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Post by Cindy on Apr 26, 2022 10:30:47 GMT -5
Why in the world would I think you should quit???? That would be a very good way to discover if someone was working for Satan though. Go ahead and do whatever you feel God wants you to...more on this, or a different topic or a book...
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383 
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Post by fearnot on Apr 26, 2022 11:44:03 GMT -5
We can change our thoughts, by taking them captive,
it can be hard or a chore at first, but can get easier with time.
Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it
Proverbs 4:23
When we think anything,
we need to check it against what God says in His word.
Maybe we are having a pity party,
feeling we are alone and unloved,
but Jesus said:
....being content with what you have;
for He Himself has said,
“I will never desert you,
nor will I ever forsake you
Hebrews 13:5
and
"...lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20
These are God's truths,
that you need to replace,
your false thoughts with.
However feeling alone, you may think,
but, I have no family.
What does God say tho?
See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we would be called children of God;
and such we are.
For this reason the world does not know us,
because it did not know Him
1 John 3:1
and
But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become
children of God,
even to those who believe in His name
John 1:12
Note there are children ( plural)
so you do have family,
even if you do not see them in person now,
you can begin to pray for them ( and they are all over the world).
Praying for them, is one way of loving them, your family.
This is My commandment,
that you love one another,
just as I have loved you
John 15:12
One thought that might plague believers,
is feeling how sinful we've been in the past,
and even how we struggle with sin this very day,
we might think, therefore, I am worthy of being forgiven
and am not forgiven...
but what does God say?
If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
1 John 1:9
Or another tormenting thought is:
I am a total failure, I have failed everybody,
and everything in my life ( especially as a Christian);
God says:
"but thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"
1 Corinthians 15:57
Who is right?
My thoughts?
or
God's thoughts?
God's thoughts obviously!
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts
Isaiah 55:9
To go along with the disturbing thought: I am a failure,
is the distressing thought:
Well, I can't do anything!
And God says:
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me
Philippians 4:13
This is not a verse suggesting, I can just call anything into existence,
this is a verse telling us that we can be content
in our circumstances because we have Jesus.
Do we feel a failure because we are sick,
home bound, and even bed bound?
We still have the Father God, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
We can pray for others, we can memorize God's word etc.
Did we make some major errors, lived a big portion of our life
in terrible sins, that hurt many people, so we failed them?
We can still ask for forgiveness, and mercy, and pray.
God has infinite wisdom and knowledge,
so that, even the most brilliant genius,
will never reach the infinite knowledge that God has.
God's thoughts are not only infinite but eternal,
so we can trust Him.
And we can keep our minds more and more on Him and His word.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you
Isaiah 26:3
There really is no peace in thinking any kind of sinful thoughts
it only causes us ( and others)
harm and pain,
both in the physical and spiritual realm.
Done for today
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on Apr 26, 2022 11:46:46 GMT -5
I am so sorry that did not come out right....
I also was not thinking clearly when I wrote that.
Please forgive me.
I want to apologize for writing such an insulting post,
It did not come out right....
I mean, I was not thinking how insulting it sounded.
I was not thinking clearly...and I ask for your forgiveness.
I guess I asked that in part,
because I was not sure if you might be thinking of closing the board sometime in the near future,
or maybe, you wanted me to quit because I was being so irregular posting for awhile now....so
that perhaps I might quit and let someone else have a chance who would be regular....
but I didn't think how insulting to you that came across.
I would never ever ever think you were influenced by satan.
I am so so so sorry.
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Post by Cindy on Apr 27, 2022 10:20:55 GMT -5
Barbara, don't worry about it! Especially considering all the times I've put my big foot in my mouth and also said things that could be insulting. Honestly, I wasn't at all upset by it. I was sure you had simply said that because you were tired or couldn't think of any other way to say what you meant. I hope you didn't think I was angry about it. I think perhaps I'm the one that should apologize...not you! 
