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67. Negative Thoughts or Spiritual Warfare? How Leaders Discern · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Corina: You live in accordance with the Spirit because you have the Holy Spirit inside of you and therefore your mind is set on what the Spirit desires. Your mind is governed by the Spirit and that brings life and peace. What we need to do, our responsibility is to get rid of anything that doesn't line up with that because this is the reality of who you are. If you are born again, if the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, then you get the free of a mind and a life that is led by the Spirit.
• 0:33
  Josh: If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare,
• 0:38
  Corina: and you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your calling as a leader,
• 0:43
  Josh: you're in the right place. Welcome to Believe and Become.
• 0:46
  Corina: We're Josh and Corina your spirit filled coaches here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:53
  Josh: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the everyday,
• 0:59
  Corina: silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in.
• 1:11
  Josh: So we need your help. Believe and become super fans to get the word out there. Leave a review, send it to all your friends if you're watching on YouTube, like and subscribe. Share this with anybody that you think this message would be helpful for. We need your help to get the message out so that everybody can get their minds renewed with the truth and live the life that God has called them to and not be stuck anymore. So we need your help. Get the message out there. Share it with all your friends. We really appreciate it.
• 1:39
  Corina: Thank you. Welcome to the Believe and Become podcast. We are so glad you're here. Today we are gonna be talking about how to recognize when your thoughts are not your own and what to do about it. So I had a client recently who has struggled for a long time with these reoccurring negative thoughts, like really intensely negative. They were just something that would happen every once in a while. And she really struggled with am I a good person? Because this is how I'm thinking. And we talked about it and then we brought it before the Lord and it actually turned out that behind those thoughts really what was happening was there's a lie that she had agreed with about her goodness and so when the thoughts would come up, she automatically assumed they were her own thoughts because she thought I'm not a good person. And and so we were able to bring that lie into the light and replace it with the truth. It brought so much freedom. But then what started to happen Was she. She had freedom and she was feeling good, and she wasn't struggling with these thoughts. But every time she would go to minister, the thoughts would start again. And because it was something that she wasn't used to recognizing as a lie, she would fall right back into the condemnation. And so we started talking about that again. And here's the thing. I think everybody struggles with this on some level. We all have reoccurring thoughts that we know are not ours or that we think. I don't know why I think that, because that's not really in my character. Oh, well. And then we just kind of like, meh, get out of here. Right. And we try not to think about it or dwell on it, but getting to the root of it is actually what brings the most freedom. And I remember being in college, having this time where every time I would pray, I felt afraid. Like, I would just feel this intense fear. Like, I could feel it in the room around me. And I'm like, I guess I don't pray now. I guess that's who I am. A Christian who doesn't pray because I'm too scared. Until I met with somebody and talked to a leader at my church about it, and she was like, Corina the devil's lying to you. And it just took that exposure for me to go, oh, I don't have to agree with it. I don't have to listen to it. I can just say, no, thank you. I'm not partnering with that. And so I think this is just something that's really common for a lot of leaders.
• 4:15
  Josh: Yeah. When we were getting ready for this episode, Corina and I were talking about how when I used to come home from work, you know, I had to commute. So it would be at least 30 minutes, probably more like 45 to an hour, just depending on the traffic. And I would get home and I would be super grumpy. And she was. She said, well, I fed him. She's taking care of all my needs, but I'm still super grumpy. And we realized that as I was driving home, I was using that time to meditate on all the bad things that had happened that day or the things that were frustrating, or I was meditating on those and just really getting worked up. And by the time I got home, I was so grumpy. The commute doesn't help either. But once I realized that and that was brought to my awareness, actually, I could go after that intentionally and go, okay, you know what? I'm going to put something else on I'm going to put on some worship music. I'm going to pray, I'm going to think about other things. I'm going to change my pattern. And that actually made a huge difference. So when I came home, I was in a good mood instead of super grumpy. But sometimes it's just you need that moment of clarity, of, oh, okay, I paid attention to what I was thinking about. I paid attention to my emotions. And that gave me a clue of, okay, there's something here that I need to change. And it works.
• 5:36
  Corina: Yeah. Yep. It's so true. So here's the deal. As a believer, you have the mind of Christ, right? 1 Corinthians 2, 16 tells us that we have the mind of Christ because we have the spirit of God who lives inside of us and he knows the thoughts of God. And so you have that access, but also that's part of you. When you were saved, you were saved body, soul, and spirit. So your mind is encompassed in that. Your mind is saved. Your mind is renewed in Christ. I know it doesn't always feel that way, though. And that is where I think we get kind of tripped up in our thoughts and getting stuck in these negative patterns because we think that what we think is who we are. But in reality, the enemy has these little lies that he likes to throw in there. We have old ways of thinking. We have patterns that we have gotten stuck in because of maybe a lie a long time ago. And we think that's who we are and how we think. But in reality, you have the mind of Christ. And so when you are saved, all of those other things, they don't have permission to be there anymore unless you give them permission.
