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How to Overcome Negative Thoughts
Special guest Nanette Eiland shares how she is standing on God's promises to overcome negative thoughts.
Are you currently facing unexpected and fearful consequences or changes due to the pandemic? Maybe your fears or negative thoughts are centered around concerns for your health, or the stress on your marriage, or maybe you are struggling because there is so much ambiguity in this moment.
Many times we can’t control the circumstances of our lives. Events happen. Changes come. Sometimes we swing “up” in emotion and sometimes we spiral “down.”
My friend, Nanette Eiland, just experienced an unexpected change of her own.
“On Monday, I received a call letting me know my position was being eliminated.”
Nanette, not being one to allow the enemy an opportunity to add his torment to a difficult moment, quickly turned to God’s Word for help.
In this video blog, Nanette and I visit about her journey over the past few weeks. We talk about how she’s coping and what she is doing to keep her fear and negative thoughts from ruling her mind and heart in this moment.
I hope you are encouraged and empowered by this conversation and that you too, will use God’s Word to overcome fear and negative thoughts.
Stay with it all the way to the end and I will bless you with a prophetic word!
Looking for Direction?
“Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.
So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, mericiful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising Him always. ”
“We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the anointed one. ”
How to Overcome Anxiety And Worry
You weren’t meant to bear the kind of fear that generates a constant flow of anxiety and worry.
All of us struggle with fear and anxiety, but you and I were not made to bear the kind of fear that generates a constant flow of anxiety and worry. It’s not good for us and it’s not fruitful. This video reminds us that we are called to be worry-free and to resist the kind of anxiety that is crippling.
This video is included in Gateway Church’s Fresh Start Bible series called “Fresh Start Journey” by Pastor Jimmy Evans. Open your Bible and follow along with me. This is question #33.
Matthew 6:25-33
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
This video is a part of a 52-part series designed for new believers from Gateway Church. Each video answers a common and pressing questions from all of Christianity and is designed to help YOU develop a more intimate relationship with God. You can access all 52 videos on the Gateway Discipleship Resources Youtube channel. Be sure to subscribe to the channel so you can access all of the great resources provided for your spiritual development.
Forced Rest
I realized in that moment that both the team and myself had been led into a moment of forced rest. They by a lack of responsibility. Me by a lack of health. In both cases God was prescribing the same treatment.
And he said to them,“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Mark 6:31
Last week I shared a wonderful evening with some of the team of ladies who participated in a recent leadership trip to Scottsdale, Arizona. They visited the Gateway campus there and attended Scottsdale's first Pink Impact. I had planned to be a part of that gathering, but due to the timing of my treatments, I ended up staying home. We gathered to share a meal and talk about their experience.
The team went with the intention of serving. The goal was to be available and to do whatever was needed. Upon arrival it was pretty clear that the Scottsdale team was on top of all the details. They had done a fantastic job of raising up leaders, executing their vision and preparing for the hundreds of ladies who were participating. As a result, the Texas team found themselves with an opportunity to simply receive.
This unexpected turn of events left each of them with an opportunity to enter into what God was doing. As each of them shared, I heard them begin to testify about the unexpected impact of resting in the presence of God. Some talked about the refreshment, some about how unexpected chains were broken, some about hearing God in a new way, some about the reminder of their first love. They all testified that they were deeply impacted, returning home changed in unexpected ways.
One of the team talked about the concept of forced rest in an athlete's training program. It seems that there is a general understanding that an athlete must build breaks in their training program as a planned part of getting stronger. It's the basic principles of resistance training. You stress your muscles one day and rest them the next. During the rest the muscles actually grow larger and stronger.
Most athletes know that getting enough rest after exercise is essential to high-level performance, but many still over train and feel guilty when they take a day off. The body repairs and strengthens itself in the time between workouts, and continuous training can actually weaken the strongest athletes. Sportsmedicene.com
I realized in that moment that both the team and myself had been led into a moment of forced rest. They by a lack of responsibility. Me by a lack of health. In both cases God was prescribing the same treatment. As they found their hands empty, their hearts began to fill up. As I surrender to the "battle plan" before me, I begin to turn the tide of my crisis toward health.
What if Jesus wants to invite all of us into a season of rest? We call it Sabbath. Just think - every week He commands that we would pause to rest. We can do it out of obedience or we can push ourselves beyond the limits of our physical, emotional or spiritual strength and find ourselves staring "square" in the face of a situation which debilitates us. For me it's a health crisis. For others it might be a failing marriage, a financial disaster, a loss of passion or a sense of hopelessness.
Genesis 2:2-3And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and herested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
The Bible says that the seventh day - the day of required rest - is both blessed and holy. (Shh - this is a secret - I have believed the seventh day is nice, wasted and for the weak.) I have been so foolish. I have been afraid to rest because I don't fully trust that God can do more without me than with me. I have believed that the blessing only comes through works.
I pray you will surrender to rest long before you are pressed into it by destruction, loss or fear. But even if it's too late for the rest that comes by choice...even if you are like me - receiving a mandate of rest like a prescription to recovery - our God is so faithful. We can receive the same benefit as my friends did while in Scottsdale. As we empty our hands and cease striving, He will heal us and He will do so much more. Soon we'll be testifying of the unexpected and completely luscious blessing that comes from resting in Him.
Peace is the Key to Sustainable Rest
The key to sustainable rest - the kind that heals the body and the soul - is to treat the mind with truth.
Trusting God is good for your health. Proverbs 3:15
When you trust God, you don't worry. Psalm 116:7
A heart at peace, gives life to the body. Proverbs 14:30
When God first instructed me to rest, I could only imagine that He was asking me to do less, to cease activity. This definition made sense because my body was under such physical assault, but I found physical rest was only the beginning. No amount of sitting down brought me the kind of rest mandated by the Lord.
God was asking me to go to a whole new level of trust, to really rest in his care of everything that concerned me. He wanted to be my defender, my advocate and my salvation. He wanted to give me peace.
Maybe you are like me, facing some significant challenges that are bigger than your ability to "work" your way out of. If so, I hope the following three things I learned about pursuing peace, will be a blessing to you.
The body needs rest but the mind needs truth.
As I began to recover my physical strength, I quickly realized that no amount of sleep was going to give me long-term peace. I could wake in the morning following a good night's sleep and find my heart in my throat, filled with anxiety and fear. The key to sustainable rest - the kind that heals the body and the soul - is to treat the mind with truth. Truth drives out fear and brings peace. Anxious? Read, study and memorize the Word of God.
A heart at peace gives life to the body.
There is something mystical about the body's healing power. When it is aligned with the will of God, it heals. This is true of a broken bone - when aligned - it will heal. This is also true of a broken heart. When it comes into agreement with the will and Word of God, there is a supernatural release that somehow provides a natural blessing. We underestimate the power of agreeing with God about who we are and who He is. Daily, I set my heart back in alignment so that it may rest. This rest produces a spring of peace. When my heart is at peace, my body (or my circumstance) is able to begin to heal - to even recuperate.
While we rest at peace God works.
I have perceived rest as wasted time. I've even been so arrogant as to perceive sickness as a weakness of character. This has been a form of judgment against myself and others. Learning that my lack of production does not decrease my value in the eyes of God, has been a game changer. When I can do nothing, God still works on my behalf. His favor and love are not a reward reserved for good performance, but rather a gift that constantly blesses my life. I'm finally learning that if I will rest in peace, He will make a way for me.
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