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How to Control your Thoughts Don't copy this page!!!
A transcript of a radio message by Lionel Hartley, PhD © January 2004 Renewed 2009
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
At university many years ago, one of our classes played a game in the corridor at the instruction of our psychology professor. We lined up a long line of little wooden dominoes, balanced on their ends and each one just a few centimetres away from the next. I don't know where he got them all from, but there were several hundred of them and the line went for quite a few metres. Then a gentle nudge on just one domino at one end knocked down the domino next to it, and so on all along the line until they had all fallen down, apparently of their own accord. This, the professor explained, is referred to as the domino effect.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Literature contains many of these cognitive dominoes. 'Peter's Ladder' as it is sometimes called is one of these. 2 Peter 1:5-7 (and I'm reading from the New King James Version) reads, But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Here's another example:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Someone once said,
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Guard your thoughts, they become your words.
Guard your words, they become your actions.
Guard your actions, they become your habits.
Guard your habits, they become your character:
Guard your character, it can determine your destiny.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Guard you thoughts. Right at the beginning of the line! Now that sounds like a tall order. Today I would like to spend a few minutes with you looking at what the Bible says, that can help us understand how to control our thoughts and especially our negative emotions.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
If you have a Bible handy, please open it with me as we read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
I am using the New King James Version.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
My old King James Version says, 'The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
This battle involves pulling down and casting down strongholds. What are 'strongholds'? Simply stated a stronghold is a fortified city — a castle or fortress. From very early times until comparatively recently, inhabitants of cities protected themselves by surrounding their cities (usually located on tops of hills or on high coastal cliffs) with high, strong walls. So Paul is telling us that Satan himself has his own strongholds — places where he and his demons sit safely waging war against us.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Can we find out what and where these strongholds are? The key is found in the parallel nature of verses 4 and 5. In verse 4 Paul says that we use God's powerful spiritual weapons to demolish Satan's strongholds [plural]. He then uses the same Greek word for 'demolish' in verse 5 and begins to list what the strongholds are. 'Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Strongholds are ways of thinking. So when we are destroying and demolishing strongholds, we are destroying ways and systems of thinking. This makes the enemy, Satan; the battlefield is the mind; the weapons are our thoughts; and the warfare is 'taking thoughts captive.' So spiritual warfare is fundamentally, about the way Satan attempts to introduce his thoughts into our minds so that we think they are ours.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
So what's so important about the way we think? What real damage can thoughts cause? A major cause of our destructive emotions and behaviours is the way we think. We have already seen that Satan's chief weapon in warfare is destructive ways of thinking. However, the Bible also says that destructive, negative thinking, allows Satan to introduce his additional weapons.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Scripture says that destructive thoughts create open doors for destructive words, actions, habits, characters and destinies.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Let's see the way the Bible unpacks this cognitive domino effect.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
The Bible teaches that our thoughts determine what we say:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Read with me Luke 6:45 - A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
'Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.' That's pretty clear, isn't it?
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Our thoughts also determine the way we act. Consider Ecclesiastes 10:2, for example.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Ecclesiastes 10:2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand, But a fool's heart at his left.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
This can be translated: 'Sensible thoughts lead you to do right; foolish thoughts lead you to do wrong.' I doubt that anyone would disagree with that.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Thoughts not only change the way you speak and act, they also influence your habits. Romans 12:2 says to '... let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think' (This verse speaks not only of your thoughts, but of 'the way' you think. How do you change 'the way' you think? The Apostle Paul encourages you to 'Let the Spirit change your way of thinking'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Ephesians 4:23 says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
The Bible also says that your thoughts will eventually determine your character.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Proverbs 23:7 tells us, For as [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he ...
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
And, finally, your characteristic thoughts will reveal your spiritual state.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Listen to what Paul told the Italians:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Reading from Romans 8:5 - For those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
What is the cause of negative emotions?
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Jesus deals specifically with the cause of negative emotions in his Sermon on the Mount. As recorded in Matthew 6:25 He counsels:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Don't worry about everyday life — whether you have enough food, drink and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
It is negative thinking that causes anxiety, and negative thinking has its root in a lack of faith in our heavenly Father.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
The New Living Translation puts it simply:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Luke 12:29-30 - Don't worry about food — what to eat and drink. Don't worry whether God will provide it for you. These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Worry is a chief tool of Satan — which is the reason that the Bible in 2 Peter chapter 5 encourages us to give our worries to God.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
2 Peter 5:7-8 - Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
These verses talk about cause and effect — Satan uses worry as a chief form of attack — a way of devouring us.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Satan's strategy is to introduce his thoughts into our minds so that we think they are ours. He places his thoughts into our mind in the first person so that we believe that they are our own so that we are more likely to accept them.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Listen to what the wise Solomon said:
Proverbs 4:23 in the Contemporary English Version reads, Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Destructive thoughts will produce destructive words, actions, habits, characters and destinies:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Guard your thoughts, they become your words.
Guard your words, they become your actions.
Guard your actions, they become your habits.
