How has your Thought Inspection Process been going? If you’ve been riding this blog train from the First Station on the “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” Express, we first started inspecting the thoughts that crossed our minds about us directly. Meaning we took time to discern the “voices” we hear to decide if they were worthy of our attention or not.
Then, if you continued to ride this blog train, we landed at the Second Station. There we started to inspect the thoughts that others thought about us or at least what we thought they thought about us. Second verse, same as the first, as once we discerned where we were believing something that another person spoke over us, we were able to then decide if that was worthy of our attention or not, as well.
Now, here we are at the Third Station on this blog train. Thanks for riding along, I hope this ride has been valuable to you and your heart. I pray this Third Station will blow that initial value off this planet and into the stratosphere! Inspecting our thoughts is a necessary part of this process, but merely inspecting them is not enough. It is only the beginning, with a little work (yep, sorry I said “work”) your thought train will take you to new heights of love, joy and peace that you could have never imagined.
Ok, you ask, “what is this –work– you type of?” Thanks for asking, I’m more than happy to share it with you. 🙂 The work can be easy and sometimes it can be more difficult, but it is always worth it, always, always, always! The work consists of, in a nutshell, taking your thought inspection process to a root level. By “root level” I mean doing a little bit deeper thought tracing.
If you’ve been on this train from the start, you have done the initial work of thought tracing – identifying a thought. You have also done a little deeper thought tracing because you have not just identified a thought, but you have identified where it came from – meaning you, others, the enemy of your soul or God. After you know where it came from, and here is where the work comes in, it is time to dig a little deeper and get down to the root of it.
Maybe an example will help. Let’s say you have identified a thought, “I’m not worth anyone’s time.” It is obvious that is not a good thought and is not from your loving Creator. But, take a moment to inspect that thought a bit further. Can you readily identify the Very First time you felt unworthy of another’s time? You might immediately recall a situation or incident in which you felt unworthy of someone else’s time and in that place, whether you recognized it or not, you made an agreement. You felt unworthy of someone’s time and agreed that feeling was correct. Once you have agreed with a feeling/thought your mind/soul/body try to build a case to strengthen that thought. Every instance where you could possibly feel that way is heightened and more and more situations come about where that feeling is present. Then, your mind/soul/body start jumping to that conclusion in every instance thus building a foundation on that thought. This starts a vicious cycle that can go on for years and years and years until you make a conscious thought to DISAGREE with that initial lie and swap back to the Truth Track about you which says: You Are Worthy of Someone’s Time.
Here comes the “work”. Take some time (it doesn’t happen magically) and get to a quiet place. Then, in your mind go back to that initial incident where you first felt/thought “I am not worthy of anyone’s time”. Note what happened in that incident, what was happening, who was there, who may have said something that planted that thought, etc. Once you note those facts, take it to God. Look at that situation with Him and ask for His Truth in the matter. I have a feeling you will be surprised at what He shows you. After hearing His Truth take note of any people you may need to forgive in that situation. Then, faithfully walk out that forgiveness – whether you “feel” it in your heart or not. Give that offender(s) to God and ask again what His Truth in that matter is. I gosh-golly-guarantee it will NOT be “You are not worthy”! It is more likely something like, “You are my precious child” (just speaking from my own experience here). Ask God to uproot and heal that memory and plant His Truth in your heart, then thank God for the healing of that memory. If you ever hear that whisper again that you are not worthy you just answer back, “Yes, I am! I am a precious Child of God!”
After you destroy that lie, you go on to another and another and another. Each time you walk out a situation, offer forgiveness and receive healing, more truth filters in and you become stronger, wiser, more compassionate and more able to Love the Person you ARE, with no “buts or if onlys”! Freedom to love who you are is an amazing gift and it is yours for the taking. In fact, it is how each of us were designed to live. We were not designed to hate ourselves and judge ourselves harshly. That only leads to us hating others and judging them harshly. (Hmm, sounds a bit like our World today, right?!) Rather we were meant to love ourselves and love others, period.
So, you can see that these planted lies are no accident. They are a strategic plan from the enemy of your soul to keep you from being who God created you to be. Often times people say things without thinking and if we are in a stressful mental state at the moment, we can internalize what they say and believe a lie. I once heard of a woman who into her 50’s believed the lie “No one wants you here.” When she finally sat down with a prayer partner to go after the root of that lie she realized it was planted when she was a young kid. She had walked into a room of adults that all stopped talking and just stared at her. Turns out, they had been planning a surprise birthday party for her so they just shut down awkwardly when she walked in. However, the enemy used that opportunity to whisper to her, “no one wants you here” and she believed it. She walked under the oppression of that lie for over 40 years! Every time she walked into ANY room, that was how she felt. Not until she stopped and investigated that thought/feeling did she get freedom from it.
The enemy is here to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10) your life, your love and your purpose. He will use any opportunity to do so and until you recognize it and fight back with the Truth of God you will stay powerless and defeated – just the way the enemy wants you to be. It takes knowledge to start turning that table, add to that time and intimacy with God and you have a life changing tool. If you don’t go after the lies and uproot them, your life won’t change. You will keep living out the same scenarios and hitting the same walls. Knowledge is Power and without it you can live in a destroyed state as God says in:
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Go after the Freedom that is attainable. It may seem like an arduous task and it won’t happen all at once, but every single time you destroy another lie, you walk freer. That added freedom gives you more energy because you spend less energy “spinning out” at others because of the lies you believe. Suddenly you will find yourself walking a path of joy and love that you never thought possible. Let me tell you from experience, it is a Wonderful Place to Live! I have walked this healing out in my own life and it has changed my foundation. Now when I hear some crud, I don’t just take it in, I take it captive and slay it from the get go so it never has a chance to grow. I love how The Passion Translation says it:
2 Cor 10:5 We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.
We are at war and while the Whole War has unquestionably been won, (Thank You JESUS!) we can walk in greater freedom when we choose to fight the lies and accept the truth God says about us.
In summary, here is a quick visual:
I live in Oregon and our state has been suffering from numerous wildfires. For those of us that don’t live in the direct line of the fires, we are suffering through the smoke in the air. Here are a couple pictures of my view:
These hazy skies are very much like our minds when they are filled with lies. Our minds are hazy and while we may be able to see we certainly cannot see clearly, no matter how hard we try.
However, my clear views were returned to me after strong winds came and blew out the crud. Symbolic of the key to our freedom as it will come as we allow the Wind of the Holy Spirit to blow through our minds and hearts as we sit with Him to bring on the clear views, like these:
Dear friend, I hope this Third Station on the Don’t Believe Everything You Think Express helps carry you to a new level of clear mindedness and love for yourself and others. Please ride this train out and don’t give up. You can have the freedom you were meant to have and I can’t wait to see you walking FREE!!
Blessings and Love to you!
Pamela
PamelaInTraining 