SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Good morning, everybody. I have a question for us this morning. Have you guys, maybe you can relate. Have you guys ever had just like one small thing happen and then all of a sudden you're just spiraling into a series of negative thoughts? So this happens to me regularly where my parents are at, you know. Um one thing happens, maybe you know, kind of totally unrelated, but in 30 seconds, my brain goes from what's happening right now to like contemplating the next 30 years of my children's lives. And it happens fast. I'll give you guys a good example. Um, our youngest son was being evaluated for speech therapy, and so we're sitting and she's asking him a bunch of questions, trying to gauge where he's at developmentally, and in his speech, and she says, Hayden, tell me, what does a cow say? And Hayden says, and he looks at her, and then he looks at me, and he says, da-da. And she said, Oh, you know, it's it's okay. You know, that typically comes a little bit later, you know, right around Jameson's age. So she says, Jameson, what does a cow say? And he said, with all the confidence in the world, bah. And she said, you know, it could be makes sense. Well, what about a pig? What does a pig say? And he said, Bah. And instantly my brain just jumped on the negativity train because at first I'm thinking, oh my gosh, she probably thinks I'm a terrible parent. And then I'm starting to think, what kind of milestones did I miss? I don't remember getting the memo that we were supposed to teach farm animal noises at any particular point in this. And then all of a sudden I'm on Amazon and I'm ordering every puzzle, every every farm animal book, and I'm all the way down the rabbit trail where I'm starting to think, you know, maybe they're never gonna learn to read, maybe they're never gonna go to college, they're gonna live in our house mooing bah for the rest of their lives. And that can that can happen, right? That's a funny example, but k if we're honest, our brains tend to go in that direction. We can start with one little thing, and then all of a sudden, our brains run straight to the worst case scenario. So let me ask you guys, what do you say to yourself when you talk to yourself? Because we all talk to ourselves, but what is your inner voice saying? For many of us, if we're honest, it probably leans a little bit negative. Like when you're stuck in traffic on mid-lithene turnpike and you're late for soccer practice or you're on your way to dinner that you should have left for a long time ago, um, you're not thinking like, wow, all these drivers are so patient and kind, loving human beings that are right here next to me. That's probably not how your brain talks to you. Um and in the morning, it probably sounds a lot like, oh my gosh, I have so much to do today. And at the end of the day, it probably sounds a lot like I didn't get anything done. I don't even know where all of my time went. Or if you are in a space where you're struggling financially, you might think, oh my gosh, I'm never going to get ahead. Or if you've been in relationships that have been difficult, you approach new relationships and you just think, I don't know if I can trust people. I'm not sure where that's gonna go. And if we're really honest, our internal voice goes crazy when we actually mess something up, right? That's when our voice is like, oh, you just cannot do anything right. And that negative loop just keeps spinning. So I want to ask us, what do you say to yourself when you talk to yourself? Because what you say actually matters more than you can imagine. Proverbs 423 says, be careful how you think. Your life is shaped by your thoughts. So ultimately, the Bible is telling us what psychologists are, you know, just now figuring out and putting in a bunch of TED talks, but you're you're living the life that's being built today is being built brick by brick by the thoughts that you are choosing to believe. Psychologists do call this the law of cognition. So what you think shapes what you believe, and what you believe shapes how you feel, and what you feel shapes what you do. So, in other words, your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts. Dr. Paul David Tripp says it this way: no one is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to yourself more than you do. And if we're really honest, the hard part is some of us are talking ourselves into a life that we don't even really like. And that's why today's message is called silencing negative thoughts. So invite the Holy Spirit, God, we just thank you for this time, Lord. I pray even right now, Lord, that my words would land wherever it is that you have them for people this morning. God, open our ears and open our eyes to the thoughts that we're thinking, God, and where you want to move in those, Lord. I pray for freedom in Jesus' name of our negative thoughts. And God, show us the ways and practical ways that we can move forward and live a life that is more reflective of you. In Jesus' name.

