If you are experiencing negative thinking, and in particular there is a haunting negative theme that keeps looming in your mind, using scripture to replace the negative thought each time it comes up quiets and dispels the thought and can put you in charge of your thinking once more.
Researchers say we have between 6,000 and 50,000 thoughts per day. If you’re like me, you have the full 50,000 and sometimes more. So how can we be responsive in the moment to those looping negative thoughts?
This week I got a message that the police were called on me by the hospital administrator. Her name is Jo Ann. I had spoken to her the day before when she threatened to do it, and I said that should be interesting since it was the sheriff who advised me to pack her up and not let her back in the house – that she was a danger and getting worse for both my son and me. She said nothing in response to that, got off the phone, and left a message the next day while I was teaching that she had done what she threatened to do.
So of course there were thoughts that went along with hearing that. How could I address this quickly so my mind would not run away with itself and get me in a tizzy?
If you aren’t doing daily Bible study, or even if you are, there is a simple way to immediately access a good scripture verse to replace the negative thought with. Go to your computer and search “Bible verse” and in my case I added – protection from legal charges.
Here is the first thing that came up:
For legal protection, consider verses like Isaiah 54:17, which promises that no weapon formed against you will prosper:
“No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
And Proverbs 2:8 speaks of God guarding the paths of justice and preserving the way of the faithful:
“He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.”
Once I have gotten the verse I make it a personal promise to me. I write my name or “me” in places that would be addressed to the reader.
For example:
He guards my path and protects me, Julie Renee, because I am faithful to him.
One verse is enough, but I like to find two, convert them to personal promises, and then print them out and hang them where I can easily see and rehearse them when meeting with unwanted thoughts.
Using scripture this way is based on the science of neuroplasticity, where we are training our brain to be responsive to what we choose. And by using scripture, not just affirmations, we are calling forth the promises of God, accessing God more powerfully, and claiming His divine intervention and resolution.
