Struggle With
Foreboding Thoughts
by Joyce Meyer
Adapted from her book
“Battlefield of the Mind”
Joyce
Meyer says:
Shortly
after I began to seriously study the Bible, I felt an oppressive atmosphere
around me. Everything seemed gloomy—as if something bad was going to happen. It
wasn’t anything I could explain, just a vague, dreaded sense of something evil
or wrong about to happen.
“Oh,
God,” I prayed. “What’s going on? What is this feeling?” I had hardly uttered
the question when God spoke to my heart. “Evil forebodings.” I had to meditate
on that for several minutes. I had never heard the phrase before. God had
spoken to me, and I stayed quiet before Him so I could hear the answers.
I
realized, first, that my anxieties weren’t real—that is, they were not based on
true circumstances or situations. I was having problems—as most of us do —but
they were not as critical as the devil was making it appear. My acceptance of
his lies, even though they were vague, was opening the door for the evil
forebodings. I eventually realized that I had lived amid similar gloomy
feelings most of my life. I was expecting something bad to happen instead of
aggressively expecting something good.
I
felt a dread, an unexplained anxiety around me. I couldn’t put my finger on
anything specific—only that sense of something evil or terrible.
The
Living Bible says in Proverbs 15:15, When a
man is gloomy, everything seems to go wrong... That’s how I
felt, as if something—maybe everything—was wrong or was about to go wrong. As
previously stated, I realized that for most of my life, I had been miserable
because of evil thoughts and anxious forebodings.
As
I continued to meditate on evil forebodings, God broke through and gave me a
clear revelation. I was miserable because my thoughts were miserable—my
thoughts were poisoning my outlook.
My
thoughts robbed me of the ability to enjoy my life. I should have been saying,
“Thank You, God, for today. Thank you for Dave and my children and my friends
and all Your blessings.” But, instead of being positive, I found myself even
dreading to answer the phone when it rang, for fear it might be bad news.
All
of this gloom and doom that surrounded me began in my abusive childhood. I
endured a great deal of misery, and most of my life was unhappy and filled with
disappointments.
I
began to live in a vague fear and dread of the future. I had not been taught to
let go of what was behind.
I
couldn’t rejoice in what I had now and the good things going on in my life.
I
focused on the past and what might lie ahead—and what lay ahead was usually
gloom and doom and chaos because that was what I was expecting. Satan had built
a stronghold in my mind, and I was trapped until I learned I could tear down
that negative, evil stronghold by applying God’s Word to my life and
circumstances.
I
once had a friend whom I’ll call Marlene. She lived in a state of constant
chaos. One day she had health problems. The next day Marlene’s son had lost his
job, and they were going to have to support him and his family. As soon as that
was over, another traumatic situation would erupt. Marlene was a Christian, but
she lived in fear of bad news. Marlene would not have known how to live a life
that was not filled with chaos. All her conversation was negative and gloomy.
Even her countenance was sad and gloomy.
I
realized that I had started to become like Marlene—I was miserable because I
had allowed Satan to rob me of the ability to enjoy my life. It took a while
before I was able to be positive most of the time, but little by little, my
thinking changed, and so did my life.
I
no longer live in evil forebodings, expecting to hear at any moment of a new
problem. Now I purposely expect good things to happen in my life. I realize now
that I can choose my thoughts. I don’t have to accept Satan’s lies.
Like
everyone else, negative things do happen to me from time to time, but I don’t
become negative because of them. I remain positive, and that helps me enjoy my
life even in the midst of the storms.
Prayer
of the Day: Lord
Jesus, through so many days in my life, I have been robbed of my joy and
contentment by evil forebodings. As those feelings come to me, please remind me
that You are in control. Help me to rest in You and rejoice in Your power in my
life, Amen.
NOTE:
From medical websites, it also says that foreboding thoughts are also caused by
mental and physical conditions including, but not limited to:
§ Bipolar Disorder
§ Depression
§ Anxiety Disorder and
Anxiety Attacks
§ Panic Disorder and
Panic Attacks
§ Fear that is
unresolved. Fear is not only a negative emotion, but it is also a demonic
spirit, because it always involves torment (God has not given us the spirit of
fear, but of power, love and a sound mind).
§ Irrational fears, such
as the fear of going to hell (if you are saved and born again and love God) or
other related things like that.
§ Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder
§ Past Trauma
§ Nervousness disorder
(having gone through a nervous breakdown, or experiencing trembling, the
jitters, always feeling on edge, having a meltdown or breakdown and perhaps
ending up at the mental ward at the hospital).
§ Feeling sadness most of
the time. Hardly ever smiling or laughing.
§ Feelings that your life
or well being is in danger.
§ Feeling troubled or
agitated much of the time in your spirit and soul (mind, will and emotions).
§ Seeing no hope for the
future and feeling like your dreams have died
§ Expecting the worst
instead of expecting the best
§ Doubt and unbelief,
which God says is “evil” in His sight. You cannot receive anything from God
unless you believe in your heart that you have received it and confess it with
your mouth, and just receive it.
§ Battles with negative
thoughts and negative thinking patterns.
§ Vain imaginations
(always imagining the worst or dwelling on things that are unrealistic and
highly unlikely to ever happen)
§ Other mental related
illnesses
§ Past Abuse of any type
§ Thinking that God is
mad at you and out to punish you
§ Not having received the
perfect love of God that casts out all fear, because fear involves torment and
the dread of punishment, and the one who fears has not been made perfect
(mature, seasoned) in love.
§ Demonic Oppression that
has to be cast out
§ Physical illness or devastating
event that brought on trauma, such as having experienced a heart attack, a car
wreck, or other physical emergency that was frightening to go through.
§ Always thinking that
death or that something negative is pending
§ Always expecting to
hear bad news. When the phone rings, you think it is bad news when it could
just be a friend or relative wanting to chat with you for a while.
§ Gloomy thoughts,
Thoughts of doom, Pessimistic thoughts, Negative thinking patterns, Focusing on
the clouds rather than the sunshine.
§ Always expecting
positive things or events, a new job, or relationships to not work out, for
something negative to happen.
§ Feeling like a failure
in life, feeling unworthy of God’s love and blessings because you believe that
you have made too many mistakes.
§ Feeling like you don’t
measure up to certain standards
§ Feelings of having
experienced much rejection from others
§ Thinking that you are
“less than”, and just trash and are worthless
§ Always beating yourself
up. Self-rejection.
§ Self cutting on your
body or food disorders.
§ Low self-esteem and low
self-worth
§ Struggling with
a “victim” mentality. You have to make a decision whether you are
going to remain a victim or a become a victor and an overcomer.
§ Suicidal thoughts and
tendencies
The
Lord wants to set you free. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed! You shall
know the truth, and the truth shall set you free!
The
Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds. I am the Lord
(Jehovah Rapha) that healeth thee.
Weeping
may endure for a night (temporary season), but joy comes in the morning.
For
I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for good and not evil or
harm, plans to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11
