We all have to deal with thoughts of doubt, worry and insecurity. However, refusing to get rid of them can be detrimental to our dreams, vision or heart desires. A quote from the scripture says, “Give no place to the devil” (Ephesian 4:27)
You may say it’s just a harmless thought, but the truth is that when a thought contradicts God’s word it becomes destructive if not addressed. If you make the mistake of dwelling on them, letting them play over and over, it’s like you are inviting them in, you are permitting them to become a reality.
What is holding many people back is their wrong thoughts. Studies show that 47% of an adult’s cognitive time is spent ruminating on bad things that have happened in the past, or worried about what might happen in the future.
Nearly half of our time we have the wrong thoughts dominating our mind. We wonder why we don’t have joy, don’t have peace, why we feel stuck. It’s the wrong thoughts. “Well, pastor I don’t think I will ever get well”, that’s a destructive thought.
“Well, I have made too many mistakes. God could never bless me now”, that wrong thought is distorting your vision. “I’m not attractive, I don’t have a good personality”. As long as the wrong thought is in your mind it’s going to limit your life. Get rid of it!
Start filling your mind with thoughts of hope, thoughts of faith, and thoughts of victory. You have to get rid of those wrong thoughts. Don’t give them free reign in your mind. The scripture says “Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Sometimes the enemy will use people to try to plant wrong thoughts, speak defeat, and tell you what you can’t do. Here is the key; those thoughts don’t have any power unless you give them power, they need someone to welcome them, to feed them, and then they will grow and become a reality.
But what people say about you doesn’t determine who you are, it’s what you agree with, it’s what you entertain, and what you make comfortable. If you are comfortable with doubt, fear, and insecurity, then it’s going to stay.
This is what was holding Gideon back in the scripture. He was hiding in the wine press, afraid of the enemy army that was around their city. And an angel showed up and said “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you. You are to deliver the people of Israel from the Midianites”. (Judges 6:12, 14)
Gideon was confused, he thought, “Who is this angel talking about? I’m not a mighty hero, I’m afraid, I’m intimidated”. He said to the angel “How can I lead the people? I’m the least one in my father’s house”. Notice what he has flooded his mind with: least; disadvantage, not enough. (Judges 6:15)
When the enemy plants his lies, if you welcome it, and make it comfortable, it’s going to become a reality. Gideon saw himself as limited, when in fact he was a mighty hero. He had to get rid of those thoughts telling him everything he wasn’t and start believing who God said he was.
He changed his mindset, and he went on to lead the Israelites to defeat armies much larger, and to become one of the heroes of faith. This would have never happened if someone had not told him to get rid of the wrong thoughts about himself.
Like Gideon, lies have come to us all to try to keep that mighty hero from coming out. You have to ask yourself, “Who told me I’m not smart enough to meet the right person? Who told me I don’t deserve to be blessed? Who told me I’m not attracted? Who told me that I would never break this addiction”?
You have to get rid of it. Quit feeding your fears, quit feeding the guilt, feeding the doubt. Start feeding your faith, and your hope and feed what God says about you… The scripture says “It’s the little foxes that spoil the vines”. (Songs of Solomon 2:15)
One of the best ways to get rid of wrong thoughts is to declare who God says you are. “Well, pastor, this sounds good, but I think I have been through too many hurts to be happy again. Somebody walked out on me or I had a rough childhood”. Please get rid of the past and develop a new mindset!
A NEW MINDSET!
It’s easy to have a victim mentality and think that we will live a broken or wounded life. As long as you are dwelling on the hurts, and dwelling on the brokenness, then you are feeding the wrong thoughts. Please, get rid of the wrong thoughts and start developing a new mindset.
And yes, a person may have walked away, but God didn’t walk away. If they left you, you didn’t need them going forward. Their part in your story was over, have a new mindset. God has someone better coming. Now, I know that hurt is real, it’s not easy, but that is not how your story ends.
The enemy would love for you to stay in with the wrong thoughts, and hold on to the hurt, nurse the wounds. That is feeding the very thing that’s poisoning your mind. Do yourself a favour: get rid of the wrong thoughts, have a new mindset and quit letting them contaminate your life.
In the scripture, Moses sent 12 men to spy out the Promised Land, and 10 of them came back and said “Moses, The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants… and we were like grasshoppers in our sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:32, 33)
They didn’t say, “They called us grasshoppers, they insulted us”. They said, “We were in our sights as grasshoppers”. They went in with a grasshopper mentality and a wrong mindset. It was a destructive mindset!
They could look back and see the faithfulness of God but when you refuse to get rid of wrong thoughts, you start believing doubt, and fear, not able to, too much, even though like Gideon, God calls you a mighty hero, that wrong thought is going to cloud your vision, weaken your faith.
They never did make it into the Promised Land. Wrong thoughts will keep you from your destiny. Guilt, shame, down on yourself, that is wrong thoughts. Low self-esteem, inferior complex, not good enough, those are all lies. God calls you a masterpiece.
“Well, this giant’s too big, pastor The sickness is too great. The addiction too strong”. You are feeding the wrong thing. Quit accommodating the doubt. No more welcoming the fear, get rid of that grasshopper thinking and that wrong mindset.
I wonder if there are some kind of wrong thoughts in your thinking, what people have said, what you have been through, lies the enemy has planted. You didn’t know better, you have been feeding the wrong thoughts, welcoming the insecurity, the guilt, thinking that is the way it’s always going to be.
No, today is your day of freedom. Get rid of those wrong thoughts! Get rid of the wrong mindset! Things that are poisoning your joy, your attitude, and your creativity, are being broken right now. Healing, wholeness and victory are coming.
Now, do your part; get rid of the wrong thoughts, and stop dwelling on the lies that you are at a disadvantage, “You can’t get well, you have seen your best days”. Starve that mindset and start feeding your faith, start dwelling on what God says about you, “You are valuable. You are worthy. You are victorious”.
If you do this, I decree and declare that every wrong mindset is being broken. Strongholds are coming down. Grasshopper mentalities are leaving. All those wrong thoughts are clearing up. Like Gideon, you are going to rise higher, accomplish dreams and become the mighty hero you were created to be, in Jesus’ name.
The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’!
