Joseph Prince - How to Break Free from Toxic Thoughts
The Bible says as we face the future, we have to have the helmet of salvation on, amen, because it’s part of our spiritual warfare. That that helmet of the hope of salvation is something that I see that the body of Christ needs more than ever in these days that we are in. My friend, I want to share with you something about the hope of salvation that is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, it tells us clearly, «even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded». «The god of this age,» the small G-O-D, refers to the devil, amen. Actually, in a sense, God made Adam to be the ruler of this world, but Adam committed high treason, bowed his knee to the devil, and as a result, all men fell.
When men fell, all creation fell, and that’s why the world is not in a good shape, because of Adam’s sin. And the Bible says the devil plays as a small G-O-D of this age, and notice, he blinds the minds of people «who do not believe,» notice that phrase, «who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them». Friends, this gospel that we are preaching is so radiant. It is glorious, amen, that the devil has to blind people’s minds to it. You know, the gospel that we preach is not glorious. It is not beautiful. It is not radiant, amen. Why would the devil need to blind people’s minds? Let them see it. No, the gospel of Christ is like no other, amen.
The Bible says, in that gospel «the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,» and that righteousness is given to us as a gift, and we receive that gift, amen, it transforms us, amen. Righteousness first before sanctification, before holiness. You cannot try to be holy without being established in righteousness, amen? Even the Bible says Christ is made unto us wisdom. Seeing the whole picture of God’s plan and purposes in this gospel, and then after wisdom, being made to us wisdom, it says Christ has made unto us righteousness, and then he has made unto us sanctification in that order. So we need to follow the pattern, amen. Those he justified, them he also glorified. The pattern is always righteousness, justification, before glorification, amen. God wants His glory to shine through you, my friend, amen?
So the devil wants to blind people’s minds, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them, amen. So notice that the mind is the area where the devil tries to blind, and I just want to say a word here to all the believers that are being oppressed, going through depression, and going through all kinds of, you know, mind games, and you feel like at night you can’t even sleep because you have all these thoughts you are battling. Even your body is still, right, your mind is like a war room, you know, and you hear all kinds of thoughts, and I know because I’ve been there before, amen, and friend, this is warfare, and God has given us weapons and our weapons are not material, they are not carnal.
Look at this. 2 Corinthians 10, «The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds». Now, carnal means anything you can do naturally, amen. No, no, God’s weapons are not carnal, and when it’s not carnal it means God’s weapons are spiritual, amen, but they are mighty. So, «The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God,» for what? «For pulling down strongholds». Now notice, where are these strongholds? They are called strongholds because they have been erected by the enemy and it is a stronghold. If we can find where the strongholds are, we can bring it down, right? Maybe you have a stronghold of fear in your life and you don’t know how to get around it. The more you try to tell yourself, I will not be afraid, I will not be afraid, you end up afraid.
You know, it’s like people who listen to what Job says about his predicament. He said that, «The thing which I greatly fear has come upon me,» and then we have preachers that say, «Whatever your fear will come on you,» and then people are more fearful. I think we got to teach it in such a way that we need to unveil the love of God, amen, to the people so that it’s the perfect love of God that casts out fear. We don’t focus on fear to get rid of fear, amen? We experience the love of God to have that fear, amen, evicted, amen, from its place in our hearts. Praise the Lord.
Only the love of God, and the more we discover the love of God… So God bless every preacher that unveils the love of Christ for the people, amen! Amen, thank you, Jesus, and notice also that the Bible says that this pulling down of strongholds is actually «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». So that’s our warfare. It’s in our mind. Okay, «The weapons of our warfare is not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds». Thank God, the weapons of God are mighty. For what, the pulling down of strongholds. Let’s pull them down in Jesus’s name today, amen? Praise the Lord.
And notice that these strongholds are actually arguments that the devil has put in your mind and they are actually thoughts. Notice, «arguments and every high thing,» «every thought». So these are thoughts, and what the devil does is that he comes to you and puts a thought in your mind, and this is the nature of the warfare. The warfare is not outside. You know, it’s not a matter of like, meeting someone and then they are demon possessed, and that’s warfare, we command it to come out. No, that’s casting out demons, it’s different, amen. Spiritual warfare, we need to know first and foremost, where is the arena of the spiritual warfare? Where is it taking place? If we do not know where it’s happening, we do not know where the warfare is taking place, how can you fight, right, you know, it’s like you can’t even find where the game is held. You’ll be going to the wrong stadium to watch a different game altogether, amen.
