I was given one of the most thoughtful going away presents recently. It is a book called "Crash the Chatterbox" that was written by Steven Furtick. The book confronts this inner dialogue that we constantly have with ourselves each and every day. From the time I wake up in the morning until the moment I fall asleep at night, I have thousands of thoughts racing through my head. Most of these thoughts are harmful, non-productive, negative, self-loathing, unnecessary, bold-faced lies. These thoughts have had free reign of my mind...allowed to skip through the fields of my brain and plant their untrue message wherever they would like. This place is called the battlefield of our mind. It's quite clear why it is described as a battlefield. Every single day, every minute, every second, goodness...every milli-second is either bombarded with truth or bombarded with lies. It all depends on our Walk and our time in the Word. It all depends on our relationship with Christ and how much we trust Him and allow Him to influence our every step.
The title of my post "Quiet the Riot" comes from Steven Furtick's book...and yes, that describes my thought life...a RIOT. There are moments of confidence in Christ and moments of knowing that I am His and that He has got my back. There are moments of faith, hope, and love. There are many more moments, however, when I am convinced that I am nothing...unworthy of love...that I am not liked or cared about...that I have nothing to offer. Those are the not-so-pretty moments that start the RIOT in my mind. It's like my thought life could be compared to the scene of a full-fledged water balloon fight that has commenced with 100 third graders running all over the fields of my mind trying to hit the other with a balloon that is filled with negativity, hatefulness, anger, insecurity, frustration, rejection, hurt, grief...the list could go on and on. Each thought hitting its target and bursting and soaking its harmful contents into my consciousness. Those 100 third graders (my raging thoughts) very rarely have anything good inside their balloon...and even if they were positive, there is a negative-filled balloon right behind it ready to burst and cover up any remains of positivity.
The more and more I struggle...the more I give in to my thoughts and "feelings"...the more I allow this unruly balloon fight to happen in my head...the more I become who I was never meant to be. We are called to fight back in this mental war. I can no longer allow my thoughts to determine my destiny. It's just like the Bible says in Ephesians 6:12 NLT, "For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against the mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." This battle is REAL. This battle will and can completely destroy us if we don't begin to fight back with the tools and resources that God has so graciously given to us. We can be encouraged to know that we can and will have victory. The Bible also says in Romans 8:37 NLT, "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." There is only ONE way to experience this overwhelming victory that the Bible speaks of...THROUGH CHRIST. Not through self-help books, texting a friend, seeking out ways to escape...only through Christ can we have the victory. Don't misunderstand me, God provides other great sources to encourage us in our walk with Him, but He NEVER wants those resources to trump the Only Source...Jesus!
It is time we start taking back the land of our mind. It is time we allow our minds to be renewed and refreshed and refocused on exactly what God has purposed for our lives. It is going to take time and a lot of discipline to force ourselves to stop thinking about that person who has hurt us, how we don't feel pretty (or handsome) enough, how we wonder if they even know we exist...and start thinking on that which is TRUE. Just like the Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 NLT, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
About a year ago I started using this hashtag...#operationfightback. It's time I start using it again...and maybe you could also use it when you have found a way to effectively fight back against the powers of this world and against the "balloon fight" that goes on in your own mind. You could share verses that have encouraged you along the way. I can attest to the fact that when other people share their stories and their hearts, it encourages the soul of the person who is struggling and hurting! Iron sharpens Iron...we are in this together! Let's start fighting back!