unknown: 4:44

Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 4:45

All right, guys. I'm gonna let I'm gonna give it to you straight. The world is not gonna make this easy for us because negativity is all around us. It's everywhere. It is online, it is in our social media feeds, it's in our conversations, it's definitely in the news. Um, and sometimes it's coming from the people that we love. It's becoming an epidemic that is poisoning our mental health. And while it might look like a very practical, um, a very practical problem, it's really a deeply spiritual problem. So today I want to give us some foundational truths that we'll come back to again and again. And the first one is your thoughts have incredible power. They do. But the good news is you have incredible power over your thoughts. You might not believe me yet, but we're gonna get there. Your life is moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts, but you don't have to be a victim of them. Through the power of God, you can choose what you think about, and what you think about determines how you live. So Romans 8, 6 says this, and maybe you've heard this before. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. And when I read that, I think, well, what is what does that really mean that it means that it means death? That sounds like really intense, like I'm gonna die if I think bad thoughts or if I think negative thoughts. But what Paul is really saying here, it's not just about physical death. He means the slow death of the life that God wants for you. It is death to peace. It is death to joy when negativity just steals your ability to be present in the moment and enjoy something, what's good. It's death to hope when you stop believing that things can actually change. And it's death to purpose when lies convince you that your life doesn't really matter. The mind governed by the spirit is life and peace, and that means peace that steadies you and joy that really sustains you, and hope that rises again even in the face of adversity and mistakes or trouble, and purpose that actually fuels you to go forward. So, what you set your mind on will either drain your soul or it will bring you fully alive in the way that God intended your life to be. So here's where we're gonna go this morning. My hope for us is to walk through these three things. First, I do want to talk about why negativity is actually hurting us, like why it's actually a problem. To help us then identify one specific area of negativity in our own lives, because we likely have that, and then to talk about the practical pieces of how God can help through his word and his spirit can actually change the thoughts that we are thinking and bring thoughts that bring peace instead of ones that bring death. So we're gonna start at the beginning. Why is negativity so toxic? Because you might be thinking, well, Aaron, that negativity is just like one of those things. It's annoying, but it's just part of life, right? Like bad weather and traffic. It just is what it is. But I want us to catch this because the truth is it's far more dangerous than that. Negativity doesn't just float around in the background, it's actually shaping us. I like to think about it like secondhand smoke. For a long time, we didn't think that that was gonna be dangerous. But even if you are not the one creating it, if you let it surround you, if you let it sit in your conversations, if you let it sit in your thoughts, in the words that you speak to yourself, over time it's gonna do damage. And all of the root of this is something that scientists call negativity bias. So I hate to break it to you guys, but our brains are actually wired to recognize things that are negative and to hold on to them longer. You can see this everywhere. What spreads faster on social media? What spreads faster in the news, the positive headlines or the negative ones? You can think about this for yourself. This one is uh an example from my own life. But if five people tell you that they absolutely loved something that you did, that you nailed a presentation or you did a great job on something that you are working hard on, but one person, we all know, that one person, they criticize it. What are you replaying in your mind when you go to sleep at night? I know for me it's the one thing over the five positive things. So nobody talk to me after this message, okay? So here's what happens though. Our brains are wired towards negativity, but then when negativity becomes constant, so it's constantly in our brains, our minds and our bodies shift into a flight or fight mode. So that is actually designed by God to release cortisol into our system, which is a stress hormone, and it's really good for us when we're like trying to avoid an accident or trying to get our toddler to not run into traffic. Highly important. It helps us to react quickly, it helps us to see that danger is coming. But when we when we live surrounded by negativity in our thoughts, in our conversations, in every moment that you pick up your phone, we're always, our brains believe that we're always in danger. So it's actually releasing those hormones, and we're physically living more anxious, more on edge, constantly braced for something bad to happen. And remember, Romans 8, 6 says the mind governed by the flesh is death. So when most of what you see online is negative, and most of what you experience from your friends is negative, and most of what you say to yourself is negative. Your mind is being governed by these things, and we are literally rewiring our brains. And it's creating what they call negative neural pathways. And it's like when we drive the same route home over and over again. Have you guys ever had that experience where you drive the same route home every day? And so sometimes you arrive