Get Up & Fight... Your Mind [part one] 2017.05.09
I remember a brother, after sharing my muddled & cryptic struggles, telling me that I needed more faith. He's right - worry is the lack of faith. But he was wrong bc I wanted more faith... wanted to believe that God would take care of it all... That there was a purpose to all of "this".
But in the end, I honestly believed that (despite his good intentions), that his response was a "cop-out" of an answer. [give me a chance to explain before you judge me as a "hater"]
I struggled with so many things throughout my life, and my inability to "properly process" situations or thoughts wasn't due to a lack of a faith but due to the inability to handle my insecurities & issues. I prayed for a calm heart & mind (You cannot even imagine how intense those prayers were) and it came but only temporarily - fleeting moments of peace. It wasn't until God sent me help in the form of therapy, where I began to take apart what I was truly focusing upon.
I have spent most of my life, devoting time, energy & effort into the things I couldn't handle (like fear, insecurity, co-dependency, ...) But when I began to understand "why" those things were there, they began to crumble away. And after a while, since they were no longer in my way, I could take back that "time, energy & effort" and give it back to the One who freed it up for me - God. And trust me, my faith grew exponentially!!
Whether you want to see it or not, we have lived our entire lives protecting ourselves from the things that have happened. Don't get me wrong - some rise above it, but a good portion of us build up walls or develop reactions that prevent that type of pain from happening again. Some of us even build walls so high, that we even "forget" what happened. It becomes so easy to focus on "our problems", that it's difficult to focus upon God.
Trust me, I've loved God since day 1 - When I was baptized, I knew that this was the best thing ever. And yet, I juggled so many unexplained emotions & feelings, due to my insecurities\issues, that it limited my faith. Although I wanted more faith, I wanted peace in my heart & head, my insecurities were my "god" reluctantly & unknowingly.
The brother who tried to help, I called it a "cop-out answer" because, sometimes, it's not "a lack of faith" but understanding that the battle in our own respective mind is a violent one. It doesn't play fair and is confusing because a lot of us feel as if therapy is for "other people", and not ourselves. Trust me, I used to say "I don't need therapy! I'm not broken!!!" We are human, we are sinful, and we are all "broken". (It also didn't help that this brother had shared publicly, many times, that he went thru therapy in his past and yet, his "go-to" was "a lack of faith"). His supportive and heartfelt response felt like a generic band-aid over my bullet wound.
Today's post is about fighting what's in our heads.
The devil knows us so well, that he knows every button that sets us off. He knows about what happened to you when you were younger, and how if he simply does "this", it will cause you to "pop". And for a lot of us, we don't even know this because we've lived with it for so long. And this is why this fight is so intense - it's because it involves your greatest asset - your mind.
There is nothing wrong with us because we all struggle with something in our minds. Again, we are all broken somehow. But these struggles deafen or prevent us from truly "seeing" God... Pride, hurt, selfishness, fear, trauma... Unchecked, they can be the disconnect in our lives, when we are trying to connect with God. (and we all want to connect with God) That's why guarding, strengthening & renewing our minds is crucial. because the battle usually starts in the mind.
Paul says that our job in this "battle" is to demolish strongholds.
"Ummmm.... what's that?!?"
A stronghold could be any type of mental block. It can be anything that prevents, diminishes or causes us to argue with the knowledge of God. Materialism, atheism, darwinism, ... any type of -ism's can be used by us to battle against God's knowledge. These strongholds can also be a personal attitude - Worry, seeking approval, anything that can be our idol, fear, guilt, resentment, insecurity,... (place your "known" issue here... and then place your unknown issue here as well). Whatever our stronghold may be, the Bible says that we are to tear them down.
"Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" - We must control our thoughts so that they are in line with Jesus.
"Ummmmm... How do we do that?"
Left unchecked, our minds are often disobedient, rebellious. "My mind never really seems like it's 'mine'!" How often do we find ourselves wanting to think one way, only for our mind to go in the other direction? When we need to reflect, our mind goes off in a random direction... When we need to pray, our thoughts float away...
19For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 24What a wretched man I am! | ||
Romans 7:19,24 |
The battle in our minds is a topic that is not spoken about. It's better left unsaid because it can be "that button" that easily upsets us. And yet we need to begin to address it because this battle is something that prevents us from fully giving to God.
Don't Believe Everything You Think
It's normal to feel that, if we think something, that it must be true because we're the ones that thought of it! But the problem is, just because we thought of it, doesn't make it true. The world, past experiences, the devil... puts suggestions before our minds, and we can easily become overwhelmed. You subject someone to so many false ideas, it doesn't take long before they begin to believe them.
Our Minds Are Broken By Sin
If this is true, then we really can't trust what we even think.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? | ||
Jeremiah 17:9 |
If we are good at something, we are good at lying to ourselves.
I do it.
You do it.
We are pro's when it comes to convincing ourselves that things aren't nearly as bad as they really are. When was the last time we told ourselves "it's no big deal" when it is a big deal? This is why we need to be upfront & honest with ourselves. We need to question our own thoughts, but also help others to not believe everything that they think.
Sin begins with a lie.
Satan is the father of lies, so if he can get you to believe the lie, he can get you to sin. Every time we sin, we are thinking that we know better than God. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." - 1 John 1:8
[More in tomorrow's post...]
Side Note: Your prayers re: my "the struggle with my friends" have been effective - THANK YOU! I have had the calmness and courage to re-approach 3 relationships - 2 have responded with success, and I'm waiting to see how the 3rd rolls out. I still have one friendship where i wouldn't mind it staying where it is - with strong boundaries - and that's ok with me. But I still have one friend who still seems "disconnected". And it's difficult because they are the most important person to me alive [outside of my family]. Pls continue to pray for everyone involved - thks.