Guard your habits, they become your character:
Guard your character, it can determine your destiny.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
A transcript of a radio message by Lionel Hartley, PhD © January 2004 Renewed 2009
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
At university many years ago, one of our classes played a game in the corridor at the instruction of our psychology professor. We lined up a long line of little wooden dominoes, balanced on their ends and each one just a few centimetres away from the next. I don't know where he got them all from, but there were several hundred of them and the line went for quite a few metres. Then a gentle nudge on just one domino at one end knocked down the domino next to it, and so on all along the line until they had all fallen down, apparently of their own accord. This, the professor explained, is referred to as the domino effect.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Literature contains many of these cognitive dominoes. 'Peter's Ladder' as it is sometimes called is one of these. 2 Peter 1:5-7 (and I'm reading from the New King James Version) reads, But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Here's another example:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Someone once said,
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Guard your thoughts, they become your words.
Guard your words, they become your actions.
Guard your actions, they become your habits.
Guard your habits, they become your character:
Guard your character, it can determine your destiny.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Guard you thoughts. Right at the beginning of the line! Now that sounds like a tall order. Today I would like to spend a few minutes with you looking at what the Bible says, that can help us understand how to control our thoughts and especially our negative emotions.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
If you have a Bible handy, please open it with me as we read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
I am using the New King James Version.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
My old King James Version says, 'The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
This battle involves pulling down and casting down strongholds. What are 'strongholds'? Simply stated a stronghold is a fortified city — a castle or fortress. From very early times until comparatively recently, inhabitants of cities protected themselves by surrounding their cities (usually located on tops of hills or on high coastal cliffs) with high, strong walls. So Paul is telling us that Satan himself has his own strongholds — places where he and his demons sit safely waging war against us.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Can we find out what and where these strongholds are? The key is found in the parallel nature of verses 4 and 5. In verse 4 Paul says that we use God's powerful spiritual weapons to demolish Satan's strongholds [plural]. He then uses the same Greek word for 'demolish' in verse 5 and begins to list what the strongholds are. 'Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Strongholds are ways of thinking. So when we are destroying and demolishing strongholds, we are destroying ways and systems of thinking. This makes the enemy, Satan; the battlefield is the mind; the weapons are our thoughts; and the warfare is 'taking thoughts captive.' So spiritual warfare is fundamentally, about the way Satan attempts to introduce his thoughts into our minds so that we think they are ours.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
So what's so important about the way we think? What real damage can thoughts cause? A major cause of our destructive emotions and behaviours is the way we think. We have already seen that Satan's chief weapon in warfare is destructive ways of thinking. However, the Bible also says that destructive, negative thinking, allows Satan to introduce his additional weapons.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Scripture says that destructive thoughts create open doors for destructive words, actions, habits, characters and destinies.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Let's see the way the Bible unpacks this cognitive domino effect.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
The Bible teaches that our thoughts determine what we say:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Read with me Luke 6:45 - A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
'Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.' That's pretty clear, isn't it?
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Our thoughts also determine the way we act. Consider Ecclesiastes 10:2, for example.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Ecclesiastes 10:2 A wise man's heart is at his right hand, But a fool's heart at his left.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
This can be translated: 'Sensible thoughts lead you to do right; foolish thoughts lead you to do wrong.' I doubt that anyone would disagree with that.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Thoughts not only change the way you speak and act, they also influence your habits. Romans 12:2 says to '... let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think' (This verse speaks not only of your thoughts, but of 'the way' you think. How do you change 'the way' you think? The Apostle Paul encourages you to 'Let the Spirit change your way of thinking'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Ephesians 4:23 says, be renewed in the spirit of your mind
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
The Bible also says that your thoughts will eventually determine your character.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Proverbs 23:7 tells us, For as [a man] thinks in his heart, so is he ...
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
And, finally, your characteristic thoughts will reveal your spiritual state.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Listen to what Paul told the Italians:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Reading from Romans 8:5 - For those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.'
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
What is the cause of negative emotions?
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Jesus deals specifically with the cause of negative emotions in his Sermon on the Mount. As recorded in Matthew 6:25 He counsels:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Don't worry about everyday life — whether you have enough food, drink and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
It is negative thinking that causes anxiety, and negative thinking has its root in a lack of faith in our heavenly Father.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
The New Living Translation puts it simply:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Luke 12:29-30 - Don't worry about food — what to eat and drink. Don't worry whether God will provide it for you. These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Worry is a chief tool of Satan — which is the reason that the Bible in 2 Peter chapter 5 encourages us to give our worries to God.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
2 Peter 5:7-8 - Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
These verses talk about cause and effect — Satan uses worry as a chief form of attack — a way of devouring us.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Satan's strategy is to introduce his thoughts into our minds so that we think they are ours. He places his thoughts into our mind in the first person so that we believe that they are our own so that we are more likely to accept them.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Listen to what the wise Solomon said:
Proverbs 4:23 in the Contemporary English Version reads, Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Destructive thoughts will produce destructive words, actions, habits, characters and destinies:
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
Guard your thoughts, they become your words.
Guard your words, they become your actions.
Guard your actions, they become your habits.
Guard your habits, they become your character:
Guard your character, it can determine your destiny.
www.lrhartley.com/resources - Do not copy this page!!!
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