Trapped in Our Subconscious Mind

 
 

The soul is our mind, will and emotions, or I like to call it our thoughts, choices and feelings. When life happens all around us, it registers with our soul.

We analyze the occurrence with our thoughts, decide how we feel about those thoughts and then make choices according to our thoughts and feelings.

We tuck away many of these experiences in our subconscious mind, never even giving them any conscious thought at all. This happens in a matter of seconds. Yet, these stored memories affect our choices for the rest of our life.

Our soul often attempts to draw our attention to these memories through dreams, negative emotions and bizarre beliefs. We need a resolution for them or to make a decision about them.

We can continue to ignore them and allow them to fester like a blister in our soul, or we can confront them, find God's truth about them and find freedom from the trouble they cause.

The easiest and most lasting way to heal our soul is to journal our thoughts and feelings - uncensored and unorganized; any way they come to mind, just write them down that way.

Underline all of the negative thoughts. Which topic is the most prevalent? That is the biggest lie by which Satan is keeping your soul captive.

Pray about that negative mindset and ask God to show you where it came from. Is it attached to a memory, or more than one incident in the past? It may have been a simple insignificant comment by a significant person in our life.

Ask God to tell you His truth about this issue. Now, use that truth to help you to change your focus about the issue. Ask yourself how you feel about that negative attitude now. It should diminish in intensity.

If it is not totally gone, then pray about it again and take time to listen to God's truth about what He shows you. Repeat this process until that emotion no longer bothers you and then go on to the next negative emotion.

This may take minutes, hours, days or even months. You may not get resolution during your prayer time; but it may occur when you wake up some morning, or while cooking a meal or carpooling the children. God speaks in His own time and way.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for caring about soul as well as our body and spirit. You are our great God and our great King and You rule over every principality and power in heavenly places. Thank You for teaching us that spiritual warfare is a very real occurrence in life in this earthly realm, and for giving us Your Spirit to take authority over Satan and his demons.

You set us free from the negative world of thoughts and events, which plague us. You capture us for Your glory and You use us in Your Kingdom all the days of our life in this world and in the next. Thank You for redeeming us, transforming us and using us according to Your will.

Thought for the Day:

The object of prayer journaling is to persevere in prayer about each negative emotion until God resolves them for you and you are free from the tyranny of the past; you will feel lighter, happier and more at peace with God, yourself and with your personal relationships.

 

Intercessory Prayer

There is nothing as sweet as time alone (all-one) with God, a time of separation from the world and spiritual renewal, a time of grace, mercy and unity with both Christ within us and our Father on His throne. Jesus is our intercessor, constantly serving as our advocate with our Father. He suffered the torture and agony of the Cross to provide for our earthly liberation and our eternal glory (1 John 2:1).

The Holy Spirit also intercedes for us, often with utterances, which we do not understand (Romans 8:6). We are the temple of God's Spirit, and He dwells within us and sanctifies us over the course of our lifetime (2 Corinthians 3:18). He slowly crucifies the old nature in us as we cooperate with Him, by starving the little fellow to death at the same time that we feed our spirit with spiritual food (Ephesians 4:24; Romans 6:6).

God's Word is an infinite source of wisdom and practical advice, especially the Psalms and Proverbs. Reading them daily can improve the way we handle and react to life. God's Word is a lamp and light for our life (Psalm 119:105). Praying God's Word allows us to identify with the prophets and psalmists as they interceded for themselves and their world. 

During our times of oneness with God, He gives us His heart for the world (John 3:16). When we feel the torment of others, we can join Christ in interceding for that person or people group. Intercessory prayer facilitates our unity with God. We identify with God's heart and learn to despise what He disdains and embrace what He holds dear, as we spend time mediating for others through prayer.

Prayer:

Father God, You make us aware of the spiritual warfare, in which we engage with each prayer we breathe. By Your Spirit, we put to flight tens of thousands of demonic predators, which roam the earth, seeking people to oppress or possess (1 Peter 5:8; Mark 3:15). The more intimate our unity with You, the more authority You give us over the demonic forces we battle through intercessory prayer.

Thought for the Day:

The pain of those we pray for becomes so real to us that it is almost as if we are pleading for our self as we pray for others.

The Purpose of Suffering

A life in Christ has nothing to do with self-effort (Ephesians 2:8-9), and everything to do with ceasing from our labor and entering into God’s rest (Hebrews 4:10). Life no longer includes our choices. As we take our delight in Him, God puts His desires in our heart (Psalm 37:4). Like Jesus, our only desire is to the do the will of Him who sent us (John 4:34).

