“Our lives always move in the direction of our strongest thoughts.” Belief Rehab: You Are Enough
Depending on what our strongest thoughts are, this may or may not be a comfort. For the past several years, I’ve spent a pretty good amount of time around adults, teens and young adults. Between church, work, my friends, youth group, my daughter’s friends, and regularly being around school-age kids, I’ve seen a wide variety of kids, teens, and adults struggle with anxiety. They self-identify as having anxiety, and they admit that anxiety plays a huge part in their decision-making process.
For someone who struggles with anxiety, the statement “Our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts,” doesn’t bring comfort. It brings more anxiety.
Anxiety is a thief, and you fight the battle in your imagination
Anxiety is characterized by restlessness, agitation, uneasiness about future uncertainties. It’s a state of painful unease. Anxiety can cause us to worry about an imagined future that doesn’t exist and may never exist. Because our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts, by staying in this anxious state, we increase the probability of these worrisome things happening. Anxiety is a thief. It causes us to overlook opportunities to choose joy.
When I wrote those words in my book, Belief Rehab: You Are Enough, I didn’t intend to cause anxiety. My intention was to inspire people to take control of their thought life, because our thoughts can get built into beliefs, and our beliefs get built into mindsets. Our internal world produces our external reality. I believe it’s possible to learn to harness our thoughts and make them work for us instead of against us.
A few years ago, I read a book called Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. In this book, written over 65 years ago, Maltz writes, “Both experimental and clinical psychology have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the human nervous system cannot tell the difference between an actual experience and an experience imagined vividly and in detail.”
The key to overcoming anxious thoughts and developing better beliefs is harnessing the power of our imagination and deciding the things we think about. In Belief Rehab: You Are Enough, I wrote, “If your nervous system can’t tell the difference between an actual experience and an experience vividly imagined, that means you can shape every action, response, and thought you have by changing the way you use your imagination.
You already vividly imagine things regularly. Do you worry? Has your mind ever gotten caught in a loop of negative thoughts? Do you ever rehearse conversations before you have them, or rehash previous conversations, remembering all the things you wish you had said? Believe me, you are an expert at vividly imagining. If you’ve ever felt anxiety, you have vividly imagined.
When we take the time to consider the implications, we discover they are massive. The key to our success is in our own imagination.”
Anxiety is a thief, and it tries to steal your future. Two major things anxiety steals is joy, as I mentioned earlier, and the peace of God which is available to every one of us in every situation. What good news! The Bible has instructions for all of us whether we are young or old! In Philippians 4:4-9, Paul writes to his fellow believers:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (ESV)
Prescription to fight anxiety
Paul reminds them to rejoice in the Lord! This is how we fight anxiety: Find joy! He then repeats it, to emphasize its importance. He reminds them, when anxious thoughts come, to find a way to rejoice. In verse 6, Paul encourages them to refuse to partner with anxiety. I totally understand it seems crazy to just say, “Don’t be anxious,” and expect that to work. We don’t expect it to work when we tell people “Don’t be mad,” or “Don’t be sad.” However, Paul doesn’t leave them to figure it out for themselves. He actually gives them a pathway to follow.
After he tells them not to be anxious about anything, he instructs them how to proceed. Prayer (talking to God)
Supplication (specific earnest requests from God)
Gratitude (thankfulness toward God)
He encourages them to give their specific requests to Him, even though we know He already knows. The Lord wants us to come to Him with our requests and needs. It’s part of us acknowledging Him as God. He wants a close connective relationship with each of us. He wants us to know that He is there for us, and we can go to Him with our needs. We don’t have to try to figure it out for ourselves, even though most of us try anyway.
In verse 7, Paul tells them the Peace of God that doesn’t make sense will guard our hearts and minds in Christ. When things are wild and crazy, we can experience Peace that doesn’t make sense. That’s the opposite of anxiety. When we allow anxiety to rule, we experience the pain and anxiety even if nothing has happened yet. When we choose to run to God, seek Him, pray to Him, give our requests to Him, and keep a thankful heart, He releases Peace that we can’t find from any other source.
