Most people in the world are tormented by negative thoughts all day long. They hear thoughts that blame them, cause them to take an offense or get angry, tempt them to do things that are not good for them such as sin, lie, cheat, steal, yell, complain, eat unhealthy, have no energy to exercise and then condemn for their mistakes. Thoughts that cause them to lust, be jealous, get frustrated, feel sad, depressed, and even tell them to kill themselves.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 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, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
If we don’t take our negative thoughts captive then unfortunately the thoughts will take us captive. The National Science Foundation did a study in 2005 which found that people could have up to 12-60,000 thoughts a day of which 80% of their thoughts were negative and 95% were the same thoughts they had the day before. Many of these negative thoughts are from demons who want us to be tormented so that we never experience peace on a daily basis. You simply cannot have the fruit of the spirit evident in your life if you are listening to demonic thoughts all day long. Unfortunately many of the people who hear demonic thoughts are those who attend church and read the Bible. Why would Satan and his demons give up attacking them in their thoughts?
One major way to get the demonic thoughts out of your head is to forgive people who have hurt you in your past. The enemy wants to remind you over and over again of all the bad things that happened to you so that you are angry and bitter with the people who hurt you. Truly forgiving those who have hurt us from our hearts will take away much of the legal rights that demons have to torment us and then you can command them to be gone.
So how do you do truly forgive someone who may have yelled at you over and over again, lied about you, stolen from you, sexually assaulted you, beat you up and worse? Just remember a trauma or wound from your past that hurt you and command the demonic spirits to come off of your soul (your mind, will and emotions) and then ask Jesus to come to give you a word of insight as to why those people hurt you. The Lord will usually tell you that the people who hurt you were also hurt themselves and they were listening to demonic thoughts tell them to hurt you and so they did. Then once you can understand that the only reason they hurt you was because they were hurt then you can forgive them from your heart and command the demonic spirits that attached to your wounds to go to the pit in Jesus name. Then you will have much more peace in your mind. You also need to repent of your pride and sin. Pride comes from the spirit of Leviathan:
Job 41:33-34 NKJV
33 On earth there is nothing like him,
Which is made without fear.
34 He beholds every high thing;
He is king over all the children of pride.”
When we get hurt the spirit of Leviathan will begin to speak to us and tell us not to trust anyone else to make decisions because they will only make bad decisions that will hurt us. So it tells us that our choices are the best and we need to make most all the choices going forward. This is what pride does – causes us to think we are always right so that we don’t listen to the Lord. It also twists the truth in our minds so there is much confusion. Leviathan also wraps around our spines causing back and neck pain, and causes us to have trouble sleeping yet causes us to fall asleep if we try to read our Bible or Christian books.
Once we successfully get our soul wounds healed and delivered we will be able to much better manage our thoughts. If we hear a negative thought coming in to our minds we need to immediately stop it as soon as possible. If you listen to an entire negative sentence then you will not have peace. It is the same principle behind a person who would send you a negative text, email or phone call or voice mail. If you listen or read or hear a negative message then usually you will get into fear, anger, frustration, disappointment, etc. That is why it is so critical to keep your mind thinking positive and uplifting thoughts and not get into fear and the negative.
It is also important to try to minimize your time around people who are negative every day as that will affect you as their words will come into your mind and play like a broken record. If you had a father or mother who hurt you growing up then you will often times hear the hurtful words that they spoke to you ringing around your mind in the exact voice or tone that they used. Words like “you will never be any good”, “you need to look perfect in order to have people love you”, “you cannot trust a man or woman because they will always let you down.” So often the best thing to do is keep your peace on by being around healthy people who are delivered from their own demons. If you choose to hang around family members or other friends who do not have their soul wounds cleansed then you will be affected by their demons through the words that they speak to try and control you and make you do what they want. They will not have your best interest at heart.
So only think upon good things that give you peace and joy. Stop every negative thought by taking it captive before it takes you captive. Words matter whether you hear them in your mind or your ears. Speak life and not death.
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV
21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.