I was waking up from a deep sleep and started remembering my dream. Creepy, strange, real-feeling imaginations began filling my mind and making me feel gross and bothered. I tried to shake off the bad dream but throughout the day the thoughts kept coming to my mind.
The strange dreams occurred again the following night, and continued for an entire week! I found it harder and harder to move on because I was frustrated, confused, and embarrassed. The dreams at night turned into a mind battle during the day. I didn’t understand why I was having such strange thoughts. No matter what I did, I felt like my mind was out of control.
After a couple of days of struggling, it left me feeling far away from God, ashamed, confused, and also distant from my friends and family because of my embarrassment and shame. I wanted to solve and handle the problem or hoped it would go away, but it was all becoming frustrating and unbearable.
Have you ever had uncontrollable negative thoughts that make you feel awful? It’s okay, me too.
Continue reading to learn 5 helpful tools to help you stop negative thinking. These 5 tools are what helped me win the battle in my own mind, gain control in the midst of confusion, and ultimately set me free from a spiral of negative thinking.
1. Run to God for truth: Just because you think it, doesn’t mean it’s true
While I was experiencing unwanted negative thoughts, my mind became a lonely and scary place. I didn’t understand it myself, so I didn’t feel comfortable explaining to anyone else what I was thinking.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
I eventually mustered up the courage to talk to God and was able to share every negative thought I was having. As I sat and talked with God, confusion was traded for truth, and fear was traded for peace. I was reminded that only real truth is found in God’s word (Psalm 119). Just because I thought it, felt it, or even could justify and make my own sense of it, does not mean the thought is true.
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
God wants us to come to Him because we are His prized possession (James 1:18) and He welcomes us with open arms (Luke 15:11-32). We can have confidence running to Him (Hebrews 4:16) because God does not condemn us (John 3:17), and He is not worried (Matthew 6:25). He already knows our thoughts before we reveal them and He leads us in the right direction (Psalm 139:23-2).
2. You can’t fully control the thoughts you have, but you can control what you do with the thought
Thoughts are like waves constantly brushing up onto the shoreline of our brain. When one wave unexpectedly brings trash onto the shore, we can either leave the trash there or choose to pick it up. The choice to pick it up, throw it out, and forget about it, takes intention and effort. Sometimes a lot of effort! The trash is a pointless lie that doesn’t belong on our beautiful and valuable shore.
Contrary to trash, some waves bring treasures onto the shoreline of our brain as well. We can either leave the treasure there or choose to pick it up and hold it close to our hearts. In Luke 2:19, Mary is a great example of holding treasure close to her heart;
“but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often” Luke 2:19
Philippians 4:8 gives a list of the good treasures we should pick up and think about,
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
Having bad thoughts felt completely out of my control; like someone was intentionally throwing unwanted trash onto my shoreline. But picking up every single piece of trash and throwing it away was in my control. It took a lot of effort but was so worth it. It’s worth fighting this life-long battle because the thoughts we allow into our hearts are what our lives become.
“My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:12-27
3. We don’t fall into sin, we walk into sin. Negative thoughts can grow into sin.
You may have heard someone use the phrase “fell into sin”. I think it’s an odd phrase because we usually don’t trip and fall into sin, we more often walk into sin. Typically there is a growth process of evil that occurs over time. The first step of the process is when a negative thought grows into a visual image in our mind.
In Genesis 3:6, Eve is an example of sin growing. Her mind focused on visualizing the wrong thoughts, which resulted in sin.
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Genesis 3:6
Step 1: See it – “When the woman saw […] the fruit of the tree”
Eve saw the fruit with her eyes. She didn’t turn her eyes away.
Step 2: Think about it – “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom”
Her eyes were pleased with what she saw, which means she not only saw it with her eyes, but she thought about what she saw. You could say she contemplated it and meditated on it. Eve’s thoughts in her mind grew into desirable images, and she started justifying her desire to sin. The MSG version says Eve, “realized what she would get out of it”.
Step 3: Take it – “she took some”
Eve took the fruit into her hands. This is the first physical action, which occurred after lots of thought and imagining. Eve is now at the doorstep of sin. At this point, she could’ve still turned around.
