Protecting Yourself from Self-Defeating Thoughts {Part 3}

Here we are at the third and final week of 21 Days to Unconditionally Delight in God’s love! I pray that over the last couple of weeks, God has revealed Himself to you. That you are coming to a place of embracing and fully knowing Him and His deep love for you. I pray that He has given you “aha” moments and given you eyes to see the vastness of His love and how it differs from all others. How it fills a place in your heart unlike any other.

And I pray today you are ready to make the next step. You are armed with the power of knowing Him and the depth and difference of His love – now it is the process of letting that knowledge sink in and overtake the noise of the world.

It doesn’t happen easily. The enemy uses the noise of the world to distract us and pull us away from the truth we know. It takes developing discipline to fight the enemy and the self-defeating thoughts he relentlessly whispers through our minds. A discipline that can be broken down into 3 Intentional efforts.

Recognizing the Lies

In order to protect ourselves against self-defeating thoughts, we must be tuned into all the thoughts passing through our minds and we must recognize the ones that are self-defeating.

I love this meme.

Can I get an “Amen”?

And are all those thoughts healthy? I doubt it.

In the midst of those 3,241 open tabs, self-defeating thoughts labeling us as “less than” run through our mental news reel.

Allowing those unrestricted run is dangerous. We must take hold of those thoughts.

But how do we know the ones that are truth and the ones that are lies? Usually, lies will settle a heaviness upon your spirit. They may be feelings of condemnation, depression, shame, or inadequacy. They will usually point fingers and diminish worth.

In order to protect ourselves from self-defeating thoughts,we must first tune into our thoughts!
Click To Tweet

These are three verses I believe will remind us to stay alert to our thoughts. They are included in this weeks 7 Printable Scripture Cards.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:8 NIV

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 NIV

Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. -Proverbs 4:23 GNB

Pray Against the Lies

Prayer is always our first answer. It’s our direct line to communication with God. Our relationship with Him will only deepen through prayer. And now that we are alert to our thought system and recognizing the self-defeating thoughts, we can give them to the Lord in Prayer. We can speak His Name against the lies and cancel their power.

Lord, Thank You that You have promised in Your Word to deliver us when we cry out to You. I come to You and ask that You deliver me from the thoughts that label me as less than who You created me to be. I ask You to free me from any strongholds the enemy may be using against me. Please continue to keep me alert to Your discerning spirit so that I may recognize self-defeating thoughts for exactly what they are –lies. And may I be strengthened to recognize and give each thought to You. Then, Lord,  I cancel them in Your precious name and ask You to replace them with Your truth. May Your truth be embedded deep within my soul so that even when my memory fails me, my spirit recognizes evil and knows Truth. Please protect me in each of the enemy’s attacks and keep me brave. Hearing each call and following you without fear or insecurity. May I step out boldly in Your name pursuing all the dreams You have placed on my heart. And may Your love be forever planted in my heart so that even when someone else is being used by the enemy to attack my spirit, their failure or rejection of me will not leave me burdened with feelings of self doubt. Thank you for Your unfailing love that is designed to fill my every need. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Prayer is our first strategy for everything. #selfdefeatingthoughts #truth #prayer
Click To Tweet

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17 NIV

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.       2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT

Replace the Lies With Truth

Our final step is to intentionally replace each self-defeating thought with God’s truth. It is something we need to think internally, but also give voice to! Speak it out loud! God’s Word sends the enemy running!  And the more we can train our minds to think in positive truth, the less of a chance the enemy will have even initiating the whisper. Here are a few examples.

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. -Isaiah 44:22 NLT

So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them. -Isaiah 55:11 MSG

Recognize,pray,replace ... 3 steps to protect yourself from self-defeating thoughts. #truth #lies
Click To Tweet

I also wanted to share these posts with you from over at my friends, Barbie and Carrie, at Weekend Whispers. Their posts the last couple of weeks have been on exactly this topic. The words of their stories are sure to bless and encourage you!

And in case you new here and missed the first two posts of this series, below are links to help you get caught up!

Week 1 – Fully knowing God. His majesty, His power, His perfection.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? – Psalm 8:3–4

Week 2 – Grasping the depth of God’s love for us and how His love differs from all others.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. John 4:16 ESV

I wanted to mention, too, that I made a new gift for subscribers! It is a collection of 7 Original Thank You Cards. I feature Ephesians 1:16 “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” I first thought of making my own cards when Selah and I began frequenting doctors’ offices and hospitals. We have been hugely blessed by many of these people from front office staff to surgeons. I wanted a way to say Thank You that would represents our hearts correctly. I couldn’t find the right kind of cards. So, I decided to make my own! I pray these cards are a blessing to you!!! If you are already a subscriber but would like the link to print these cards, just send me a quick email and I would love to send that link to you!

Subscribe to get both a companion journal &the new 7 Original Thank You Cards!Come join me!…
Click To Tweet

And, as always, I link up to some fantastic bloggers each week. Click on the “Link Party List” tab in the menu to see where!

The post Protecting Yourself from Self-Defeating Thoughts {Part 3} appeared first on Lori Schumaker.