While reading a book recently recommended by a friend, this author quoted another author…the quote she shared was so profound that I knew I needed to share it with you today.
The quote was from a book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, Who Switched Off My Brain? It says, “Negative words can be more harmful to you than the person you say them to, because your mind formed the toxic thought, meditated on the words and spoke them – reinforcing them in your mind. Because you created a stronghold, your body reacts with stress. If the stress chemicals flow in your brain longer than 30 seconds, your thinking, your intelligence, body and everything else are all going to be negatively affected.”
This small quote spoke profoundly to me.
Here is what it revealed to me…
Your mind formed toxic thoughts. You meditated on those toxic thoughts.
You spoke the toxic thoughts. You reinforced them in your mind – which created a stronghold. If you think on them for 30 seconds…. THIRTY SECONDS…it affects your thinking and your body negatively.
It was early afternoon when I read these words, pondered them, and prayed into them. I realized how many times, even that day, I had mediated on a negative thought for more than thirty seconds.
We may believe our thoughts do not really matter – but they do. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh, so is he.” (Prov 23:7)
Our thoughts matter.
So, when you are sitting around thinking about the negative things going on in the world, or the negative things happening in your family or even in your own life – if you are not careful, you will create strongholds.
Strongholds of negativity, which will affect your mind, your peace, and your body.
Seeing the importance of this, I made a firm decision to not allow a negative thought to remain in my mind for thirty seconds. I decided when a negative thought came, I would immediately deal with it vocally with the Word of God. This is not easy to accomplish.
This small challenge caused me to see how often negative thoughts will come to our mind. How invasive they really are. I also saw the importance of not allowing them to linger.
One negative thought after another came. My response was, “that is a lie, the Word of God says….” Over and over again I did this. This is especially important when you have challenging things going on in your life. It is vital to stay free of negative thoughts and words when you are standing in faith for a breakthrough.
I want to reiterate one vital part of the quote from Dr. Leaf, once the negative thoughts were meditated on…they were spoken. Be very careful what comes out of your mouth. There is life and death in the power of our tongue. Our words give LIFE to our situation, or they bring DEATH to it.
Make sure you are speaking life.
Today, I want to give you a challenge…just for ONE day. For one day, I want you to watch for negative thoughts to come in your mind, your thought life.
When they do, and they will, don’t allow them to remain for 30 seconds.
Instead speak the Word of God that disputes those negative words and cast down those imaginations. I believe you will be surprised how often negative thoughts come AND how easy it is to dispel them. It only takes a little practice.
Can you imagine a mind free of strongholds? I can. What’s on your mind today? As for me, I am determined to have the mind of Christ, how about you?