I love what you wrote about taking out thoughts captive! I would like to mention one thing about it though that I learned before I was saved. The New Age has incorporated part of what God tells us to do in taking our thoughts captive and used it for themselves. Their idea is that people just need to change their thoughts and by doing so they can create the reality they want. For example, they'll tell you not to think that you can't pay your bills, but instead to think that you have lots of money and to visualize yourself paying your bills and buying all the things you want. Trust me, if that worked, everyone would be rich by now! I can promise it doesn't work because I desperately tried to create a reality of being rich, but instead I stayed poor.
What God tells us to do however is quite different. He never tells us to lie about anything. Instead He challenges us to always speak the truth (in love). When we say we're worthless, He says we were worthy enough for Him to die for, so we shouldn't put ourselves down. When we can't pay our bills, He tells us to ask Him for help; and also tells us not to dwell on what we can or can't do, but instead to simply do our best (with His help) and to not worry about the future, but instead to leave that in His hands. If our electricity gets turned off, He says to rejoice for He will use that for our good and His glory; we simply have to wait and see how it works out. But for the most part, as far as taking our thoughts captive goes, the parts the New Agers don't use is that we're to replace those untrue thoughts with His Truth, and we're to apply the truth to our life. Instead of creating our own reality like the new agers try to do, we leave our reality in the hands of the only One that can create it...the One True God and our Savior, Jesus Christ!
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on Apr 27, 2022 11:29:21 GMT -5
That was absolutely great Cindy!
I know the 'visualization' thing has even crept into the mainstream medical field.
Years back, I had to go to a 'pain' class
to show I was exploring all avenues
( besides pain medication).
So, I went.
The class was held in the hospital.
The medical staff running the class started off showing a movie that began with saying something to the effect...
'no we don't believe your pain is all in your head'
and then went on from there to explain,
how your pain was 'really' all in your head.
Which was the perfect lead-in to the main focus of the class.
Because after all pain is only in your brain, so therefore,
if you substitute your focus on pain for something else
then poof, your pain will be gone.
So yes, using scripture in a wrong way sort of.
I am not sure they realized,
that was what they were doing?
but one claimed to be a Christian, tho not in that setting
but as one of my physical therapists,
in a one on one setting. ( that was unusual in itself!)
After the movie, we were instructed on how to do 'visualizations'
like:
imagine yourself in your favorite peaceful place....
on an tropical island maybe,
or a mountain top
or woods,
the beach etc.
And then, as they got further and further into how to do this
I told one of the medical staff that I had to leave,
I would not do visualizations.
All the rest of the pain patients stayed tho.
But I did 'try'.
So yes it is even in mainstream medicine now.
As are a bunch of other new age stuff
I was told to try 'yoga'
and 'mindfulness'.
There is some supposed 'healing' touch reiki thing also.
there may be other new age ideas now in mainstream medicine.
However, that has added to me being less and less willing
to even go to a doctor anymore,
just to avoid these things.
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Post by Cindy on Apr 28, 2022 11:05:35 GMT -5
I know what you mean about being less willing to go to a doctor. It seems now days that people go to doctors constantly for everything. Not me. No thank you. But I will go when it's serious and I know there's something they can do to help me.
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on Apr 28, 2022 13:16:08 GMT -5
I thought of what I think is one major difference between visualization
and taking thoughts captive.
I was thinking a person might think they are more or less the same
in that
you are replacing something 'bad' with something 'good' in your mind.
However, a big difference is:
when you take sinful thoughts captive,
You are replacing them with God's Word, the Bible/scriptures
and it can transform you.
When YOU visualize,
YOU are trying to be God.
YOU are trying to, in a sense, re-create Eden.
YOU are the 'Creator'
YOU design a world to YOUR liking,
a world YOU command to be beautiful, calm, pain free,
etc.
Oh and no need for God, since YOU are in charge.
Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse comes to mind because there you design YOUR own world, and again, YOU play God.
This never works out well, and in fact, is spiritually deadly!
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on Apr 29, 2022 11:48:39 GMT -5
This is a glitch :(
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on Apr 29, 2022 12:47:00 GMT -5
Some difficult thoughts to take captive are: revengeful thoughts.
