Years ago, while I was in a season of heavy food fasting, I heard the Lord say, “Steve, your food fasts aren’t doing much good. I love your heart to separate your heart unto me, but the positive of your food fast plus the negative of your general negativity and pessimism equals a big zero. Why don’t you go on a 40 day negativity fast?” 

Every year Igniting Hope has a 40 day Negativity Fast and Positivity Feast over Lent. (We’re doing it again this year beginning February 22nd! Find out more here.)

Certainly, what we do is important, but most of the time our biggest problem is not what we are doing, but what we are believing. We can fast food all we want, but if we do not ultimately allow our beliefs to be changed, our lives will not reach their potential because of the lies we are believing. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” On the surface, a command like that seems impossible, but God doesn’t ask us to do things He doesn’t empower us to do. When I read the Bible, I allow God to empower me by making identity statements from the Word. When I read this verse in 2 Corinthians, I like to declare: “I am a person who takes every thought captive.” As we come into agreement and create identity statements from verses like these, we begin to believe it and grace is released to us to do it. 

I am really grateful for the delete button on my computer, and I believe we have a spiritual “delete button” as well. As we fill our minds up with truth, the lies can no longer get in, but if you are like me, you are not fully there just yet and need to delete thoughts based on lies from our thinking (which create emotions of hopelessness, discouragement, shame, etc.).

Our emotions usually result from our beliefs. My wife, Wendy, has a book called Victorious Emotions that has helped so many. She says, “If you want a different emotion, you need to have a different belief. Emotions don’t necessarily validate the truth, they validate what you believe is true.” Our negative emotions are almost always caused by lies. We can get help to overcome this through counseling, inner healing ministries, or in other ways. We are not saying we deny all our problems or never seek help from others, but ultimately our emotional and experiential freedom is not going to result from what someone else believes but what we believe. This is why taking our thoughts captive is so crucial to the renewing of the mind. 

Any conclusion that does not have hope attached to it is under the influence of a lie, and any belief that is creating a lack of hope needs to be deleted. Here are some examples of what we can delete from our thinking:

• 
  “You are not going to know what to do.” Delete.
• “You have not done enough.” Delete
• “Things will never change.” Delete
• “People do not like you.” Delete
• “Your opinion does not matter.” Delete
• “You do not have the gift of prophecy.” Delete
• “You should feel guilty about not sending Christmas cards.” Delete
• "You are behind everyone else your age." DELETE
• "You are not where you're supposed to be in life." DELETE
• "I am at a major disadvantage due to how I was raised and I'll never be ahead in life." DELETE
• "My past will always catch up with me." DELETE
• "I am unlovable." DELETE

Our prayer for you is that you will activate your spiritual belief button like never before. Taking our thoughts captive in this way is a catalytic habit. We invite you to join us on this experiment starting February 22nd. You can join us for FREE or upgrade for even more resources. Find out more here.