RE:THINK: AN INTRODUCTION

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1 RE:THINK: AN INTRODUCTION If we are honest \most of us struggle with negative thoughts about ourselves. Somewhere along the way in our upbringing, we have taken on a lot of beliefs that simply are not true. This then leads to faulty thinking which further develops into long term self identity issues and the foundation of some unhealthy core beliefs about who we are. During this sermon series we are going to look at some common negative core beliefs and talk about how they may be affecting us. The aim is to shine a light onto these issues so that the power they hold over us can be broken and we can start to rebuild our thoughts on HEALTHY and most importantly BIBLICAL foundations. Do you struggle with negative thoughts about yourself? What are they? How do you usually handle these thoughts when they come up? Mental health care is not something that is talked about in churches very much, yet it is crucial to our overall well-being. As Pastor Andrew pointed out in his sermon, churches seems to talk a lot about the SOUL and the HEART but when it comes to the MIND there is not much dialogue. This series aims to change that trend because the truth is the Bible has MUCH to say about our mental well being. Why do you think it s difficult for people to talk about their mental health? What s the difference between the HEART, SOUL and MIND? READ ROMANS 12:2 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. This Bible verse says we have two choices when it comes to the way we think. We can either CONFORM or BE TRANSFORMED. If we choose to CONFORM we get stuck in the same old way of thinking, which leads to a disconnection from God. What are some patterns of this world that we conform to? Why is conforming to these patterns so unhealthy? The alternative to CONFORMING is TRANSFORMING. The transformation comes in the RENEWING of your mind. This is good news! We don t have to be stuck in unhealthy thought patterns.

2 Renewing of our minds is essential not just for our mental health, but also for our relationship with God. As this verse reminds us, it is ONLY through the RENEWING of our minds that we can know how to live for God. Have you experienced a renewal in your mind? How did this happen? What was it like to be renewed Why is it important for us to know what God s will is? God cares about our minds and how we THINK. As Ps Andrew reminded us in his sermon, in Genesis 3, the enemy used THOUGHTS to deceive Adam and Eve into sinning against God. Ever since then, the enemy continues to try to use our thoughts to keep us separated from God. However, we are not HELPLESS. As we have seen, our thoughts can be TRANSFORMED. This transformation process may take a little bit of time and effort, but with the help of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of Scripture, it CAN BE DONE. Read 2 Corinthians 10:1-5 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. When you think of the word demolish what sort of pictures come to mind? What do weapons of the world look like? What do God s weapons look like? How do you take your thoughts captive? There is strong language being used here when Paul says we do not wage war as the world does. This war is sometimes called The Battle For Your Mind. As we just mentioned, the enemy wants nothing more than to deceive you and get you stuck in unhealthy thought patterns. These unhealthy thought patterns become strongholds that keep you imprisoned. We must remember, we are not powerless; these strongholds over our lives do not have to keep us captive. As this passage states, God wants to help us to DEMOLISH these strongholds. How do we do this? We take captive every though and make it obedient to Christ. Ps Andrew gave us a VERY PRACTICAL way to do this. 1) IDENTIFY CORE BELIEFS Core Beliefs are the foundational beliefs that we hold about ourselves. These are beliefs formed from childhood, your innate dispositions and cultural influences. These core beliefs drive the way we think about ourselves. Since

3 Core Beliefs are formed from when we are young, they are usually set by the time we are in our late teens. The analogy Ps Andrew used was to see Core Beliefs as the foundations a your house. An example of a CORE BELIEF would be: I AM USELESS. Through the following sequence, you can see how a faulty core belief can quickly lead to some very unhealthy behaviours: Ø I AM USELESS leads to ASSUMPTIONS about ourselves. The assumption behind I AM USELESS might be If I attempt this task, I will fail. Ø This assumption then leads to a THOUGHT. The thought may be Someone else would be much better at this. Ø This thought then leads to a BEHAVIOUR: I am not going to try anything new. What kind of faulty core beliefs do you believe about yourself? What assumptions come out of this faulty core belief? How does this affect your thoughts and behaviour? Therefore, we must find out whether our core beliefs are true or not because if our core beliefs are not from God, it means that we have built our core beliefs on the wrong foundation. 2) FIND OUT IF IT IS TRUE OR NOT Is this core belief true? We can find this out by measuring the core belief against the word of God. Is there anything in the Bible that says you are useless? If it is truth it will bring life and freedom, if it is not true it will bring shame and condemnation. 3) MAKE A CHOICE How will you choose to respond? Will you continue to allow this stronghold to control you? Or will you hold on to the truth of what God says about you and in doing so CHANGE the way you think? This will require REPENTANCE. If we have believed a LIE, we need to repent and ask God for forgiveness. However, this is not supposed to be a self-condemnation exercise. We all have untrue core beliefs about ourselves and God understands that. Our responsibility is therefore to bring it before God and ask Him to forgive and heal us from it. God WILL NOT condemn you for asking for forgiveness so we too should not condemn ourselves. It may take a bit of work to identify what your CORE BELIEFS are. If you need help in this process you can practice the habit of keeping a Thought Record. You can find a template for how to keep a Thought Record through this link. If you need more information on how to use the Thought Record template, see the guideline at the end of this study.

4 CONCLUSION Over the next eight weeks, we are going to be looking at various faulty core beliefs that we may have laid as our foundations. The aim is to SMASH any core belief that is not from God so that we can rebuild our minds on a solid foundation. This will not be an easy process, but it WILL be well worth the effort. Be aware, as we try and do this the enemy wants nothing more than to keep us in the dark. The enemy wants to bind us in the lies we believe about ourselves. Therefore, over the next eight weeks, this group needs to be really diligent and faith in praying for each other. Pray that the Holy Spirit will protect everyone in the journey of demolishing the strongholds over their lives. God wants to break down any barriers that are between you and Him! Let Him have his way so that you can live in FREEDOM.

5 THOUGHT RECORD PROCESS 1) THINK OF A SITUATION/EVENT: Something that happened which triggered some sort of a emotional reaction. Don t think about the emotions yet, just focus on what happened. Answer questions such as WHO/WHAT/WHERE/WHEN? 2) WHAT EMOTIONS DID THAT EVENT TRIGGER? Think one word answers to describe the emotions. For example: FEAR, EMBARRASSED, SAD, ANXIOUS, ANGRY. 3) RATE THESE EMOTIONS: Which of the emotions was most intense? Try and rate them from out of 10. Which one was the strongest? Focus on that ONE as you move forward in this process. 4) AUTOMATIC THOUGHTS/IMAGES What did the situation and emotions make you think? These thoughts often come in the form of I statements. For example: I always or I am not. Again, write down a few, but FOCUS on the one that affects you the most. 5) EVIDENCE FOR YOUR THOUGHT What evidence can you find that supports this thought? For example; if your thought is I always fail at everything I do. Is that really true? Do you always fail? 6) EVIDENCE THAT DISPROVES YOUR THOUGHT? What evidence can you find that refutes this thought? 7) ALTERNATIVE BALANCED THOUGHTS: What is a more accurate way of looking at the situation based upon the evidence before you? 8) WHAT EMOTIONS DO YOU FEEL NOW: After having gone through the whole process, what do you feel right now?