In general there are often two sides to hurtful statements.
But sometimes a truly hardhearted, mean-spirited, cruel person,
may hurt you severely with their words.
They may even speak outright lies.
And spread evil gossip about you, behind your back,
but they may do so, even with you standing there, in a group of people.
What can happen is,
you can go home, and relive those words in your mind.
First, you might be just very hurt and the unfairness, the lies, the cruelty etc.
But as you muse on it in your mind, you may begin to go from hurt,
to anger,
to planing revenge.
You start writing your script ( in your mind), of what you will say back
to the culprit, the next day.
You plan for every possible contingency,
and prepare for every possible comeback.
You have polished your word guns, and are out for bear!
You rehearse it like an actor for a movie,
so that you know your lines backwards and forwards!
You are not 'only' going to defend yourself, and not be a 'doormat'
you are going to let that inhumane sadistic brute know what it feels like!
Oh wait....
Are you a Christian?
What does Jesus say:
“You have heard that it was said,
‘You shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.’
Matthew 5:43
See there you go!
It's okay what you are planning.....
You better read the next verse!
44 But I say to you,
love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44
So what did you NOT do?
You did not take you revengeful thoughts captive!
What does God say about vengeance?
Never take your own revenge, beloved,
but leave room for the wrath of God,
for it is written,
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Romans 12:19
But, but, You say:
This verbal attack on me, was beyond the pale,
it was totally egregious!
However, God says: NEVER take your own revenge.
God did not its okay to strike back, IF it was really really really bad, super mean, and untrue.
Let's say that person was truly 100% wrong,
a liar, cruel to the max,
evil etc. etc.
You actually can have pity on them,
because if they do not come to the Lord and be saved,
and are transformed, by God,
their eternal life will be so tragic!
How can you not pity them?
Yes, they hurt you, maybe even badly,
but in a month's time or a year, or ten years,
you most likely will often not even remember it!
So not only did you not take your revengeful thoughts captive
( and in a sense you became just like them, mean, cruel, hurtful etc)...
You also did not pray for them either.
Jesus, Himself was the target of lies and hatred all His ministry.
Even at His trials, liars spouted outright evil lies.
Many testified falsely against Him,
but their statements did not agree.
Mark14:56
Jesus could have exacted revenge on those people
like we could hardly imagine!
But instead, what did He say to God the Father
while hanging on the cross?
I think His words are something we need to memorize,
and practice applying to our lives.
Some verses may be a bit difficult to memorize,
but these words are not hard to memorize,
but they may be hard to apply.
We, of course, are sinners also!
Something to remember.
We too, may have said things that hurt other people in our life.
But when we have been wrongly harmed, injured, and maligned
we ought to think of the words Jesus spoke.
When revenge rears its ugly head...
Let's begin by replacing those thoughts with Jesus words:
But Jesus was saying,
“Father, forgive them;
for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23:34
And this is a verse to consider also
especially because, we may some day,
we be the one,
who said hurtful things,
we may regret our meanness,
so how would we want the person we hurt
to respond to us?
Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.
Luke 6:31
Done for today
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Post by Cindy on Apr 30, 2022 6:28:37 GMT -5
Those were great! I really enjoyed reading them!
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on Apr 30, 2022 12:27:59 GMT -5
Thank you :)
I did remember to pray first! :)
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fearnot
Living With Pain
Posts: 8,383
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Post by fearnot on May 4, 2022 10:49:55 GMT -5
There are many more thoughts that need to be taken captive,
but I will look at just one more, and that is fear.
In fact, there are all manner and types of fears,
so many, I could not name them all!
for God gave us a spirit
not of fear
but of power and love and self-control
2 Timothy 1:7
I probably don't even need to name some of the countless fears,
people have...
nevertheless here are a few:
Fear of having an incurable disease like some type of cancer etc.
Fear of losing all our money to the point of becoming homeless.
Fear of dying.
Fear of losing our beauty.
Fear of growing old.
Fear of war.
Fear of a major fire.
Fear of some natural disaster.
