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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi, this is Joel and Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry. If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend? We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life. God bless you.
It's great to be with you today and I hope you'll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, social media, and you can come visit us in person. We'd love to have you be a part of one of our services.
But I'd like to start with something funny, and I heard about this teenager that just got his driver's license, and he asked his father about borrowing the car. His father said, son, I'll make a deal with you. If you'll bring your grades up, read your Bible every day, and cut your hair, I'll let you borrow it. He came back in a few weeks and asked about the car.
The father said, son, you brought your grades up. You've been reading your Bible, but you still haven't cut your hair. The son said, dad, I've been thinking Moses had long hair. Samson had long hair. Even Jesus had long hair. The dad said, yes, son. And they walked everywhere they went. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have.
I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same in Jesus name. God bless you. I want to talk to you today about removing infected thinking.
We all have to deal with thoughts of doubt, worry, insecurity, thoughts that tell us you're not going to get well, you'll never break the addiction, you can't accomplish your dream. It's just a thought. It seems harmless. The truth is negative thoughts are like infections. If you make the mistake of dwelling on them, letting it play over and over, it's like you're inviting it in.
You're giving it permission to become a reality. What's holding many people back is their thinking is infected. Studies show that 47% of adults' cognitive time is spent ruminating on bad things that have happened in the past or worried about what might happen in the future. Nearly half of our time.
We have the negative dominating our thoughts We wonder why we don't have joy don't have peace why we feel stuck. It's the infection Well, joel, I don't think i'll ever get well That's an infected thought Well, i've made too many mistakes god could never bless me now That infection is distorting your vision I'm not attractive. I don't have a good personality.
As long as the infection is there, it's going to limit your life. And the scripture says to bring every thought into captivity. You have to lock up those negative thoughts. Don't give them free reign in your mind. They may seem harmless, but you need to see them in a new light. They're infectious. They will poison your attitude, contaminate your self-image, cloud your vision.
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Chapter 2: How can infected thinking hold you back?
It could not stop me. Yet that little tick carries such powerful infection, it can become debilitating. It's the same principle in our thoughts. They can seem harmless. Just a little whisper. You're not valuable. You're not as smart as your cousins. You'll never overcome this problem. It's not some big announcement, some great offense where it's so obvious. The enemy is very subtle.
Just like that tick, you don't feel the bite. You hardly even know it happened. It's just a suggestion. But if you let that thought stay, you start to dwell on it. Maybe I'm not worthy. Maybe I have seen my best days and maybe I don't have the talent that I need. Before long, that little lie is going to create major infections.
It's going to poison your self-image, contaminate your attitude, distort your vision. The scripture says it's the little foxes that spoil the vines. With a tick, if you remove it within 24 hours, then it can't release the parasites that infect the organs and cause all that damage. It's important to deal with thoughts quickly. Don't let them linger in your mind. Thoughts create images.
Then you start to see what you're thinking. If you dwell on that thought, you're never going to get well. You saw the medical report. Before long, you'll see yourself going downhill. You'll see yourself at your own funeral. Well, you'll never meet the right person. You'll always be single. If you let that infection take root, you'll see yourself 80 years old, still single, lonely, discouraged.
Do yourself a favor. Remove that thought quickly. may seem harmless, just a little discouragement. No, thoughts can carry infection. Thoughts can contaminate your future. That's why the scripture tells us to guard our mind. You can't stop the negative thoughts from coming, but you can stop them from staying. My friends would have known that was a tick. They would have pulled it off immediately.
They wouldn't have thought twice. That's the way we need to see discouraging thoughts. No thanks, you're not welcome here, you gotta go. The longer we wait, the more damage, the more infection. When I was 12 years old, one summer day, I went to play baseball with my friends and we rode our bikes down to the fields. They were next to the boat docks.
After playing a couple of hours, we were so hot and sweaty. One of my friends said, let's go jump in the river and cool off. Well, my mother always told me not to get in that river. It was too dirty. But all my friends took off running. I followed right behind and We jumped off the docks and swam about 15 minutes and felt so good and refreshing.
