Do you struggle with the negative words people have spoken over you even years ago. Do you find those words playing over and over in your mind? Today, I’m going to give you six ways that you can replace those negative thoughts, renewing our mind, so that you can finally walk in peace.
While growing up in a dysfunctional situation, I was told many negative and ugly things about myself. And I grew up believing that they were true. I was just caught with these negative thoughts coming to my mind. They were like, arrows, hitting my self-esteem and my self-worth; tearing them down.
And then in my early twenties, I went to this church service that my friend had invited me to. After this service, we went up for prayer and this man who had been speaking put his hand on my shoulder and he began to pray about how ugly I felt inside. He named all of these things I had been feeling about myself and he didn’t even know me.
I know now that that was the Holy Spirit speaking through him.
But then at the very end of his prayer, he said, “Choose life. Choose life.”
Deuteronomy 30:19 in the NKJV says,
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
There are many ways that we can choose life, but one of them is in our minds, renewing our mind, and getting rid of the old recordings of what people have said; those ugly shameful condemning words that people have spoken over us.
I couldn’t replace every ugly word at once, and God knows I would love to just have everything just done, but it’s little by little step by step, feeding the Word of God into our spirit as we’re renewing our mind.
Following are six ways that you can replace those negative thoughts with what God says about you.
Number one is Write down A Scripture
The First way of renewing your mind is to write down a scripture that speaks a truth of what God says about you.
And as an example, I’ll use Isaiah 49:14-16 in the NKJV
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
And my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Surely they may forget,
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
Your walls are continually before Me.
And number two is to look at that scripture daily.
I wrote the scripture I was looking at down and I put it where I could see it every day. And every morning, I wouldpick that up and read that Scripture out loud to myself.
Number three is to Think About How that Scripture Applies to You.
Journal about this Scripture and what it means to you. What truth does that speak to you and your life? Think about what it means to you during the day, especially when the negative thoughts come. Renewing your mind will come as you think about the truth when the negative words come.
Speak the truth of that Scripture out loud, even if it’s under your breath. Take some time to sit still before God and ask Him to speak to your heart and mind about what the Scripture means to you.
Number four is a memorize that scripture.
When we memorize scripture, it is laid up in our heart and it cannot be taken away from us. You don’t know how many times I’ve been in a situation, and the Holy Spirit has brought a scripture to my mind that I’d previously memorized and it came at just the right time.
And Number Five is Speak the Word Out Loud.
There’s something very special about speaking God’s Word aloud.
There was a time when I was feeling such a spiritual darkness around me, and I prayed for God to help me.
I was so scared I couldn’t talk at the time. I was just so just frozen, and in my mind, I said, “God help me!”
And then, without me even thinking about it, this Scripture I had memorized came out of my mouth. I kid you not: That darkness lifted when I spoke the word of God.
Speaking, the Word of God out loud is so powerful. There’s just something really special about it.
Number Six is to Pray that Word Back to God.
Ask for His restoration and ask for Him to make that real to you in your life.
If I were to pray our example Scripture above, I would pray something like this.
Father God, I thank You that you have not forgotten me; that you never could forget me because my name is written on Your hands. And whenever You look at Your hands, You think about me. I thank You that You are not like others who may have forgotten me. Your word says that You will not forget me. So, I thank You for thinking about me today, and helping me to know that You love me and that I am on Your mind. I pray Father for Your healing and restoration where others may have forgotten me, or I have felt less than. I thank You for making Your word real in my life. In Jesus name, amen.
I’ve just given you six ways of renewing your mind with the Word of God to get rid of those ugly, ungodly thoughts that people may have spoken over you, the thoughts that come and intrude themselves on your mind.
Remember that it starts little by little, one by one.
Which one of these things are you going to implement? I would love to hear from you.
This episode was inspired by day 17 of my Bible study Healing the Father Wound.