home and you don't even actually know how you got there. So your brain is trained to follow those things. It becomes more automatic, more clear the more that you drive the path, right? Negativity carves those same kinds of pathways in our mind. Over time, negativity becomes a habit, it becomes a default posture, and it becomes dangerous because you might not even notice it in yourself anymore. And when negativity is left unchecked, it becomes the narrator of our lives. Our internal dialogue tells us stories like things will never get better. It's always going to be like this. I'm always going to mess up. And those stories start to feel like truth because the ways that our bodies are responding, but they're not truth at all. Your thoughts have incredible power over the direction of your life. But the good news is you have incredible power over your thoughts and the way that they are talking to you. If negativity can shape us, I want to encourage you that positive thoughts and hopeful thoughts and God-filled thoughts also can change us. So now that we understand how negativity works in us, I want to get really practical. So I want to help each of us identify where we are most prone to negativity. Some of you are like, oh my gosh, don't ask me to raise my hand. So I won't. I'm just preparing you guys now. But everybody has a weak spot. I know that I do. And the good news is that again, with the help of God's word and the power of his spirit, we can grow and we can change in these areas. I have truly seen him do this in my life, and I know that he can do it for you. So experts tell us that there are four main categories of where negative thinking tends to live. So I want, as I walk through them, to invite you, again, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I want to invite you guys to prayerfully consider which one of these things sounds a little bit like me. Your internal voice will start saying, Yep, that's us. You got it. That's what's wrong with us. Or your internal voice might start saying, That's not me. I don't know what you're talking about. And I want you guys to pay attention to both. So the first one is relational cynicism. And that one can sound like you can't trust everybody, can't trust anybody. Everybody's always out for themselves. Nobody's motives are ever good. And it is a general distrust of others. And maybe it comes from examples and experiences that you've had in your life, but at this point, when you meet somebody new or you go into a new situation, you're assuming the worst before you even give someone a chance. Number two is negative filtering. And this looks like when you automatically zero in on exactly what's wrong and you overlook what's right. Your kid is coming home late, and instead of thinking, oh, maybe they stopped to get ice cream, you instantly think worst case scenario. Or you text your friend and they don't text you back for two hours and you instantly think, oh, I probably did something, they're probably mad at me. Or you go on vacation and you know exactly all the things that went wrong on that vacation. Or you go to a new restaurant and you know exactly everything you hate about that restaurant, or you go to a new church and you know exactly what's wrong with that new church. Your brain is focused on the worst case scenario. And once that becomes your default, it's exhausting, not just for you, but for the people around you. And then the third is absolute thinking. This one is that all or nothing thinking. It's painting with a really broad brush. If one person lied to me, people are probably liars and they're gonna lie to me. If one church disappointed me, I'm done with churches. And it can show up in little ways too. If I blow my budget after I tried to work on it, I blow it once, I think I'll never be good at this. I'll never be good with money. If I yelled at my kids today, I think I am a terrible parent. Nothing can help this. If my marriage hits a hard season, it's it's just broken. It was probably broken from the beginning, and it's gonna be broken as as long as we go forth with it. So absolute thinking leaves no room for grace for us or other people. And in our culture, this mindset is louder than ever. We are quick to cancel, it's quick to label, quick to write people off, and the world will cheer us on and encourage you while you do it. God calls us, though, to live with the same grace that He has showed us. And number four is blaming. So blaming is when we hand over responsibility for our lives and choices to someone else or something else. It sounds like things like, I am just stuck here because of something that someone else did. Or I'd be happier if my boss was a nicer, better person. Or my marriage would be stronger if my spouse would change, or I'd be closer to God if my schedule just wasn't so busy. It's the mindset that says life is happening to me and not through me. And over time, it can help us, it can leave us feeling powerless. The danger here is when we stay there too long, we can truly believe that change isn't even possible. But the truth is that with God's help, we can make different choices. All right, so now I know that that might feel a little heavy, right? But I want to point out here it's really important that this is not about shame, but this entire message is about awareness. What the Holy Spirit wants to do in you is not shame, but bring awareness to bring a spotlight to those areas because once we can define and identify where negativity is coming from and creeping in, we can start to invite God into that space. So I do want to invite you to wrestle with those. The question, which one of those might describe me the most? And I'll go first. I will tell you guys that often for me it is negative filtering. And this can come out a lot in my in my life as a