I waited a couple of hours before I went back home so my shorts would dry. Nobody would know what I did. Well, that night I took a shower and was about to go to bed. My mother said, Joel, what is all over your back? I couldn't see anything. I had 24 ticks on my back. The next hour, she picked every one of them out. I learned my lesson. Even 150 degrees, I am not getting in that river.
But what's funny is my brother Paul swam there many times. He never got one. I guess ticks even know what tastes good, but with the tick, it doesn't do any harm unless it attaches itself to what's called a host. It needs an animal or a person. By itself, the tick won't do any damage. But when it finds a host, it feeds off their blood. That's what causes it to grow.
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Chapter 3: What are the signs of negative thinking in our lives?
It's what you agree with. It's what you entertain, what you make comfortable. If you're comfortable with doubt, fear, insecurity, then it's going to stay. That's what this young man did. He became a great host. He lived feeling inadequate, inferior. And for years, he worked at the local factory in town, the same position, never rising higher. Friends around him were being promoted, going further.
He was stuck at this same level. 30 years later, the factory closed, went out of business. He went across town to another factory to apply for a job. Well, they had a requirement that you had to take an IQ test. He took the test and scored at a genius level. The person conducting it said he had scored the highest of anyone in their 63-year histories. That day, a stronghold was broken in his mind.
All those thoughts telling him he wasn't good enough, talented enough, smart enough. He realized they were lies. That was infection that was keeping him from who he was created to be. He had to remove the infection. That company hired him not at an entry-level position, but as a manager over the whole department. He had hundreds of people under him.
He eventually started his own company, went on to invent several products that are patented and very successful. It's amazing what will happen when you remove the infection. Joel, I don't think I'll ever be successful. I'm limited by my lack of education, my background, by my talent. Can I tell you, those are infected thoughts. You're hosting the wrong things.
You're feeding that tick, the very one that's poisoning your future. Quit hosting defeat. Quit hosting mediocrity. You have greatness in you. You are made in the image of almighty God. He has crowned you with his favor. He has empowered you for your assignment. Now start hosting the right things, faith, favor, confidence, victory. This is what I had to do when my father went to be with the Lord.
I knew I was supposed to step up and pastor the church, but I didn't feel qualified. My father was so powerful, had so much experience. He was compelling, articulate, bigger than life. I bought into that lie that I could never be what my father is. I could never stand up and speak in front of people. I didn't know any better. I was feeding that infection.
I was discounting myself thinking I'm at a disadvantage. I didn't get what daddy got. I didn't get the courage, the charisma, the vision. The fact is it was in me, but I was hosting the wrong thoughts. I was making fear comfortable, intimidation welcome, what I can't do, how I don't have the talent. Nobody's going to listen to me.
I would not be up here today if I had not gotten the infection out. I had to clear out all the toxins, all the can't do it, not able, not good enough thoughts. I started reprogramming my mind with what God says about me. I am strong in the Lord. I can do all things through Christ. I'm equipped, empowered, anointed. I started hosting faith, courage, victory.
When I changed what I was welcoming, that's when I stepped up to levels that I never imagined. The enemy would love to keep you from your greatness. Often it starts with little thoughts, like that tick. You don't even feel the bite. Just something subtle. You're not as good as your father. The truth is, you're not competing with anyone else. You have what you need to fulfill your destiny.
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Chapter 4: How do negative thoughts become a reality?
I'm not a mighty hero. I'm afraid, I'm intimidated. He said to the angel, how can I lead the people? I come from the smallest tribe in all of Israel and I'm the least one in my father's house. Notice what he's been hosting, least, smallest, disadvantaged, not enough. When the enemy plants his lies, if you welcome it, make it comfortable, it's going to become a reality.
Gideon saw himself as limited when in fact he was a mighty hero. One translation calls him a man of fearless courage. He had to do what I'm asking us to do to remove the infections. He had to lock up those thoughts telling him everything he wasn't and start believing who God said he was.
He changed his mindset and he went on to lead the Israelites to defeat armies much larger and to become one of the heroes of faith. This would have never happened if someone had not told him that his thinking was infected. Like Gideon, lies have come to us all to try to keep that mighty hero from coming out. You have to ask yourself, who told me I'm not smart enough to go to college?
