I love Caller ID. It’s great to see who is calling in advance so you can decide whether you want to take the call or not.
Just as you use Caller ID in the natural to screen phone calls, so you should use “Spiritual Caller ID” to screen your thoughts.
The Call to Screen our Thoughts
In the natural, some calls are annoying, distracting, or even destructive with phone scams from thieves who try to steal your money.
In the Spiritual, some thoughts are annoying, distracting, or destructive because they come from the ultimate thief who wants to steal your life.
John 10:10 says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…”
In the same scripture, Jesus tells you what His intentions are “…I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Jesus’ plans for us are better than any we have for ourselves!
In John 10:27, Jesus also says:
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
God showed me that too many of us are taking every “call” that comes into our minds! According to the Bible however, we should be:
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
When you accept all of these negative calls, they distract you from your Father’s daily business.
You also can’t get the victory on your Christian weight loss journey!
To make this principle practical, the following article gives you guidance on how to start screening your thoughts throughout the day.
As you screen, you will decide which calls to:
- Accept
- Reject/Block
Calls to Accept (The Lord Calling)
Allow this scripture to elevate the importance of hearing and heeding God’s voice:
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
– John 16:13
The Lord gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to speak to us. Not only that, but He speaks to us from knowledge of the future!
Did you get that?
We ignore the Lord’s voice at our peril because He has future knowledge to give us in the present. In that way, we make the best decisions to change our future for the better.
Here are the thoughts to accept because it’s the Lord calling. They are thoughts that:
- Agrees with God’s word
- Bears Spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23)
- Meet this criteria: “…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (Philippians 4:8).”
- Thoughts that lead to good works (Matthew 5:16)
- Thoughts that correct and teach you a better way (Proverbs 3:12 and Hebrews 12:11)
Thoughts to Reject/Block (The Enemy Calling):
In contrast, because these are thoughts that will either steal, kill, or destroy, these are thoughts to reject:
- Thoughts that attack your identity and value in Christ (the truth is John 3:16 and 1 John 3:1-3)
- Lying thoughts (John 8:44)
- Depressing thoughts (Psalm 42:11 and Psalm 43:5)
- Anxious/doubting thoughts (Philippians 4:6 and James 1:6-8)
- Thoughts that stir up to your flesh (envy, jealousy, sexually immoral, thoughts that lead to strife and contention – see Galatians 5:19-21)
- Unforgiving thoughts (Matthew 6:14-15)
- Condemning thoughts (Romans 8:1)
If you have negative thoughts habitually, then you have a mental stronghold.
Remain diligent in rejecting these thoughts because when you do it long enough, they will transfer to your ‘Call block’ list automatically!
Start using Spiritual Caller ID and you will see things begin to change in your life.
Kimberly Taylor
Author of the Take Back Your Temple program
P.S. Are you struggling with the challenges of emotional eating? Many people with eating issues know what to do but have a hard time doing it. That is where you need a community that supports each other!
In the Take Back Your Temple program, you will get all the support you need to overcome the Spiritual and emotional battles of weight loss, connected in our Overcomers community.
Click here to confirm the Take Back Your Temple program is right for you.
Love this!!
– Thank you, Vicky – God’s word is good!
Such a POWERFUL post, as I started today’s devotional I knew I was going to ask for prayer for a family member and as I went deeper into this post you lead me to have my questions were answered.
I will be speaking the scriptures you added to my family member and we / my sisters and myself will flood the throne to see breakthrough on our brothers behalf.
The enemy is a liar
I don’t have to allow feelings of defeat flood my mindset but
Speak life into the situation
Speak healing into the situation
Watch my input so my output can bring life to the situation.
Thank you Kimberly for always allowing the Holy Spirit to lead you and giving members what we need in the season we are in.
I joined TBYT in the pandemic and completed all but one part of the program and was defeated when the website was reset and erased all of my progress
The enemy tried to make a recovering check list marking perfectionist quit
But I fought hard past those thoughts and kept pressing and taking it day by day to revisit the lessons and not quit.
And look at what following the Holy Spirit gets you when your obedient
Because I know it was the Holy Spirit and not me.
I have been getting feed and lead in a season that calls for sound doctrine.
