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34. Freedom From Anxious Thoughts and Hidden Strongholds · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Today we're talking about overcoming those anxious thoughts that keep you stuck. How rehearsing thoughts turns them into strongholds and how to break those negative strongholds down so we can build beliefs on the truth of God's word. God doesn't want you to be stuck. He has freedom for you. Let's dive in. If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare,
• 0:26
  Speaker B: and you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your calling as a leader in the right
• 0:32
  Speaker A: place, welcome to Believe and Become.
• 0:34
  Speaker B: We're Josh and Carina, your spirit filled coaches here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:41
  Speaker A: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the
• 0:46
  Speaker B: everyday silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in. Hey friend, before we get started, we have a quick invitation for you. We are so excited to be launching our very first workshop. We invite you to join us in our Move Forward With Clarity masterclass happening live online on March 17th at 12pm Pacific. This is a 45 minute workshop where you will learn how to hear God clearly, break free from what's holding you back and move forward with confidence. Head right now to joshandkarina.com workshop. That's J-O-S-H-A-N-C-O-R-I-N a.com workshop to sign up. We'll see you there.
• 1:33
  Speaker A: Welcome to the podcast. Today we are talking about freedom from anxious thoughts and hidden strongholds. This is something that we are super passionate about. We want people to get free. God has freedom for you. You don't have to stay stuck with those anxious thoughts. I remember a time when I was really struggling with anxiety. I just had anxious thoughts. I had trouble sleeping. It was a rough season. I was just really worried about everything. And I had spent too much time just entertaining these anxious thoughts and building really a stronghold around them. And a stronghold is anything that has a stronghold on you. It's a belief system that's contrary to God's truth. Specifically though, I remember whenever I had the whole family in the minivan, we would get on the freeway and I would get just struck with this fear that we were going to get in a horrific car crash and all die. And it would grip me as I was driving. But I, I would fight it, of course, because I knew that, that that's not from God. That's not a thought I wanted to partner with. So I would pray, I would quote scripture, I would take deep breaths, and it would go away. But I just really. It was a tough season. And if you fast forward a few years from that, we actually were driving down the freeway, had the entire family, even Karina's parents were in the car. It was on Father's Day, and we were on the freeway. It was pretty busy. And there was something, a piece of something, an object bouncing down the freeway at us. I couldn't swerve to get around it because there was cars on either side of me. And so we hit it. And as we continue to drive, we smell this awful smell. We're like, what is that? And next thing we know, there's a car pulls up beside us. They're motioning at us, and they said, your gas tank is leaking. You need to pull over. So we pull over and the gas is just pouring out of our car. So we all jump out real fast and get off to the side of the road. It turns out we were real close to some of Karina's family, so they actually walked to their house. And then her dad and I stayed and called the tow truck and everything. And you know what? It was like, we could have died in a fiery car crash that day. But the Lord so protected us. And even though we had gas pouring out and it was kind of like the worst possible scenario thing that, you know, I was imagining or had imagined for so long, God protected us, and we were fine. And we got. Got the tow truck, got the car fixed, and it. He was just so faithful through that whole process. And so anxiety is just kind of rehearsing these things that could happen, these worries, these bad things that might happen to me. And, you know, they did a study. 85% of the things that we're worried about never happen. And the other 15%, most people handle pretty well. And so anxiety is just this illusion that the enemy brings before us and says, oh, you need to worry about this. What about this? And what. And your mind just starts racing, and next thing you know, you're kind of paralyzed. You can't do anything, you can't sleep, you can't function because something bad might happen. And so I found freedom from that. You can, too. And so we're going to talk about strongholds and how to break those down and get free from anxiety.