• 6:48
  Josh: That's true. Anything that we come into agreement with, then we're giving it permission to stick around. And sometimes we don't even realize that we're doing that. Sometimes it's things that we just grew up with or was always in our family, or just patterns of thinking that were handed down to us. Or something bad happened and you came to a conclusion and you renewed your mind with it. We're actually designed to meditate on things. So we get to decide, are we going to meditate on the truth or are we going to meditate on lies? And one way that we an indicator of that is our hope level. If our hope is increasing, then we're renewing our minds with the truth. If it's decreasing, then, sorry, you're renewing your mind with the wrong things. So we actually have on our website a free hope quiz that you can take. Joshandkarina.com coaching Click on the Free Hope and it'll help you identify areas where your hope maybe needs a little help, needs a boost, and then you can actually be intentional to go after those areas. And you can schedule a free 15 minute session with one of us to talk about your results. So go to joshandkarina.com coaching take our free Hope quiz and see what are you renewing your mind with? Truth or lies?
• 7:59
  Corina: Yeah, that's so good. So Romans 8 is one of my favorite chapters. If you struggle with condemnation, if you struggle with feeling like you're not good enough, this is camp out in Romans 8. Okay. It's so good. Verses 6 and 7 tell us, those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. And then it says, the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. And it's this contrast of when you live in the flesh, your mind is governed by the flesh and your mind is set on death, basically. But when you live by the Spirit, and I used to take this and think, well, I must be governed by the flesh because I have bad thoughts, right? Or
• 8:36
  Josh: I
• 8:36
  Corina: thought
• 8:36
  Josh: that too,
• 8:37
  Corina: right? We read the condemnation instead of the actual truth of who you are. You live in accordance with the Spirit because you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. And therefore your mind is set on what the Spirit desires. Your mind is governed by the Spirit and that brings life and peace. What we need to do, our responsibility, is to get rid of anything that doesn't line up with that, because this is the reality of who you are. If you are born again, if the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, then you get the fruit of a mind and a life that is led by the Spirit. And so that's something to renew your mind with right there. That's a powerful declaration. My mind is set on what the spirit desires. My mind is life and peace. It brings life and peace to every part of my body, my soul, my spirit, my life. And so just begin to declare that and come into agreement with that truth, and you'll start to see the places that don't line up a little bit more obviously, I think. And we're gonna talk about what to do with those things that pop up, because they do. You could be born again for 30, 40, 50 years. There will still be things that the enemy will try and throw at you, old ways that he'll try to drag you back into, but you get to partner with the truth about who you are. You are saved, delivered and healed.
• 9:59
  Josh: And because of that, any thought that doesn't line up with the mind of Christ is a thought. You don't have to think. We have the mind of Christ. We think like him. And so if there's another thought rattling around in your brain that doesn't line up with that, that's. That's not yours. You don't have to live with it anymore. And so sometimes we just need to get fed up. It's like, I'm sick of this thought pattern. I'm sick of this emotion. I'm sick of this kind of recurring thing that's happening. I'm aware of it, and I'm going to take care of it with the power of the Holy Spirit. And one thing that we like to talk about is that the enemy often will like to plant these little thoughts in your head and then he accuses you of. Of having them. So he'll give you this bad thought and you go, oh my gosh, what was that? Why was I thinking that? Oh, and then you're like, oh, I must. I feel bad. I'm a bad person. I'm not a good Christian. Am I even a Christian? You start just, Even the self condemnation comes. That thought wasn't your thought in the first place. The enemy just tried to drop it in there, see if he could mess you up. And in Revelation 12:10, it calls the enemy the accuser of the Brethren. He loves to accuse us. He loves to say, well, you could. You thought like that. Oh my gosh, you're a terrible person. Like, how many of us have had that conversation where just a random thought pops in your head and you start going, accusing yourself. You start agreeing with, oh my gosh, I can't believe I thought that. I thought that about another person. Or, you know, just these terrible things. It's like, that's actually not me. That's not you. That's just the enemy poking at you, trying to get you to agree with something. And once you've come into agreement with it, okay, then he has a place to stick around. But you're not going to do that. You have power of the Holy Spirit in you to break off of these old thought patterns, to recognize when he's trying to plant something in your head and you say, nope, I don't agree with that. I'm not going to receive it. And then declare the truth of who you are. That's really powerful.