Thank you
Peace and Blessings unto you.
I am praising the Lord with you, Novella and join you in prayer for breakthrough for your brother!
Best lesson to learn, excellent, I call it picking your battles carefully and wisely
Exactly, Susan – thank you for your feedback!
Caller ID what a great one. I love and will start to use the term.
That is a wise decision because we need to stop taking every call that comes into our minds!
I learned about this article in our Zoom meeting yesterday, June 10, 2023, and it an excellent article. Thank Kimberly for listening to the Lord to help me to apply these verses. By the way, is there a way to save to my profile information on the site that I would like to save? Thank you Debbie
Hi Debbie – I am SO glad you found this article useful! In the TBYT Community, you can access the posts that you like more easily using the Likes tab. I will send you a private message on how to access that in the Community.
Thanks so much, Kim. I need this bad right now negative thoughts are something I feel overwhelmed with daily. It gets better than the cycle comes back again. This will help me. Thanks for all your encouraging messages they are equipping me to stay on the battlefield for the Lord. Gwen
I am so glad this was helpful, Gwen. We have to stay focused so that we can finish well in the Lord and receive our crowns. Our service at church was about that very thing. May the Lord continue to bless you, Sister!
This is so good! Thanks Kim
You’re a really good teacher, Kimberly. Analogies are powerful tools. This one was excellent. I definitely have a stronghold (plural?) in this area. I cannot comprehend how I got to where I am. I am well into feeling like crap before I ever stop and consider the sheer quantity and depth of the negative thoughts I allow to roam my “house” – as though they “just are” and as though I have no say in the matter. The end result is like a barn yard full of manure piles! And I stand there, scratching my head, shovel in hand, forlorn…wondering how in the world I am going to get this mess cleaned up and how in the world did it get so deep…and how did it become so normal to be so negative!?! The enemy is a deceiver, indeed. Thank you for your many encouragements. Thank you for your servant’s heart and obedience to your calling. Keep putting the truth out there. Some of us need to keep hearing it if there’s any hope for us to turn around / get off the path that leads to death / make life changes that will be God-glorifying.
Thank You, Abba – for fanning Kimberly’s flame and giving her words to speak that serve to draw us closer to You. In Jesus’ name…amen.
Amen, Angie – thank you for the words of encouragement. I praise God! You know, I think the biggest issue we have is FORGETTING the truths that the Lord has revealed to us. That is why He tells us to mediate on His word day and night. He knows that our memories are very short and subject to deception.
Speaking of analogies, you just reminded me of one I heard a long time ago:
I think the biggest issue we have in our Christian walk is FORGETTING the truths that the Lord has revealed to us. That is why He tells us to meditate on His word day and night. He knows that our memories are very short and subject to deception.
This reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago: Treasury agents are charged with identifying counterfeit bills and keeping them out of circulation. You would think that their training program would focus on studying the various forms of counterfeit bills, wouldn’t you?
But no.
Instead, the agents are trained to study the REAL dollar bill. Their goal is to know the dollar bill so intimately that they can spot a fake a mile away.
That is how we should be with our minds. Our minds WILL occupy themselves (go to work on something) every day. The question we must always ask ourselves is: What is your mind working on?
We are creative beings – just like our Heavenly Daddy. Our minds are creating future results in our lives right now.
* Why not put them to work on studying God’s truth rather than the enemy’s lies?
* Why not put them to work on making our dreams a reality rather than running from our fears?
Let’s mediate on God’s truth so much that when the enemy tries to get us to believe and live a lie, we reject it outright.
May we as God’s people commit to living the truth so that we can finally experience the freedom and blessings God has for us!
Thanks. This is great. I will print this and read it daily. May God bless you and your family.
Thank you so much. I’m gonna apply this timely message
This is a good one! Love it! As one who LOVES caller ID, this really speaks to me and blesses me! Amen!
Love this!
This is so timely for me. I will save it to my desktop to read when needed. As I was reading I realized that at the beginning of this year I started listening to the negative thoughts and even repeating them to myself. That I was really down on myself because HOW DID I GET HERE again. I still don’t know the answer to that question but my trust is in God and I believe that there is more garbage that God’s is ready for me to get rid of. So I can give thanks in everything