Silence Your Negative Thoughts

Negative Loop
The negative thoughts loop goes on and on and all day you tell yourself that nothing will go right and at the end of the day you will reflect on how bad the day went and the only good thing about your day is that you said it was going to be a bad day and you were right, so at least you got that right.

Your life is shaped by your thoughts

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 4:23

Your life will always move in the direction of your strongest thoughts.
This is why you need to think about what you think about.

You are not a victim of your thoughts.
You can control them. You can learn how to change your thinking so that you will live with a sense of hope and peace. With the help of the Holy Spirit, you can choose what you think about.

Negative talk isn’t just a practical problem, it’s a spiritual problem.

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
Romans 8:5-6

Thinking about all the worldly problems and selfish desires will consume you.

As a believer, you can set your mind on spiritual things that bring God glory.
You can think about things like love, peace, grace, mercy, and kindness. You can focus on treating others like Jesus. You can set your mind on things that honor Christ.

If you are hurting and broken, discouraged and depressed, you might take an inventory on what you think about the most.

This is what you need to know:
1. Just how much negative thoughts are hurting you and others.
2. Identify the specific area of negativity that is dominant in your life.
3. How to change your thinking so that you can change your thinking and in turn change your life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Neuroscience actually shows us that negative events leave a significant imprint on our memory.

Example: Math Problems and Answers
7x1=7
7x2=14
7x3=22
7x4=28
You feel the need to correct 7x3, but are you celebrating the correct answers?

People are more than eager to point out your mistakes

You have no bigger critic of you than you.
If you are like most people you are really good at pointing out your own faults. You might even be an expert at fault finding.

When people criticize you, you remember it.

The more you hang around negative people the more likely you are to dwell on negative thoughts.
Negative thoughts actually turn into a habit over time. You can have the habit of thinking negative especially if you have spent most of your time thinking about all that’s wrong with yourself and the world.

You know the saying that “you are what you eat”. The same is true of what you consume mentally.

What are you mentally consuming that fuels negative thinking?

• News
• Media
• Music
• Social Media
• People you spend time with

These all create the inner script that directs your thoughts, which in turn directs your life.

Nobody is more influential in your life than you because you talk to you more than anyone else.
Your thoughts have incredible power so you need to have power over them. A mind governed by the flesh results in death. The death of dreams, the death of joy, the death of hope, the death of beauty, the list goes on and on. Negativity becomes a habit. Your thoughts have incredible power.

Where are you the most prone to negativity?

These are the four most popular categories people go negative.

1. Relational Cynicism
A general distrust for people and their motives

2. Negative Filtering
Always seeing the worst possible outcome in every possible situation

3. Absolute Thinking
All or nothing thinking. Everything is black and white, either all good or all bad

4. Blaming
Believe that you will always be a victim

Real World Example - King David
(1 Samuel 30)

• David and his army of troops had just returned home from battle.
• They discovered that another enemy had attacked it while they were away.
• Their homes were burned to the ground, their wives were kidnapped or killed along with their children.
• The grief must have been unbearable.
• David’s own men blamed him and wanted to stone him to death. The men were so distraught they cried until they ran out of tears.
  

“When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.”
1 Samuel 30:3-6

In the middle of his worst and lowest moment, scripture says that David found strength in the LORD.

God is still God and God is still involved in your life.

In the middle of his darkest moment David encouraged himself by reminding himself who God is.

“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”
Psalm 103:1

What David is saying here is what he is telling himself to do. He is telling himself to praise the LORD. “David, Praise the Lord”

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 103:1-5

David is reminding himself that God is still God and God is the one who set him as ruler over Israel.

• God was with him when he was being chased by Saul.
• God protected him from his enemies and even though his world was rocked at that moment
• God was still God
  

David would often write:
“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.”
Psalm 145:8

It was his declaration. He was fighting back negative thoughts trying to break the negative loop. He said this again and again and again because he had it memorized.

He was copying what God said about himself.

This is recorded in Exodus 34:

“Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”
Exodus 34:5-7

David was ruminating.
Ruminating is bringing up again and again. Not negative thoughts, worries, or fears, but ruminating on God’s promises, on His truth no matter the circumstance.

Think like a cow

• A cow takes a mouthful of grass and chews it up.
• Then it swallows the grass and the small particles go into the first of four stomach chambers.
• The bigger pieces get thrown back up where the cow chews on it some more and then swallows it again.
• With every bite of grass the cow swallows and pukes some back up to rechew it again and again and again.
  

The word meditate is the same as ruminate in the Bible. To meditate on God’s word is to draw it up for examination again and again and again letting it soak in.

You can encourage yourself by:

• Reading God’s word
• Ruminating on it
• Declaring God’s goodness
  even when you are swimming in a sea of negativity.
  

Pastor John ruminates on this verse:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6

What is your go to verse when you get stuck in the negative loop?

Go-To Verses for Negative Thinking

Cynicism
God, with your help, I choose to “Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort” (Ephesians 4:31). I choose to love others like Jesus, to believe the best about others, and to be kind and compassionate.

Negative filtering
God, with your help “we (I) take every thought captive and make it obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:6). I want your thoughts to be my thoughts. Because you are good, I choose to think about what is good, true, and helpful. I trust you to guard my heart and grant me peace.

Absolute Thinking
God with your help, I choose to “love my neighbor as myself” (Mark 12:33). I choose love over hate. Rather than making a point, I choose to make a difference. Help me to seek understanding through your eyes and with your heart.

Blaming
God, with your help, I will overcome the past with your promises. “For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). I will own my own choices and choose God’s best for me. I am loved and accepted because I am a child of God.

Your thoughts have incredible power, but you have incredible power over your thoughts.