• 4:51
  Speaker B: A stronghold, like Josh said, can be defined as a belief system that's contrary to God's truth. And so when you look at 2 Corinthians 10, 3, 5, it says, the weapons of our warfare are not the weapons that the world fights with. We fight with spiritual weapons. They have the power, divine power, to demolish strongholds. And then it defines those strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and then it gives us this key. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And so we have this picture of a stronghold. And a stronghold is an argument that sets itself up against the knowledge or the truth of God. It is a pretension. And if you can just think of that word pretension, you think of pretending. You just put that right in there. It's something that's pretending to be bigger than God. Something that's pretending that it can take authority over you because the enemy doesn't have any real authority. And so we can see in this verse that our weapons are spiritual. We can take up the weapon of truth. We can take up the weapon, the weapon of the word of God, and we can demolish those strongholds. You can demolish that anxiety with the word of God. And I love the definition of a pretension because it is a proud and lofty thing. It is a thing that pretends, like I said, but it is a thing that makes you think that it can actually harm you, when in fact it can't. It is. It's a pretender. And so it is opposing the truth of God. And all we have to do is we take up our. Our weapon of the truth, we take up the word of God, and we make these pretensions, these arguments, obedient to Christ. It's such a great prescription, this passage. If you don't have it memorized, stick it on a three by five card, put it on your bathroom mirror and start saying it every day. Because this is how we fight. This is truly how we fight. We take the word of God, we take the truth and we wield it against the enemy.
• 6:52
  Speaker A: I love this verse. It's been so helpful to me to change the way that I think. I mean it, really. That's what it's saying is you can change the way you think. You don't have to think thoughts that aren't from Jesus. And we're armed and dangerous. We've got the sword of the spirit. And so if you're not killing something with the word of God, you're not doing it right. Like that's what it's made for. Take up that sword of the spirit. You have to be prepared with the truth of God's word. And so you need scriptures that are memorized that you can go to in a time of crisis or when those thoughts try to come back, because we can get a measure of freedom, but we still have to fight for it. We have to fight to stay in our promised land of freedom. And 1 Corinthians 2, 16 says, we have the mind of Christ. And I remember the first time somebody spoke about that. I said, what? No, I don't. It doesn't say that. Does it say that? I've read first Corinthians a ton of times, and so I had to look it up, and sure enough, it just says right there, we have the mind of Christ.
• 7:51
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:52
  Speaker A: And so I think that means we can think like Jesus. We have access to all of his thoughts, any thought that's not from him. We don't have to think. When we submit our thoughts to his mind, we are coming one step closer to a renewed mind. And so I just like to declare that over myself when I'm. My thoughts are racing or I'm struggling with anxious thoughts, I have the mind of Christ. Thank you, God, that you have given me your thoughts. Thank you that I don't have to think anything that's not from you. And I think like Jesus, and all of his thoughts are perfect and beautiful. Lovely. So that. That is huge. Once I realized that, that was so helpful.
• 8:33
  Speaker B: Yeah. And I think that for me, this looks like when I can't remember something, I have the mind of Christ. When I feel like, oh, I shouldn't have said that, or that was so stupid, or whatever it might have been. No, wait, I have the mind of Christ. I am covered by Him. There's grace for me. I have the mind of Christ. And so I maybe made a mistake or I misspoke, but I don't have to continue that way. I don't have to go, ugh, I always do that. I'm so stupid. Whatever it might be, the lie that. That you've probably rehearsed a hundred times. You don't have to do that. You can say, oh, I made it. I misspoke. I made a mistake. I stuck my foot in my mouth. But that's not who I am, because I have the mind of Christ. And so as you begin to declare that over yourself, it actually begins to change. And the way you see yourself, but also the way that you actually think, it begins to change you. And this also gives us permission to ask Jesus what he thinks.
• 9:24
  Speaker A: Oh, that's good.
• 9:25
  Speaker B: When a situation arises when I start to feel anxious or fearful or hopeless, I can stop and say, jesus, what do you think about this situation? My feelings are lying to me because they're dark and they're foreboding. And I know that that's not how you think. I know that's not how you make me feel, because you are peace, and you are. And you are joy. So what do you think about this situation that feels really dark. What do you think about these circumstances? So we actually have access to all of those thoughts, to the thoughts that. That we could never think. Right. We have access to what he's thinking about a situation, about a person, about you at any given moment. And so I love to just ask him, what do you think about this? Because right now all I can think is, this is scary. This is hard. I don't want to, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And so giving him permission to speak into any given situation has been so helpful for me to renew my mind, because then I can begin to renew my mind with the truth that he speaks over me. I think sometimes, like Josh was saying, we start to have anxious thoughts, and then we go, wait, that's not my thoughts. The enemy's lying to me. I have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is peace and hope and beauty and all of these other things. And so we renew our mind with those truth as we truths. As we access the truth, then we can renew our minds with that. Romans 12. 2 tells us, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I think you can look at it like, don't think like the world does. Transform your mind by renewing your mind to think like Jesus. And this is how we renew our mind. We tear down the old structures, those strongholds that are pretenders, that are arguments against God. They're built on lies. And so you can think of it like an old castle on the top of a hill that's been there for a hundred years. It's built on a foundation that is not strong. It is built on a lie. And so we submit our thoughts to the mind of Christ. We meditate on his truth, and we slowly tear down those old structures and we build new, beautiful ones in their place.