Who told me I don't deserve to be blessed? Who told me I'm not attractive? Who told me that I'll never break this addiction? I can assure you it was not God. That's infection. Like that tick that poisoned my friend, you have to remove it. Quit feeding your fears. Quit feeding the guilt. Feeding the doubt. Start feeding your faith. Feed what God says about you.
That's why we start off every service saying, I am who God says I am. I am blessed. I am talented. I am healthy. I am valuable. I am strong. I am prosperous. I am victorious. One of the best ways to clear up the infection is to declare who God says you are. Well, Joel, this sounds good, but I think I've been through too many hurts to be happy again.
Somebody walked out on me or I had a rough childhood. It's easy to have a victim mentality. Think that we'll live a broken, wounded life. As long as you're hosting the hurts and hosting the brokenness, then you're feeding the infection. That tick, so to speak, is going to get stronger and release more poison. Now that thing has sucked enough life out of you.
It's time to change what you're hosting. God, you said you have beauty for these ashes, that you would pay me back double for the unfair things, that what was meant for harm, you're turning to my advantage. That's how you clear up the infection, feed your faith and starve all the negative. And yes, a person may have walked away, but God didn't walk away. If they left you, you didn't need them.
Their part in your story was over. God has someone better coming. And I know that hurt is real. It's not easy, but that's not how your story ends. The enemy would love for you to stay infected and hold onto the hurt, nurse the wounds. That's feeding the very thing that's poisoning you. Do yourself a favor, get rid of that tick. Quit letting it contaminate your life. You have a destiny to fulfill.
Numbers 13, Moses sent 12 men to spy off the promised land and 10 of them came back and said, Moses, we don't have a chance. The people are huge. We were in our own sights as grasshoppers. And so we were in their sights. They didn't say they called us grasshoppers. They insulted us. They said we were in our own sights as grasshoppers. They went in with a grasshopper mentality.
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Chapter 5: What personal stories illustrate the impact of mindset?
No, today is your day to be free. That infection is about to clear up. Things that are poisoning your joy, your attitude, your creativity, they are being broken right now. Healing is coming. Wholeness, freedom, and victory. Now do your part. No more feeding the negative. No more dwelling on the lies that you're at a disadvantage. You can't get well. You've seen your best day.
Starve all that and start feeding your faith. Start hosting what God says about you. You're valuable. You're worthy. You're victorious. If you'll do this, I believe and declare every wrong mindset is being broken. strongholds are coming down. Grasshopper mentalities are leaving. All that infection is clearing up.
Like Gideon, you're going to rise higher, accomplish dreams, and become the mighty hero you were created to be. In Jesus' name, if you receive it, can you say amen? amen i'd like to give you an opportunity to make jesus the lord of your life would you pray with me just say lord jesus i repent of my sins come into my heart i make you my lord and savior
If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. We'd love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website. But I hope you'll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place.
Every day, we can live discouraged, angry, depressed, defeated. Is it possible to turn these negatives into an outlook filled with purpose, happiness, and joy?
Every day we make choices, how we see ourselves, how we respond to challenges, how we approach what's in front of us. I've written a devotional called Today I Choose, Devotions for a Better Life. It's designed to help you make those choices on purpose, to choose faith over fear, peace over frustration, and kindness over offense.
Each day is filled with scripture and practical encouragement to help you live with confidence and victory. You can't wait to see what kind of day it's going to be. You have to decide ahead of time. When you do, you can step into a more blessed, fulfilled life. I'd love to send you a copy.
As our way of saying thank you for your gift of any amount, we would like to send you a copy of Today I Choose, Devotions for a Better Life. Every day begins with a choice, and this inspiring book is packed with powerful devotional truths that will help you in the specific challenges you face in life, including...
Today I choose to turn down the noise, to believe what I cannot see, to be happy, to trust God's timing. They will transform your attitude, your outlook, your entire day. As you embrace these biblical principles, you'll see problems dissolve, hope restored, mountains move, Choose the joy and happiness God has chosen for you.
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