Well, thanks again for joining us for another podcast of Struggling Well. And this is just a typical day in August except for you babe. This is a special day and cuz this is an anniversary for you.
It is August 7th, 1967. I was 16. So if you do the math, yes, I am 93. not quite, but I grew up in a family where we believed in God, but there was I had no no understanding of who Jesus was. And I had been hearing the gospel for the first time. And my parents got gone out of town on the 6th, I guess, or maybe the 7th of August, and I was home alone and I was awakened. I'm not sure by whom or what. All I know is that in those moments, I the gospel that I had been told just began to bounce around in my heart, in my head, and I just asked Christ to be the one that saved me, that I knew I needed to repent of my sins, that I was separated from him because of my sin. And so while not everyone has a date and I don't think a date is essential, I think sometimes people their story of coming to know Christ is maybe more of a process. For whatever reason, God allowed me to have a date and time. So August 7th, 1967 was the day that I became a follower of Christ.
Wow. And that's a great I love hearing that story. I never get tired of hearing that story. for you. And what's cuz I know you that's one thing you've never doubted.
Never.
There's a lot of things that you have questioned and doubted as you go through life as a believer, but that's one thing you never doubted.
You know, it's funny because you're right. There are a lot of things that I've doubted, but the thought that Jesus took up residence in my heart through his spirit, I never once questioned that. question a lot of other stuff but not that.
Well, why don't you take us where your mind has been in these last few days and lead us into what we want to talk about today.
I've been thinking a lot about what goes on in my mind and where I can get in my thoughts. And sometimes when you're together with friends, I'm going to I'm going to make this clear, I hope. When you're get when you get together with friends and let's say you're talking about a team that you like, or a person that you don't like or a situation that's happened. We can fire each other up big time. I mean, there's nothing like listen to listening to a bunch of guys talking about their teams that they support and watching as the tenor of their voices rises and they're almost at fisticuffs because their team is better or whatever. Well, that's true with most of us most of the time or a good part of the time. And what I mean by that is that Our minds are constantly going. unless you have no brain activity, you're thinking thoughts. Right now, as I'm speaking, you're thinking thoughts. And it may be something to do with the rest of your day. It may be I don't know what it is, but recently I've been thinking about all the stuff that goes on in my head as being illustrated as a wolf. Now, I don't do wild animals. I don't go into the ocean very much. wild animals. I don't do the forest wild animals, you know. I like dogs and somewhat cats and household pets, but wild, no, not my thing. but this idea of a wolf came into my head as I was talking with a friend the other day, and she was recounting a situation that she's been involved in that's been really, really hard. And through our conversation, as we were talking, we began to feed the wolf. By that, I mean that we kept saying things and saying things and before you knew it, the in my mind there was a picture of this snarling, dripping with venom type wolf standing right there. And the funny thing is about a wolf and I'm trying not to go too crazy with this illustration, but a wolf sometimes can look like a wild dog. And it has been documented many many times that people have maybe a small little puppy, wolf puppy in their backyard and they think it's a dog and they take it in and they feed it and the take it to the vet and the vet says, "Well, this is not a dog. This is a wolf." But what happens I think is that we end up feeding the wolf. By that I mean this, we have all these stray thoughts and when we allow them to resurface repeatedly and continue to feed those thoughts and that wolf whose only desire is not to be our pet, not to become domesticated, but a wolf's natural instinct is to feed itself and to destroy anything that gets in its way. So sometimes with our thoughts, we end up feeding the wolf and we forget that the wolf is wanting to rip us apart and wound us and take us down. And so scripture tells us what we're to do. with those circular thoughts and I'll get there in a minute, but those circ circular thoughts bring us to a lot of anxiety and they keep coming and coming and what we're trying to do is come up with some kind of a solution. Like we want to take that thought and we want to put a period to it. put a bow on it, whatever. And so we think and think. Now Jimmy, I don't know if you're as much of a circular thinker as I am. Are you?
Well, I don't know. I probably could be I and I guess what you're saying is that so when a person's behavior has injured us, hurt us,
right?
And we can't let that go and that's what you keep that's the idea of feeding the wolf, you keep coming back to the fact that
this behavior hurt me and I can recall all the times that this behavior hurt me and so I just keep building it and building it till it just consumes me.
