you felt when you came into the church, if you participate, you will begin to feel good. Then the praise-and-worship team might shift into singing songs about God Himself and how great He is. This may go on for another 10-15 minutes. By then you may find yourself lifting up your hands in the presence of the Lord. Finally, if the praise-and-worship team closes out the session with a few minutes of singing directly to God, with an outpour of love from your heart, even if you are not an overly emotional person, you may find yourself weeping or crying out in the presence of your God. You came into the church FEELING one way, but after 30-45 minutes of THINKING about God and His goodness, you FEEL completely different. Why? Because your feelings simply amplify your thoughts.
Now let’s take the opposite approach. Let’s say you had a great day and you are feeling pretty good. But you get home only to receive terrible news. The news is so bad that you FEEL like someone hit you in the gut. You take a seat and begin to nurse and rehearse the bad news over and over and over again in your mind. This goes on for 30 minutes. How do you think you are going to FEEL? Since you are meditating on BAD news, you are going to feel BAD. There is no mystery to it. But what if satan can get you to nurse and rehearse bad news for hours, or days, or weeks? That’s how believers delve into depression. Their mind is fixed on bad news, therefore they FEEL terrible. A doctor can give you pills to numb your feelings, but you don’t have a “feelings” problem. Your feelings are working. Your feelings are amplifying your thoughts. You actually have a THINKING problem, and pills to numb your feelings will never deal with the root issue.
— A person with uncontrolled feelings is actually a person with uncontrolled thoughts.
Feelings will amplify your thoughts. So if you don’t control bad thoughts, you will not be able to stop feeling bad.
— Successful people have a disciplined thought life. They tap into the grace to focus their mind on divine purpose.
— Your spirit is the real you. You are a spirit, you possess a soul — which is where your mind, emotions and will reside — and your spirit and soul live in a physical body (for now). Your spirit (the real you) can tell your mind what to think, your feelings how to feel, and your will what to choose!
Declaration of Faith:
- Father, I take control of every thought.
- By taking control of my thoughts I take control of my life.
- I tell my mind what to meditate on.
- I direct my will to make decisions that line up with Your purpose for me.
- I no longer allow uncontrolled thoughts to lead to uncontrolled feelings.
- I don’t live by feelings, I live by faith.
- I focus my thoughts on You and Your Word.
- I enter every day declaring that my mind is alert, my body is awake, my thoughts are sharp and in check, my focus is clear, my purpose is before me, my God is with me, and success is inevitable.
- I refuse to allow negative thoughts to run roughshod over my life.
- I will never again allow feelings to control me.
- From this day forward I tell my feelings how to feel.
- Living this way, I LEVEL UP and I know, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
- I declare this by faith, in Jesus’ name. Amen!
I trust this message was a blessing to you. This is just a small excerpt from my book, “Level Up Your Life.” If you don’t have a copy of the book, here is a link to get yours. It also makes for a good Christmas gift.
Level Up Your Life: https://bit.ly/levelupyourlifebook
#TheGraceLife
