Take a moment and think about the thoughts that you’ve had about yourself the past week. Don’t judge yourself with what you find in this exercise- it’s just a small self reflection. Where your thoughts negative? Positive? Were they thoughts of self love or self deprecation? Were you grateful this week? Or did bitterness, jealously and negativity run through your mind?
The thoughts that you heard most loudly, the thoughts that you acted upon, I want you to write them down on a piece of paper. Now…. would you be okay saying that out loud? Would you be okay if someone knew that’s how you thought about yourself? Would you be okay if you heard a friend say that to herself?
Take a moment to read this verse from Ephesians. It is so beautifully written and it deals with our thoughts about ourselves.
Ephesians 3:16-19- ” I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s hold people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
I’m going to break this down one verse at a time. I want you to read the way that God wants you to be thinking, and the thoughts that he wants you to dwell on.
vs 16- “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being”
God is rich in everything! As the creator of the universe, that means that his hand carefully crafted it all. This includes how our bodies work, how trees grow, what animals do. He took time to create you to be perfectly you. You are exactly who you are meant to be on this earth. The flaws that you see in the mirror or the inner flaws that you think about aren’t flaws- God put them there for a reason. With these glorious riches, God is going to strengthen us.
While most of us see our shaky mental health as an obstacle, God sees it as a starting point. God uses each and ever piece of us to strengthen us. He is going to speak into our spirit and give us the strength to overcome and deal with it all. It will be messy, it will be hard, but we will grow strong in HIM and to our core, we will know that He is the King of all.
vs 17- “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,”
It’s only when we get low enough to reach out and let the Spirit fill us that Christ can fully dwell in us. If we think we are doing fine and we don’t need Him, then most of us won’t ever seek Him. While you make look at your mental health as an obstacle to overcome, or the thorn in your side, remember that God only allows things into our lives for GOOD. No matter what, God is GOOD. It might take overcoming some obstacles for us to learn to rely on Him fully. And that’s okay. When we truly learn what faith is, we can be rooted in Him. Our faith won’t just be pretty proclamations of loving God, it will be an intimate faith that is rooted in trust and love for the Father. Once our roots are planted in Him, we will not waver, we will not fall. We can stand firm in Him.
vs. 18- “may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”
God’s love for us is unfathomable. Think about who on this planet that you love the deepest. God loves you more than that. It is so deep that we will never understand it. How amazing is it, that no matter what we think about ourselves, we have a Father who loves us unconditionally? He loves us so much and he doesn’t want us to be thinking negatively about ourselves. He has given us the power, the roots to stand firm in Him and denounce the lies that the enemy whispers into our minds daily. He has given us so much love… have you accepted it as truth? Have you spoke that love back towards those negative thoughts?
vs 19- “and to know this love surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Even trying to describe the love that God feels towards us will never be enough. God loves us. Accept that fact today. When we know, accept and trust in God’s love for us, we can be filled to the fullest with life. No matter what situations or circumstances befall us, we can trust that God is in control and that He loves us. Those 2 simple truths are all we need to fight the battles that wage war in our minds daily.
Sinking into those truths, meditating on them, saying them over and over again in your mind will help it sink in.
Our thoughts get so loud sometimes. I can still hear the sound of my thoughts screaming at me sometimes to follow food rules, or to give in to the anxiety or emotions that are trying to control my behaviors. The pivotal moment is when I choose to scream back Christ’s love louder. When I choose to scream loudly back to my thoughts to truths that Christ has taught me- He loves me, He is in control, He has a straight path laid out before me, I trust Him, He is my light that I choose to follow, the thoughts start to quiet and I start to be filled with a transcendent peace.
Screaming love louder than the enemy’s thoughts of fear is what helped save me from my Eating Disorder, and what I continue to scream to my anxiety and fear even today.
What thoughts of love can you take from this scripture to scream back at your emotions today?
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I am always praying for you,
