NULLIFY HOPE’S FOE – NEGATIVITY

“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” – 2 Corinthians 10:5

Maximising Destiny requires that we NULLIFY HOPE’S FOE – NEGATIVITY: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled” (2Cor.10: 4-6). Negative imaginations and toxic thoughts are corrosive to our spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational well-being. Casting down negativity is a vital part of the Believer’s spiritual warfare. Negativity – the attitude of focusing on the negative – weakens Hope, and must not be allowed to rule our minds.

Negative thoughts usually invade our peace of mind, breaking in just when we think we’ve put them to rest. This is part of the challenges of being human. But the Word of God helps us to learn how to identify negative thinking patterns and develop mental and spiritual strategies to combat, conquer, and nullify them. We can change negative thinking with biblical wisdom and break the pattern of having toxic thoughts and harmful emotions boss us around.

Here are ten common negative thinking patterns:

All or nothing thinking: moves from one extreme to another, not recognizing the middle ground between. For example, feeling inadequate may lead to the belief ‘I must be perfect’ or ‘I’m an outright failure’.

Blame Game: to externalise or blame others or situations without acknowledging any role or responsibility (Mt.7:3).

Catastrophizing: Imagining the worst and blowing things out of proportion, provoking anxiety; focusing on what if’s fears.

Disqualifying the positive: to overestimate a negative outcome and minimize our ability to cope with challenging situations. We reject our positive experiences or strengths, and focus instead on the negative aspects of our situation or our character.

Emotional reasoning: Interpreting negative feelings as truth. I FEEL unworthy becomes a belief that I AM unworthy. 

Inflexible beliefs founded on misperceptions, which and can lead to anxiety, depression, self-pity, anger, and guilt. These are often expressed as ‘should’, ‘must’, ‘ought to be’, and ‘have to be’ statements.

Jumping to subjective conclusions: to interpret situations and outcomes based on conspiracy theories, distortions, and fears.

Magnifying or minimizing: Making a mountain out of a molehill; or, on the other hand, minimizing situations, feelings, pain, problems, or offenses. The latter shrinks the importance of things, such as one’s feelings – the martyr complex.

Overgeneralization: assuming that because something happened one way it will always happen that way; often expressed by words like never, always, and everyone.

Self-condemnation: to see things as our fault without recognising other contributing factors. People who personalize see issues as a character flaw or deficit – something wrong with themselves.

Others include: thoughts of getting even with someone, jealousy, being a failure, and foul, immoral thoughts. Scriptures also warn about the dangers of grumbling and complaining: “And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel” (1 Cor.10:10); “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage” (Jude 1:16). Concentrating on the negative often results in a downward spiral of forgetting God’s blessings and attracting more negativism. Those who are affected by our negativity might choose to avoid us, undermining our support structure. And those who hang around us might also be  complainers and pessimists. Instead of building each other up, such folks enter into a cycle of tearing each other down.

Philippians 4: 6-8 provides the antidote to this hope-destroyer. We are encouraged to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and hearts of thanksgiving, and receive God’s peace that surpasses understanding. Verse 8 tells us to focus on positive things: true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous or excellent, and praiseworthy thoughts. Meditating on these helps us to reverse a negative mind-set, train our minds to think like God thinks, and grow in Hope!

Beloved, it’s time to Hit DELETE on Toxic thoughts and Negativity and cultivate Positivity through renewal in God’s Word!