We submit to God’s Spirit, who leads us to function in the work, which God prepared for us to do before we were born (Ephesians 2:10). We may experience pain or suffering in this work, but God is using it to strip away our fleshly tendencies, such as inordinate affections, excessive expectations or unholy desires for riches, fame, success and the world. God’s conviction sheds light on every area of our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

Jesus already suffered for us in the flesh; but when we suffer also, it may be because we are clinging to our flesh in some area and following its desires. This causes us to sin (1 Peter 4:1-2). Eventually, we realize that, in Christ, we are actually dead to our flesh, and risen to walk in a new life in Him (Colossians 3:2-3, 2:12). We set our affections on eternal, godly aspects rather than on worldly, carnal issues.

Satan often arranges the worst conditions for us, with one trial after another, and some are even rather devastating. However, if we remain faithful to the Lord, He works out all of them for our good (Romans 8:28; Revelation 2:10). Suffering reveals to us our true nature, as well as the nature of our loving, Sovereign God within us. We say with Jesus, “Father not what I want, but Your will be done in me (Matthew 26:39).

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for reprimanding us when we swerve from the straight and narrow path of Your righteousness. You do not want any sacrifice from us except humility and a repentant heart (Psalm 51:17). Thank You for loving us and caring about us (Hosea 6:1; Matthew 7:13-14). Even though Satan stalks us, trying to devour us, You teach us to be mindful of His wiles and to take spiritual warfare seriously (1 Peter 5:8). We cast all of our concerns on You, because You absolutely care about us (1 Peter 5:7).

Thought for the Day:

We heartily serve the Lord with our whole spirit, soul and body, knowing that He will reward us with the inheritance of His Kingdom (Colossians 3:23-24).

Psalm 91

¹ Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

² This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.

³ For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.

⁴ He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

⁵ Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. ⁶ Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.

⁷ Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. ⁸ Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.

⁹ If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, ¹⁰ no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home.

¹¹ For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. ¹² They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.

¹³ You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

⁴ The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.

¹⁵ When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue and honor them. ¹⁶ I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

The Battleground of the Mind

Read: 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5

“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” Proverbs 15:13

Have you ever felt like you were going crazy? Nothing makes sense in your life. You have a war going on in your mind...like there is a whole crowd of people up there arguing! I have a simple explanation, and an even simpler solution for you.

Paul said it….“WE TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT TO MAKE IT OBEDIENT TO CHRIST."

Our soul contains our mind, will and emotions. In the Bible the soul is often referred to as the “heart.” This does not refer to our blood pumping organ, but our inner self ~ the soul. Paul learned that even though we are in a spiritual war, we don't have to use carnal weapons. God gave us divinely powered weapons to demolish all of Satan’s strongholds. We do this by taking every thought captive and having the mind of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5).

The imagination is where Satan likes to play. He perverts the truth and comes up with all sorts of lies to tell us, which unbelievably we accept as truth! Satan puts a thought there, and then we say, "Yeah!  That's right!" We dwell on it and believe his lies. Soon, we believe them as truth, and he sits back and laughs at us. He's got us right where he wants us.

The first negative thought in your mind is from Satan. It is his tempation to see if he can get your attention. Then, he tries to keep your attention by expounding on that first negative thought. If you agree with that thought, or if you entertain that thought and add other thoughts to it, then he’s got you right where he wants you.

But if you recognize that the first negative thought ~ the blasphemous, sexual, carnal, unholy, angry, bitter, resentful or belittling thought ~ is from Satan, then you can quote or read scripture to him, just like Jesus did on the mount after His 40 days of prayer and fasting.

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit lives in our Born Again spirit and He helps us to battle what the Bible calls...the old nature, the carnal nature, the flesh and the devil. It is a lifetime process. Our daily commission in found in Colossians 3:1: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” As we seek God and His kingdom, we will not walk in the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

As you know, “What we believe, determines how we act.” When we believe Satan's lies, we exhibit negative attitudes. We get "stinkin' thinkin'." Satan knows that if he captivates your mind, then he can control your actions also.

Our safeguard, therefore, is to follow the advice we already read in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: to bring our thoughts into obedience to Jesus and to put on the mind of Christ.

The Word of God tells us not to conform to the world, but to think about:

1. Whatever is true
2. Whatever is noble
3. Whatever is right
4. Whatever is pure
5. Whatever is lovely
6. Whatever is admirable
7. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy
8. Whatever you have learned or received...or heard from...or seen in Paul ( and other Godly men and women ) put it into practice (Philippians 4:8).

Throw out all those thoughts that do not measure up to this list! You will know you have finished the task when the peace of God again rules in your heart. Look at Philippians 4:7..."And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Being led by the Holy Spirit helps us to know the will of God and to have the peace of God. No more lunacy warring in your mind!  Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, the carnal mind is enmity against God, because it is not subject to the law of God (Romans 8:7). If we are still carnal, then envy, strife, and divisions are common among us. Help us not to follow after the carnal thoughts, which fight against Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:3). Help us to walk by Your Spirit and to be led by Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

“Either you must learn to take your thoughts captive – or Satan will take you captive with your thoughts!” -  Kay Arthur