In the next part of the passage, Paul instructs them to go even further. The last step: “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8 ESV) The enemy wants you to worry because he’s trying to rob you of your future. Jesus taught his followers how to detect the operations of the enemy. He comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. When anxious thoughts try to enter your mind, you can chase them out by recognizing they are stealing your joy and peace. You can choose to put the pure, lovely, peaceful, excellent, and praiseworthy things of God in your mind. You will be surprised how quickly peace will enter your mind, heart, and thoughts.
Here’s the same passage in the Amplified:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, take pleasure in Him]; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit [your graciousness, unselfishness, mercy, tolerance, and patience] be known to all people. The Lord is near.
6 Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God. 7 And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].
8 Finally, [b]believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. 9 The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you. (Philippians 4:4-9 AMP)
I love in verse 7 it shows the Peace of God as standing guard over hearts and minds. Peace stands guard against fear and anxiety, while joy gives us strength. (see Nehemiah 8:10) In verse 9, Paul calls on them to remember their testimonies. Our testimonies are embedded in our history with God. What have you learned from the Lord? What have you received from Him? What have you seen in Him? Practice those things.
When I am tempted to worry about finances, anxiety invites me to imagine a future that doesn’t exist and may never exist. Anxiety tries to rob me of the joy of trusting in God. Anxious thoughts try to rob me of the peace that God is my provider. I have financial worries, like many people do. I absolutely believe in facing those challenges, for they are real. The house payment is due every month, and it isn’t going away because I “trust in God.” The reality is, we all need finances to survive. However, when we find ourselves in situations where we are not sure if the needs will be met, the enemy ALWAYS tries to introduce fear. Fear is his first and only tactic. Fear masquerades as other things such as control, manipulation, anxiety, worry, even human wisdom and logic. Fear causes us to self protect and/or self promote. When we allow fear to hop in the driver seat, trust in God has to jump out. They can’t both drive.
I can trust God as I wait for financial solutions to come. If I follow Paul’s prescription, I’ll find a way to rejoice in God, and then rejoice again! I’ll choose not to partner with anxiety as I face the difficulty, and I’ll pray to God. My prayers will be specific and filled with thankfulness. As I give the burden of my financial need to God, I’ll allow His peace to comfort my heart and stand guard against anxious thoughts that will try to invade.
Imagine your future with God, not anxiety
Instead of letting anxiety imagine my future, I’ll imagine it as if God showed up and met the need. It’s important to fill our thoughts with His goodness, His truth, His faithfulness, and keep those things the center of our hearts, as verse 8 instructs. I may even start to share testimonies of what I’ve learned from God over the years. “There’s provision for the vision!” “If I do what God says, He has to provide. If I do what I want, I have to provide.” I’ll remind myself of the time I got an inheritance, but no one died. I may begin to remind myself of that time it felt like we weren’t going to have enough money that month, but my husband got a job that paid several thousand dollars that was almost all profit. Testimonies of His goodness, faithfulness, and provision are a part of my history with God. We train ourselves to remember the times He showed up in the past and imagine our future as if He’s going to take care of this need, too. I can share those testimonies while I wait for this. Because I have peace and joy, I’m open to hearing His creative voice. Fear shuts down creativity and causes us to self protect. Peace and joy help us to stay connected to God through the difficulty, and allows Him to use us any way He wants. He may give us ideas or strategies. He may tell us to meditate on a certain scripture. He can do whatever He wants with us if we stay open to Him.
We have to learn and practice overcoming anxiety. It’s possible. God’s word contains so much wisdom that can benefit us massively if we follow it.
If you have a testimony of God getting you through a difficulty, drop it below in the comments! I’d love to hear it! If you want to check out Belief Rehab: You Are Enough, it’s available on Amazon.
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