• 11:59
  Corina: And this goes for so many different ways that we think, because maybe you haven't been a Christian your whole life and you Have a past, you know, BC before Christ life and ways of doing things and thinking, those patterns might still persist. And so you can look at those the same way because their root is in something that's not true. If you have negative ways of thinking that you feel like you can't control. If there are lies about yourself or about others that pop up. If you feel like you're just stuck. I just don't know how to get out of this. That is always the work of the enemy in your life and in your mind. And so we can recognize those. And that is our first. First action step, actually, is to recognize what you're thinking about. And when you can take a step back and look at your thoughts from kind of an objective perspective that allows you to maybe sift through them a little bit in a different way where you're not feeling guilty and condemned about it. Where you're going, where are these thoughts coming from? And that's really huge.
• 13:05
  Josh: Yeah, that first step of just becoming aware of what you're thinking is huge. Like in that story that I told when I'm commuting, I wasn't aware of this effect that it was gonna. Was having on me of just ruminating on all these negative thought patterns. But then once I was made aware of it, oh, okay. Yeah, I know. I don't wanna spend all my time getting worked up about stuff that was in the past or was just that day. I didn't need to do that. But sometimes we just need to be attuned to that. And I love to just ask the Holy Spirit. Cause he's our helper. That's what he's here for. Ask the Holy Spirit, make me aware of my thoughts. What am I thinking about? And sometimes our emotions can be a really good clue to what we're thinking about. If you're experiencing negative emotions, I'm so frustrated. I'm so angry. And you kind of don't know why. That's a clue to say, oh, it's probably something that I'm thinking about way too much. Ask the Holy Spirit. He's so good at helping you to identify those thoughts and to take them captive. So once you've recognized what you're thinking about, a really good step that you can take is to try to externalize those thoughts. And one of the things I love to do is just write them down. Sometimes writing them down, it gets it out of your brain. Instead of rattling around in there like we were talking about, you put it on paper, you can step back and go, okay, objectively where did this thought come from? Is this my thought? Is this God's thought? Is it a thought from somewhere else, from the enemy? And seeing it on paper is so powerful to help you take that step back. And once you've written it down, you can go, okay, do I want to agree with it? Is this something that I want to renew my mind with? Do I want to continue to meditate on it? If it's from the enemy, if it's not serving, you flush it, get rid of it. If it's from God, if it's for your benefit, yes, let's accept that. Let's build new neural pathways around it. Let's reinforce that.
• 15:06
  Corina: And another way that you can externalize is to talk to someone, someone about it. Some of us are very private. We don't want to write things down. You don't want anybody else to see it. So talking to someone about it. And some of us are external processors. And so when we do, we have a conversation that actually helps us. And Josh and I always notice when we talk about thoughts that have been rattling around, most of the time you say it, and then you're like, why have I been. Why? Like, why was I even thinking? Why would I think this is from me? Or, like, that's so dumb, right? Like, well, you recognize it almost immediately when it's in your head. I to have a mentor that. That would say, don't get stuck in your head. It's a dangerous neighborhood. When it's just bouncing around up there. There's nobody in there to go, hey, stop. That's not true, right? It feels real. And when it gets wrapped up with your feelings and it becomes part of your identity, it feels very important and very real. But sometimes just verbalizing it, you can recognize that's. That's a lie. And then sometimes when you're talking to somebody about, I'm having a struggle in this area, that person can help you to see, actually, this isn't your thought because that doesn't line up with who you are. And I think that is one of the ways that I've been able to most identify lies is when I think something that is out of my typical way of thinking or who I know I am. So if you are someone who loves Jesus, but then you're suddenly having thoughts about, you know, leaving the church, or I'm never reading my Bible again, or just like, crazy thoughts that you would normally not think, that's probably not you. You're not just suddenly having these thoughts. The enemy is trying to trip you up. And so having somebody else that you can talk to, that can really go, actually, that doesn't sound like you at all. That, that's, that has nothing to do with who I know you to be. Does that feel authentic to you? You can have that conversation. You can begin to see, oh, that's just the enemy's knows where he doesn't belong.
• 17:10
  Josh: So once we've recognized what we're thinking, we're paying attention to our thoughts, we've externalized those thoughts, we can actually renounce the ones that we don't want to agree with. That's a great step to take. But then we're going to just bring it to Jesus. Yeah, that is the most important step of getting free from thoughts that you don't want to have anymore. Bring it to Jesus, pray about it, and then ask him, where did this, this thought come from? Is this something that's been part of me for a long time, or is it just a random thing, a random arrow that the enemy's shooting at me? Ask God, how do you want to deal with this thought? What's the process? And then just following through with that process. A lot of times I love to write it down and go, okay, what is God saying about this? Okay, well, I'm thinking about something that happened in my past or a conversation I had with somebody that affected me. Oh, okay, well. Well, if that's all tied together, I'm just going to release that to the Lord. Maybe I need to forgive somebody. A lot of times forgiveness is really powerful. That's the thing. There's so many different places where these thoughts can come from. Some of them are really deep seated that we've practiced for a really long time. Our thoughts actually have substance when they image our thoughts. Neuroscience, they tell us they look like trees. Isn't that wild? I love that our thoughts actually have substance in our brain. And it looks like a tree and we need to. Some of them need to be torn up by the roots. You don't want to just cut off the branches. We used to have three fig trees in our backyard. And I kept a couple of them. I kept cutting down and they would just. Next thing you know, they would sprout new branches right out of the stump. And because I didn't get the root, they just kept trying to come back. And eventually I had to drill down in there and poison the thing, rip out the roots. And that's what we need to do with some of these thoughts that have been really deeply ingrained in our brains. Gotta rip Em out by the roots. But God is really good at doing that. The Holy Spirit is an excellent brain surgeon. When we just partner with him in the process of retraining our brains to think like Jesus, to get rid of all those nasty old thoughts that we don't have to keep partnering with.