You need to know where it’s happening, praise God, and it’s happening in our mind. So the mind is the battle arena, all right. That’s where it happens, and the devil’s stronghold is actually a pattern of thinking that he has put into your mind that has grown into a stronghold after a number of months, after a number of days, and sometimes even a number of years. It’s been there for a long time.
Now, you think those thoughts came from you. Always remember this, your emotions, right, are a reflection of what you are thinking. That’s why I just told my son the other day, if you feel bad, it’s because you are thinking bad. You are thinking bad thoughts, all right, thoughts of darkness, you know, things won’t look good tomorrow, I don’t think I’m able to do that, you know, and you are negative. So your emotions follow your thoughts, but if your thoughts are positive, I told him that, you know Jesus will be with you, amen. When you go to school, he’s going to walk with you, he’s going to be your best friend, amen. He never leaves you. And your thoughts are positive, guess what? Your emotions will be positive, amen.
So my friend, your emotions are an indicator of what you are thinking. Because we are so used to thinking certain thoughts, it’s been there for a number of years, that we don’t even know we are thinking those thoughts, but our emotions cannot lie. Our emotions, if you are experiencing depression, you are experiencing thoughts of self-loathing, you know, you feel inferior, you feel lousy, you feel, even boredom, it’s always based on the thought that has preceded that emotion, amen? So right, I always say, right believing is so crucial, amen, to right living, but right believing also produces the right emotions, amen. The right emoting, praise the Lord, and don’t say, you know, emotions are not important. Then why did God create them? Unfortunately, amen, our soul realm needs restoration.
Our spirit man, recreation, needs to be born again, but the soul realm needs restoration. It’s the same soul realm, amen. God doesn’t cause your soul realm to be born again. He causes your spirit to be born again, but your soul realm, which is your emotions, your mind, needs to be restored, and your body, one day when Jesus comes again, will be glorified. Amen, praise the name of Jesus. So, come back to this again, on your strongholds. It is built up of what? Thoughts. Arguments the devil has put down there. Yeah, arguments like, you know, are you sure? Look around you. How many people that you know that have this disease that have lived long? How many of you? You know, you have this condition. You think that you have a bright future.
Look at those who have this condition, amen. Look at others. He will point you to others, always, always. Or, you know, if you have a challenge in the area of eating, all right. What the devil wants to do is that at the first moment that you shun food and all that, you are… he doesn’t say in the, you know, in the second person, amen. He speaks in the first pronoun, first person pronoun, amen. He comes, he puts the thoughts in your mind and say, I am anorexic. Maybe I am anorexic, and the more you think, I am. He doesn’t say, you are. All right, that’s telling you already where the thought comes from, but he comes so subtly, he makes you think that it is your thought. Just like Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, «Take no thought». «Take no thought, saying».
How do you take a wrong thought? You know, devil shoots thoughts in your mind and you take it. You take it by saying. «Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? How shall we be clothed»? Worrisome thoughts, thoughts that cause you to be depressed. Thoughts that cause you to feel all this sense of hopelessness, helplessness, amen. A feeling of abandonment. Friend, you take those thoughts by saying. So Jesus said, «Take no thought, saying,» how shall I be healed? How shall I find that good life that God promises me, the abundant life that Jesus said I would have? Where is it? He will put thoughts in your mind. He will argue with you and he will make you think that you are arguing, and it’s a very intelligent argument. He will tell you, look, you know, look at the facts, and he will talk about natural things, natural facts, but friends, we are in this world, but we are not of the world, amen.
We live not by what is sin. For the world, what is sin, what is felt, is natural fact, all right. We transcend that to God’s truth. Truth is higher than facts and truth outlasts facts, amen? Truth will always outlast facts. Facts may remain and facts can change also. There are people who have, it’s a fact that they have this condition, amen, a certain disease, whatever. Today, they are freed from it. All right, that’s the truth that set them free, amen. That fact did not outlast the truth. Praise the name of Jesus. We have so many testimonies of that, and not only that, in the Scriptures, we have abundance of testimonies of people that transform the natural fact into the truth. «By His stripes we are healed,» amen.