Fear of being alone.
Fear of God.
Fear of pain.
Fear of Hell
Fear of being a burden
etc. etc. etc.
There is no question, that at one time or another,
most, if not all, people, have felt fearful, at some time in their life.
Many people including Christians, struggle with fear almost daily.
So I will look at some scriptures from God, dealing with fear.
We can use these ( and many other verse) to replace these fearful thoughts.
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be frightened,
and do not be dismayed,
for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go
Joshua 1:9
God tells us not to be afraid,
Why? Because He is with us.
We can certainly pray to the Lord,
and tell Him we are frightened,
and then, consider what He has told us
about fear.
He will protect us against Satan
( some fears come from the devil)
But the Lord is faithful.
He will establish you
and guard you against the evil one
2 Thessalonians 3:3
But of course, sometimes,
there really are fearful things happening
to us, or around us, or to our loved ones etc.
Even so, God will go with us and thru it,
and will, in time, turn it into our good.
And we know that for those who love God
all things work together for good,
for those who are called according to his purpose
Romans 8:28
There may be times tho, when doubt will slither into your thoughts.
Thoughts like:
God is not really for me,
or you might think:
He can help others, but not me,
or
I don't see or feel any relief, maybe He is not there etc etc.
Then, we can begin to FEAR our unbelief!
I have often quoted this verse in times of doubt:
Immediately the father of the child cried out
and said,
“I believe;
help my unbelief
Mark 9:24
Another wonderful verse about fear is this one:
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
And we need to also remember
For nothing will be impossible with God.
Luke 1:37
Christians also need to consider,
that they may have developed the habit
of camping in fears, and have neglected,
counting their blessings ( even when things are bad).
There are always some earthly blessings:
The sun still shines,
We still have air to breath,
God is still on His throne
etc.
We should not forget we also have spiritual blessings for all eternity.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Ephesians 1:3
and
Therefore let us be grateful
for receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken,
and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship,
with reverence and awe,
Hebrews 12:28
Negative, fearful, ungrateful, revengeful etc. thoughts
do NOT have to stay in our mind,
we CAN kick them out...
and replace them!
We destroy arguments
and every lofty opinion
raised against the knowledge of God,
and take every thought captive to obey Christ
2 Corinthians 10:5
If your thoughts disagree with God's Word,
those thoughts are wrong,
and need to be booted out!
Another favorite verse:
and you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free
John 8:32
We do not have to be held as slaves to ungodly and/ or fearful thoughts,
we CAN be free.
Yes, we may fall occasionally,
into letting some fear in and/or ungodly thoughts back in.
But in time, we will so hate those thoughts,
we will be more and more aware of them.
When that happens we will give them the heave ho,
quicker and quicker,
until, the moment they try to sneak in,
we expel them!
Plus, we must never forget, we have God on our side,
helping us:
And my God will supply every need of yours
according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus
Philippians 4:19
and
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect
Romans 12:2
When fear tries to invade,
it is usually concerning things on earth:
Set your minds on things that are above,
not on things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2
And God tells us to think on these things:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is just,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things
Philippians 4:8
Fear is not in this list.
Done for today.
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Post by Cindy on May 4, 2022 11:24:11 GMT -5
I love the first verse you posted: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”” (Joshua 1:9) I'm sure many people have read that and were comforted or strengthened by it. But I wonder how many others read it many times without ever noticing that it's a command, not a suggestion. I know I didn't realize that for a long time.
He also showed me that fearing what another person can do is a snare that we should avoid at all costs: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25) Notice too that God Himself will keep us safe if we will only trust Him. He even commands us again not to fear, only this time it's about sudden disasters. And again He says He is the one who will keep us safe, not anything we come up with on our own.
“Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.” (Proverbs 3:25–26) This time the word command isn't in the sentence but it is implied. He isn't suggesting anything that's for sure! Finally, I love this last verse. I think we all find it sooner or later and take great comfort in it: “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) If we fear God we don't have to fear anything or anyone else; but if we don't fear God, then we should fear everything and everyone else!
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