Taking the power back came so quickly to my mind when I started writing about my journey with intrusive thoughts and overthinking.
With the statistics showing that 94% of people struggle with intrusive thoughts, I am sure that you can relate to the feeling of powerlessness over your mind.
It’s perfectly normal to have terrible uninvited thoughts come to mind, that you don’t agree with.
So, take a breath.
I know that you have been holding it.
It’s also very common to struggle mentally between these frightening or unpleasant thoughts and the thoughts that come afterwards that accuse you of being a terrible person for thinking of such things.
The goal today is to take practical steps to staring these thoughts in the face, exposing them for what they truly are and learning overall how to govern your mind.
Please note: I am not a professional therapist, just a girl who struggled with paralyzing intrusive thoughts and now has power over her mind.
I want you to experience the same freedom that I have.
Let’s not wait another minute more!
Here it is:
Intrusive Thoughts & Overthinking: How to Take the Power Back.
Can I let you into my mind, back in 2019?
You might want to buckle up, because it’s pretty sketchy in there.
Seriously, my mind was wild; coming up with terrible outcomes to simple situations, predicting thoughts of other people that I feared they would think, and worst of all, creating stories of things others would do to me or that I would do to them.
Things I’d never do!
Violent things!
Perverted things!
Evil things.
I didn’t know where these thoughts came from, but they scared me to death.
The onset of these thoughts was terrifying and I wished it were possible to run away from your own mind.
Though that wasn’t the last of their torment.
They stayed afterwards and repeated like a broken tape; with a voiceover telling me that I’m a disgusting human being for even having that image in my mind.
I would shutter physically several times a day because of the mental bullying I was experiencing.
The silent fight that I wouldn’t tell people I was struggling with.
How could I?
They would think I was a monster!
No, I couldn’t say anything… even though that made the thoughts even louder and harder to battle.
Before this year, I would just drown them in critical thinking and busyness at work, or have something playing in my headphones constantly.
Like my mind was a kid hiding from a bully after getting off of the school bus, just trying to get home without the bully getting his hands on me.
And it worked for the most part!
Until I started working at a job that required no critical thinking, no music was allowed and nothing could distract me from my thoughts.
This metaphorical kid got off the bus that day and every bush, tree and trash can that was previously used to hide behind, was gone.
Just standing there in plain sight; the perfect prey for the gang of tormentors.
And, I got the beating of a lifetime when they found me.
I cried out to God everyday;
Pleading for Him to rescue me from the mental agony…
angrily questioning why He would let me deal with that day after day.
Intrusive thoughts started billowing in; saturated in doubt.
If God were real why would He allow this?
I mean, everyday my thoughts screamed at me that nothing supports the LORD’s existence.
That was one of the scariest parts of that year.
The tempest in my mind was so out of control and I could do nothing to run from it.
Then it came like a thin beam of sunshine, through the suffocating black clouds.
A small question.
“Why are some thoughts hurled at you, and others peacefully enter?”
The storm settled for a moment, as I considered that thought.
Why is evil thoughts pounding me while thoughts of goodness are living peaceably in my mind.
Thoughts of doubt grab my attention with their intensity, while faith doesn’t fight to get my mind back.
It was almost as though, thoughts of doubt wanted to scare me while thoughts of goodness and faith didn’t need to put on a show to remain.
This Bible passage came to mind:
“Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
I Kings 19:11-13 NKJV.
This was during a time when Elijah was going through a storm of anxious thoughts and fears.
The LORD showed Elijah something that helped him distinguish between where God was and where He wasn’t.
God doesn’t need to beat down and thunder upon His people to lead them in a direction.
He meets with us in peace and gentleness.
I then recognized that every thought that came as a battering ram to my mind was a thought that God was not in.
Thoughts that needed to scare me and distract me, so I couldn’t see the thoughts of God.
The doubt was desperate to convince me that God wasn’t there and loudly tried to cause me to believe that since I doubted God, I could never go back to God.
Violently reminding me of all the evil thoughts I think of.
All stopped by one small word from God.
The LORD comforted my mind further, as He reminded me that thoughts that occur in my mind do not determine my identity.
Thoughts obviously warred within me, so I knew that there was two sides on the battlefield in my head.
If disagreeing thoughts were all inhabiting my mind at one time, I understood that they couldn’t all be thoughts that I live by.