That’s truth, amen, but you might say, the fact is my body feels the pain, my… yeah, but friend, the truth outlasts the fact, amen. So the devil put thoughts in your mind. It’s in the form of arguments. It’s in the form of the personal pronoun. He will try to make you sound like, you know, it’s you, amen. He will come in that voice, but it’s him all the while. This is warfare. I’m depressed, I’m just a very unlucky person. I’m just hopeless. I always make mistakes. I will never measure up. He’ll put those thoughts in your mind. I remember when I was a teenager and I was battling all these blasphemous thoughts. You know, every time I pray, I had a blasphemous thought about God. I don’t know why. I had blasphemous statements coming into my mind. Even when I’m sleeping sometimes, there’s a bad thought about God. I mean, it’s horrendous, and I couldn’t sleep at night and I was concerned that I might commit the unpardonable sin.
At one point, I even believed I had committed the unpardonable sin, which is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. So I went through, literally, I went through a depressed state during that time. It’s almost like the valley of the shadow of death at that time. All the while, I didn’t realize it was the enemy putting those thoughts in my mind and making me feel that these are my thoughts. It’s based on natural facts. I look around me, from what I read, from what I know naturally, this is so. So, it’s an argument, but the Bible says, «Casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself».
So every time the devil says, you are this, amen, you need to come back with, by the way, my story ends with the discovery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in which I found out that I am righteous as a gift, because all the while, the devil is pointing me to my action, amen. I’m always failing. I’m always falling into sin. I’m always having these bad thoughts. I’m always having these blasphemous thoughts, and I’m a blasphemer, and God doesn’t accept blasphemers. You know, God rejects blasphemers, amen. He will put all these arguments in your mind, and every time you have a project, guess who comes beside you and says, you know you can’t make it right.
You know you are subject to making mistakes, and most likely you’ll make one or two or a few in this project. You know, who is the one that comes to you and puts those thoughts in your mind? Every time you post something on Instagram, you know, right, there will be haters. You know there will be people, you know, who will say bad things, and he will try to put the thoughts in your mind. Why you will not succeed, You will not make it, because he knows that you have the fear of man. You have the opinion of men that you exalt higher than God’s opinion. So he knows he has you there and he comes with all these thoughts and these arguments. Friend, that’s the battle arena, amen.
So when I discovered that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, first of all, I wasn’t so established. I knew it, but it was still a process of being established in it. Remember what we read just now? That when we are established in righteousness, it’s going to affect our children. They will be taught directly by the Lord. They will observe us and they will see that security, that confidence in the Lord, that helmet of hope, that when we look forward, there’s a positive expectation. We expect good things to happen, and it’s very contagious, that spirit, amen. Just like a negative spirit is contagious when we are depressed and we complain. It’s passed on to the children. Many of the times, you know, in parenting, this is one aspect that is not well taught.
All right, we teach people about discipline, we teach people about what to tell our children, how to communicate, and all that is well and good, but the most crucial area is the parent himself. You are parenting even without words. You are parenting by your life, amen, and if we are fearful, they will pick up on our fears. Many of the fears that children have today are learned. Be careful of what you say to your wife. Be care, you know, watch what you say in the presence of your children. They learn to fear, and they hear it and they will start feeling the world is not safe. The world is not a safe place. It’s scary, right? Then later on when they have some phobias, you know, phobia that they have and fears and all that, you wonder where it came from and you’re trying to resolve it, but you’re trying to deal with the branches, not the root, amen. It is you.
So when we are established in righteousness, it has an amazing impact on our children. Great shall be their peace. You know why? Because you are at peace, amen, amen? So we want all believers, amen, to be established in righteousness because this is your God-given inheritance. In fact, the whole chapter there ends with, «No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you to judge you,» amen, «you shall condemn». And it says this, «This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,» you and I, «and their righteousness,» is not from them. It’s not something that they do themselves. «Their righteousness is from me, says the Lord». That’s a gift. That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. No wonder it’s in Isaiah 54 that comes after Isaiah 53, that talks about all the sufferings of Jesus in Isaiah 53. It’s where you find, «He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities». «With His stripes we are healed».
