Winning the war in your mind, overcome intrusive thoughts

How do we win the war? The war FOR our minds.

Perhaps this is the first time it has been brought to your attention that there is a war for your mind.

For your mental space.

What we focus on, we empower.

I was in my early 20’s when I made an appointment to visit my nurse practitioner, I was really struggling in my mind, feeling anxious, worried, depressed and I didn’t know what to do.

I was now a believer and desperately wanted to experience the freedom that the bible spoke about, but my mind was anything but peaceful.

My thoughts constantly assailed me.

I always jumped to the worse possible conclusion and I was an absolute ball of nerves, always on edge, even if on the outside I looked fine, my mind wasn’t.

She evaluated me and then said she felt that what I was dealing with was more anxiety than depression, and that this is just the way it was going to be. “I was an anxious person.”

You would have thought she handed me a golden banner I was to wear with pride and I did.

I left that office with this new found reality, “this is who I am, I am anxiety.” not, I have anxiety. not, I can someday learn to overcome this anxiety.

No, I took this on like it was who I was, not something I battled, and this is where the real trouble began.

When I tell you my mind went from feeling a little worried, nervous, anxious often to all the time, non stop, I am not exaggerating.

I shared with a Mama from our community the other day, “the fear I walked with was so intense that when I would exit my vehicle I would have 911 already dialed, ready to hit the green button at a moments notice.

I was terrified.

I wasn’t given any other help other than this is just the way that it is.

What a weighty responsibility.

The Words we speak over others. She had no idea how I would receive what she was speaking, but because of my tendency to obsess over words, it consumed me.

Did you know that thoughts are not just floating, passing by, going in one ear and out the other?

Dr. Caroline Leaf has remarkable work she has shown on the brain.

The positive and the toxic thoughts we have.

The words we loop play in our minds. Like a broken record, over and over again.

It is absolutely exhausting, and for some these thoughts feel assailing, attacking the very fibers of our faith at times.

So how do we overcome these negative thoughts?

Is there a way to stop the thoughts from coming?

I want to invite you to join me in remembering God has given us weapons that are not carnal, they are mighty for pulling down strongholds, but where are these strongholds?

Can we see them? While we cannot see the thoughts we can hear the words, because the thoughts we have, become the words we speak, and the words we speak become the words we believe and then become the words we end up living out.

If you think you are a failure, who will never measure up, who is always destined to make the same mistakes, guess how you’ll speak? And the very thoughts that have plagued you become the way you live your life. I have seen this again and again and again in my own life and in the life of people around me.

“Out of the overflow of our hearts we speak”.

What are we storing up in our hearts sister? I wrote on the transforming power of storing up Gods word in our hearts here

What we think matters.

So how do we teach ourselves, what to focus on? It is more simple than you might think and reversing the negative thoughts and building new roads in our brains doesn’t have to take years, not with God leading the way.

He can help to expedite the process, and here is why, He wants us to walk in freedom from the assailment of the enemy.

He sees our turmoil.

He knows our torment.

He knows the exhaustion.

He knows it, because He lived it.

Every single trial and temptation, challenge or obstacle we will go through He has already overcome. This is good news!

Winning the war!

I want to take us to Matthew 4.

The Lord Jesus Christ has just been baptized and now He is being led into the wilderness by Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil, and after 40 days of fasting the enemy shows up.

I want you to pay attention to what Jesus says in response to the enemies claims, He says, “It is written…”

The Temptation of Jesus
(Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13)

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2After fasting forty days and forty nights, He was hungry.

3The tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4But Jesus answered, “It is written:

‘Man shall not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’a”

5Then the devil took Him to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. 6“If You are the Son of God,” he said, “throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He will command His angels concerning You,

and they will lift You up in their hands,

so that You will not strike Your foot

against a stone.’b”

7Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’c”

8Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9“All this I will give You,” he said, “if You will fall down and worship me.”

10“Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus told him. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’d”

11Then the devil left Him, and angels came and ministered to Him.

again and again and again!

If The Lord Jesus Christ, who is Gods own son combatted the enemy with GODS WORD, how much more important is it for you and I? It is vital. Life or death.

yessi argabright

Sister, lean in, its life and death.

I don’t mean that lightly.

I intend for you to take the severity of those words seriously, many people have taken their lives because of the enemies lies, non stop mental attacks.

I know this because someone very close to me, took his life, and it devastated our family for decades.

The lies I battled in my mind as a young teen were intense as well and even into my early adult years.

