Several years ago I wrote a Daily Devotional for StreamingFaith called “When Prayer Is Awkward” (Their Daily Devotional aren’t listed in more. I’ll link when they’re live.). Here’s one link of some of the other postings (here)
In response to that devotional, I received a huge number of comments, thoughts, feedback, and even testimonials of how timely the posting was for folks from all over the world (I’m thankful!).
I wanted to take a moment and specifically address two questions in particular. One I’ll do on this post. The other question, I’ll respond to on another post.
One respondent asked, “How do you keep random thoughts from coming in your head?”
See my response below:
Here’s the most simple and straightforward answer I can give you – you can’t! God has so wired the brain that we can’t stop thoughts from coming into our heads. What we do have control over is what we do with those thoughts. Let me first be clear that most thoughts are not random. They have a source. This is another point for another time, but I will say this – that based upon what we feed our brains, these thoughts are the residual effects of that food. At the point that we get a ‘random’ thought, our first responsibility is to critically check that thought to consider its source. Where did this thought originate from? All thoughts are like seeds. If they get rooted in your thought processes, they’ll even grow into something. Good seeds reap good fruit. Bad seeds reap bad fruit. In 2 Cor. 10: 5 (here) we read, “…and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Every thought must be filtered through God’s Word – The Bible. At this point, you decide if that thought stays or get evicted.
If it gets evicted, you must have the authority or power to evict it. The only thing that gives you that authority is God’s Word. So – when you have a thought that needs to be evicted, you evict it by replacing it with God’s Word. For example, if there’s a thought that comes to you while you’re sitting on the couch that says, “You’re never going to be successful. You’re going to always just be getting by…” The process is:
Question 1) Where did this thought come from?
Answer 1) It couldn’t have come from God because it’s not His character and not consistent with His Word, so it couldn’t come from Him.
Question 2) What do I do with this thought?
Answer 2) I evict it with scriptures that PROVE that this is not true.
Question 3) What are those scriptures?
Answer 3) There are many. But a few may be Deuteronomy 8: 18 (here); Jeremiah 29: 11 (here); Philippians 4: 13 (here); 3 John 1:2 (here).
Question 4) What happens if the thought keeps coming back or won’t leave?
Answer 4) You KEEP meditating, reciting, repeating those scriptures until it leaves. If it comes back, you keep repeating, meditating, repeating, and even, memorizing (Don’t take NO for answer!!!) This instruction is based on Philippians 4: 8 (here).
I’ll post Part 2 in a few days.
I hope I’ve made this process simple enough to make sense, be able to be applied to your life, and will cause life transformation for you! Happy Faith Walking! Live Inspired!