How to Get Sober

I don’t mean sober from alcohol and drugs. The Bible teaches that older women are to teach younger women to be sober. So there’s obviously a need to be sober, and older women apparently have learned the trick.

I just taught a group of women at Kauai Baptist Church how to be sober. First things first: sober means to be moderate, controlled or curbed. The opposite is extreme or out of control emotionally. Sometimes, we as women can lean toward this opposite. What if we didn’t let our minds run rampant, and we controlled our minds instead of listening to every suggestion that popped into our head?

I think the biggest contributor to depression is following the natural way our minds lead us rather than guiding our minds.

I suggest that others do what I did almost 30 years ago, based on the book Do you Hear What You’re Thinking, by Jerry Schmidt. Make “counter cards.” That is, get some 3x5-inch cards, and on the front of each card, write a reoccurring thought that tends to drag you down. Think of as many as you can. Here are three examples:

• No one likes me
• Things are always going to be like this for me
• That person will never change

No need to borrow negative thoughts, but these are a few that definitely could bog a person down emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

Now for the “counter” part. On the back of each card, write some verses that would be better to dwell on instead.

Here are three verses that could work on many negative, depressive thoughts:

• Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Phil. 4:8)
• Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:6-7)
• Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: (Jer. 32:17)

Many of our depressive thoughts stem from the fact that we don’t believe God is big enough to change things and/or work on our behalf. Jer. 32:17 is a great verse to counter that.

After you complete the cards, keep them handy, and when one of those plaguing thoughts arises, get the appropriate card, flip it over and review the verses on back. Soon you will automatically replace the bad thought with the true thought. This works, because I’ve done it.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Jody

Learn the Power of Your Thoughts and God’s Words

There is one thing above all else that has the potential to jerk you around from the moment you wake up in the morning to the time you fall asleep at night. Your mind with all its thoughts and imaginations takes you on a trip every day, in fact many trips. It takes you on guilt trips and to pity parties and doubt fests. Your mind and imaginations can drive you to fits of anger and jealousy and then stop you cold with fear. There is no limit to the places you can go each day. But, truth be told, your mind probably takes you down the same path every day with only a few side excursions. You might be more prone to wandering along with low-grade anger and suspicion or doubt and fear.

Don’t let those imaginations take the steering wheel and accelerator pedal of your day. Learn to use your brake pedal and catch yourself before you turn down the path of feeling sorry for yourself, doubting God and thinking everyone should fall in step with your ideas and plans. In fact, just stop and park for a minute. What does God say?

Over and over He tells us to be sober with our minds. That means self-controlled and temperate. Take yourself in hand and direct your thoughts rather than listen to your thoughts. You may have heard the old phrase “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” It’s not in the Bible, but it is certainly true. Unless you consciously control your thoughts, Satan will be there with his suggestions. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  Whom resist stedfast in the faith. (1 Pet. 5:8-9a)

Hopefully, this isn’t all new to you, and you’ve already developed the habit of 2 Cor. 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

That is the key to preventing depression. You just don’t allow yourself to dwell on the random thoughts that rise up all day. Instead, you replace them with true thoughts. (The list of approved thoughts is in Phil. 4:8.) The best place to find true thoughts is the Bible, of course. But there’s even more to God’s words than stagnant thoughts and truth. It turns out, the Bible isn’t passively true. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12)

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isa. 55:11)

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? (Jer. 23:29)

The Bible is the place to go for a transformed mind. That means writing appropriate verses on 3x5 cards and reviewing them when those stealth thoughts enter your head. Figure out what the common thoughts are that drag you down every time, then find verses to combat them and review them often. Make those drunken thoughts flee at God’s word. Remember the offensive weapon in your arsenal is supposed to be the Word of God. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Eph. 6:17)

God knows your thoughts, and He wants you to replace them with His word. Not just His thoughts, but His very words. There’s power in God’s very words. Start memorizing.