Dealing With Destructive Thoughts

Chapter 1

 

Each 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 in a spiritual way 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. 

Where Did That Come From

Destructive thoughts are usually not humorous … However this one is …  A woman who sang at the church I once attended was a magnificent coloratura soprano. 

 One day she was driving along the street and came to a stop sign and stopped her car.  As she waited at the intersection, a thought came to her:

“Wouldn’t a cigarette taste good right now?”

She entertained this thought for a few seconds … and then she shouted aloud: 

“No … a cigarette wouldn’t taste good right now!” 

Emogene had never smoked a cigarette in her life.

Singers of her level do all things possible to protect their voices. 

 Where did that thought come from?

We really don’t know.  It could have come from an advertisement.  It could have come from hearing someone speak of needing a “smoke”.  It probably didn’t come from her own flesh since she had never smoked. 

 It is a destructive thought.

Jn. 10:10 … Jesus says ... 

 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Often destructive thoughts come from our own flesh … envy, strife, hatred, trying to be better than others, pride, arrogancy, and various lusts of the flesh and eyes.

Certainly the devil can send destructive thoughts.

The devil tempted Jesus: 

 Lk. 4  1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. 

And in those days HE did eat nothing: and when they were ended, HE afterward hungered. 

3 And the devil said unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 

5 And the devil, taking HIM up into an high mountain, shewed unto HIM all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan:for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and HIM only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought HIM to Jerusalem, and set HIM on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto HIM, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

 

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from HIM for a season.

Often the point of our greatest desire will be the entry for the temptation, especially if we want what others have and we have not been able to get such for ourselves.

You can begin to examine: 
 

What do I desire?

If you desire grandchildren and do not have any, likely everywhere you go you will encounter happy looking elderly people with grandchildren.

If you have overspent and built up credit card bills, you may find you are thinking about money constantly.

If you wanted to attend college but did not get to do so, you may find a strong temptation to pretend to others that you were a college person.

But we are of God and not of the world … therefore we have a way of escape … We can focus on that which God tells us … Things such as the following can help greatly.

The disciples of Jesus came to HIM asking:
 

Teach us to pray …

Jesus replied:

9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be THY name.

10 Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.

Amen.

One problem is we want our own name to be "hallowed".

Another problem we have is often our eyes are focused on this present world as if it is “our kingdom”.

And we want our own will to be done, just think of how we strive to get our way and to exalt ourselves on this earth.

Most of us have daily bread so that doesn’t satisfy us.  We aren’t even content for wanting more and greater.

Do we really want to forgive that awful person?  (It does help when we come to the understanding that Jesus died for awful people, of which we, ourselves are one of the awful.)

And do we really want to be delivered from that evil?  (Or are we trying to look attractive to draw the evil to ourselves and are we trying to be part of the crowd and approved by the evil doers?)

Much of the problem is a conflict between the way of our flesh and the way of God.  As we grow in God, doing HIS will in the various issues pertaining to this present life, we find ourselves more comfortable in the spirit as we live on this earth.

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