Counselor’s Corner: Out With the Old and in With the New

Ask God what old things need to be discarded in your life, and what new things He is wanting to bring into your life. You may have to get rid of the old before God can make room for the new. Some things no longer work for us, and we need to have wisdom to what those things are. If you are going to purchase a new car and your old car is still in the garage, how can you make room for that new car? Some will try and fit the new car with the old car, but why would you want to hold onto your old car if it no longer is working? Some of us need to stop holding onto to the things in our past, so that God can make room for the new things He is trying to bring to pass.

Reflect and Ponder: Ask yourself what is no longer working in your life? For example you want to go forward in your life and experience all that God has for you but you are still holding onto selfishness and pride. Perhaps God is asking you to let go of worry and fear. Anything that could be hindering you from moving forward God very well may have you to remove these before preceding to what He has for you next. If you have gotten yourself into the habit of complaining, God may have you deal with this before experiencing your breakthrough or blessing that you have been waiting for.

Counselor’s Corner:

Before we can move into our new season we have to let go of the old first:

“Old what you may be asking?”

1.         Old attitudes that kept us in the “wilderness,” and moving into our “promised land.” These attitudes include: complaining, murmuring, fault-finding, covertness, thanklessness, and idolatry.

2.         Old mind-sets. Allowing our minds to think whatever it wants, and not taking every thought captive into the obedience of Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Thinking thoughts that are negative, faithless, and hopeless. Some of us have strongholds and lies that we have believed for years and need to be torn-down by renewing our minds in the Word of God.

3.         Holding onto the old things of the past. Some friendships, ministries, and possibly marriages did not succeed but when we hold onto these things and condemn ourselves repeatedly for our past mistakes we cannot move forward. Ask God to forgive you if you need to, and believe that God has forgiven you and that He does not want you dwelling in your past any longer. (Philippians 3:13-14).

Moving forward into our promised land will require “letting go” of former things. Former things that are no longer working for us, and possibly areas of sin in our lives that must be dealt with. It hurts to let go, but sometimes it hurts more to hold on.

MEDITATE ON THESE SCRIPTURES:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!

Isaiah 43:18

Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Jesus Christ.

Philippians 3: 14

If what you are doing in your life is not working, it is time to make some changes. The mental health definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Is it time for change?

Why Resting Your Mind is Important

So many people are in a continually state of unrest. It is important that you take time to rest your mind, body, and spirit. Otherwise, your entire system will be out of balance. When you system gets out of balance you can be susceptible to illness, negative thinking, depression, anxiety and fatigue.

How does one get in a state of unrest? Being constantly geared-up, worried, anxious, and fearful, thinking the worst, and not allowing your mind to just rest. As well as not eating properly, not getting enough exercise and not spending time with God.

To take a rest in your mind would mean to stop all thoughts that would pose a threat to your state of peace. If you’re constantly thinking about worrisome thoughts your body will react to the stress. If you think negative thoughts and stressful thoughts your body will begin to react.

It is important to balance your system back with prayer, spending time with God, eating right, exercising, letting go and letting God, and giving your mind a rest from anxious, worrisome and fearful thoughts. If your mind is in a continually state of unrest you will eventually feel tired and worn-out and generally not feel well (malaise).  Your body will feel tense, you may have sore muscles, headaches, and possible TMJ.

Get to the “roots” of why you are in a chronic state of unrest. In other words, what are the underlying causes of your stress? What keeps you up at night? It is not God’s will for you to be under stress and unbalance. You might have to slip away from the hectic lifestyle you live or the busyness you are under and come into the presence of Jesus who can unmask why you in a state of unrest. Step away from the cares of this world long enough to hear God and how He wants you to handle your situations. Go to a quiet place and sit before the Lord. Get quiet and balance your emotions. There is a word God will breathe upon you and enlighten you with.

Take care of your body as well, begin to eat balanced nutritious meals as well as light exercising. Walking is a great way to relieve stress and unrest. Take a multi-vitamin as well as a good B-vitamin. This is a holistic approach to your unrest but you have to take care of not only your body but your mind and spirit as well. Balance every area of your life. All of your parts are interconnected, your mind, your body and your spirit. If one area is out of balance you will feel it in the other areas as well. Have you ever noticed when you are physically sick you’re not as spiritually strong? But have you noticed when you are physically, mentally and spiritually strong how good you feel? Always be guarded and aware when one or two areas are out of balance. Realign the ones that need to be rebalanced.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest. Mark 6:31

What suggestions can you give to maintain balance and rest in your life?

Choose your Thoughts!

I am not even up good in the morning and before my feet hit the floor, the battlefield starts in my mind. I think to myself, “Let me get a hot cup of coffee before the onslaught of negative thoughts starts.” I have to CHOOSE to begin saying to myself first thing in the morning, “This is the day the Lord has made and I will be glad and rejoice in it, or joy comes in the morning.” I have to speak life over myself and I do not always feel like doing it. Get past your feelings; otherwise, you could end up lying in bed all day or you could CHOOSE to set your day negatively by the words you speak over yourself first thing in the morning.