• 11:34
  Speaker A: I was actually thinking about this verse this morning, and those of you that are old enough to remember the Berlin Wall, it made me think of that. That was a stronghold that communists had built through the city to keep their people in, to keep them captured, to keep them captive and away from freedom. They couldn't. They couldn't get out they couldn't get out. They were stuck. When the Berlin Wall came down, the people came flooding through. It was like you could just hear the freedom bells ringing. And it's the same thing. We gotta. It's not something that happens by accident. The Berlin Wall didn't come down by accident. It took a lot. It took diplomacy. It took intentionality. It took somebody with the wrecking ball, with the giant crane to pull down those sections of the wall and set the captives free. And it's the same thing. We have to be intentional. We have to take a wrecking ball to those strongholds and. And I mean, it's not violent, you know, but we have to do something. A lot of times we think, I'm just gonna sit and God's gonna fix me. But we have to do our part to partner with Him. And he's given us the wisdom, the instructions in His Word. And so be a hearer of the word. Not just a hearer, but a doer of the word. Put the. Put Romans 12:2 into practice. Put 2 Corinthians 10, 3, 5, and demolish those arguments and change the way that you're thinking if you're intentional. God meets us in our intentionality, and He. He does the heavy lifting of setting us free. But we have to start to take those steps in order to get the freedom that we. So he so wants for us.
• 13:15
  Speaker B: That's such a good picture. It's so visual. And I love that you said we have to take a wrecking ball to it. You got to get the crane with the big scooper hand that's going to just come in and pull it down. And that's what the word of God is. It's the wrecking ball to those old lies and thoughts, those old ways of thinking. Psalm 91:4 says, he will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. So if you're feeling anxious today, I just want you to stop right there and remember that he covers you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge. The verse goes on to say, his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. And as I read this a couple weeks ago, I was struck by this word rampart, because Psalm 91 is a place where I go often for refuge and comfort and strength. It's a place where I hide in him. And I was struck by this word rampart, because I thought, I don't actually know what this means. And so I started to look at. Look up this verse in different translations, because sometimes that's all the clarity you need. A different translation might say it's just a different way that makes sense. And I came across the word bulwark, and I was like, oh, that's better. Bulwark, right. The only reason I know that is because a mighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing. And I'm like, okay, well, I don't know. I still don't know what that means. So as I searched Dr. Google, I came across this picture of a rampart. A rampart is a wall around a castle. It's the protection of the city. And so you can see how when we tear down the negative strongholds, then God comes in and he builds up what he's doing. He's not asking you to be defenseless. Often when we have walls built, built up in our belief systems or in our lives, it's because we feel like they're protecting us. They're a protective measure that we've taken. But what God does is he actually is that protection. His faithfulness, his constant and continuous love. His. His. The way that he's always there for you is your wall. It becomes a wall around you. It's the protection of the city. And so Jesus's thoughts then become those strongholds that we hide in. They protect us from the lies of the enemy. The Bible says that he throws fiery darts, right? And so Jesus comes and stands as our protector against those. And I just thought that was such a beautiful picture because we're tearing down strongholds that don't belong, but we're actually allowing him to build up new strongholds that offer real safety and protection for us.
• 15:59
  Speaker A: That's such a good picture. I love that. Because we. We're trying to protect ourselves with these thought patterns. We're trying to protect ourselves with worry. We think, if I worry about it, somehow I'm going to make it better. Which is a complete lie. And Jesus wants to come in, tear down those walls that we've put up, and said, look, I'm your wall. Let me be the wall. It's not healthy. You weren't designed to carry that anxiety. It's. It's a lie and an illusion. It doesn't protect you at all. In fact, it. It destroys you from the inside out. So we have to partner with him to tear down those walls, and that's vulnerable. But we have to say, jesus, you are my protection.