I knew there was a war going on, I just didn’t think I could do anything about it.
God taught me with one powerful portion of scripture, that I can do a lot more than I thought!
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”.
II Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV.
He essentially told me that I can take the power back!
I didn’t have to lay powerless in captivity to my thoughts!
I could actually take every thought captive before it got a mortgage in my mind, and I could determine if each thought should stay or not!
My thoughts were not automatically a part of my identity, I had the choice, whether or not to accept them.
They didn’t dictate how I saw myself anymore; I now saw that they were entirely separate from me, and I could decide to disagree with them and send them on their way.
It no longer scared me or surprised me that evil thoughts tried to come into my mind!
They were as lone travelers, seeking a land to dwell in.
Not automatically citizens of my mind, but I could make the decision whether or not to give them citizenship.
When I understood this, I then could understand this verse:
“and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”
II Timothy 2:26 NKJV.
The bad thoughts were beating me into submission, causing me to forfeit power and taking me captive.
Here’s the hardest part of the journey.
The bad thoughts didn’t stop, when God revealed this to me!
In fact, the bad thoughts seemed to get louder, but this only further proved what God put on my heart:
Peaceable, good and right thoughts won’t fight to gain access to my mind; thoughts of evil, destruction and wrong will desperately fight to be accepted.
The bad thoughts are aiming to mentally and emotionally exhaust you, until you just accept the propaganda they are trying to convince you is reality.
They urge you to submit and pretend that fighting those thoughts is against your true nature.
This is called temptation.
Thoughts that vigorously exalt themselves as the truth and tell you that following where those thoughts lead is natural.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Romans 8:5-6 NKJV.
A king that has to fight and terrorize and destroy to be in authority, is not a leader worth following.
The True King does not beat you into submission or manipulate you into accepting things that are fundamentally unhelpful to yourself and others.
That King doesn’t break you down mentally until you just accept His way…
He dies to secure your safety and gives of Himself, so you can trust Him.
With this security, you can finally fully rest in the peace found in Him alone.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3 NKJV.
Do you want to finally have this peace?
This is how you can take the power back!
First things first, if you’re going to take every thought captive when they approach your mind, you’re going to need a guard at the front door of your mind.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV.
The Spirit of God is with you and is aware of the thoughts that come to your mind before you even experience them.
You’re not alone in this mind battle.
“But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.”
II Thessalonians 3:3 NKJV.
Remember, that the LORD gives you free will.
This means that, though He guards you and warns you of threats, you still get the power to choose whether to listen to the Guard.
When you have a Guard advising you to disengage from aggressively persistent and persuasive thoughts, how do you choose well?
You’re not alone in that either, since your Guard is also your God!
He has the strength to defend you and the ability to work in you!
“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:13 NKJV.
The LORD gave you free will, and with this free will, you have the power to choose to either do this life on your own, with you as king and therefore be vulnerable to the power-hungry suggestions of the devil; or you can decide to give dominion back over to the True King, Who is able to govern well what He has created and Who is unmoved by the devil’s deceptions.
You need to hear this, if nothing else.
You have power!
That’s why you’re being attacked in your mind and heart.
You’re a target for the enemy because he doesn’t want you to utilize the power that you were given.
The devil is only trying to destroy you quietly from the inside, so you don’t see that it was him who destroyed you, that way you can’t expose him to others.
Please don’t be surprised when you’re being attacked.
Instead, remember that your power is what scares the enemy.
Here is why your power and free will terrify the devil.
When you use the power that God gave you, and you lay it down and give it back to God, this is when the devil remembers his defeat.
Assuredly, we know that God asks us to acknowledge the power that He gave to us, as well as to lay down that power and give it back to Him, because He gave us the example to follow.
Jesus.
Jesus said:
““Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.””
John 10:17-18 NKJV.
We were called to do the same!
“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:”.
I Peter 2:21 NKJV.
Jesus confirms with this word and with action, how we are to use the power we were given…
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
John 15:13 NKJV.
The battle in your mind is only a distraction, for the real battle was already won!
Yes, you have the power, it was always yours!
That’s why the enemy comes to distract you.
When he does come with fiery accusations, thunderous fear and crashing waves of doubt, remember that God is not in all of that noise.
He’s given you ability to stand against those terrifying thoughts.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
II Timothy 1:7 NKJV.
Photo by kaboompics.com
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