All that in Isaiah 53, and the fruit of Jesus’s finished work is this gift of righteousness, amen, that affects peace all around us because we are established in righteousness. Hallelujah! So this area of warfare, my friend, is in your mind, amen, and notice that the way we battle the enemy is just with one thought. Every time whatever thoughts come to you, just come back with one thought. The devil might say, you are this, you are that. Notice, you felt that pain just now. It might be this disease, all right. You know, one in ten people have this disease. You might be the one. You are the right age for it, and he will put the thoughts in terms of argument and become a stronghold that produces what? Fear, anxiety, worry, sleeplessness. You’re tossing and turning. You know, sheep cannot sleep, they cannot rest, unless they know the shepherd is nearby, amen?
So the Bible says, «He maketh me,» he, the shepherd, «maketh me to lie down in green pastures». So in the midst of all these natural things that’s happening in your life that’s not good, bring the Good Shepherd into it, amen. Talk to the Good Shepherd. Even in the midst, amen. Going through the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus is with you. «You are with me,» though I walk through, and thank God, you are walking through. Walking through means you’re not there to camp and stay, build a house, you know, and remain there forever. No, you are walking through. Yes, nonetheless, you still go through it, right? You feel it, you experience it, but friend, you are walking through. It’s only a season in your life, amen. The one that will come out with you permanently and will always be with you is the Good Shepherd, amen, and look around you.
Look behind you. Look on your left and right. His goodness and mercy is pursuing you all the days of your life. All the days of your life. You need to get up every morning and say, well, if goodness and mercy pursues me all the days of my life, and the Hebrew word is pursue, «radaph». Radaph is not just, surely goodness and mercy shall follow. It’s actually the word, «hunt you down». Hunt you down, amen. Every time you turn to the right, goodness smacks you, amen. The goodness of God. You run smack into the goodness of God. You experience something on that day. Wow, I know that God is so good. It makes you want to say, God is so good, amen. You turn the other way, mercy, amen.
Surely goodness and the word is «chesed,» grace, God’s favor smacks you in the face, amen. You experience God’s favor, and you feel so favored, so loved, and you know how long you experience this? All the days. Surely, not maybe, surely goodness and «chesed,» favor, will pursue you all the days. So the Bible says, I was saying that just one thought, and this is the thought. Bring all the arguments. Bring every high thing the devils try to establish or may have established in your mind. «Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ».
Now, it’s very important because the phrase here is, «bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ,» not your obedience, and it’s not saying, make every thought obey Christ. That would be, in the Greek, obey would be in the verb, but over here, if you look up this word in the Greek, obedience, it’s a noun. The word obedience is a noun, not a verb. If you say, bring every thought to obey Christ, then it becomes a verb. And who can do that?
Notice that everything the devil argues about in your mind is always things that make you self-occupied, and the key to being delivered from self-occupation, which is a very painful state to be in, is to be Christ-occupied, to see his beauty, and the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3, that as we behold his glory, we «are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,» not by our efforts, but, «by the Spirit of the Lord». By beholding, the Holy Spirit needs you to behold Christ, amen? It’s a warfare. You are in the warfare, my friend, amen. You have to bring all those thoughts to the obedience of Christ. Not your obedience, but his obedience. What does that mean? «The obedience,» in the original, the definite article is there. «The obedience of the Christ». That’s in the original.
So what is that? It’s referring to one obedience. What Jesus did at the cross. Let’s look at Romans chapter 5, verse 19. «For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience, many will be made righteous». People are sinners because of Adam’s sin. People sin because they are sinners. They are sinners not because they sin. They are sinners because of one man’s disobedience, amen? That first man, Adam. By the same token, by the same token, look at this. This analogous with this. «Also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous».
Friend, we talk about being established in righteousness. How are we made righteous? How are you made righteous? How? By one man’s obedience. Who is that one man? Jesus. So every time all these thoughts come, there’s only one answer. Turn it back to: his obedience made me righteous. I have the gift of righteousness, amen? Declare I am the righteousness of God in Christ.
So this is the area of the warfare, and every time we hear God’s Word, we are changing our minds, amen? No, I’m not going to think destructive anymore. I’m not even going to think negative anymore. I’m not going to think thoughts of sin anymore or thoughts of darkness, hard thoughts about God. I’m going to think thoughts of grace, thoughts of his love for me, amen? Thoughts of that one man’s obedience that made me righteous. These are the thoughts I’ll focus on, amen. When the devil comes and says, look at what you have done, or what you have not done, or what you have not done enough, I’ll focus on one man’s obedience made me righteous. That’s bringing every thought to the obedience of Christ. Bringing every thought to whose obedience? His obedience that made us righteous.