Overcoming Negative Thoughts: The Secret to Winning the Battle of the Mind

All too often, in difficult times our thoughts want to go in many directions.

Our thoughts often bounce around like a rubber ball, going back and forth from our feelings and emotions to the thoughts we know to be true in our heart. David said, “Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You” (Psalm 25:20 NKJV). He needed God to help him because of the trouble he was facing. He asked God for help and then declared he was putting his trust in God.

Don’t Let Negative Thoughts Take Over

There is no more critical time for a person to remain focused in their thinking than in difficult times. I’ve heard people say, “You can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep him from building a nest in your hair.” The same can be said for our thoughts. Many thoughts come and go in our mind on a daily basis, and our job is to sort out which ones we retain.

An average person will have thousands of thoughts during the course of a single, ordinary day. Our task is to sort through those thoughts and meditate on the right thoughts that help us have faith to get through difficulties, to accomplish our mission, or to reach the next level in life. We can allow negative thoughts to overtake our mind until they lead us into doubt and despair. Or we can develop encouraging, positive thoughts that lead us into faith. Our thoughts either lead us into believing we can do God’s will or cause us to hide in unbelief. It is therefore paramount that we gain knowledge of God’s Word until that knowledge forms the predominant thoughts in our mind. This creates an alignment between the thoughts in our soul and what we believe in our heart—or spirit, as some people call it.

Developing a prosperous soul in which the mind is renewed to God’s Word does not take the place of having faith in our heart or spirit. Rather, it leads us to being able to have strong faith in God’s Word. If we entertain thoughts long enough in our mind, eventually they will form into a belief in our heart.

Learn to Manage Our Thought Life

If we’re going to make it through difficulties and trouble or move to another level in life, we have to learn how to manage our thought life so it is aligned with the Word of God that we believe in our heart. As we meditate on the Scriptures, eventually they will become our most dominant thoughts and the Holy Spirit will write them on the tablets of our heart (see 2 Corinthians 3:3).

Years ago, the person who bought our house on contract for deed stopped making the monthly payments. That meant we didn’t have the money to make the mortgage payment on the house, and unless something major happened it looked like we would have to file for bankruptcy. We advertised the house to sell it, but the bank that held the mortgage kept threatening to foreclose on the house.

I continued daily and weekly communicating with the bank, asking them to give me time to sell the house and reminding them it was cheaper for them to give me time to sell it than it would be to hire attorneys to foreclose on the house. I also went to the Word of God and found a verse of Scripture dealing with our situation and began confessing it over and over, as often as I thought about it (which was numerous times a day)!

It took about four months to sell the house, and during that entire time my mind was racing with negative thoughts of losing everything and going under. In my heart I believed what the Scriptures said about God taking care of us until this situation was over, but in my mind I was being pounded with all kinds of doubtful and fearful thoughts. But I kept reading and speaking that verse of Scripture over and over to my situation, making the truths of that verse a part of my thoughts. Eventually the thoughts of fear and doubt began to diminish and I began to think more consistently in line with the verse I believed in my heart.

Harmony Between Soul and Spirit

So our human spirit can be enlightened on the things of God with- out our soul having much understanding of how it can be possible. A person can have faith in their heart and doubt in their mind. In times of tragedy, trouble, or adversity, many conflicting thoughts try to crowd into our minds. But we must keep feeding on the Word of God so we can sort through our thoughts and select the ones we want to keep. While a person may be in this condition, it certainly isn’t God’s best. God desires that our soul and spirit to be in agreement and have knowledge and understanding of the things of God.

God desires our soul and spirit to be in harmony with His Word. This means that our thoughts and our beliefs should be in agreement with each other as much as possible. The Holy Spirit wants to enlighten both our spirit and our soul by the Word of God. Our spirit receives revelation from the Holy Spirit, while our soul is renewed day by day through the Word of God. In this condition we will be able to exercise strong faith in God.

God desires our spirit and our soul to be in agreement by having the same understanding of truth. For example, we must become fully persuaded that our sicknesses and diseases were laid on Christ. Then our mind and our heart can come into total agreement and healing is inevitable. This is true not only about receiving healing but in receiving whatever else we need from God.

Knowing God’s Word Produces Faith

Our soul is the “gate” to our heart; the knowledge in our soul that we actively dwell upon will eventually enter into our heart and cause us to believe. Keep in mind that thoughts of God’s Word come into our mind before they create faith in our heart. The value of a prosperous soul can be experienced when perfect harmony exists between soul and spirit because they have both been enlightened according to the Word of God. Then we can experience peace and express great faith in God’s Word.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) states that, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As we fill our mind with the knowledge of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will begin to write the Word upon our heart. When the Holy Spirit engraves the Word upon our heart, it creates faith in God. Our ability to have faith in our heart concerning the Word of God is in direct proportion to the knowledge we have of God’s Word.

Often what we think in our mind will lead to what we believe in our heart, and what we believe will influence what we say out of our mouth. It all begins with what we choose to think. Thinking thoughts according to God’s Word is the correct foundation for our faith in God.

If we’re constantly thinking according to the world’s way of doing things, we’re laying a foundation for doubt and fear. At some point the pressures of life will cause our incorrect foundation of “worldly thinking” to crumble, and our faith will not be strong enough to withstand the adversities of life and the attacks of the enemy.

More Than Positive Mental Attitude

I am not referring to mere mental assent or positive thinking. Just thinking the right thoughts in your mind is not enough, nor is it an end in itself. Some people think that knowledge is all they need, but if that were true then knowledge would be their savior. The reason we must have knowledge from God’s Word is because it is the thoughts of God that enable us to believe correctly in our hearts.

Some religious people get upset with people who promote having a positive mental attitude. But stop and think about it—God doesn’t want us to have negative attitudes. God always responds positively toward believers. Romans 8:32 tells us that God is for us, not against us. Even when we make mistakes or sin, God still leads us to repentance so we can return to Him. Negative thinking shouldn’t be an option for us. The truth is, having a positive mental attitude is necessary and good as far as it goes, but there is more to receiving from God than just that.

The value of positive mental attitude is that it is in agreement with the promise of God’s Word that we must believe in our heart so we can receive from God (see Mark 11:23-24). We may never see the results of believing with our heart unless we work to bring the attitudes of our mind into agreement with the Word of God. Remember, the decisions of life are made in the soul, including the decision to believe God’s Word and walk by faith.