You're going to lose everything you won't come out of this
you're not smart enough you're not bright enough you waited too late
you should have started younger those are the kind of voices that we all live with
those voices are the kind of voices that stop you from buying into your own life
sometimes the thing that's holding you back is all in your head some of you right now you don't
have what God wants you to have it is no secret that many of us are weighed down right now by
uh some chronic fears or worries negative thoughts that can maybe cause you they just run away with
you at night and they spiral and and there's this anxious or toxic thinking we even believe the
lies of our enemy lucifer you're not good enough you'll never change you'll never measure up flat
out falsehoods that the devil designed to hold you hostage and keep you from the freedom and power
that's your birthright as a son or daughter of God the enemy's main tools are deception and lies
your mind is the bull's eye of his target if he can control your thinking he can control your life
you can't stop negative thoughts from coming but here's the key just because a thought
comes doesn't mean you have to think it you control the doorway to your mind ask yourself
where is this thought coming from if it's not positive hopeful encouraging it's not from God
that's the enemy doing what he does best trying to plant negative seeds fearful seeds inferior
seeds God said here in Isaiah if you'll keep your mind stayed on me I will keep you in perfect peace
what is your mind stayed on what are you dwelling on throughout the day
how many of you know that it's very very important that
we make every effort that we can to be positive
in life some people to be honest you could solve all your problems if you would just
change from being negative to positive the right approach is yes there's a lot of uncertainty
I don't know how it's all going to turn out but God I know you're my provider just as you take
care of the birds of the air feed and clothe them you're going to take care of me instead of keeping
your mind stayed on your problems stayed on the news stayed on doubt stay don't worry
keep it stayed on what God promised you and what we've discovered is that most of life's
battles are won or lost in your mind your mind is a battlefield and as a Christian you have a choice
you can believe satan's lies to you or you can believe God's truth about you
and the enemy always has some sort of tool or memory or situation that he uses to terrify you
even though the good times are here and and the dream is there the blessing is there
and the goodness is there but there's always this haunting nagging defiance
that says don't you relax you're not worth it you don't deserve it and it's not going to last
because everything else went away maybe this will go away too
we talk about faith for bad times but but you also need faith in good times to actually believe
the goodness of God is not going anywhere to silence the voices
that keep saying you'll never make it you're about to lose everything fear gets in your heart
you can change your outcome but you have to stop talking to yourself the way you do because if you
continue to talk to yourself the way you do you will always be where you've always been
it is what you say within yourself that heals you
you see those voices that say what you can't do what you can't have what you can't be what's
not gonna last what's not gonna work is how the enemy pulverizes the promises of God in your life
to talk back to those voices shuts the enemy down the pressure I was going through I was causing
because the pressure I was going through was coming from the things that I allowed
to reverberate in my head and I'm wondering if there are things echoing in your head right now
that are stopping you from living your best life because you will not silence them by speaking back
many times the problems that we think we have with our lives are actually problems with our thoughts
Proverbs 4:23 says you've got to carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true
life you are the narrator of your life so we have to fix our thoughts we have to fix our thoughts
Jesus wants to change your pattern of thinking and give you a new pattern amen that's why Romans 12:2
says do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
then you will learn to know God's will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect so it's
about the pattern if you think negative thoughts you'll become a negative person you will likely
find whatever you fix your focus on if you decide to look for what's good in life you'll find the
good if you decide to always look for what's bad about any given situation you'll find the bad and
if you don't decide in advance to fill your brain with Godly positive thoughts your human nature
will be more than happy to revert to its default setting which is looking for what's negative
Second Corinthians 10 verse 5 it says we take captive every thought to make it obedient to
Christ listen your thoughts are not in control of you you are in control
of your thoughts you cannot have an obedient life without having an obedient thought life
I mean I was a Christian for many many many years and loved God and couldn't figure out
why I just kept having so many problems and I didn't understand this stuff about the mind I
just thought that I couldn't help what I thought I can't help what I think and I didn't have any
idea that I could cast down wrong thoughts or I could shut my mind against thoughts that I didn't
have to just receive everything that fell into my head and just take it as my own and roll it over
and over and over in my mind your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts
in other words what you tend to think about comes out in your life in fact the wisest guy in the
bible Solomon in Proverbs 23 described it this way he said for as a person thinks in his heart
so is he in other words what do we know the life you have is often a reflection of the thoughts
you think the life you have is a reflection of the thoughts you think what you think determines
who you become in other words if you think you can't do something guess what you probably won't
right if you think you can by God's grace you probably will try or at least you will try
if you fixate only on your problems you get up and you say man the world is bad it's going to hell
in a handbasket life is hopeless guess what you will get overwhelmed by 8 o'clock in the morning
but instead if you actually renew yourself in the Holy Spirit renew saturate your brain in scripture
if you believe with faith no no whatever comes today it can be hard but I can tap
it to God's strength God has good stored up for me good works he's planned in advance
