James 1:8 “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways”.
Human mind is a very intelligent coherent cognitive device inbuilt in us. It can recognise words, feelings, logics, motives, voices, sounds, tones and temperaments. However, the coherence and cognitive functions of the minds can be messed up by erratic feelings, external circumstances, ecstasy, misery, sycophancy or frenzy. This smart device becomes ineffective when it is emotionally driven. Hence becomes double minded. A double-minded, fickle, dillydally and an uncertain man is unsure in his ways. His emotions are like yoyo; it is up and down controlled by circumstances, mood swings, emotions and commotions . James describes such a person as a raft blown, tossed, turned and twisted by the winds and waves of the sea. James 1:6 when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. When we are in an environment of positivity, praise or prayer we are settled, calm and composed, whereas when the reality of life hits us, we tend to lose control of the rudder and are tossed and turned by a raging sea of emotions.
When we find our emotions gripping, our actions and feelings drag us like the strong wind or waves, there are three techniques to bring this intelligent, coherent and cognitive smart device under control.
1. Rest: Never make a decision when you are restless emotionally. Rest in the Lord. Don’t send the email, don’t pick up the phone and give a piece of your mind; don’t be quick to reply. Just rest. Psalms 46:10a “Be still and know that I am God”. Stillness is not physical stillness but stillness of the soul, that can hear the voice of God. If our mind is racing with reasoning, recommendations and retaliations, we will not be hearing the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not want to hear our version of the story. He just wants us to surrender and listen to His voice to the road of recovery. So, when the battle is fierce in our mind, just rest.
2. Replace: Dr. Emoto experimented human emotions with water crystals and tested the hypothesis about how positive and negative energies affect our environment. He froze two glasses of water. One labelled with love language and another with hate. The glass labelled with love language froze into beautiful crystals whereas the one with the negative energy froze as ugly shapeless and formless ice formations. Replace negative energy in your mind with positive, promising and optimistic thoughts. Critical thinking without hope is cynicism; whereas Christ centric thinking will replace cynicism with optimism.
3. Reverse: The more we try to overcome a thought, the more the negative energy tries to drown us. The strategy to drive the screaming demons that shout defeat, deception and derailment is to reverse and speak life, longevity and love. Speak to the dry bones, demonic depression and dejections and revive the dead dreams, visions and destiny. Unless we reverse the negativity in our mind, we will not be able to reverse pessimism in our thinking or our trajectory.
When there is a surge of emotions (which is a natural human reaction), stop and rest at the feet of Jesus; replace negative energy with positivity, promises and prophecies from the Scripture and reverse the curse, dryness and depression. Double minded man receives nothing from the Lord. Mind over matter is a choice.
Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he”.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, choosing positivity over negativity is my deliberate choice. Help me to be steady in my thought process and not let the circumstances around me control me. Amen
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