Step 4: Sin – “ate it”
Eve sinned against God. Sin also usually impacts more than one person, in this case, her husband also sinned against God. All because of her bad thoughts growing into sin.
The process of sin growing reveals that sin is not something we fall into, it’s something we walk into. It grows one step at a time, and the first step is visualizing the thought; Thoughts turn into images in our mind, which turn into actions, which we then act on.
“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:15
4. Thoughts lead, emotions follow. Change what you focus on!
What happens on the inside, leads to actions on the outside. In 1 King 19, Elijah’s negative thoughts affected his emotions and led him astray.
“When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow, I have not killed you just as you killed them.” Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.” 1 King 19: 1-3a
Elijah was terrified and “fled for his life” because Jezebel verbally threatened to kill him. Understandably, that would be scary to hear someone threaten you. But in this scripture, the word “afraid” is also translated to the word “saw”. Elijah couldn’t see the future, but he “saw” what was spoken over him in his mind.
Meditating and visualizing the negative thoughts led to Elijah in 1 King 19:4-10 being suicidal, having low self-esteem, fear, anger, depression, worry, and anxiety.
“He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life…” 1 King 19:4b
As Elijah ran away and was hiding in a cave, God asked him,
“What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 King 19:9
You may view Elijah as dramatic and weak but don’t be so quick to judge. Right before Jezebel threatened to kill him, there was so much victory from God in Elijah’s life. God used Elijah in spectacular, supernatural, victorious ways.
Elijah’s story shows us that no matter how much you’ve seen God work in your life, you’re still human and susceptible to allowing a negative thought to be visualized, meditated on, and conceived into an action. Elijah’s thoughts and emotions on the inside led to actions on the outside, which completely derailed him from God’s purpose.
Just like Elijah, when I was experiencing recurring bad dreams at night, I was visualizing and focusing on the negative thoughts throughout the day, which led me to have negative emotions. When I focus on a lie or fear, my thoughts and emotions send me spiraling into mental confusion and chaos. We have to intentionally decide to reject and turn our back on negative thoughts. Elijah “fled for his life”, but instead we should run away from lies and towards the truth.
“…let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2b
5. Use the blood of Jesus to cleanse your mind
I was at Bible Study and another woman shared with the group an experience she previously had; A couple of years ago her son was experiencing nightmares. So her son and she anointed their house with oil and (using the authority Jesus Christ paid for them to have) told all evil spirits to leave their home. Immediately after, her son stopped having nightmares.
“Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.” Luke 10:19
When I heard this story, my first thought was “I’m having bad dreams, but my dreams weren’t nightmares, so I’m not bad enough to require this extreme of a solution”. My second thought was “That’s an extreme solution, and I’d look like a crazy woman doing that around my house. What would my husband think?” Then my third thought was “I’m not qualified and I don’t have fancy oil. I wouldn’t know what oil to use or what words to say.”
Yet, I believed my friend’s testimony and did the same thing.
Using the cooking olive oil I already owned, and the faith I now had, I walked around my house and put a cross shape of oil over my doors and on the wall above my bed and I told the enemy, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to get out of this house”. Nothing immediately happened at that moment. If anything, my dog was watching me confused, and later my husband asked “Why is there something shiny dripping on the wall?”
But praise God because that night, because of the blood of our faithful King Jesus Christ, and the powerful oil of the Holy Spirit, I finally stopped having bad dreams.
“Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.” Hebrews 9:13-15
Thank you, Jesus, for being my mediator. While I experience a battle in my mind and struggle to control my thoughts, your blood purifies my conscience, and sets me free!
Guided Prayer
God, thank you for helping me. I’ve been allowing trash to stay on the shoreline of my mind and heart for too long. I’ve called these negative thoughts the truth, and now I’m in a dangerous cycle. Please forgive me, purify my mind and heart, and set me free. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command these negative thoughts to be gone! Thank you Jesus for your blood. Please give me the strength and guidance to continue throwing away these thoughts, and help me focus on the truth. In Jesus name, Amen.
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