Slaying Mental Monsters

In his book entitled The Magic of Thinking Big, David J. Schwartz writes about the importance of developing a positive mental outlook despite the difficulties we all face in life. In his book, he tells of the time he interviewed a leading psychological consultant from the city of Chicago who mentioned that very few people would need his services if they just did one thing. "What's that?" Schwartz asked. "Simply this," replied the psychologist: "Destroy their negative thoughts before those thoughts become mental monsters." He went on to say that "A person can make a mental monster out of almost any unpleasant happening." From job failures, to marriage diffciulties, to problems with children or teenagers, to the various disappointments in life - you name it - any of these can grow into real mental monsters. As Schwartz added, "It is clear that any negative thought, if fertilized with repeated recall, can develop into a real mind monster, breaking down confidence and paving the way to serious psychological difficulties."

What kind of thoughts are you fertilizing in your mind today? Are they mental monsters that always appear threatening and overwhelming, or are you giving your mind thoughts that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or worthy of praise? As the apostle Paul says, these are the kind of thoughts upon which we should fix our minds (see Phil. 4:8). James Allen wrote many years ago, "A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts." This is the reason why we must slay those mental monsters that keep us from moving forward and achieving all that God wants us to accomplish in our lives. Like KIng David, we must say to those Goliath's that emerge in our minds: "This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll srike you down and cut off your head" (1 Sam. 17:46). We must determine that we will no longer remain in bondage to Goliath and his threats!