Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Most of us have the
experience where all of a sudden we realize we are a little down ...
Very often the cause for this is taking in some form of destructive
thought. These fearful thoughts often come through TV shows, books,
memories, or by something said by another person.
Since they trouble us we don't want to think about them, so too often
we "sweep them under the rug" to get them out of our minds only to have
a depressed feeling surface later.
In the Bible we have scriptures telling us how to deal with troubling thoughts.
And if we will deal with these immediately, we will not suffer as we
do when we try to ignore these thoughts which trouble us. But it takes
a diligence to deal with destructive thoughts.
Part 1: Taking Thoughts Captive
We have to do what Paul instructed in the following scripture:
Phil.
4:6 ... Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
The first step is to turn to God with the trouble area and pray. Let your requests in the matter be made known unto God. What would you like God to do in your behalf?
Phil. 4:7 ... 7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
When we fail to deal in a spiritual way with negative thoughts, we may end up "forsaking our own mercy." Job. 2:8 ... They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Example:
Recently I wrote something as a teaching example. It was something
that happened with another person. Although I have no reason to think
this person would ever read anything I would write, still there was a
fearful thought. "What if he sees this. He might be angry that I
wrote this." (Although I did not use his name, he would know it was
what he did.)
Immediately I began praying. I
asked God not to let this hurt this man in any way. It was not
written to hurt anyone but rather to give the church an example of how
things can go wrong if you follow the wrong spirit which I'm persuaded
this man had done in this case.
James 4:7 ... Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
We submit ourselves to God in prayer as we take the problem to God.
If
we are reminded of a scripture after prayer, we "stand" on that
scripture, building our faith on that scripture, thereby resisting the
devil with the word God has given us in the matter after we pray. And
we have the promise that the devil will flee from us.
Many
of the destructive thoughts that come to us are from spirits of the
devil. And those spirits will often bring thoughts which are opposite
to God, thus the thoughts are "anti" Christ, opposite to the Word.
Paul explains: For
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting 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; II Cor. 10
When
something troubles people of the world they use fleshly ways to deal
with the trouble. Some clean out closets. Some go shopping. Some
pick up phone and share their troubles with another person. These
people "war after the flesh".
But our weapons are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." Brick by brick, as we pray over the situation, we remove that wall that has been build over the years by this type of problem.
"Casting down imaginations" ...
Haven't we often been troubled over nothing? Sometimes these
imaginations can eat up our lives and cause us to be in a type of
paralyses. But we have a secure weapon if we will use it. When we
belong to God we have access to the power of God which never fails. All
we have to do is turn to God in prayer and pour out our hearts to God
in prayer. And Paul says when we do this, the peace of God which
passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus (the word which comes to us after prayer). We place our faith in
what God gives us on the matter at hand.
Sometimes I can even feel the weight lift from my shoulders after I pray when I have been troubled over something.
And
there are many "high sounding thoughts" that come exalting themselves
against the knowledge we have of God. These are "anti-Christ" ...
opposite to the word of God. Nevertheless these are troubling thoughts
and must be dealt with through prayer.
Our first way of escape is to STOP ... AND PRAY ...
Sometimes we remember to pray over the "big" things ... but ignore the "little" things ...
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Song of Solomon 2:15
It is important to take those little things that trouble us to God also.
in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Phil. 4:6
When we fall asleep and let the troubles pile up without prayer, we put ourselves in danger.
Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring
lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9Whom resist stedfast
in the faith, I Peter 5
One of the aspects of "pure religion" in the sight of God is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.
James 1:27 ...Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit (judge) the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
This is all a part of taking thoughts captive to bring them into obedience of God.
(One thing I would warn you about. It is not sufficient to just read this writing. You must now do this writing to make your act complete. Therefore I encourage you to examine yourself immediately. Is there any fear? Is there any thing you dread in future? Is there any thing troubling you? You must take each problem area and turn to God and lay the problem out before God, asking HIM for help ... Asking God what HE wants you to do ... then you wait until you believe you have heard from God and then take appropriate action.)
To be continued tomorrow ...