parent, but I wrote I notice it especially at work. I can slip into even though I've accomplished several things on my to-do list, I'm always noticing what I'm not doing, what I didn't have time to get to, with a project that hasn't hasn't come to completion yet, what I'm not doing, what's messy, what's still unfinished. And I always feel like I'm not doing enough. I'm failing. And my internal dialogue can take off on a real, on a real fast train that way. And I've had to learn how to pause and to stop myself and to invite God into that space. And to really take those thoughts captive so that I can that I can replace them with God's truth, where God has entrusted me with this job, with this role, He equips me for this, even when it's not perfect, He is working in it and through it. And that's the same for you. If you can't define it, you can't defeat it. If you can't define it, you'll never be able to feed to defeat it. But if you bring it into the light, you can invite God into that space. And that is where transformation truly begins. So all of this leads to the really important question. If I am just struggling and I have been struggling with negative thoughts, if I'm struggling thinking critically, or maybe I'm jealous or discontent or continuously feeling like people are out for themselves, I'm assuming the worst about people, and I'm hard on myself, and I'm hard on others, can I really change that? Maybe you're thinking, I've been thinking this for years and years, and I'm not sure that I can do anything different. And so the answer is yes. Yes, you absolutely can, but there's a big butt here, and I want us to be equipped correctly. There's a catch. It's not going to be easy. And it's definitely not automatic. And I want to highlight that because there's this really interesting research study on why this is actually so hard. So researchers told two groups of people about an imaginary surgery. So they have a focus group over here and they have a focus group over here, and they tell the first group of people imagine that this, well, they tell them it's a real surgery. The surgery is going to have a 70% success rate. And they ask them if they think that's a good surgery. The other group heard that it's a 30% chance of failure. Now, those are the same odds, right? If we're if we're mathing this morning. But here's what happened. The 70% of people who were presented with, or the people that were presented with the 70% of success, said, yeah, that sounds good. Now the 30% uh group over here said, absolutely not, no thanks, I don't want to take those kind of chances. When the researchers went back to those same groups and they flipped the script, this is what's interesting. They told the first group, who had a 70% chance of success and they were pretty happy about it, well, we should also consider, I just want to make sure that you know, there's also a 30% chance of failure. And in that moment, many of the people in the first focus group changed their mind. They said, Oh no, actually, that is not a good surgery. We should not move forward with that. Then they went back to the group that heard about the 30% chance of failure, and they said, Well, let's think about it this way. There's actually a 70% chance that this is gonna be really helpful for people. And the majority of people in that group did not change their minds. They did not change their minds, they stayed stuck on the negative. So, what does that tell us? It shows us that our brains hold on tightly to negativity more than positivity. Changing our perspective is possible. I want you guys to hear that. It is possible, but shifting from a negative perspective to a positive one is not our natural default. It's not gonna be automatic and it's not going to happen by accident. If you want to change your thoughts, we are gonna need two things. Everybody say two things. Two things. We're gonna need a little supernatural help from God and a lot of intentional work from you. So here's what I've learned, guys. Changing the way that you think, it can feel fluffy, right? It can feel like, oh, I'm just supposed to like put on like rose-colored glasses and say everything is positive, everything is good. I guess even though it's happening, it's just I should be happy about it. And that is not at all what God is asking us to do here. It's more realistic than that because we serve a God who is realistic. It's about building a new habit, noticing when the negativity starts, and intentionally replacing it with God's truth. Like when you are busy and overwhelmed and totally not present in a very important moment and you burn dinner. And I'm not saying that that happened to me on Valentine's Day last year, but it's not about pretending that that didn't happen because all the children are crying that the heart-shaped pizzas are ruined and the rest of the night is not looking so good and you're really hungry, hypothetically speaking. But it's about learning in that moment when it's really stressful and everybody's really mad at you, and you're really mad at yourself, and you're trying to figure out what the plan is, it's about learning to capture that negative thought quickly and to choose a new spirit-led story instead. So Romans 12, 2 says, do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And that word renewing is not a one-time event. That's not like I came to church and like I renewed my mind and I'm good now. And then you start to feel like, well, nothing's really changing. I'm still feeling very stuck and very hopeless. It's not a one-time event, it's an ongoing, daily occurrence, and it's a process that we enter into with God's help. So, yes, you can change. You're not stuck on um with those thoughts that you've always had, but it's not gonna happen by accident. And why do I tell you that? You're