Getting Rid of Stinkin' Thinkin'

Have you ever tracked what you think about all day?  Have you ever let one thought, lead to another, to another and before you know it you’re in a bad mood?  

I use to think…. this is just the way I am, this is just the way I think.  I can’t help it, I’m emotional.  I have the right to think this way about this situation or this person.

I started reading The Battlefield of the Mind and listening to Joyce Myers podcasts.  I realized that I was wrong, God has always given me A CHOICE, even in my thoughts.  I get to choose what goes in my mind, which results in what comes out my heart and mouth.  The battle is not in circumstances.  We all have circumstances; marriage issues, kid issues, money issues, people issues, work issues.  The battlefield starts in the mind.  You want to transform your actions, then allow God to transform your thoughts.  

Romans 12:2 says:

"Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you THINK.  Then you will know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

Did you catch that?  We don't have to change our circumstances or the people around us, we need to allow God to change our thinking, our stinkin' thinkin'.  I had a real honest conversation with God asking him where my stinkin' thinkin' is.  These thoughts do not go away, each thought is a battle in its own BUT I know I have the weapon to overcome.  I can have victory over them.  

MY STINKIN' THIKIN'

      1. Fears and Insecurities

I have a few fears and insecurities but the one I let control me is the fear of infidelity.  I use to struggle with the fear that Randy will cheat on me for no reason and I would act really irrational at times.  When he leaves for travel I would let my mind wander and before you know it, in my thoughts he was with another woman.  I know this comes from an insecurity because I’ve seen lots of infidelity in my family, but God was saying no more.  My empty crazy fear was not fair to him and not fair to us.  No more letting my mind wander, spending the week paranoid while he was gone. 

WEAPON:  SELF CONTROL [Galatians 5:22-23, 2Peter 1:5-9]

My go to power prayer is 2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and self control."

It took power and self control to stop the thought in it's tracks and keep it from growing.  Self control isn't just stopping it but it is also replacing it with something else.  I stopped it with affirmations as to why my soap opera scenario is irrational.  I stopped the thought and called him and just talking for a moment would be affirmation enough. 

       2. Difficult People

This is an area God has been poking.  There are about four people in my life that bring out the worst in me.  They are not bad people, they just induce stress for me.  The things they do and say can spark my ugliness.  The ugliness spreads and turns to gossip.  Pushing them down with my words to lift myself up.  I have to say this stinkin' thinkin' is my biggest challenge, the thoughts that make me want to think bad about another person.

WEAPON: THE GOOD TRUTH

This is the weapon God has given me and it works even with my “enemies”.  I say the good truth because these people that I say are difficult, have goodness.  So when I feel that stirring of frustration I start listing their good traits, not their offenses against me or my annoyances.  I list the reasons why I must be difficult for them to deal with.  I don't want anyone to ever have the power to spark that ugliness inside.

  

       3. ME ME ME

       I admit to you that I fall into the it's all about me thoughts.  How I am not being considered, not being loved, what about my feelings, what about everything I have done?  Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.  I actually have a story to share about how God showed me my stinkin' thinkin' in this area so this will be continued.

Battlefield of the Mind showed me that my biggest battle is with ME, with my thoughts.  It’s a battle that I don’t have to be defeated in if I pay attention to the attacks and partner with God to fight.  I can control my thoughts even when my emotions want to take them down the road of despair.   I can control my thoughts when the situation justifies my desire to throw a pity party.  I have power over my fears.  I can control my thoughts about others and decide how they affect me.  

When I trade in my thoughts and allow God to change them to His, transformation happens.  Fear becomes confidence.  Hate turns into love. Bitterness turns into forgiveness.  Anger into patience.  The offended hurt me starts to see the hurt in someone else.  It's empowering to know that God has given me the ability to control my thoughts and emotions, I don't have to buy into the lie that this is just how I am and I have a right to stay this way.  

REFLECTION

1. What are is your stinkin’ thinkin’?  Do your thoughts control you or are you in control of your thoughts? 

2. What will you choose to fill your mind with in place of these thoughts?

3. Is there anyone in your life that causes stinkin’ thinkin’? 

4.  Have you spent more time thinking about how they should change instead of giving these people to God and asking Him how he can change you? 

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