Thoughts fill our heads and who knows how many of them are actually our thoughts? They come from somewhere, but where?
If you were to take each thought out, hold it in front of you like a piece of laundry, and examine it, you might discover that many of those thoughts are not actually yours at all. Rather, they come from someone else.
Perhaps some of them may relate to a value judgment someone in your past has made. Judgments that may even impact how you view yourself. Harsh words can rattle around in the echo chambers of our minds for years at a time if we let them. And over that time, they can transmogrify themselves into conclusions that impact our identity.
“You’re not as attractive as your sister,” becomes “I’m ugly.”
“You’ll never amount to much,” becomes “I’m stupid.”
“Your brother is the standout of the family,” becomes “I’m average.”
And over time, we mistake someone else’s thoughts for our own. They become our reality.
As I moved into adulthood, I took an inventory of the thoughts ricocheting around in my mind. I’d read
The Bondage Breaker and I just wanted to be rid of any extra baggage that I might, perhaps without even knowing it, be carrying around with me. Where did they come from? Were they grounded in reality or were they really someone else’s distorted perception of reality? Was the enemy of my soul using those words to weigh me down?
I’m so glad I asked those questions and got free. God wanted to supply the answers that I’d been finding elsewhere. Life is complicated enough without having my mind cluttered with thoughts that aren’t my own.
How about you? Why not take an inventory today and get free? Let the Father, your creator, talk to you about who you really are and why you are. He wants to complete the exchange and bring us to an awareness of those thoughts that are not our own, trading the reality we’re living with for his.
Thank you Seth for this though ,it is great how the Holy Spirit embrace us, it is more the peaceful.
A blessed day to you all!
Our thoughts are supposed to be taken captive and submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ. It was brought to me to watch this amazing and life changing sermon from a pastor from Uganda. I don’t know if you have ever heard of him but please watch and share this. It is the most stirring sermon I believe I have ever watched. Had me on my face seeking God for understanding into my own life and heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVtNfY3ebSc
It’s worth every minute of your time and I hope many see this. God bless you!
Thanks, Sandy. I’m watching it now.
Hmm… The best example I can recall in my own life is when someone says something that happened (that dealt with me) and encompassed my passions, therefore I subconsciously claim it as my own reality. That stuff can be very dangerous and has proven to be so in the past. Good blog, Seth. This passes the thought of thorough examination and prayer through my mind all the more.
I realized recently (in my mid-40’s) that I was constantly listening to the voice of the “critic” in my head. It was the words of my worst critics twisted into something much darker than what they were actually saying.
I think it was my way of continually telling myself just how much I fall short of who I want to be. Yet I had had grown accustomed to it over the years and didn’t realize how twisted it was.
Yikes! I was appalled when God revealed how deep and how ugly it was. I am no longer listened to that critic!
Thanks Seth for always highlighting more paths to freedom.
This is a timely message for me. Thanks for being a channel of blessing Seth!
Step 4; “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” In Richard Rohr’s “Breathing Underwater” he writes;
“Moral scrunity is not to discover how good or bad I am and to regain some moral high ground, but it is to begin some honest shawdow boxing which is at the heart of all spiritual awakening. Yes, “the truth will set you free” as Jesus says, but first it tends to make you miserable”
Rohr writes an outstanding guide through the 12 Steps, I recommend it to anyone on a spiritual journey to remove the obstacles bewteen you and God. Seth I continue to be amazed at how much of your writing often aligns with the language and heart of the recovery community. Addiction is just another word for sin and recovery is another word for redeemed. Love ya, Steve
Seth,
I would like to know what you thought of the sermon I sent to you. Would you mind sending me an email on your convictions and thoughts regarding this?
Thanks
I’ll do that, Sandy. It’s long and I’m only half way thru.
It is long and I deeply appreciate you responding…
This is so true, most of these echoes come frm people we have admired along the way and when they get to say something negative,it tends to get us really down in the end we start to believe it. In the past, i ve always allowed such unnecessary whispers of such to get into my mind and have allowed nearly whole my life to believe what people say about me is true, BUT NOT ANY MORE!!!!!!!!!! iam on a journey, to block out all that /which will cause me a low self esteem or believe negatively abt me. I knw its a tough journey bt i am not turning back! no more !