• 16:39
  Speaker B: You know, Jesus says, who of you, by worrying can add an hour to your life? Who can. You can't even. You can't even add an hour to Your life by worrying from Josh's story earlier. You're not gonna stop the fiery car crash if it's gonna happen just by worrying about it, right? If anything, you're gonna cause it because you're freaking out. So he's like, don't worry. There's nothing you can do to stop the thing that you're worrying about. What you can do is trust in me, because I have that authority. I can protect you. I am the one that you can turn to. And we're not saying that bad things don't happen, or if they do, that God let them. We're not saying any of those things. But what we are saying is you are not going to stop them by worrying about them. And that is, I think, what Jesus was saying in Matthew chapter six. He gives us this beautiful teaching about don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about what you're gonna eat or drink or wear, and don't worry about where you're gonna sleep, your shelter. I always would read that verse and be like, Jesus, these are all the things I worry about, pretty much. If I'm gonna worry about only a few things, these are the ones, right? I'm already thinking about what's for dinner tonight, okay? These are the things that I think about. And he's like, no, I've got you. I've got all of these things. Don't worry. Be anxious for nothing, because I am taking care of you. And so as we learn to, like Josh said, we learn to tuck those scriptures into our. Our belt, right? We learn to kind of like, sharpen our sword with these scriptures. Then when the enemy comes, when those anxious thoughts come, we actually have something to fight with. We have the truth that he is always with me, that his faithfulness is my protection, that. That my mind renewed is the mind of Christ. And so we can go into battle really confident that we're gonna come out winning.
• 18:25
  Speaker A: When we think thoughts, it creates physical structures in our brain. And so God has actually given us the ability to create just with a word or a thought. And so we have to be intentional about what am I building in my brain?
• 18:40
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:40
  Speaker A: Am I building strongholds around God's word? Am I allowing Jesus to be my shield and protector? Or am I building structures to try to protect myself? And so just being aware that your thoughts and words are creative. And so whatever you focus on, you're gonna build more of, you're gonna reinforce. You're adding bricks, you're adding stones to your stronghold. And so am I building. Am I Building positive strongholds or negative? Am I building what Jesus wants me to build, or am I building my own fortress, my fortress of solitude? Another verse that we Love is Philippians 4, 6, and 7. It says, do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This has been a verse that I have used for most of my life, but I love that it's a promise. If God says, don't be anxious, it means we don't have to be anxious. He doesn't command us to do anything that's impossible because that would just be cruel. And he's not like that. He's a loving father. If he says don't be anxious, he gives us the grace to do that. In fact, right now, I sense God giving you grace to overcome anxiety, to give those burdens and cares to him and allow him to be your stronghold. And Paul gives us a little prescription in here. We're going to pray about those things that are giving us anxiety, and then we're going to be thankful with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And that looks like I prayed it. I don't have to keep praying the same thing over and over again. I just thank God it's coming. The answer is on its way. It's like the tracking number. When you order your package from Amazon, you get the tracking number, it's on its way. You don't have to call Amazon up and say, oh, my gosh, is it coming? Or I need to order another one. It's. It's on its way. So thank God. Thank youk, Lord, that yout're providing for us. Thank youk that yout're protecting us. Thank youk that yout're answering all of my prayers puts us in a position where we are confident in what God is doing. We're activating our. Our faith and our belief that God is moving on our behalf all the time. And then the peace of God, which we can't even understand it just shows up and it guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. And the word guard there means to keep with a garrison to guard, to protect by a military guard, to prevent hostile invasion. I love that once we, we pray to God, we give thanks. His peace comes to us, and then he sends his angels, he sends a garrison, mighty warriors, to protect us against that hostile invasion of the enemy. I mean, that's a stronghold. It's not just a Wall, but it's reinforced with troops. That's incredible.