The enemy doesn’t play fair.

We are hated because of who we are, God’s children, chosen and beloved by Him.

Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat of its fruit.

Will your words bring death or life?

I have seen the truth of this scripture in my life so many times. It is a sobering and beautiful scripture.

Truly we will reap what we sow, and it all begins with the words we are taking in, filling our minds with.

So how do we flip the script? How do we go from being victims of the enemies lies, to conquerors in Christ?

We believe what God says!

How do we know what God is saying?

We read His Word.

We finetune our ears to hear from Our Maker. In Jamie Winship’s book, living fearlessly, “Exchanging the lies of the world for the liberating Truth of God.” he takes something that we have found so complicated and demystifies it, Hearing Gods voice.

(I now have an affiliate account with amazon, which means I can make a percentage from the purchases you might make through my link, thank you for supporting my little family.)

The voices we listen to:

Nowadays, just like in days of old we have voices that are sharing what they hear God saying, doing, this can be beautiful.

We need these voices, but lean in, this is also dangerous. We have to understand that not every voice that shares a scripture here and there is rooted in Gods truth.

We have to test the source. See the fruit of their lives. We cannot allow everyone to have access to our minds.

We have to guard our minds with all due diligence, the scriptures often interchange mind and heart, “guard your heart above all, for everything flows from this place…” Everything.

What if you’ve been believing lies for decades of your life?

Is it too late for you? NEVER!

It is never too late, as long as you are on this earth, it is not too late to change your mind, to transform your thoughts.

It wont be done by your own power, but through God’s.

I want to encourage you to begin to write scripture down.

Find a passage you love, copy it, read it outload, listen to it on audio on a bible app, like you version, read different translations of the same passage until it has taken root in your heart.

This is the beauty of reading God’s Word, it will always nourish you!

Whether you remember it 30 seconds from when you read it, or not. Keep at it! Because here is what I know, time in God’s Word is never wasted time, no matter how little time you spend in His Word.

Let me let you in on a little secret, the more you read His Word the more you will want to read His Word, the more you will want to understand God and the more you will desire to be as He is, to bless Him.

And you will.

Because He is honored by our obedience.

Stopping intrusive thoughts

Is it possible to stop the attacks all together, to renew our minds?

The truth is, we live in a fallen, broken world, filled with worries and fears. The bible tells us satan is the prince and ruler of the air.

We are affected simply by being alive on this earth. But like Christ we can have victory because of whose we are!

WE belong to GOD and He has given us His Word to fight back!

We fight by reciting scripture. Even when it is hard to, no, especially when it is hard to.

Please lean in with me, especially at verse 16.

We put on the full armor of God.

“¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (bible gateway)

Every piece of armor He has given us is for defense against the enemy, except for the WORD, the Word is active and living, sharp, piercing, The Word of God is our weapon and how do we use it, we SPEAK it out!

There is no weapon more powerful for the believer, than God’s own Word. Than the precious blood of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

If it was important for Christ to know it, sister it is important for us!

Do not believe the lie that say’s “why even read it, you know you’re not going to remember it anyway…”

This is a very common tactic of the enemy. I remember believing this lie and I also remember Holy Spirit giving me the solution, I have also written more in depth on this topic here

“²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Did you catch that? The HOLY SPIRIT Himself, our advocate whom GOD The Father will send in the Name of Jesus will teach us all things, and HE will remind us of everything Christ has said!!!

Sister, don’t miss this! Yes we have a responsibility to read God’s Word, and as we take it in, Holy Spirit Himself will minister to us, He Himself will bring it to our remembrance!

He will do it! I am always amazed at my ability to recollect scripture, it is not because I have a pictographic brain, I’ll tell you that, and it certainly isn’t because I read my bible for hours a day, because in this season of my life with little ones, its much harder to.

I have trusted that no matter how much of His Word I take in for today, my daily Manna, it will be enough, and Holy Spirit will bring it to my remembrance when I need it.

I have believed in God’s ability to take my shortcomings, my brain that at times has a difficult time remembering and I’ve trusted He can redeem and renew all things, because His Word says so.

I pray this blog post blessed your heart, as it has blessed me to write these words to you.

Sister, were it not for Gods mercy and kindness towards me I would not be here sitting down to write you this message.

This one is not just for you sister, it is for our daughters, for our sons.

If this post has blessed you, would you please let me know in the comments. Your comments are my favorite to read.

Thank you dearly for all of your love and for sharing with your people.

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