“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the
obedience of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV
I was watching a Channel 9 special by
psychiatrist Daniel Amen who was discussing techniques to stop a panic attack
before it starts. The technique was
referred to as ‘killing the ANTs’, or Automatic
Negative Thoughts. All the
strategies Dr. Amen provided were good, but the best way to kill the ANTs is by
combating them with the life changing Word of God. We live in a time where everything seems to
focus on the negative. You can’t turn on
the news without hearing one negative commentary after the next. An article in Psychology Today claims there
are “as much as seventeen negative news reports for every one good news report”. No wonder it is difficult to kill the ANTs! Difficult, but not impossible.
Our mind is a very powerful thing, and
for those of us who think, over think, and think again, it can be very hard to ‘turn
off’ all those thoughts. So, let’s focus
on the last part of our scripture, ‘bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’. Captivity is defined as: the state of being
kept in a place (such as a prison or a cage) and not being able to leave or be
free. Essentially, don’t let the ANTs
run free in your mind. Bring them ‘to the
obedience of Christ’, or combat them with the Word of God.
Philippians 4:8 MSG can help us with
that: “Summing it all up friends, I’d say
you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true , noble,
reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the
beautiful, not the ugly, things to praise, not things to curse.” So the next time your mind is filled with the
negative, kill the ANTs!
Margaret Slaughter
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