How Christ Helps Us Overcome The Thoughts

It is not possible to stop the thoughts. The thoughts are raining down on us in a constant, heavy, hellish stream. As sanctification—a process in which Christ works within us, putting to death our old man and building up our new man—progresses, however, the way in which the thoughts affect us changes. We are able to see through the lies of the thoughts as a result of the fact thatwe have the mind of Christ(1 Corinthians 2.16b). The thoughts will continue to come, but when the areas that relate to their content have been purified (washed and cleansed by the Blood of Christ), there will not be anything within us onto which the thoughts can 'catch.' As a result, the thoughts will no longer penetrate our inner being in the way that they did before, but will be forced to slide over us and away from us. This change takes place as a result of Christ's formation within us. As well as being able to see through the thoughts, we are no longer attracted to their darkness because we are filled by Christ and His divine light:I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me(Galatians 2.20). Several important things happen in this process: Christ, who now lives within us, awakens us to the reality of the dynamic that is taking place with oppressive thoughts and allows us to see that these sinful, afflictive thoughts are not natural but spiritual in nature, and that they are not meant to exist (it was not God's will for human beings to be constantly oppressed by thoughts). Having allowed us to see spiritual reality in this way, Christ then cleanses us from within, so that the forceful emotions are broken apart and begin to dissipate. These forceful emotions exist as a result of soul wounds that we have incurred across the course of our life (predominantly during the developmental stage). In order to deal with these emotions, therefore, Christ goes into these deep inner wounds and heals them at the root. In this regard, the shift in the emotional activity is a secondary consequence of these soul fissures being healed. As a result of this cleansing taking place, when more thoughts come (a process that continues—see above) they no longer have the same grip on us that they had before, because the ample soil in which they used to plant their corrupted seeds has been completely cleared out from within us. Thus, there is nothing in which they can take root. Through this, Christ changes the way in which our minds work. Rather thanchoosing to engage(though the trauma based emotional momentum was involuntary) with the sinful thoughts and getting slaughtered by them, we instead quickly see through the thoughts and reject them when they come. We don't allow the thoughts to penetrate our hearts (via our minds) in the way in which we did before. As a result of the cleansing that has taken place, the emotions are much less intense and cannot, therefore, violently rise up and overthrow our rational minds, so as to force us into sin and push us far off track. The thoughts only have power over us because there is something about their content that activates (strong and negative) emotions within us. When the emotional area is processed with Christ whilst being purified by His Blood, however, the emotions themselves either disappear completely or radically reduce in intensity. Although traces can remain (though sometimes only for a period), they are not something that have the capacity to bother us (enough to allow the thought cycles to begin), and so can be easily brought under the control of our minds. Christ, who lives within us, controls and corrects any lingering negative emotions, so that they remain in their right place. The ability to 'lasso' the emotions in this way and put them in their proper place is indicative of spiritual maturity (not pathological suppression) and is a result of the working of grace. To see these changes within our lives, however, we need to engage with thesword of the Spirit(the word of God) (Ephesians 6.17) and start to think about it as an available tool that will support our transformation:The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart(Hebrews 4.12). Next week we will look in more detail at how we can employ this tool and effectively use it, so as to find release from the thoughts and, as a result, truly experience what it means to taste the freedom of Christ. Amen + Author ofYou Are MineandApocalypse, Sister Anastasia writes on the role of the ancient, ascetic Church in a rapidly changing, modern world. You Are Mine Photo byAnnamaria KupoonUnsplash