• 19:23
  Corina: Yeah. So for my client, we had this conversation about the second time. The first time, actually, the first time we had the conversation about, well, does this line up with who you are? Is this how you actually feel? And it was absolutely not. These are just negative thoughts that pop up. But maybe there was this, like, maybe it's true. Maybe this really is me. And so we brought that before the Lord. And because what I knew of her, this didn't ring true. And so I said, well, let's ask God about it. And he brought her to a childhood memory and this moment where she felt like she was a bad person. And we were able to ask God what he thought of her and what he thought of her in that moment and where he was and how he wanted to support her and love her. And it just. We were able to allow him to come in and heal something really deep. And then when they started to pop up again, it was like, we dealt with that. So what's going on? And it was actually paired with something else that was going on in her life that was bringing a lot of shame, condemnation. And it was like, oh, it's just like the enemy was showing his hand. You know, it's like just trying anything to get back into that. That place where he used to have access. And we just shut the door. We just shut it off. And I said, when you go into your ministry situations, make sure you're suited up, armor up, put the. Put on that helmet of salvation and ask people to pray for you. And then when those thoughts come, you just swat them away because they're not yours. And so we were able to develop a plan. What do you do the next time this happens? Are you gonna rece? And a lot of times, it's. The recognition is all it takes. Because when you have struggled with something for so long and you've thought it was your own, it's really easy to fall back into it. After the first time, there was a couple of different instances where it just looked a little different. It wasn't the exact same thought, just looked a little different. And it would be a few hours or a day. And then she was like, wait a minute. And that recognition started to change everything, because then she could go, oh, wait, wait, no, this is the enemy. This isn't who I am. And she could partner with the truth in that moment, instead of weeks and months of, I'm such a bad person, I can't believe. And falling back into those old ways, recognition is huge. But bringing it to the Lord and allowing him to rip out those roots, to heal the place where that lie crept in, it changes everything.
• 21:57
  Josh: Yeah. And I love that you talked about being prepared.
• 22:01
  Corina: Yeah.
• 22:02
  Josh: We know ourselves pretty well. We know. We start to pay attention to these thoughts. We know. Okay, I have this pattern. I'm prepared. I have truth in my back pocket. I've got some scripture verses, I've got some declarations that I've written based on what God has spoken to me in my personal, quiet time with Him. I'm prepared. So the next time the enemy tries to bring that back up and shoot another arrow at me. No, I can block that with my shield. I'm prepared with the sword of the spirit, which is the word. Like, I'm going to go on the offensive and get rid of this. And that really is the most powerful part of the process, is the replacing it. We're not just going to say, I'm not thinking that or I'm not partnering with that. Those are important. We got to do those. But then we're replacing them with the truth of what God has said. And then those old thoughts and emotions, they just start to wither away. And our new normal, our new default, default position is the truth of what God has spoken to us. So right now, I just sense God's presence coming on you to help you pay attention to your thoughts, to recognize if it's your own thought or if it's from the enemy or if it's from God. He's giving you that discernment right now because you're born to do that. You're born to renew your mind. God gave you all the tools you need to think differently, to think like he thinks, and he's just making this process smooth for you. I just see him pushing the easy button over your life. This is going to be easy for you to recognize those thoughts, to deal with them, to externalize them, to evaluate them, and then to bring them to Jesus and allow him to do that brain surgery to give you his thoughts instead of these old thoughts that you don't need to worry about anymore. So we just bless you as you go after renewing your mind with the truth of what God has said to you. You.
• 23:58
  Corina: Hey, friend. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds to share this podcast with someone who may need encouragement or practical tools for fighting their battle.
• 24:08
  Josh: Then rate and review this podcast. Help us spread the message of transformation far and wide.
• 24:13
  Corina: All right, time to walk back into the noise with peace, purpose, and maybe a tiny bit of guffing.
• 24:19
  Josh: We'll meet you back next Thursday for another episode.
• 24:22
  Corina: Bye.