Negative Thinking Rescue: 40 Day Challenge

Are negative thinking and poor body image affecting your life? Feeling tired, anxious, discouraged or depressed? I know the feeling. For many years, I was in bondage to negative thinking. But God delivered me. And He can deliver you too. 40 days from now, you too can be delivered from negative thinking, feel more secure in your identity in God, and be less vulnerable to negative emotions. I have to warn you; this may be some of the hardest mental work you will ever do. But if you complete the 40-day challenge, you will be on the road to feeling better about the person God created you to be so you can do what He calls you to do. I decided to write about this topic after reviewing all the past comments on the takebackyourtemple.com Christian weight loss website recently. The site has been online for over 12 years now, so that was a lot of comments! And I found a theme on some of the negative emotions people just like you have been experiencing:

• Anxious
• Discouraged
• Fearful
• Frustrated
• Low self-image

How can this be? Aren't God's people supposed to live victoriously because Jesus has overcome the world? Although I knew that mentally, somehow that message didn't reach my heart. Then, one day it hit me: The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. Wouldn't it be nice if your old ways of thinking were wiped out when you accept Jesus as your Savior? But that doesn't happen. You may still have mental strongholds of critical voices from the past, anxiety about your present circumstances, and/or fear of the future. This explains how it is possible for God's people to be in just as much bondage as people of the world. The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. As a child of God, you were not meant to live under mental oppression. 2 Corinthians 10:5 gives you guidance for overcoming this issue:

"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,"

This means negative self-talk is not meant to roam freely in your mind where it can wreck your life; you are called to actively take those thoughts as prisoners by the power of God's word. That takes work, patience and yes, it takes time. But the effort is worth it because... The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. Just imagine if all Christians would take this one instruction to heart and put it into practice. We would bear Spiritual fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The world would see something different about us and want to know our secret. That would open the door for us to tell them about Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith! If you believe in that vision, I invite you to join me in a 40-day challenge to transform negative self-talk into the positive using God's word. I discovered it on a wonderful website called the Ministry Tools Resource Center (mintools.com). Here is how to start the challenge:

1. Print this document: https://mintools.com/maintain-perspective.pdf.
2. Tape it on your bathroom mirror or another place that you see every day.
3. Pray to ask the Lord to help you regulate your mind, then speak the 'Foundational Pillars of Truth' each morning for 40 days. Check off the day on your handout after you speak the truths to indicate you are 'Done'.

This challenge is about seeking the Lord for a heart/mind change. I suggest that you start an online journal or paper journey to document what the Lord is teaching you in this process. I hope you will decide to join us on this challenge. Remember again: The thoughts you dwell on determine the world you live in. Ensure that the world you are living in is consistent with the abundant life that Jesus has for you! Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness, Kimberly Taylor Author of the 'Take Back Your Temple' Program P.S. If you are tired of trying diet after diet, losing the weight, but gaining it all back then the Take Back Your Temple program is your solution. You grow stronger Spiritually and heal emotionally as you are losing weight. Diets can give you information about how to eat but they can't give you the wisdom nor power to destroy the mental strongholds that are holding you back. Click the link below to learn more: Take Back Your Temple program