like, wow, Aaron, you're like really hammering in. Like, yes, we're negative and we got a lot of work to do, right? Because good friends tell you what kind of battle you're getting into so that we know what kind of weapons we need, what kind of battle we need to fight. If we're gonna fight a battle for our minds, and it is a battle, we need to know how to fight it. And one of the best examples that we have is in scripture of how to do that comes from David in the Old Testament. This is really fun. So in 1 Samuel 30, David and his men come home from battle. And listen, um, if you thought that your week was bad, David's week was worse. I'll tell you that. Like, way worse. Like, it wasn't like I spilled coffee all over my computer or I had a flat tire kind of bad day. No, they walk back into town after they've been out battling, and they come back and um everything is gone. And I mean like gone, like their homes are burned to the ground, and their wives and their children have been kidnapped by the enemy. So I would say, like, on a scale from one to ten, that's like on the high end, bad day. Just when David thinks it can't get any worse, like this is this is terrible. His own men, who he was just in battle with, they start fighting amongst themselves and they start to turn on him and talk about stoning him to death. So again, got a lot worse. So that was a bad day. And scripture said David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. And I want to pause there because all lighthearted jokes aside, maybe you don't have the burned villages, and maybe there's not angry warriors trying to stone you, but you may have experienced heartbreak, and you may have experienced loss, and you may have experienced deep grief or deep stress, and you do not know how to navigate the situations that you're in so deep that you felt like you have cried every tear that you have, every ounce of what you've got inside. And that is where David was too. Then the verse six comes in and it says something really powerful. David was greatly distressed, reasonable, because the men were talking of stoning him, and each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God. And I love the way that the New King James Version puts it. It says, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. He encouraged himself because his friends all wanted to stone him, and his wife and his kids were kidnapped, and he didn't have anybody. And some of you guys are in that situation. I don't know who's gonna encourage me. First off, small groups. I highly recommend that you get into a small group so you get people around you that can encourage you, but God says it's gonna be okay, even if it's just you. You can encourage yourself in the Lord. And that's what some of us need to learn how to do. Not to try harder in our own strength, not to attempt to think positive. I'll just be positive and be happy. No, we have to learn to encourage ourselves in the Lord, and that means to anchor our minds in the truth of who God is and what he has done for us. Now, this doesn't say, the verse doesn't go on to say exactly what David said to himself. We know that he encouraged himself in the Lord, but we do know some of the things that David said to himself in other moments because he wrote many, many, many of the Psalms. And like he said, it's likely that he said to himself in that moment something that he had said to himself before. Why? Because our thoughts are habitual. What we say to ourselves now is gonna come out in crisis later. What we say to ourselves now is gonna matter for our futures. In Psalm 103, one through two, David talks directly to himself on another occasion, and he says, Praise the Lord, my soul, all of my inmost being, praise his holy name, praise the Lord my soul, and forget not all his benefits. So, what is he really saying that? All his benefits. It's like he's telling himself, hey, remember who God is and don't forget what he's done. Maybe he reminded himself in that moment, God, you have forgiven all my sins. He has healed all of my diseases, he has redeemed my life, he has anointed me as king, he delivered me from the lion and the bear, he gave me the courage and the strength to face Goliath, he protected me from Saul, he has never left me. And he's not going to start now. And for some of them, some of you guys, that's where you need to start. Just to remember what God has already done for you. Because we can forget it so quickly when our brains are on this negative spiral. David talked to himself, not with lies, but with truth. And he didn't say it once, he actually said it again and again and again and again in the Psalms. Over and over, we see David actually repeat the same truth about who God is to him. We see it in Psalm 103. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. A whole nother one we see it, but Lord, you are compassionate and gracious, God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. And again, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. I can hear it, David's rally cry to himself, his his thought that would come against the negative thoughts. And I will say it's almost like David, he wasn't very creative, right? He didn't look for anything original. But I want to tell somebody today that is actually the point. He did not need a new self-help book. He did not need to buy something else on Amazon to organize the house. Um, he did not need a new activity, he didn't need a new haircut. He was doing something consistent over and over again, reminding himself of what was true and constant. And he wasn't even the first one to say it. That's the cool part. These this he is quoting from God himself in Exodus 34. So when crisis came, David didn't have to search for a verse. Like when things got bad, because he had already hidden