We have been talking on how toxic thinking can actually damage our bodies physically, emotionally,and spiritually.  We have been working to remove toxic thinking from our lives by:

Awareness– being aware on the kinds of wounds and thoughts in our minds.

Analyze—sifting through and sorting out the negative from the positive thoughts.

Action—taking action by removing the wounds and negativity from our minds

Acceptance–today we accept God’s word and apply it to our lives.

I like to use this visual to identify toxic thinking:  AWARENESS,  receiving a bullet attack from Satan, we then ANALYZE how we are going to remove that bullet out of our bodies, take ACTION to remove that bullet out of our bodies, we then heal that wound with ACCEPTANCE from the word of God.

You can remove all kinds of bullets(toxic thoughts) from our bodies but if we don’t take care of those wounds(hurts, negativity) and treat them properly they can grow back into something worse than we had before.

Satan is very smart when it comes to dealing with people’s emotions. He knows that once you try and get rid of something that belongs to him, he will try every avenue to force it back into your life.  You need to be aware of what is going on.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:10-12

God’s word says that we don’t wrestle against things in the natural realm, we wrestle against spiritual forces that try and mess with our minds. When we take action to remove something, each and every time we are reminded of that toxic thought we need to soak it in God’s word until that wound becomes completely immersed and healed by the Lord.

Remember……..Satan comes immediately to steal all your peace. He isn’t out to steal your car, he is out to steal the word. If you are reading God’s word, stay focused on what the Word says. Don’t disregard any part of it, repeat it and memorize it. Keep that in the forefront of your mind. Don’t allow Satan to come and steal the joy that God is giving to you.

Search out scriptures that pertain to the toxic thinking you are dealing with.  Write down the verses on index cards and put them in a place you will see them.  I like to copy verses and put them on my kitchen windowsill, a place I am at frequently.  I read the verses over and over again soaking my mind with the Word.  When things come up, that are toxic, I practice reviewing those verses over and over again.  Eventually each time I am reminded of my toxic hurt or thought, those verses come to mind.  Eventually they become so ingrained in my brain that I don’t have any room for toxic thoughts to take shape and then it is healed.  I no longer think about it, no longer get offended over it, and I can say that God has delivered me from my wound.

As soon as our minds gives way to toxic thought our minds go dark immediately.  You have to dump that thought instantly, otherwise it will grow and become part of you.  Psalm 112:7-8 says:

He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.  His heart is steady; he will not be afraid.

Sometimes we don’t even think that we have toxic thoughts, because we feel like we have already dealt with them.  When you hear something, if your thoughts are turned right away to taking offense or anger towards it, then you haven’t really given that area over to God in your mind.  Satan loves to prey on our past and hurts and emotions, we need to recognize that he is apart of that and get rid of it!!

How are toxic thoughts formed in our minds?

1. They begin as thoughts formed by Satan.
2. We then entertain these thoughts and they form emotions.
3. Giving into these emotions eventually leads to taking some sort of action.
4. When you continual participate in this behavior it causes you to develop a habit.
5. Once a habit is developed, a strong-hold from Satan is built by that spirit.

Whenever you go through or experience an uncomfortable feeling, either from an old memory or a new thing, it is crucial that you DO NOT SUPPRESS it.  DO NOT BOTTLE UP your feelings.  Acknowledge it and take ownership over it.  Do not aim it at anyone or cast blame.  That will breed seeds of unforgiveness.  When you bury negative feelings, particularly offenses, they will eventually spew forth and explode.  I know this from first hand experience.  I would just keep things bottled up inside and over and over it would build up and then one day I would just explode with anger.  Usually fights don’t begin over something big, it is usually over nothing. But because we suppress our feelings, we just keep stuffing them down, until eventually the pressure is too much and we explode over anything.  This is NOT healthy or Godly ways.

A follower of Jesus can not give way to either anger or prejudice and still authentically represent Jesus Christ to others in love. 

John 14:1 he says to NOT let our hearts be troubled.  We are supposed to follow the word of God—there are reasons why!!!

Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.

It’s our choice what we store in our hearts. Sometimes we don’t consider ourselves “evil” and I would like to think I was not.  But I know that when I spew forth anger and gossip or hatred I am speaking out of the abundance of my heart.  We need to be cleansing our hearts and purifying our minds so that we can do what God’s word says.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Luke 6:45

We want to keep working at removing toxic thoughts from our minds.  Most are ones that we have suppressed and don’t think about anymore.  But when an instance occurs, it brings up hurt, then we get angered or take offense.  We need to search out scripture that pertains to our particular hurt and apply it to our “wounds.”  By doing this we will be cleansing our wounds and letting them heal by the word of God.  Do this over and over again until it is no longer an issue.  I repeat a verse over and over, especially when going through a particularly bad time.  Eventually it becomes a habit and then when that offense comes up, it doesn’t bother me.  Then I know that my wound has healed.

