In episode 85, “Freedom Through Capturing Thoughts”, we discuss chapters 4-6 in Jennie Allen’s book, “Get Out Of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts.” As Christians, we are called to take every thought captive. In doing so, we are able to experience freedom. Dive into the episode to learn more!
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Breaking Free
Jennie goes in depth about her 18 month mental battle against the devil in her book, but we touch on it in this portion of the podcast episode. We discuss ways to set yourself up for success and how to get your mind right:
- Grow/Gain a trusted community of wise counsel
- Have healthy boundaries and healthy vulnerability
- Memorize God’s truths and scripture
- Pray and fast
- Have go-to declarations for when you feel stuck
Have a plan of attack, get your crew to rally behind you, and give yourself grace and patience as you actively combat evil by fully relying on God. We are not to live in a spirit of fear, so being on offense by using the sword of the Spirit (Armor of God reference from the Bible) will help us stay confident and lean on God.
Where Thoughts Are Captured
We have, on average, 31 thoughts a minute. Wow, that’s a lot to capture! The good news is that we don’t have to panic to actively capture those thoughts (it’s possible, but we focus on another point here). All you need is one interrupting thought to help you derail the toxic thinking.
Not sure what thoughts to capture? Think about what you are fixating on in your day to day life. Is there a repeated thought or lie that is constantly running in your head? Maybe you’re having to justify your thought life (“I don’t have a problem.” “This isn’t that big of a deal.” “I can change at any point.”). Start with these. As soon as you recognize yourself having these fixated, toxic thoughts, you must choose to realign your thinking.
Make the Shift
Once you are able to recognize the strongholds and be aware of what you’re thinking, the better you can combat toxic thoughts and shut them down. Remember that whatever you believe determines your actions. We also cover avoidance techniques that we need to be on the lookout for in the process.
If you’re feeling stuck in this process, try working backwards. Start with identifying the negative behavior, then the prevailing emotion that comes with it, and then dig deep to find that toxic thought. Jennie has a great exercise in her book that helps here!