God's word in his heart. And that is exactly what we're gonna learn to do. Because let me give you guys a picture of how this works. One of the strangest and most helpful metaphors that we're gonna land on today is about a cow. Because a cow says, Moo, no. We'll work on, we'll work on it. We'll work on it. So our cows, right, they hang out in a field, and the only thing that they eat is grass. And in the process of eating grass, cows do a thing called ruminating. Did you guys know this is what that's described as? They take a bite of grass and they chew it and they chew it and they chew it and they swallow it. Then they throw it back up again and they chew it and they chew it and they chew it and they chew it, and then they swallow it. And sometimes they throw it back up again and they chew it. And that is super gross, first of all. Second of all, thank goodness the therapist didn't ask that question in that appointment. Um, third of all, why are they doing that? Why are they doing that? The grass is the main source of nutrition, and they want to make sure that they get all of the nutrition out of that exact same grass. They're not looking for anything new, they're ruminating on it. And the Hebrew word that's um often translated as meditate means the same thing, to chew on it, to ruminate over and over and over again. And that's how we're meant to handle God's word. Not just to read it once, hear it once in a good sermon, and move on. No, we're supposed to bring it back up throughout the day, repeat it, declare it, let it shape how we think. When life is hard, guys, you don't want to go scrambling for a verse. You want it already hidden in your heart. And I want you to be able to throw it up like a cow. And you're never gonna forget that now because of that visual. So, you're welcome. We'll see you guys next Sunday. Um, but that's what David did, right? The promises of God were already written on his heart. One of those promises that we see is found in Romans 8.28. And it says, We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. Not just some things, all things, even the hard things, even the unexpected things, even the seasons that don't make sense. And can I be honest with you guys? Can I be vulnerable with you guys? I promise it's not a better cow. Okay, good. I have had to cling to that truth, that truth in Romans 8.28, and I still pretty much do that in like all of my parents, my parents, that's a good verse. All things are gonna work together. But I do that often as I worry over the things that I hope are going to come together for my kids, and I just hope I don't mess it up. But I want to say that that is especially true when we got the call about a newborn baby who needed a home, who's our now son, Hayden. It was completely unexpected. It was absolutely not convenient. It was not on our calendar, it was not in our 10-year plan. It was nowhere on our radar. And having three kids, three and under, those were some long days and long nights. And they just actually just kept going on. I don't know what was happening. There were moments when I thought to myself, oh my gosh, this is just, this is too much. This is too much. I am not the person. God, I I don't think it's I don't think it's me. I'm not made for this. I can't do this. Why would God ask this of us now? And it would have been really easy to live in that story. One that's focused on true things the disruption, the exhaustion. The fear. And honestly, there were times when people around us added to that negativity, questioning that decision. Is God really in that? Pointing out how hard it's going to be financially, physically, all of the different ways. But I didn't lean on that. I didn't lean on that. I leaned on the promises of God that had been true in other parts of my life, believing that when I couldn't see it, that God was weaving this story together for good, for Hayden, for our family, for his glory. And I would hold on to, and I still hold on to this, Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, reminding myself to trust in the Lord completely and do not rely on my own opinions. With all my heart, rely on him to guide me, and then he will lead me in every decision I make. That takes the weight off of me, guys. It takes the weight off of those decisions. I know he's with me. Becoming intimate with him in whatever I do, and he'll lead me wherever I go. The promise that if I invite him in, that I'm not fully responsible for everything that's happening. God is with me and he's in it with me, and he's in the thoughts, the decisions, and the actions. I come back to these verses again and again because it's renewing our minds is not gonna be a one-time event, especially my parents. It's gonna be a daily choice. Choosing a new thought that is anchored in God's promises. So I invite you guys to do the same. And maybe you're gonna need to start with like a negativity fast. You gotta cut out those things that are constant negative voices in your life. Whatever is feeding those thoughts, the news, social media, friends, family members that may always turn conversations cynical. You have to step away, create some boundaries, stop feeding the negativity and start feeding your soul with God's word. So once we've named the negativity that you struggle with most, those four sections, we can actually start creating declarations based on scripture, just like David did, to speak over that area of life again and again until it becomes our new default. So I'm gonna make it really practical. If in those in those four negative areas you said cynicism, relational cynicism was your battle, you can speak this over your life. With God's help, I will get rid of all bitterness and skepticism. I choose to believe the best about others, be kind, compassionate, and loving. And I will