Apparently when you engage in any activity and you feel tired, your brain is lying to you. Many studies have been done to show that we only use about half of our muscle fibers when our brain tells us to stop. There is something still inside of us even when we feel like we can’t keep going. For someone with an incredibly low mental toughness, this was hard to come to terms with. “You mean I’m not actually about to fall over and die,” I would tell myself every fitness practice in college. When my body says I’m done, I usually pack up the bags and say, “yeah, I can’t go much more.” But it’s crazy because my body actually isn’t dying, my mind is just freaking out and wanting me to quit.
In college there was a running joke my sister would always scream at me. “YOU’RE NOT TIRED, BETH.” I would turn and look at her, with an oxygen tank by my side and say, “Yeah, I actually am.” But the truth was, I wasn’t! Obviously, I thought I was. But there was more inside of me, and I just had to access that part. I had to tune out what my brain was saying and push through the threshold to reach the energy I needed.
I say this story as a background for what I want to talk about—the power we have inside of us. Often, we are drawn to God’s power, and rightly so. He is all-powerful and can reveal that power to us in many different ways. It’s a beautiful and terrifying thing to experience His might. He is the source of all power. But I think we can easily forget the power that has been given to us by Him. We share in Christ’s sufferings, but we also share in His resurrection and the power that comes from it.
Over the last few months, my prayer life has consisted of yielding my thoughts to God. I’m a highly emotional person (enneagram 4, haha), and I often think deeply about everything. This can be troublesome as I start to have thoughts that go outside of reality and leave me feeling sad and lonely. I frequently ask God to take away those thoughts. I tell Him that I don’t want to think of what could’ve happened or what could be. I need to be present with the reality that God has placed me in.
I would pray this prayer of yielding over and over again, asking God to not let these thoughts fester in my mind. When nothing was changing, I became angry at God. I would ask God, “Why am I still thinking like this? Why are you letting these thoughts continue to roam in my mind when you know they aren’t good for me? Take them away PLEASE.”
I think God appreciated my honesty and my heart to yield those thoughts to Him. But He also revealed something to me about a month after my continual pleading. YOU HAVE THE POWER, BETH. IT’S INSIDE OF YOU.
What a simple statement that has proved to be transformational in my life.
I quickly realized that I can control what thoughts are permeating in my head. I have the choice to continue down a path where I think irrational thoughts and dream up fantasies, or I can actively stop myself from going down that road. I don’t have to be chained to my thoughts. I can recognize the situations where my thoughts get away from me, and say, “Beth, you don’t have to do this. Let’s think about something else instead.” It’s something so simple, but it has guided my mind into an oasis that has released me from all my past hurt.
Ever since God spoke that over me, I have not been captive to my thoughts. It was incredibly empowering to know that Holy Spirit is inside of me, and has equipped me with the power, THE SAME POWER THAT ROSE JESUS OUT OF A GRAVE, to guide me into a better state of mind.
Now, in no way did I get out of that state of mind on my own, or even own power. It was Holy Spirit who graced me with it and it is ultimately by God’s power that I was able to do so. But, I think it’s important that every Christian recognizes how God has equipped us to fight our battles. He freely fights for us, but we have armor too. We daily fight our sinful flesh. We fight our past selves. We fight our intangible thoughts. But we have every weapon we need, and it’s because of who God is that we are fully equipped.
Another moment where God showed me how the power He has given me can change my life came at the weirdest moment. I was about to get in the shower one random day, and God said, Beth, why do you still have hate for these people. I knew exactly who He was talking about. He whispered again, You dislike a lot of people right now, why? Do you realize you don’t have to feel that way towards people?
I was SHOOK. Again, something so simple. But He was so right. I could choose to not have bitter feelings towards people. People who had wronged me in the past kept me feeling angry and hateful. But in this moment God asked why. I spent so much of my time and energy harboring these feelings, and I didn’t realize that all it would take is me choosing not to dislike people anymore to be released of pain.
WHAT. A. MOMENT.
I literally got in the shower and felt like I washed myself of all the hatred and bitterness I had been building up for a year. I was able to say, “No, I don’t have to dislike this person. I don’t have to be their best friend, but I choose to not let any more energy go into being mad at them.” I did this for multiple people in my life, and ever since then, it literally feels like nothing and no one can hurt me (lol I know this might only be temporary, but it feels SO GOOD to let go like I did in that moment).
I realized that it’s not worth my time on this earth to spend it being mad at people. I love loving God’s people, and I shouldn’t fill my moments being bothered by them. Releasing this has created a space inside of me that can now be filled with the joy and love of Christ that I can show to others.
All in all, we have POWER. It’s not bad to ask God to take away negative thoughts or to ask Him for help in fixing our thoughts on Him. But it’s important to remember that Jesus has given us power and authority to not let sin or the devil have a say in our situation.
I just went through the book of Romans, and “coincidentally” (I don’t believe in coincidences, so God completely timed this perfectly) in chapter 6 it reads, “Sin is a dethroned monarch; so you must no longer give it an opportunity to rule over your life, controlling how you live and compelling you to obey its desires and cravings. So then, REFUSE to answer its call to surrender your body as a tool for wickedness.” (TPT) What a great reminder to us that we can choose whether or not sin gets a hold of us, and it’s through God’s power inside of us that we can say, “NOT TODAY SATAN.”
I hope this encourages you—whether you are struggling to release feelings of anger toward someone or are controlled by things that seem to have a hold on you—YOU HAVE POWER.
Claim it in the name of Jesus, and watch your life be transformed as you release everything you are capable of releasing, and reap the benefits of a life full of love and grace.
Comments