Clean up your thoughts.
Since spiritual battles are ultimately either won or lost in the mind, it’s
crucial to pay attention to what thoughts you focus on. Your thoughts shape what kind of person
you become. If you think unhealthy thoughts, you’ll become an unhealthy person. But if you
think healthy thoughts that reflect God’s truth, you’ll become more like Jesus, as God intends
you to become. Regularly pray for the ability to view the situations you encounter as God sees
them so you can have the right perspective on them. Every day, ask God to show you which
thoughts that enter your mind are unholy and displeasing to Him. Whenever you identify wrong
thoughts, take action to replace them with right ones. Choose to focus only on thoughts about
what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Spend time
meditating on God’s wonderful qualities; the more you think about God, the more peace will
enter your mind.
Choose positive words and avoid negative words. Recognize the incredible power of words to
bring about either good or evil. Positive words create and heal, while negative words harm and
destroy. So throughout each day when you’re speaking or writing, choose to communicate
positive words to others as much as possible. When you hear the words that other people
communicate to you, carefully analyze them to determine whether or not they actually reflect
what’s true – and if so, embrace them, but if not, reject them. Pay attention to your self-talk as
well, and ask God to help you say positive words to yourself in your mind.
Uncover your hidden sins. No sin is ever hidden from God, no matter how much you may deny
it in your life or try to hide it from other people. God knows all of your sins and chooses to love
you anyway, and He is always hoping that you will confess and repent of your sins so you can
keep growing spiritually. So regularly confess your sins (to God and other Christians) and repent
of them so you can receive forgiveness and healing.
Dig up bitter roots from your soul. When you allow bitterness to take root in your soul, it
poisons you and blocks you from experiencing the grace God wants to give you. So get rid of
bitterness by following God’s command to forgive people who have hurt you. You can rely on
the strength that God will give you to forgive.
SEE ALSO: Five Keys to Overcoming Negativity
Get rid of envy. Envying people who have what you want but don’t have will only poison you.
So stop comparing yourself and your life with other people and their lives. Instead, make a daily
habit of noticing the many blessings that God brings into your life, and thanking God for them.
Ask God to help you be content in all circumstances and trust that, in His great love and
wisdom, He will always give you what’s best for you.
Express anger productively rather than destructively. It’s fine to feel angry, as long as you
don’t sin because of the way you express your anger. Pray for the wisdom you need to discern
the difference between constructive and destructive anger, and for the self-control you need to let
go of destructive anger (anger that causes you to sin by hurting yourself and others). You can
control your anger by making choices such as carefully listening and thinking to messages others
are communicating to you before responding, so you calm down and respond without sinning.
You can also redirect your anger by using anger as Jesus did: to fight injustice and work for
righteousness. Ask God to make you angry about what angers Him, and then to use that anger to
help bring about justice in the world.
Break free of fear. Whenever you feel afraid, remind yourself that fear never comes from God;
it comes from evil. God gives you a spirit of power, love, and peace – not fear. Rather than
placing your faith in all the “what-ifs” of life and feeling afraid of what may or may not happen,
place your faith in God who is in charge of your future and wants what’s best for you. Pay
attention to specific, persistent fears in your life, because they reveal the areas in which you’re
trusting God the least. Pray about each area you identify as a problem, surrendering each one
specifically to God and asking Him to help you trust Him more with it. Then be diligent about
seeking God so you can consistently grow closer to Him. The closer you become to God, the less
you’ll struggle with fear.
Get rid of toxic influences on your life. Break free of materialism and look to God (instead of
money and possessions) to meet your needs for happiness, significance, and security. Whenever
you consume media of any kind (from television shows and songs to Internet articles and books),
honestly ask yourself: “Am I being entertained by sin?”, Is this pleasing to God?”, and “Does
this lure me away from Jesus?”. Then stop consuming media that you recognize is toxic to you.
Since bad company corrupts good character, set boundaries to protect yourself from being
influenced by unhealthy people, and cut off unhealthy relationships with people who are
dangerous to your spiritual growth but won’t change. Ask God to show you when religion is
corrupting the purity of the Gospel in your life, and to help you focus not on external behavior to
try to earn God’s love, but on responding to the love that God has already given you by trusting
Him in every part of your life.