love and forgive others as Jesus has loved and forgiven me. If negative filtering is where you struggle, you can declare this by God, God, by your power, I take every thought captive and I make it obedient to Christ. Because you are good, I choose to think on what is good, what is right and true and helpful and worthy of praise. If absolute thinking trips you up, you might say to yourself, as Jesus loves and accepts me, I will love and accept others. Rather than just making a point, I will choose to make a difference. And if blaming has been your story, you speak this truth. God has given me a life and a mind of my own. By his grace, I will own my choices and I will choose his best for me. In Christ, I have everything I need to do everything that he has called me to do. And I will say, don't stop with the declarations that I just shared today. You can write your own too. You can prayerfully look at scriptures that reflect the struggles that you have. Maybe it's parenting, maybe it's work, maybe it's relationally, maybe negativity tries to sneak in and you have anxious thoughts. Then turning those verses into simple declarations that are rooted in scripture, the key is to get God's truth in your mind. Because once it's in there, it becomes your automatic defense, like a spiritual muscle memory. It's just waiting at the door for when those negative thoughts come in, and we say, not today. Not today. And now you might be wondering about that dry erase marker that you got handed when you walked in. No, I'm not gonna quiz you, and no, it's not a school supplies to pass on to your teacher, your kids' teachers. I want to give this to you because I want us to get super practical about this. I want you to write your declaration down somewhere that you're gonna see it every day. Maybe that's on your bathroom mirror, so that when you are reading it, you're brushing your teeth and you're reading it and you're reminding yourself of who God is in your life. Put it on your shower walls. Some of my moms, sometimes we have no alone time except in the shower. And that is where I put my scripture. I write it on my shower walls. And I it's the first thing that I see in the morning. And I stick it, you could stick it on the microwave. When you are heating up mac and cheese for three minutes, go ahead and read that declaration over your life. Wherever it is, put God's truth where you're not gonna miss it. And that may sound may sound simple and it may sound silly, but I promise you that it matters because what goes into your mind is gonna shape your life. And I believe that if we do this, we're gonna see real change, real peace, real joy, real change in our minds because our thoughts, they are powerful. And we gotta know what kind of battle that we're fighting, but they don't have to control us and they don't get to write the story. With God's help, we can choose to tell a story to ourselves that is anchored and anchored in scripture and God's truth instead of our feelings. And when we do that consistently, consistently, over time, we're no longer conformed by the world's negativity, but we're transformed by the renewing of our minds. And that, guys, is where real peace of mind is going to begin. And when you do it, it will change everything. So pray with me, church. Oh God, we thank you, Lord, that you give us hope, God. That while we may have been just in an avalanche of negativity in certain experiences in our lives, in the voices that are loudest around us, God, you promise, even starting today, taking this next step out of this building, equipped with our dry erase markers, Lord, you promise that there is a different hope for a different kind of future, Lord. So I even pray right now, Lord, wherever the enemy has been at work, even in this message, saying things like, that'll work for somebody else, but it's not gonna work for you. Yeah, Lord. Yeah. No, that might be that might work for somebody else, but you fail at everything you start. You never stick with it. She said consistency, and that's your your least important skill. God, we silence the the voice of the enemy, Lord, and I pray that your still small voice, the voice that goes beyond all understanding. I get it, and God gets it. You have messed up, you might have habits that you don't like, you might have tried something else, and it hasn't worked before. But God said he gives a peace that goes beyond all understanding, beyond the circumstance. He lives outside of those things. He's interested in those things, but he his power exists outside of those things, God. So we invite, Lord, your your Holy Spirit and that power into our lives, into those areas. And I just encourage you, whatever that area might be, just bringing it up in your mind and just picture yourself handing that over. God, I have no idea how you're gonna help me change that, how your Holy Spirit's gonna work, God, but I'll lift it up to you. We'll we'll give it a try. And God is faithful. In his character, he is faithful. As David said, he is faithful. God, so we thank you, Lord, that your character is unchanging. We don't have to go and figure out a bunch of new things to make progress in our lives the way that you want it. Yeah. No more death to joy, death to peace. God promises good things. He's a good father and he gives good gifts. So, God, we offer those things up to you, Lord. We offer up the cynicism, the negative filtering, Lord. We offer up the blaming and handing um responsibility over to others. Lord, we take it back and we give it to you. Come, Holy Spirit. Pray freedom in Jesus' name. Freedom over our minds and freedom over our thoughts. We invite you in today, Lord. We thank you for your words. May they fill us, may they shape us. May we know you more intimately, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.