Yeah, thank you for summarizing that. I think that as those thoughts gain momentum, the more that we allow them to circulate in our mind, the more we're feeding this ravenous wolf that just wants to and I'm going to make a segue here to the wolf is like the enemy of our souls who wants to devour us and rip our minds apart and our hearts apart and I'm not trying to be so dramatic outside the Well, I yeah, I am going to be dramatic because it's true. from the very beginning of time the enemy came and started to stir in the mind and the heart of Adam and Eve and then what happens like what by chapter 3 they're starting to devour each other blaming each other. So you're spot on Jimmy. It's when especially when we get hurt and we can just go there and go there and go there. But God's word says something very clear about what to do with thoughts and it's found in the book of 2 Corinthians. 10:5 and it says this, "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds." Strongholds to me are, you know, anything that gets your mind off track. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. And it's that whole idea of the thoughts that come into my mind that are not physical. I can't touch them. I can't grab hold of them. But they form they take up space in my head and in my heart. And then they begin to define who I am and also impact and influence the way I think and what I say and do. So instead of just letting those thoughts just roll and roll. Scripture says we're supposed to take them captive. So, what does that mean to you, Becky?
again, I go to another place of Paul's writings in Philippians, where he says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. So, so again, it's where I allow my mind to go and what I allow my mind to focus in on. And it's that sense in which I don't want to dwell on those negative thoughts, on those things that stir me up to be behavior that is not Christlike. so to take what you said in 2 Corinthians of taking every thought captive, I want to I want to be intentional as to how I focus my thinking. And that's what Paul says in Philippians 4. If there's anything that's worthy, good, dwell on those things, think on those things. So, so that's where I go. It's a conscious choice of where I'm going to allow my mind to settle.
I, you know, I love to do research and I love to read people's, thoughts and commentaries and, one of my favorites is, Charles Haden Spurgeon. long gone, but a very remarkable man who loved the word of God. And he has a great sermon. It's called Forts Demolished and Prisoners Taken. and it was I don't even know when it Oh, 1879 was when he gave this message.
Great year.
Great year. Yeah, I was 12. but one of the things, I'm going to just give you a couple of his points because I think they're worthy of us talking about is he says that we need to demolish and the scripture says that we have the power to destroy strongholds. So it's that conscious disciplined act of saying that thought has become this wolf and I keep feeding it. So now I have to I have to demolish that. I have to take that thought down. And in the context of this passage, we have to realize that Paul is speaking to the church here. He's speaking to the church at Corenth and they were struggling with a lot of stuff that they allowed in. Same is true of for you and me as we allow a lot of thoughts to come into our mind and set up housekeeping in our head. And so Spurgeon is saying in scripture, he reiterates what scripture says actually it's scripture and Spurgeon is commenting on it is we need to destroy those. So first I think we have to understand that the gospel is always going to be attacked. The truth of the gospel is always going to be under attack. So we have to take that thought and we have to replace it with like where you came from. The other thing he says, if I can get there quickly, is jump in anytime, babe.
Well, I don't know where you're going, so
I don't know where I'm going either.
he just talks about how we have to not only demolish them, but we have to take them away. We can't let them sit. And for some reason, my mind is going to is it someone about not sitting and walking and standing? And I've probably got the order wrong. But the minute that I sit down with those thoughts and give them airspace, the more they can take control.
Well, yeah. I would say this. It's not just it is demolishing or destroying, but you can't leave the space empty. It can't be a void. You've got to replace it with something
and we know something better.
Well, yeah. And so, you replace it with the things that God wants us to dwell on, to think on, to spend our time with, and not just leave something behind. So like back in Paul's writings to the Colossians, he says put off, but he also says put on.
So it's not like well it's not enough just to take off those thoughts and discard them. It's what I'm going to put in its place.
Right. Right. And I think that the feeding the wolf scenario that has been pounding around in my head is because in my world there's a lot of intrusive thoughts. There's a lot going on. I am super sensitive to things that people say. I don't mean like I cry easily, not that. I just my mind is like a sponge. Not a great sponge, but a sponge that kind of takes words in and phrases in and thoughts in and I maul them over and over again in my head. Sometimes to my detriment. But I don't want to feed the wolf. I want to feed what is within me, which is the spirit of God. I want the spirit of God to be the one teaching me and guiding me and convicting me. I don't want to continue to let the wildness of my thoughts control my life. I want to look different than the rest of the world looks. And out there it looks pretty wild.
Well, and so as we leave you this week, it's what our heart's prayer for ourselves is and also what we long for you all that you would pay attention to what you allow, what you feed in your own thought. world that you feed the things that are of God, things of the spirit, and not things of the flesh. Have a great week.
Don't feed that wolf.