100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing (9 page)

D
erek is a successful business owner who attends our church regularly and who has an amazing testimony. Before he experienced his breakthrough though, life was harrowing for him. It all started one morning when he read a newspaper article about a man of his age who had suddenly died of a heart attack. Derek couldn’t explain it, but from that moment on, it was as if the air started to thin, and he began experiencing respiratory difficulties. Without him knowing it, fear had begun to coil itself around his heart like a python.

Day by day, Derek started to experience all kinds of evil imaginations of himself getting hurt and dying while doing the simplest day-to-day activities. He suffered escalating bouts of debilitating anxiety attacks as fear tightened its grip on his heart. As his mental oppression worsened, and convinced he was severely ill as his breathing difficulties increased, Derek checked himself into a hospital, where he was told his was not a heart problem but an anxiety problem.

That was when Derek was introduced to and began listening to some of my messages over and over again. He told me, “You said to focus on the Word of God and not on my problems. And that was exactly what I did! I began turning away from those dark thoughts and allowing the light of Jesus’ words to come into my situation.”

Derek’s breakthrough began when he turned on the light of God’s Word and allowed it to shine upon him and his situation. One of his favorite verses that gave him both courage and comfort was the Lord saying to him, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). He would speak this verse whenever he was fearful and then tell himself, “The L
ORD
is my helper; I will not fear” (Heb. 13:6).

Equipped with God’s Word, Derek began playing the right mental movies in his mind. Every time the anxiety attacks came and the evil imaginations began to replay in his mind, he would wield these Scriptures like a weapon against the onslaught of the serpent’s attack. The more he proclaimed, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. The Lord is my helper; I will not fear,” the more the grip of the serpent began to loosen and weaken. He found that he could breathe freely again and his heart no longer felt constricted. Strengthened by the Word, he began to see the Lord with him always. He began to see himself full of health and protected from harm. Derek was completely healed and released from all his fears as he began to replace the wrong mental movies that he had been playing in his mind with the right ones.

Beloved, God’s thoughts are greater than the devil’s thoughts. His light is greater than any darkness. You’ll put an end to the enemy’s days of using fear to torment you and manipulate your thoughts when you, like Derek, turn on the light of God’s Word and allow it to shine upon you and whatever negative situation you may be in. Let His Word anchor you in His love, strengthen your heart, and paint the right pictures for your breakthrough and an amazing future.

W
hat mental movies are you playing in your head today? Are they thoughts of defeat and despair or thoughts of victory and favor? Faith is simply saying what God says about you and seeing what God sees in you and your situation.

Remember what I shared in an earlier reading about how it takes a thought to heal a thought? Unlike the world, which teaches you to empty your mind to achieve peace, God’s way is to fill your mind with fresh, powerful, and redeeming thoughts.

The apostle Paul tells us, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Phil. 4:8
NLT
). So it’s not just trying to blot out bad thoughts with your willpower. It takes a thought to replace a thought. It takes a right belief to replace a wrong belief. You need God’s truth to replace the enemy’s lies that have kept you in bondage.

My friend, if a wrong, bad, or negative thought is lodged in your mind today and you can’t seem to shake it, stop trying! Perhaps you’re lying in a hospital bed and can’t help but think of the worst-case scenario. You’re attempting to suppress it, but it’s not working. Well, stop! Stop trying to erase it from your mind. That just won’t work. What you need to do is replace that destructive thought with a thought that’s from God. That’s the only way to deal with a wrong thought and begin the healing process.

Start to meditate on truths such as, “Surely Jesus has borne my sicknesses and carried my pains. The chastisement for my wholeness fell upon Him, and
by His stripes I am healed. With long life He will satisfy me” (see Isa. 53:4–5 and Ps. 91:16). Begin to play mental movies of yourself getting well, being discharged from the hospital, having fun with your kids, or going on a nice holiday!

Y
ou need the truth of God’s Word to uproot any wrong belief. This is why it’s so important to get into His Word and take time to meditate upon verses that reveal God’s unwavering and unfailing love for you. For instance, if you find your mind drifting into anxious thoughts over the smallest things, I encourage you to memorize and quote today’s scripture: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3).

Whenever I feel stressed or worried about something, I pull away from life’s hustle and bustle and simply meditate on God’s promises. Sometimes I like to drive to a quiet park, and as gentle anointed music plays in my car, I feed on and speak His Word, allowing it to permeate my spirit: “God’s Word declares, ‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.’ ” And I tell the Lord, “Yes, Lord, it is You who will keep me in perfect peace. Perfect peace comes from You. I just need to rest in Your grace and keep my mind on You. I don’t need to think about what to do about this challenge. As I trust in You and keep my mind stayed on You, You will lead me and guide me. My trust is not in my own strength, but in You and You alone, Jesus.”

What am I doing here? Instead of allowing stress and worry to get to me, I’m training my heart to see how God sees my challenges. The bigger God becomes in my heart, the smaller my challenges become. In fact, many times when I just relax and keep my mind on the Lord, His peace and wisdom begin to flow in me, and the challenge that I was previously so worried about becomes minute and inconsequential in the presence of Almighty God.

Are you faced with an insurmountable circumstance today? Learn to see what God sees by meditating on His Word, and let His peace drive out your anxiety. Let His wisdom direct your paths.