We have one last thing to do to work towards removing toxic thoughts from our brains…..being Able

 

 

I hope that you have not forgotten about decluttering your home.  I pray you have stayed with me and kept moving along ridding your home of the excess to create a peaceful haven of a home.  I am not doing this all in one day, I have broken it up into weeks as to not overwhelm you.  If you want to purchase my book and move at your own pace, I recommend you doing so, if not, just keep following along with us.

For those that like a video here it is, if not scroll past and read along

This week we are focusing on our living room.  This should be a room of peace and relaxation.  This is the room that most families come together  and share games and fun times together.  What does your room look like?  Do you have to remove things off the couch before you sit down on it?  Are their piles of paperwork cluttering up all of your tables?  How about dishes and cups that have soon been forgotten to be picked up in this area?  Do I dare ask you what the inside of your couch looks like?? or when the last time you vacuumed it out (gasp!)?

Let’s start with the biggest item in this room—-your couch.  Let’s start by taking off all of the cushions.  Get out your vacuum with the crevice tool, vacuum out all of the cracks and corners in your couch.  Move the couch away from its area and vacuum underneath it.  Have a container for you to put all the miscellaneous items that you found in there.  Have a small trash can for larger pieces that won’t suck up.  Get that whole thing vacuumed out.  If you have larger recliner chairs do the same thing to those.

Now that you have a clean couch, start working on your television center.

Everyone’ collection will be different.  Start by going through your videos and DVD’s.  Put in a pile those that you haven’t watched in years.  If you have little ones and have a surplus of  preschool shows but choose to watch broadcast tv or netflix—get rid of those videos.  No sense holding onto them if they watch whatever is on tv.  You will be putting these into your “out of sight” box.  It will sit in another area of your home and if you really think about that video again you can get it out.  Otherwise donate it to someone who could use it.

Clean up game controller’s and put all those items into a smaller container that fits on a shelf.  Be sure to wipe off your entire entertainment system with a good all natural cleaner.

What else is in your living room?  Do you have coffee tables?  End tables?  Whatever you have, start by taking everything off and going through it.

Magazines!!!!  You probably have a huge collection of magazines.  I would suggest putting these into a pile and later on going through them.  While you are watching tv or some other activity, make it a priority to go through these magazines and tear out what you want to keep.  Recipe magazines???—-Do a quick skim of it and rip out the recipes you “think” you will try and put them in a folder.  Keep this folder in your household binder or in a kitchen cupboard and designate one day each week to trying out new recipes.  Homemaker ones?  I have many of these and decided I really was not going to read them again, I tore out the information and placed it in a folder of things I wanted to keep.  Honestly, I haven’t looked at that folder in years, for future reference I will probably bind up the magazines and pass them along to some other homemaker that could enjoy them.

Bookshelves—homeschoolers usually have acquired many books.  Our family over the years went from having 3 full bookshelves down to about 1/2 of a bookshelf.  Why did I get rid of so many books?  Information changes, our teaching style changes, books are available at our local library, and we moved and got rid of many.

I have kept books that are hard to come by.  Ones with good values and morals.  Ones that my older children enjoyed reading. I weeded out those that were not as exciting or that had one part of questionable material in it.  Our teaching consists of me writing their curriculum with information I find online so I don’t have need to hold onto many books.  I know each family is different and some have textbooks and other workbooks that they must hold onto and I understand that—get rid of the ones you don’t need, the ones that are taking up space.

Have shelves of knickknacks?? Go through those as well.  How many “pretty” things do you need to look at?  Is it taking up space?  Causing you to do more work by having to dust them each week?  Get rid of things that cause you to do more than you have to.  We are in the process of simplifying our homes, not creating more work.

If you store your family games in this room, go through them.  I have decided to take most out of their boxes and store them in plastic bags.  It works better for our household.  We keep only games we enjoy, I don’t usually hold onto ones that “one day” we will play.  I keep those that we will play now.

Extra throw blankets, go through and keep only the ones that aren’t ripped or stained.  Put them in a basket or inside of a piece of furniture.  Even though it is great to have Christmas throws, it is just one more thing that you use for about 2 weeks out of the year, keep them simple.  Find your favorite and get rid of the rest.

Have multiple candles?  Start by working to burn them down.  Instead of lighting 5 different candles and having 5 different used candles, just burn one at a time until it is done. Move onto the next one.

Look at your wall hangings??  Are they something that needs to be thrown away?  Do they collect way to much dust and hard to clean each month?  Think about getting a “cleaner” sleeker item for your walls.

You should be having a feeling of freeness right about now.  Your home is mostly decluttered.  The major areas, that people see, you have gone through.  Keep at it.  Put items that you are going to get rid of into your “out of sight” box.  Just go through your items quickly.  Don’t think too much about things, look at it and your first thought should be ,”do I use this?”  If you don’t, get rid of it.

The book has a few more steps but we will be skipping those and moving onwards to part 6

Work hard this weekend, by going through your room and decluttering it.  Be blessed.