God's Promises Make Space
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:12-17 New International Version)
A new beginning starts today when you stop feeding the negative cow.
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18–19
Take some time to reflect on the promise of God. Hi-light in red what is negative and discouraging. Highlight in green the promises of God that encourage you to meditate on the good He is doing now, not what the past has done to keep you down. When we ruminate on the past, it’s similar to how cows chew their cud or food. They chew, spit it out, chew, spit it out, and continue over and over. What a nasty thought, however, isn’t it tiring and mentally cluttering to chew and spit and then chew and spit out negative thoughts? God wants to do something new in your life but as long as you meditate and ruminate on the past, you will never have the space needed to allow God to create and fill in all the amazing things in your life
Go Green and Recycle God‘s Promises
God’s Word can be recycled daily. Use it over and over to create space in your life for peace, joy, and happiness. What you desire is what you become. It’s as easy as one, two, and three. Let’s practice. You just experienced number one, by highlighting in green God’s promises you can easily reference and begin to own His promises for you. Next, rewrite God’s promise on a sticky note or a note card where it becomes visible. Finally, meditate and memorize the promise; in so doing it will occupy the space where the negative thoughts won’t begin to stock-pile like dirty laundry.
You are More than Enough
God created you with a purpose in mind. Your self-worth is developed from God’s worth. Because you were created with a reason before you even existed, it makes you valuable and a prized possession. The world aims to cut us down and create an environment of comparison, however, in God’s economy there is no need to compare because he crafted us all unique. Just as Jeremiah was affirmed by God, so can we hold to the similar promise that He knew us way before we even existed. How special are you that God set you and me apart for a purpose not just to exist but to thrive?
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4
Affirmations encourage you to live in the now
One powerful way to live in God’s newness is to throw away negative prerecorded thoughts from the past and create daily affirmations. Affirmations are important because they encourage you to live in the now-replacing old baggage thoughts that want to hold you down. According to the National Institutes of Health, “Self-affirmation theory posits that people are motivated to maintain a positive self-view and that threats to perceived self-competence are met with resistance. When threatened, self-affirmations can restore self-competence by allowing individuals to reflect on sources of self-worth, such as core values.” In other words, it’s important to be intentional with daily affirmation to remind you who you are and not what past thoughts have said.
God’s affirmation and promises take it to a higher level, acknowledging that God has His best intention and direction for our lives allows us to counteract any threats and lies of the old self and the enemy of our souls. Satan has only one purpose and that is to destroy all that God has intended for you.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Resource 1https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4814782/
The Past Must be
fought with New Weapons
Our past experiences are what used to be, however, God is doing a new thing. God’s promises equip us with new weapons that allow us to live an abundant and victorious life.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have the divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Many reasons we struggle with success in creating space from negative thoughts is because we bring the wrong weapons to battle. It can be compared to trying to wash a load of clothes the old-school way, by hand. We attempt to tackle each negative thought individually when what we need to be is decisive just like using a washing machine and throwing them in the rinse cycle. Christ has washed and cleansed our past, so why do we continue to battle and wrestle with them alone?
What dirty laundry of the past are you still hand washing that needs to go in the Jesus rinse cycle
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is youra] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4)
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12)
