Evaluate Your Thoughts

Ever felt that panicked feeling?

It’s that oh-no sense you get when you ram your car against the one behind you. Or, when you smash a heavy door right on your baby’s 10-month-year-old toe (yes, this did happen to me). Or, when you speak what should have remained the unspeakable. Or, when your deepest fear is about to come true.

Panic steals peace. You cannot have both. Which is why, about a year-and-a-half ago, I decided I needed to learn how to be Battle Ready. I was tired of the same old trials and tribulations tumbling me to the floor with stress, worry, and panic. Something had to change. Are you in this place?

Do horrible things keep on happening to you? Do those same feelings of angst, trepidation and fear keep coming? Do you easily lose faith in God’s ability to come through?

It doesn’t have to continue. Just because you’ve always done something, doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it. Just as we love to see our children grow and learn, so does God love to see us forge a new direction with Him…

…especially with our thoughts.

How do you think? Consider…

Scenario 1:  You trip over the shoes that you left in the hallway last night. Your chin hits the floor with a loud thud! You mean to move them earlier, but you forgot.

Do you say to yourself:

a. I’m so stupid, I am so forgetful, or I am always doing dumb things?

b. Or, It’s okay. Everyone forgets things sometimes.

Scenario  2:  You blurt out, “When is the baby due?”, or some other statement that you immediately wish you could take back. You know you shouldn’t have spoken like you did, but it is too late. The words are out.

Do  you  say  to  yourself:

a. I am such an idiot, I am rude, I am always making a fool of myself or I am horrible.

b. Or, I am learning howto use wisdom with my words. God will be faithful to teach me.

Scenario 3:  You share a lot one evening when you’re together with a group of friends. You talk about things you’re excited about. You tell people about some things you are going through.

Do you say to yourself:

a. I over-talked. I take up too much space. I come across too (smart, much, arrogant). People think I’m annoying.

b. I can be who God created me to be. I don’t have to fear what people think of me. God made me just right.

How we think in specific scenarios says a whole lot about how we think in life. Begin to observe your thought-life patterns. Thoughts are usually clear-cut: you’re either hard on yourself or full of grace, full of God’s truth or dwelling on lies, standing in faith or faltering in doubt.

You either think:  God is for me or God is against me; God is with me or God is abandoning me; God will never…or God will certainly….

But know this, how you think, can change.

People who are walking full of God, have to work on it. It doesn’t come naturally. They renew their mind in Christ Jesus, they filter their thoughts, they consider the strategies that work so that they walk with God continually. These are the attributes of a person who is Battle Ready.

There are, in fact, specific strategies to stand strong and firm with Christ. Did you know them? Do you know how to respond proactively, rather than reactively? How to change bad habits? How to renew your mind in Christ?

Many people think it starts with these 5-steps…

1. Think about what you are thinking about.

2. Check to see if aligns with God’s truth.

3. Replace the lies with truth.

4. Take action based on that new thought.

5. Notice the better outcome.

…but a life full of faith, full of peace and joy – transcends this. This is a good start, but not the finish line. The finish line is a life that stands on God’s Word as if it is the ground it walks on.

It is a hope so secure it feels as though it is already won. It is belief so strong, that no man can shake it. It is a life so on purpose, it does so with no regrets.

You can get there. You can be full of faith, strong in battle, sure when challenges hit and unwavering when enemy forces come up against you. You can be Battle Ready. There are scriptural tips, biblical stories and practical wisdom that will help you seize new habits, forge new thought patterns and change your life.

Why not proactively prepare your thoughts today to seize great faith?

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Kelly Balarie, an author and national speaker, is on a mission to encourage others not to give up. Through times of extreme testing, Kelly believes there is hope for every woman, every battle and in every circumstance. She shares this hope on her blog, Purposeful Faith, and on many writing publications such as Relevant, Crosswalk, and Today’s Christian Woman. Kelly’s work has been featured on The Today Show, 700 Club Interactive, Moody Radio and other television and radio broadcasts. When Kelly is not writing, she is chilling at the beach with her husband, a latte, and 2-toddlers who rightfully demand she build them awesome castles.

About Battle Ready: Train Your Mind to Conquer Challenges, Defeat Doubt & Live Victoriously “The best time to be strengthened against the Enemy’s tactics of doubt, disappointment, and devastation is before he makes his first move toward us. We all desperately need the biblical guidance and preparation found in Battle Ready!” Buy Battle Ready here.