Casting 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. {2 Corinthians 10:5}
So I was washing dishes and cleaning in my kitchen when I caught myself getting upset over an imaginary scenario in my head. It’s some issue that happened in my past with a person that had done something I thought was pretty stupid, and now I see myself being confronted by that person and me defending myself. The thing this person did that bugged me actually happened in real life, but the confronting scenario was all from my imagination. I found myself getting upset and agitated because of what she was saying to me, and what I felt like I needed to say back to her. Yes, it sounds pretty foolish and ridiculous because this was all me making everything up. But I have had this happen to me time and time again – replaying a scene in my past and creating a whole new scenario of what I should’ve said and what I think the other person will say to me, on and on and on. In times’ past I would get myself so worked up I would end up back in bed under the covers, completely depressed because I can’t deal with anything else anymore. It’s this battle in my mind that rages and I can’t seem to control it.
But today the Lord has shown me again where this comes from – it’s the work of the enemy! The Lord showed me Satan’s objective is to get me upset, to get me frustrated, and to get me feeling unhappy so that it would derail me from focusing on the Lord and doing His work. Not only that, Satan simply enjoys tormenting souls. He loves to see God’s creation unhappy. He wants the people of God to get so worked up that we will turn around and blame God for our unhappiness. He uses our mind against us, which connects to our heart and how we feel about God. If we’re not careful we can end up thinking evil thoughts against God. This is his aim, to make us hate God and to be unhappy in our relationship with Him.
I find that when my goal everyday is to keep my heart and my mind upon the Lord, and I am always talking to Him and committing my thoughts to Him, He then helps me recognize my thoughts. In times’ past I didn’t even know I did this – have conversations in my head that go on and on in merry go round. Creating scenarios that partially happened, but most of time never happened and I end up getting upset and getting depressed. It’s such a wasteful use of my time and my brain cells. The past is over. I can’t do anything about it anymore. It’s foolish to keep replaying things over and over again and then creating new scenes in my mind that would most likely never happen, and get myself so worked up in the process that I can’t even function for the rest of the day. This time, I turned to the Lord and said to Him, “Why am I thinking these thoughts? I don’t want them. Who cares what this person has done? I don’t care anymore.” That’s when the Lord said to me, “It’s Satan. Rebuke him.” When I finally did rebuke Satan I felt free. The merry go round of oppressive thoughts stopped. This is why the scripture tells us,
In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. {Proverbs 3:5}
It really does help to talk to the Lord all the time. It helps so much to talk to the Lord for everything, to acknowledge Him, to get Him involved in our thoughts and to commit everything to Him. It may seem like such an innocent thing to be replaying the past or even scenarios in the present that we want control over by creating our own version. But if it’s leaving us upset and angry and depressed, we need to learn to lift these thoughts up to the Lord. We need to learn to get into the habit of getting the Lord involved with our every thought and desire we have in this life. No one else cares about us as much as He does. No one else can help us overcome the battle in our minds that rages except the Lord. He alone knows how to help us overcome them, because He alone understands the principalities of this world that we don’t see. There is nothing to be afraid of, because He already knows what we’re thinking about and what we’re entertaining in our thoughts. There is nothing we need to hide from Him. If we hide things from Him and not talk to Him about them, He cannot help us. Plus, just because it’s in our minds doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right or true, or that it’s even our own idea. Sometimes the enemy of our soul is planting these thoughts in our heads to get us to become unhappy. Who is going to show us that this is happening except the Lord? The only solution to these things is to commit our every thought and our every plan to the Lord. Proverbs tells us,
Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. {Proverbs 16:3}
Apostle Peter tells us,
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you. {1 Peter 5:7}
Just to be on the safe side, I also asked the Lord to keep this person that upset me in the past from showing up in my future, and saying the things I had created in my mind that she would say to me. Thank the Lord because He cares about us so much that even when it’s just our imagination He takes us seriously, because He understands our fears. He told me and assures me that it’s not going to happen, and that it’s going to be all right. The Lord also told me to stop entertaining these thoughts. Just because the enemy planted them doesn’t mean I should go on entertaining them.
I love the Lord so much because He cares so much for us. I love these scriptures Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians. He told them,
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. {Philippians 4:7}
The Lord cares so much for us. There is not a thought or a desire or even an imagination in our hearts that He doesn’t care about. He cares about everything that links us to our joy and happiness with Him in this life. He wants us to always be happy with Him, and to belong to Him forever and ever. Our thoughts and our imaginations, our mind, is the vehicle that brings us either closer to God or away from Him. That’s why He wants our every thought and every desire, whether good or bad, shared with Him because then He can direct our thoughts and our desires in the right path towards Him. The Lord loves us so much. Jesus tells us,
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. {John 14:27}
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee. {Isaiah 26:3}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You Father with all of my heart for Your love for me. Thank You that Your desire is to give me Your peace that is everlasting and Your joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. You overcame death, hell and the grave and all the principalities of this world for me so that I too can overcome the world today.
Father, I pray that You will give me the mind to commit everything to You, in all my ways to acknowledge You so that You can direct my paths. Help me to love You more and more. Help me everyday to bring all my desires and my thoughts to Your power. I also ask for more faith in Your love for me Father, in Your most wonderful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.