The First Step to Freedom From Destructive Habits and Thoughts

If you remember nothing else from this message, remember this:

Who you are is not who you were.

You have unimaginable power on the inside of you. When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit came to live in your heart.

Can you imagine that?

God’s Spirit lives in your heart. That’s what makes your body His temple.

Now I did not always know that. As a result, the enemy kept me in bondage to negative thoughts and destructive habits for years.

But one day, the Lord illuminated two Scriptures that shook up my perception of who I am:

• “And because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying, ‘Abba, Father!'” (Gal. 4:6).
• “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and established the guarantee with the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor. 1:21-22).

I realized the enemy was keeping me in bondage through reminding me of how I used to be.

He showed me mental movies of how I used to respond to situations negatively.

His tactics remind me of the story of how elephants are trained. When elephants are young, the trainer uses a rope to bind them to a stake in the ground.

The young elephants try to break free of the rope, but finds that they are too weak to do it.

So eventually, they give up trying.

The young elephant grows up to be a powerful creature. But his mind remains at the level it used to be.

He still sees himself as small and helpless compared to the rope.

As a result, this small rope is sufficient to hold a creature that now weighs up to 14,000 pounds.

The elephant could break free anytime that he wants, but his mind does not believe he can.

So he remains in bondage.

You may be in bondage to negative thoughts and destructive habits right now.

But the first step of freedom is to know who you are now.

Do you know who you are?

I don’t mean who you were; I mean who you are!

1 John 4:4 is just one Scripture that tells you who you are: “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

The real problem is that your mind must be renewed to the truth in God’s word constantly.

Why?

Because the enemy is always trying to remind you of who you were B.C. (Before Christ).

As long as you agree with the enemy that who you are is who you were, then your mind will always oppose what your Spirit knows is true in your heart.

No agreement, no power.

However, once you renew your mind to the truth in God’s Word and your mind and heart agree, then you will speak and act according to that truth.

That is when freedom comes!

I always tell TBYT members that the mental work they do in the program is always greater than any physical work they will do.

It is challenging to walk by faith and not by sight. Working the steps of the Take Back Your Temple weight loss program is definitely a faith-walk. But praise God, you don’t walk it alone!

You have your Christian sisters and brothers backing you up in prayer and encouragement.

So remember, you have God’s Spirit in your heart.

• Meditate on that truth today.
• Recall this truth when you greet people, especially those who’ve made you feel insecure in the past.
• Remember this truth when those old memories try to drive you back to worthless comforts.

Once you believe the truth that God’s Spirit lives in your heart and act according to that truth, no demon in hell can ever bind you again! {eoa}

Once 240 pounds and a size 22, Kimberly Taylor can testify to God’s healing power to end binge-eating. She is an author and the creator of the Christian weight-loss website takebackyourtemple.com. Visit today for inspirational health and weight-loss tips.

This article originally appeared at takebackyourtemple.com.