I'm worthless. I'm a failure. God is punishing me for my mistakes. Nothing good will ever happen to me. My spouse thinks I'm a failure. My children think I'm a failure. Everybody rejects me. Why even try again it will just fail. I don't have what it takes. God is done with me. I hate my life. I'm not good enough. Everybody thinks it's my fault. God's promises don't apply to me. I'm just a loser!
Don't kid yourself! When you've been through devastating situations and you're working to rebuild, the biggest battle you'll face is going to take place behind your two eyes and between your two ears! If you haven't figured it out yet I'm talking about the battle that's going to take place in your mind. And if the above is just some of the thoughts you've been battling with please allow me to caution you and encourage you at the same time.
The Bible tells us "that as a man thinks in his heart, SO IS HE." If you allow these thoughts to rule your mind and heart you are destined to live out these negative, destructive thoughts. I can't tell you how many times, in my low moments, I looked at my wife and asked her the following question. "Why would you want to be married to me, I'm just a loser!" Now, I have the most incredible wife in the world. She has stood with me through some very difficult times and encouraged me when she was down herself. I thank God for her everyday!
But there came a time I had to stop allowing these kind of thoughts to control my mind and therefore control my life. How did I overcome these destructive thoughts? Well I didn't, but God did! Let me quickly explain.
I've been studying the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible. The purpose is because these books record the events of the Children of Israel rebuilding the temple of God, rebuilding their city and rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Basically they were rebuilding their lives after being taken captive and being held in captivity for approximately 70 years. I'm not going into great detail at this point.
But here's the interesting thing I've noticed. When they were released from their captivity and allowed to return home to rebuild the temple, rebuilding the temple was not the first thing they did. The first thing they did was build an altar and offered sacrifices to God. Simply put, they put their focus on God! They began to worship Him!
Stop and think about it with me. When I'm thinking all those negative, destructive thoughts, my focus is on ME. And I can't fix ME and YOU can't fix YOU! But God can and will but we've got to focus on HIM!
Here's the cool thing about all this. When I begin to focus on God I begin to think about me the way God thinks about me. And my friend, God has nothing but good thoughts about you and has a great plan for your life. I love the following verse. Oh by the way, it was written about the Children of Israel after they were released from captivity.
Psalm 126:1,2-"When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream. We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, What amazing things the Lord has done for them."
Can you see it? When you begin to focus on God, you begin to think about you the way He thinks about you. And when you think about you the way He thinks about you, YOU will begin to DREAM.......AGAIN!
Oh by the way, God's not rejecting you because of your failures. His grace is much greater then you might realize. Focus your heart and mind on Him and experience His unconditional love!
Much more coming, stay tuned!
Don't kid yourself! When you've been through devastating situations and you're working to rebuild, the biggest battle you'll face is going to take place behind your two eyes and between your two ears! If you haven't figured it out yet I'm talking about the battle that's going to take place in your mind. And if the above is just some of the thoughts you've been battling with please allow me to caution you and encourage you at the same time.
The Bible tells us "that as a man thinks in his heart, SO IS HE." If you allow these thoughts to rule your mind and heart you are destined to live out these negative, destructive thoughts. I can't tell you how many times, in my low moments, I looked at my wife and asked her the following question. "Why would you want to be married to me, I'm just a loser!" Now, I have the most incredible wife in the world. She has stood with me through some very difficult times and encouraged me when she was down herself. I thank God for her everyday!
But there came a time I had to stop allowing these kind of thoughts to control my mind and therefore control my life. How did I overcome these destructive thoughts? Well I didn't, but God did! Let me quickly explain.
I've been studying the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Bible. The purpose is because these books record the events of the Children of Israel rebuilding the temple of God, rebuilding their city and rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Basically they were rebuilding their lives after being taken captive and being held in captivity for approximately 70 years. I'm not going into great detail at this point.
But here's the interesting thing I've noticed. When they were released from their captivity and allowed to return home to rebuild the temple, rebuilding the temple was not the first thing they did. The first thing they did was build an altar and offered sacrifices to God. Simply put, they put their focus on God! They began to worship Him!
Stop and think about it with me. When I'm thinking all those negative, destructive thoughts, my focus is on ME. And I can't fix ME and YOU can't fix YOU! But God can and will but we've got to focus on HIM!
Here's the cool thing about all this. When I begin to focus on God I begin to think about me the way God thinks about me. And my friend, God has nothing but good thoughts about you and has a great plan for your life. I love the following verse. Oh by the way, it was written about the Children of Israel after they were released from captivity.
Psalm 126:1,2-"When the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream. We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the other nations said, What amazing things the Lord has done for them."
Can you see it? When you begin to focus on God, you begin to think about you the way He thinks about you. And when you think about you the way He thinks about you, YOU will begin to DREAM.......AGAIN!
Oh by the way, God's not rejecting you because of your failures. His grace is much greater then you might realize. Focus your heart and mind on Him and experience His unconditional love!
Much more coming, stay tuned!
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