Mind Games

By: Eric Hutchinson, Fellowship Bible Church NWA Celebrate Recovery Men's Encourager Coach, Devotional Team,  8/1/18

Our enemy works so hard to distract us and keep our minds occupied with anything other than our God and his plan for our life.  The media, trends and advertising, secular philosophy, and materialism are all examples of distractions that Satan will put before us.  In my own struggle against pornography, the mind is where the real battle takes place.  I heard the following quote earlier today and I have been chewing on it:  “Our lives move in the direction of our strongest thought.” – Craig Roeschel

What do you think about?  Are there reoccurring thoughts in your mind?  What do you dwell on?  I’m not talking about work-related thoughts.  What do your thoughts move toward when it is not occupied by work?  My sponsor told me very early in my recovery that God was going to re-wire my mind if I let him.  You know what?  He was exactly right!  My thoughts used to move toward the hurts of my divorce, lust, and how I could please my selfish desires.  Now, as I work my recovery, my thoughts go toward a more spiritual nature.  My mind has been rewired! Look at the verse below and the quote from Amy Carmichael and ask yourself if the enemy has been playing mind games with you.  I hope this finds you in a good place but if not, turn your spiritual eyes toward Jesus my friend and allow him to rewire your mind!

“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.  If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death.  But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.”  Romans 8:5-6

“Holy Spirit, think through me until your ideas become my ideas.” – Amy Carmichael

Click HERE to listen to "I'm Made New" by Lincoln Brewster


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

12 Days Of CR Christmas

Image
One of our great leader Monica rewrote the lyrics to this old Christmas song to tie into the 12 steps. We had a lot of fun singing it and love that it keeps the focus on the 12 steps thru Christmas. Great job Monica! On the first day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the notion it’s not about me; On the second day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the third day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fourth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, my inventory, will to be faithful, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the fifth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me On the sixth day of Christmas, my Savior gave to me, desire to be humble, the chance to come clean! my Inventory, faithfulness, my sanity, and the notion it’s not about me. On the
Read more

Why do we introduce ourselves?

One of the things that might confuse a newcomer coming into this great ministry is the way we introduce our self and do so every time we meet in a Step Group and/or Open discussion group. The question that often comes up is; “Why in the world would we have to introduce our self every time we come together? I mean, we all know each other don’t we? We all know what the other is struggling with right? So why should I have to state my main issue I am dealing with? These are all logical questions and I think the below content from Tina at Saddleback might help shed some light on this. As you may already know, in our small groups we ask our Leaders to introduce themselves with this statement: “Hi my name is _______; I am a believer who struggles with________.” We ask our leaders to keep it short; to stick to one or two primary areas of recovery. We ask them not to state a host of recovery issues and character defects, etc… especially because we do not run recovery specific groups for cha
Read more

Verbal Reality--Why you can't believe an addict and what you can do as a co-dependent

I recently came across the below article when websurfing for information about verbal reality, a concept a friend introduced me to last year during a time I was trying to figure out is someone was telling me the truth or not. The below article is specifically for Porn addiction, and comes from a very good website, but I've found it true with all addictive behaviors. If you've never heard of Verbal Reality, and you question whether or not your spouse is being honest, this is a good way to help you sort it out, and a great tool for your recovery. ______ Consider This. (from http://www.pornaddicthubby.com/Help-For-The-Addict.html) Addicts of any kind live in a "verbal reality." This means if they say it, it is true and if they say it passionately enough even they believe it is really true. Men who have an addiction to porn live in a verbal reality. A sex addict believes what he is saying while he is saying it. Your most helpful tool in dealing with verbal reality is look
Read more