you'll actually discover some solutions and you're going to watch your faith grow
see if you always feel like you're a victim of your circumstances guess what you will probably
live like a victim for most of your life but if you actually take the truth of God say no no I'm
not a victim I'm actually more than a conqueror by the love and power of Christ at work within me
you can overcome anything the truth is the life you lead is a reflection of the thoughts you think
thoughts shape action action shapes behavior behavior shapes your destiny
get your mind going in the right direction and your life will go in the right direction
you're going to draw in what you're constantly thinking about if you're thinking can't do it
thoughts I'm not enough this problem's too big you're drawing in defeat that's making you weaker
your gifts are being pushed down your faith is being diminished how much further will you go
how much happier will you live how much more of God's favor will you see if you'll guard your mind
if you'll be selective in what you're dwelling on if you'll keep it stayed on him there are lies
that the devil actually peddles to you all the time do you ever find yourself thinking you know I
I just can't change you know even if I try I'll always be overweight my family's always
struggle with that or or will always be in debt you know my family we're just not good with money
or marriage like I'm just you know it's just he's never going to change
I'm no good at relationships you know whenever I start to grow close I do something to screw it up
in fact I'm a screw-up you know I can't believe God would care about somebody like me
listen to me that's the voice of your enemy he's waging war on the battlefield of your mind to keep
you captive you know what Jesus called satan a liar and a punk listen to this he said there is
no truth in him when he lies this is the devil he speaks his native language for he is what a
liar and the father of lies in other words he give birth to lies all the time so understand satan is
an enemy he's always looking for a place in your mind where you may agree with a falsehood that is
not true the devil will get you on either side his whole strategy is to get you to buy into something
that is untrue about God or yourself to lead you away from God's freedom and healing and purpose
for your life everything with the devil is ever and never it's never going to change and it's
always going to be that way his favorite thing is to tell you how no good you are
and how all you do is make mistakes and how your life is over and you're never going to get over
your past and nobody cares about you and you're not going to get the job and you're not going
to get the raise and you'll never have a new car and before long whatever thoughts you've
been repeating that's your default thinking and if it's negative it creates guess what
a stronghold because if you believe a lie for long enough and your mind starts to act well this
this lie is true you get stuck in a rut I want you to imagine this you guys see how this works
if you walked out in your front yard and you walked across your lawn in a certain pattern for a
hundred days straight same line same path to your car thousands of steps what do you think's gonna
happen to your lawn right your create a pathway in your yard same thing if you think on a lie for
a hundred days straight you will start to believe the lie and it will create this neural pathway for
your brain just to run off with it you can call it stinking thinking it's where lies get lodged
in your mind and they create this stronghold you can't change but with God's help we're going to
renew our minds like Paul says we're going to actually stay off that old path and you
know what actually happens by the way if you stay off your lawn for 100 days what happens the grass
grows back I'm gonna put a new pathway in my brain towards God's truth Paul says do not conform to
the what pattern of this world you could translate that don't be conformed to the pathways of the
world these wrong patterns of thinking but be transformed by what renewing of your mind
Paul's like stay off that destructive negative pathways of lies and replace it for God's truth
here's a simple principle when a negative thought comes erase it and replace it
it's not enough to just not think negative because once you dismiss it once you make
that decision I'm not dwelling on that I'm not letting that worry in that's good the problem is
it'll come back in a few seconds once you erase the negative replace it with a positive thought
don't leave your mind empty the thought comes nothing good's in your future dismiss it don't
give it the time of day then take the next step father you promised the path of the righteous
my path is getting brighter and brighter you said my latter days will be better than my former days
when the thoughts come this problem's too big the opposition too strong you'll never get past it you
can let that play and live defeated discouraged intimidated or you can replace it with what God
says father you said when the enemy comes against me one way you would defeat them and cause them
to flee seven different ways and yes this may be too big for me but I know it's not too big for you
maybe you're here and you think you know I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not enough my family wasn't enough
I I'm not a good enough parent or I I I I can never get it all done and you're going to take the
truth of God that says I can do all things through Christ who gives me what strength even when I'm
weak that's when Christ is at his strongest maybe you feel like I'll never be attractive enough
I don't like the way I look in the mirror no no no you are beautifully and fearfully and wonderfully
made by the grace of God he's given you beautiful gifts to make a difference in this world maybe
you're like I'm Tim I'm just always going to be miserable I'm always going to feel depressed no
no the joy of the Lord can be your strength the moment the liar whispers to you you're gonna be
alone I'm never alone Christ has promised Jesus will never leave me never forsake me
the devil whispers no no you're nothing but a victim no no no God's word says I am more than
a conqueror through Christ who loved me and gave himself up for me amen you have to declare war
I am not who others say I am I'm not even who my own lying mind says I am I am who God says I am
you will know the truth and the truth will set you free you cannot have a positive life when
you have a negative fear-filled mind what comes into your mind comes out in your life
and so Paul says take it captive every thought capture that lie name it I forbid you entry
remove it and replace it with the truth of God and by the power of God
you will break that stronghold because Jesus holds the key that sets every prisoner free amen