What You Think Matters: Who Told You That?
- Mar 7, 2017
- 5 min read
I’m not going to lie, I almost didn’t make it to church two days ago and if I didn’t, I would have missed out on this great message about the direction in my life about my thoughts. It’s actually a new series called MO[RE NEW]S that the Pastor Randy just started this Sunday. The first part touches on the thoughts that we have and how our thoughts and the thoughts of other impact our lives. I feel this was a great topic to talk about since we all want to EXPRESS our true authentic self.
This happens all the time. We hear these thoughts about who we are, what we need to wear, what we need to do, etc. Now how do our thoughts play an important role in our lives to be able to EXPRESS our true authentic self you ask? The thing is we…WE have the power to take control over the thoughts we have and others that try to pour negative thoughts into our minds. I will first state that I’m guilty of this sometimes and I’m a working process in this area, so you are not along. Just last night I was going to sleep thinking about my next job move (as in moving out of the Central Valley and to So Cal) and how I felt so defeated because I can’t find a job or the fact that agencies are not calling me back for an interview. Then I thought about what Pastor Randy preached and the word of God said about our thoughts and what he believes and who told you that? I spoke against the negative thoughts state “I will find a job. It is out there waiting for me!” and I had peace in my heart and mind as I went to bed this morning.
He mentioned a few scriptures throughout the service (he had three points) but Genesis 3: 8-13 talks about the fall of man that really stuck out to me. The scripture states:
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”
12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (NKJV)
As I meditated on these scripture passages (my nickname is called Spiritual Eyes because I go deeper into the scripture…I be studying lol) is that our ways of thinking. In verse 11, God said “Who told you that you were naked?” and in our minds we knew that Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (not an apple…lol) which their eyes became opened which answer the naked question. Before they partake in the eating the fruit, they never had knowledge they were naked. So why are we partaking into fruit such as the media, magazine, family and friend’s words about who we are and what defines us as our true authentic self? I know God looking at me/us like “Who told you that you were fat?” “Who told you that you were not smart enough?” “Who told you that you were not going to get that job?” “Who told you that you were not fearfully and wonderfully made?” (Psalm 139:14). This list can go one for all eternity.
The second thing is in verse 12, how Adam going to throw Eve under the bus. Okay, I get that is your wife and what not, but Adam wasn’t being a man and admitted that he ate the fruit and it was his choice. She didn’t force him to eat of the fruit, just like we are not force to believe anybody negative thoughts about ourselves including our own thought about us. We are not obligated to listen to everything people say including negative thoughts. So how come we are throwing people under the bus to cover us the fact that we had the words to fight off negative thoughts that come our way. “I wouldn’t be in this position because of Chris.” “I will never be happy.” “I’m always going to be stuck here in this little town.” We just need to believe in ourselves that we can do so. I will say that it can get hard, but you are not alone and you will find that authentic voice.
Lastly we need to confess who, what, when, how, and why we allow not only other to feed negative thoughts into our minds [including our own thoughts] but also allow to take responsibility to admit that we do and will on this thing. I know it can be hard to admit. Shoot Eve in verse 13 had to tell God that the serpent deceived her. Think about this, the serpent deceived Eve through words…a thought…. How many times have the words of others including ourselves deceived us to having an authentic self and life? Have we ever admitted that? We just need dig deep and really ask these questions. I know I do sometimes. We can do it. We just need just need to speak to the negativity and stand strong. Our words are powerful tools in life. I want to inspire you to speak up and fight negative thoughts.
Okay, I wasn’t here to preach on a blog post today. I wanted to leave you with this. About two months ago I started these random posted called “PSA: I'M UNAPOLOGETIC”. I got the idea from artist JoJo song “F**k Apologies” (go listen to the album. Speaks Life). This came to be after I voiced something about a job incident that I was embarrassed about and a family member called me about it and how I reacted, etc. So I was so fire about it and how my voice or thoughts had to be censored. So I wrote how I felt and posted it and I got some love from it. I wrote two more entries as well on topics that I felt strong about at that moment. I may post them on the blog. I hope you got inspire to be unapologetic and be able to stand strong and fight those negative thoughts. You are strong. I am strong. We are strong. If we ever going to EXPRESS our authentic self we need to be able to tell us, our hearts and mind positive thoughts.
I hope you can be able to do this. I want you go grab a pen and paper. I want you to draw a line down the middle and on the left side to write: “Who told you that you were____?” and fill in the blanks going down the paper of all the negative thoughts. On the right side to write: “I am told that I’m____?” and fill in the blanks going down the paper of all the positive thoughts. The positive thoughts always weight out the negative thoughts if we believe. Fight for your authentic self. I’m fighting that fight with you. Until next time #Oneselfers.
ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.
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