Over the last weekend, as I was falling asleep, I had so many thoughts swarming through my head. Normally, I fall asleep within five minutes (more on how I do that in my next post). 😉

But tonight, was different.

You ever feel like a bomb of terrible thoughts falls on you? Regrets spanning anywhere from years ago to earlier that day – guilt, shame, mistakes you made, both big and small… One moment everything is going great, then one thought leads to another, and you’re drowning.

Thankfully, I can’t even remember what all these thoughts were. That’s how set free I am from them. Hallelujah! But at the time, they were very upsetting.

If you struggle with this, I’ve got good news for you. There is a way out! If you are born again and you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart, you have the Holy Spirit in you.

“You, however, are not in the realm of flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if in indeed the Spirit of God lives in you…”

Romans 8:9 NIV

He is our amazing guide and comforter.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.“

John 14:26 KJV

In that moment, he reminded me to cast all my cares on the Lord, because he cares for me (Psalm 55:22). In that verse, it doesn’t say cast some of your cares…. No, it says cast all your cares.

If you look up the definition of the word cast, you’ll find, “an act of throwing something forcefully”.

So that’s exactly what I did. You can’t be passive with toxic thoughts and just hope they go away. You have to be bold with your request and take action. So, I thought, “well they don’t serve me, they don’t serve you, and they definitely, aren’t from you. Lord, take these thoughts. I give them to you.”

In that moment of surrender, a supernatural peace, the peace that Paul talks about in Philippians 4:6 that surpasses understanding, flooded through me.

That’s when the Spirit took it a step further in teaching me. He said to me, “Don’t you know your value?” That’s when I realized, I was so worried about what people thought of me, exalting others above the one true God, I lost sight of my identity in Christ and what my priorities should be. He reminded me I am in the world but not of it. (John 15:19) And whatever others think of me doesn’t matter. They don’t determine my value. I need to see myself through the lenses of my Abba Father.

I responded to Him, saying, “No, Holy Spirit. I don’t know. I need to go back and read up on that.” Now that I removed the junk in my head, I began to set my thoughts on all things true in His word.

If you are a follower of Christ, I encourage you to meditate on these verses. Speak these over your life. Don’t let a mistake you made, or a circumstance, hold you back from what you can accomplish eternally for the kingdom of God. The enemy wants you trapped in those negative thoughts.

God has a plan for me to prosper and a future.

^” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

I am a new creation in Christ Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

II Corinthians 5:17 NIV

I am seated with him in heavenly places.

“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:6 KJV

The same power that rose Jesus from the dead is in me.

“ … I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength  he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

Ephesians 1:18-21

I possess all the fruits of the Spirit.

^” But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”

Galatians 5:22 NIV

Stay blessed, friends!