“We may never be able to completely silence hopeless thoughts, but we can quiet them with truth.”

A thought by Christine Caine from her book, Unexpected: Leave Fear Behind, Move Forward in Faith, Embrace the Adventure (p. 112). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

And this is something that we need to realize in our battle with hopelessness.

Christine says, “We quiet them when we read, believe, and pray the words of Jesus. We quiet them when we listen to God’s voice in Scripture more than the voices of the past, the voices of social media, the voices of other people, or even the voices of our own thoughts.

“Staying secured within the fortress walls of hope means taking captive every hopeless thought before it takes us captive: ‘The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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.’ 2 Corinthians 10:4–5”

She goes on, “I know that taking captive every thought often requires a ruthless fight and that sometimes it’s a minute-by-minute battle. I have often said I am only one thought away from being overtaken by all I have been freed from. But I daily choose to be a prisoner of hope. I do this by giving hope a voice—in what I think and in what I say.

“The voice of hope doesn’t speak despair and anxiety—even though that might sometimes be all we feel. It doesn’t sigh in resignation or declare the futility of a situation. It doesn’t speak words of apathy or negativity. It doesn’t use social media to post what’s on our mind when whatever that is doesn’t agree with what’s on God’s mind. When we give hope a voice, we discipline our minds to think what God thinks and to say what God says—and nothing else.

She says, “We all feel anxious from time to time, but we don’t have to talk up all the anxiety we’re feeling. We don’t have to magnify our anxious thoughts with our words. Instead, we can choose thoughts full of hope and faith and peace—and speak those. We can take counsel from the apostle Paul: ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.’ Philippians 4:8 KJV”

That is such a good way to battle with anxiety, isn’t it?

Yes, yes!