For additional reading on thinking, check out my book:
Wilderness Mentality Stop your Stinkin' Thinkin'

Many of our thoughts are random, some are from the enemy, some are from past experiences, and some are from God. You must differentiate which thoughts are coming to your mind and from what source. Our mind can also be passive, and that is not necessarily a good thing because a passive mind can open the door to the enemy planting his thoughts into our minds. The only sure way to win the battle in our minds, is taking every thought captive and asking yourself, “Is this thought from God?” If it is not from God, immediately replace that thought with God’s Word and faith-filled statements. DO NOT ponder, dwell, or analyze your thoughts too much. In other words, if you get a thought in your mind like,” Your such a failure,” you can know immediately that did not come from God. So many times when we get a thought like that we come into agreement with the thought and when we do that we have now believed the lie the enemy was trying to get planted in our minds to become a stronghold. A stronghold forms after not taking captive thoughts that come into our minds and CHOOSING to accept the lie as a truth. We must discipline our minds to take EVERY thought captive immediately, because if wait to do so that thought will be implanted into our minds. Once a thought gets implanted in our minds, it takes a lot of work to remove that thought. Think of it like a seed that gets planted, if you go and dig up the seed right after it is planted it can be easily removed, but if you wait until that seed has grown and developed deep roots it will take a lot more to uproot that plant. Our thoughts are similar, once a thought gets “roots” it will take a lot more effort to dig up the roots.

We have to constantly monitor what is coming into our minds. The enemy is clever and will disguise his voice to sound like yours, so you believe the thought is coming from you and not the enemy. If we are not thinking on thoughts that are lovely, excellent and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8), we need to stop the thought immediately! Yes, there are times when something will cause you pain or upset you, and your thoughts may really have difficulty thinking about anything good or praiseworthy, but we can cast our care on God (Psalm 55:22), and believe He will work out ALL things for our good (Romans 8:28).

We have between 12,000 and 60,000 thoughts per day, or 35-48 thoughts per minute. That is a lot of thoughts to have in one day, and research supports that many of our thoughts were exactly the same as the day before! 80% of our thoughts are negative, but we have the ability to change that. Negative thoughts are life draining. Thoughts such as, “should,” “ought to”, “never, “or “can’t” are particular draining to us mentally.

It is important that we are so filled with God’s Word that we will immediately know when a thought comes to us that is not from God.

For years, neuroscientists believed the brain was fixed and immutable but new research suggests that we can rewire our brains! It is possible to reset our happiness and joy meters! I have always believed this, but when I was in college studying Psychology I was taught that our brains were hard-wired from birth and could not be changed. Research now shows our minds can be set free from depression and even addictions by CHOOSING the right thoughts! Science simply confirms what scripture has been saying all along, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good.” Philippians 4:8. The words think, thought, and mind are used hundreds of times in the Bible. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinks, so is he.”

When someone has experienced significant trauma or setbacks in their lives, it can cause patterns of thinking that are toxic. These toxic thoughts can become automatic as one engages in life. These toxic thoughts must be exposed to the healing and truth in God’s Word. It may take a while for toxic thoughts to be completely removed in someone’s mind, but by renewing the mind often in God’s Word and saying scriptures out loud that speak the opposite of the toxic thought will cause a shift in toxic thinking.

But we can retrain our brain no matter what experiences we have had! If you truly desire to be that joy-filled, optimistic, sunny person, you can be no matter what your genetics are or your circumstances! If you CHOOSE to take every thought captive and renew your mind with God’s word for the next 21 days, you will have formed a new habit of right thinking.

What are some negative thoughts that you need to “fast” from for the next 21 days:

·        Anxious and worry

·        Fearful

·        Guilt

·        Condemnation

·        Discouragement

·        Self-defeat

·        Failure

·        Unworthiness

·        Self-belittling

·        Criticism of self or others

·        Judging self or others

·        Complaining

·        Fault-finding

·        Ruminating the past

·        Dwelling on painful memories

·        Thinking about your problems/difficult circumstances

·        Thinking thoughts like, should, ought to, need to, or can’t

·        Focusing on what is wrong in your life (lack)

·        Thinking negative thoughts that God does not love you or bless you

·        Thinking hopeless thoughts or believing that everything will always be this way

·        Believing you are rejected

·        Believing you are not good-enough or smart enough

·        Worst-case scenarios

·        Other people have it better than I do, or they are more blessed than me

·        Self-pit or being the victim

·        Comparing yourself to others

·        Caring what others think of you

·        Discontentment

Any other negative thoughts that you need to fast from for 21 days?