• 21:35
  Speaker B: One, it says he will, it will guard your heart and mind. So it's just like this kind of counter to the Second Corinthians passage that we're tearing down strongholds. We're tearing down the things that we thought were protecting us. We're submitting them to the mind of Christ. And then the mind of Christ brings peace and protects our heart and our minds. Spiritual warfare is not out there somewhere trying to get you. It's all of the things that are going on inside, whether or not you choose to submit your heart, your mind, your beliefs to the Word and to the truth. And as you begin to do that, then you find victory. And maybe your circumstance doesn't change, but you are changed in it because you can stand firm that you are protected by the mind of Christ and by the peace that protects us. That his faithfulness is your shield and your rampart, and his peace is your garrison. These are words that I would never have known or said, but they mean so much to me now because I can visualize the mind of Christ coming like a wall around me, the faithfulness of God surrounding me. And there's so many scriptures, one of my favorites in the Psalms, that his mercy surrounds me, that when I feel like a screw up, that's one of my strongholds that I've had to tear down, that I always screw things up, I always mess up. I've had to remember that time and again. His mercy surrounds me. There is grace for me in any situation. And when I mess, it's okay, he's got me. And so you can take all of these verses and begin to apply them when you start to feel those anxious thoughts bubbling up. No, he is my shield and my defense. He covers me with his feathers. I hide under his wings and just begin to thank him for what he's doing in a situation. One of the ways that we really have fun with this is by worrying positively. And so when I'm anxious about a situation, whatever it might be, I just say, oh, gosh, I'm sorry. So worried that God is going to, you know, exceed my expectations, whatever that might look like. So if I'm worried about, you know, my kid failing at school or something, I might say, oh, I'm so worried that he's going to take a test and they're going to just say he's a genius and we're going to have to send him to College at age 12. Right? I'm just so worried that we're going to have so much money that we won't know what to do with it. I'm so worried that I'm going to have so much food I'm going to have to give it away to people. People. And so we just start to worry positively. Whatever the thing is that you are worried about, turn it into a positive because it makes you laugh, for one. You start to come up with some pretty crazy things, but also it just kind of lightens that burden. Because his yoke is easy, his burden is light, and he wants to bring that peace and that lightness and that hope to you today.
• 24:19
  Speaker A: Yeah. Activating joy and laughter is huge. Worrying positive is a great way to do that. Even just verbalizing the lie that you're believing that you've built a stronghold around saying it out loud and then laughing at it.
• 24:31
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 24:31
  Speaker A: It really breaks its power. It feels silly at first. You're like, what am I doing? This is weird. Especially it's helpful to bring a friend, your spouse, somebody you trust in, and say, okay, this is what I'm believing about this situation. A lot of times when you say it out loud, you realize how ridiculous it is, it sounds silly. And then you can laugh at it. And then the enemy has no power anymore. The laughter just breaks that right off. It's amazing how much freedom comes from just joy and laughter. And so I want us to say a couple declarations.
• 25:01
  Speaker B: Let's do it.
• 25:02
  Speaker A: Let's say I have the mind of Christ.
• 25:05
  Speaker B: I have the mind of Christ.
• 25:06
  Speaker A: Let's say this one. Even if the worst happens, I will be okay.
• 25:10
  Speaker B: Even if the worst happens, I will be okay.
• 25:13
  Speaker A: Say this one. My forward movement in life causes red seas to part.
• 25:17
  Speaker B: My forward movement in life causes red seas to part.
• 25:20
  Speaker A: You are a Red Sea parting believer.
• 25:24
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 25:24
  Speaker A: As you move forward to demolish these strongholds to overcome anxiety, you're going to see Red Sea's part in your life. And for other people, you're going to walk through on dry ground and for the sake of other people coming behind you, they're going to be able to follow through behind you on dry ground and be able to overcome. You're going to set people free. They're going to overcome anxiety, they're going to overcome fear, they're going to get freedom from those strongholds because that's just the way the kingdom works. And so I just love what God is doing in you. Even right now, you might not feel anything, but God is moving in your life to give you his thoughts. And so if this was helpful to you. We want to invite you to come join us for our live workshop, Move Forward With Clarity. It's a Masterclass happening on March 17, 12pm Pacific. It's 45 minutes. We're going to equip you to hear God clearly, to break free from what's holding you back, and to move forward in confidence. It's going to be incredible. Your life is going to be changed. So head to our website, joshandkarina.comworkshop. the link is in the show notes. You can register for that. Get all the information. We are so excited to see you there and so, so excited for what God is going to do. It is going to be incredible.
• 26:42
  Speaker B: We can't wait to see your faces and to hear your stories and to just meet you. So join us. It's going to be a great time. We'll see you there. 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?
• 27:06
  Speaker A: Then rate and review this podcast. Help us spread the message of transformation far and wide.
• 27:12
  Speaker B: All right, time to walk back into the noise with peace, purpose and maybe a tiny bit of caffeine.
• 27:17
  Speaker A: We'll meet you back next Thursday for another episode. Bye.