As I start to prepare for our new study of Joyce Meyer’s “Battlefield of the Mind” which begins in Sunday school on August 2, 2015, I found myself asking “I wonder how many words a person thinks a day?” So I started looking in to this question and the results I found are pretty incredible. The results varied quite a bit depending on the researcher but on the low side I read the average person thinks around 120 words per minute. That is 7,200 words per hour! Now multiply that by how many hours you are awake each day and the number is staggering! Now ask yourself: How many of those thousands of words that travel through your mind each day are positive and how many are negative?
It is no wonder the enemy fights us so hard in our minds! Each word through our mind is like a weapon and it is either pointed at the enemy’s camp, or our own. Imagine ten minutes of negative thinking is 1,200 negative arrows fired right at your spirit. Did you know you can have control over your thoughts and change negative thinking patterns? It is true! The Word of God even tells us so. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. We have Power over our minds and our mouths! Words are a powerful tool that can be used for the building up or tearing down and this is not just the words that come out of your mouth, this includes the ones that stay in your thoughts.
When we begin to think negative thoughts we must take action and take those negative thoughts captive and replace them with positive and truthful thoughts. Most battles can be won or lost in your mind. Here are some practical ways to combat negative thinking. For more information and to continue the study on this, please join us in Sunday school when we kick off this study in August.
1. Replace negative thoughts with the truth of God’s Word. Get his Word into your mind and heart so when the enemy comes at you with a lie like “there is no help for you and you should be condemned / ashamed.” You can combat it with “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1
2. Replace negative thoughts with words of Praise and Thanksgiving for the good things you have in your life. Example: You feel negative about your Job and what you do, replace those negative words with thankfulness for Gods provision with a job and for leading you to the right one in the right time.
3. Worship. Turn on some music or sing aloud and get your focus off of the problem and on to the problem solver!
