Who Let that Thought in?

What thoughts have been sitting in your mind too long?

In this episode of LivingSQ, we reflect on the ideas, worries, and repeated thoughts that can quietly shape our inner atmosphere. Through scripture and practical reflection, we consider what it means to guard the heart, take thoughts captive, and choose what deserves space in the mind.

A thoughtful, encouraging episode on mental stewardship, spiritual maturity, and the power of paying attention to what we keep replaying.

Transcript

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Welcome to Living SQ with Indira Rebagreen. And in this space, we focus on applying scripture to everyday life, growing in wisdom, discernment, and a faith that can actually be seen. Today I want to start with a question. What have you been allowing to sit in your mind for too long? That's the question, that's it. So, in other ways, you can think about it. What thought has been running over and over in your mind? Or what have you been dwelling on? What have you been harping on? What have you been replaying in your thoughts so often that it has shifted your mood, your outlook, your reactions, and maybe even your sense of peace? What is that? Because that can happen. Sometimes it's a conversation where somebody said something, and even though the moment passed, it kept living in your head. And sometimes it's worry. And you keep going over the same concern, that same fear. Your mind keeps going back to what if. And then sometimes it's regret because you keep revisiting what you should have said, what you should have done, how you could have handled something. You could have said it this way or that way. Sometimes it's a painful word, an insecurity, some comparison, a fear about the future, some anxiety, a situation that hasn't even happened yet. But somehow it has already taken up a lot of room in your thoughts. And one of the things that we know from scripture is that our inner life matters. What we keep thinking about and dwelling on and returning to and rehearsing matters. What we keep giving mental space to matters. Because a thought repeated long enough can start to feel like the truth. And once something starts to feel like the truth, it can begin shaping the atmosphere of your entire day, your entire week, your entire month, your entire life. You can walk into a room burdened by something that should never have that much power. You can respond to people through the lens of something that has just been sitting and festering in your mind for so long. You can lose focus and purpose because one thought has been echoing louder than everything else. And that's why the scripture verse in Proverbs 4 and 23 is matters so much. It says, above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. I love that verse because it reminds us that our inner life, our heart, it's not separate from anything else. It's not small, it's not minor. Everything flows from it. Our words, our perspective, our patience, our peace, our choices, our discernment, all of that is affected by what's going on in our hearts, in our inner life. And when I think about the mind, I keep coming back to this image of a gate. Because a gate suggests discernment, attention, care, boundaries. Things may come toward a gate, but the point of the gate is that access matters. You don't automatically gain entrance because you have to meet certain requirements to come through the gate. And I think that's such a helpful way for us to think about our thoughts. Because thoughts come, ideas come, memories come, they will just come into your mind. Impressions can come, feelings can come, reactions can come. But wisdom helps us decide what gets to stay, what needs to be questioned, and what's what needs to be brought under truth. And that is part of spiritual maturity and growing in wisdom. And then there's another piece of scripture. That is powerful because it tells us that thoughts are not just there to be accepted automatically. They can be examined, they can be interrupted, they can be brought under a standard, and if they don't meet the standard, they can be discarded or tossed away. And that standard is Christ. This means that every thought that we think does not get the final say. Just because we think something doesn't mean it's true, it doesn't mean we get to harp on it or dwell on it. It does not refine our reality, it does not deserve our agreement. Every thought does not deserve your agreement with it. Some thoughts need to be held up and asked, is this even aligned with the heart of God, what I'm thinking right now? Is this producing wisdom? Is this producing purpose? Is this leading me toward peace? This thought right now? Is this helping me to respond like Christ, to think like Christ, or to trust like Christ? Is that what this thought is doing right now? Because if not, then maybe it has been sitting there too long. And you know, to think about it, sometimes what drains us is not only what happened, but it's what we keep replaying after it happened. Sometimes what weighs on us is not the issue itself, but it's the attention we keep giving the issue. And sometimes what disturbs our peace is not the final thought, it is the repeated thought. It is the rehearsed thought, it's the one we keep returning to. So, what do we do when we realize something has been sitting in our mind too long? Let me give you three points to think about. First, take note of what keeps replaying. Pay attention to it, pay attention to the thing that keeps your mind circling back to this one thing. What keeps coming up again and again? What is taking up more room than it should? What are you dwelling on? You do this not to judge yourself, you know. It's just to notice, just to notice what's going on, just to be aware. Because you can't tend to something you can't see. You can't try to fix something if you don't know what it is that needs fixing. So growth will start with honesty. You know, this has been on my mind a lot. This has been running in my thoughts. This has really been just going over and around and around in my head. Then once you've identified that, you measured against truth. So this is where scripture talks about taking thoughts captive. This is where this becomes practical and real. Because now you can compare it to Christ, you can compare it to the standard, compare it to truth and the character of God, and compare it to what scripture actually says. If the thought is making you feel hopeless, condemned, consumed, bitter, or trapped, we have to pause and ask whether we're agreeing with something that does not deserve that level of authority. Because we know that having the mind of Christ does not involve any of these negative emotions. Not every thought you have is truth, and not every thought deserves trust. Some thoughts will need prayer. We're gonna have to pray about some things, we're gonna need some perspective on some things. We have to decide whether we're gonna release some things or we're gonna keep rehearsing it and playing it in our minds. And then the third thing is decide what deserves space in your mind. And this is where Philippians 4 and 8 helps so much because it says, whatever it's true, whatever is noble, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, think on these things. That's the Bible giving practical instruction right there. So it teaches us what type of thoughts deserve room in our minds and in our hearts. So when we come back to the question, what have you been allowing to sit in your mind for too long? Maybe it's fear, maybe it's offense, maybe it's pressure, maybe it's self-doubt, maybe it's a voice from your past, maybe it's an imagined scenario that's been taking up too much space, whatever it is. The invitation today is simple. Notice it, measure it against truth, and choose what deserves space. That's the three things right there. Notice it, become aware of it, measure it against truth, and choose what deserves space. There's a phrase that says, practice makes perfect, and that's not accurate. Practice makes permanent. Whatever you practice over and over and over becomes permanent. So you have to be careful of what you practice. It's the same way with our thoughts. A thought repeated long enough can start to feel like truth, but the presence of a thought does not make it worthy of agreement. Once you realize that, you'll be able to better manage and guard your heart. Because your inner life deserves care, it deserves peace, it deserves wise attention, wisdom, and discernment. That is spiritual intelligence, and that is living SQ. Part of living with spiritual intelligence is learning to pay attention to what surfaces quietly, including our dreams. That's why I created Symnexus, spelt S-O-M-N-E-X-I-S. Symnexis is a dream journal app that helps you capture and reflect on your dreams while they are still fresh. You can easily write or dictate what you remember, organize your entries using keywords, and track recurring themes over time. The app also includes supportive resources, including guided prayers. Symnexis is built around one simple idea, biblical insights for the dreams you cannot ignore. You can learn more at Symnexis.com and the app is available for your favorite device. Well, thank you for joining me today on Living SQ. Remember, spiritual intelligence is about developing wisdom and intentionality in how we live what we believe each day. If this episode encouraged you, feel free to share it with someone. Until next time.