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Surrendering a Momentum-Filled Mind

 





Making my way through the early morning darkness, my foot did not clear the top step as I climbed out of the airport's lower-level parking lot to the curb. In a hurry, my sights were set on the baggage check-in I saw ahead rather than where I was at that moment. Within seconds, I knew I had not exercised the best use of my mental faculties as i began to stumble. A clumsy attempt to walk upright continued and resembled a cross between a free fall and walking on hot coals. Though I tried to regain my footing, my momentum met off balance. I continued to stumble, interspersed with a falling motion, bouncing and slipping down the path.  No matter how hard I tried to regain composure, I could not stop the movement. Just before landing in a bricked-in rock bed, someone saw my soon-to-be-hitting pavement moment approaching and reached out to catch me. That day, the word momentum was redefined for me as I realized how powerful the force behind the movement was and how far-reaching its trajectory could be.


I'm sure I performed an entertaining scene that morning as well as a reminder to bystanders to not be in such a hurry and to exercise caution. Yet, it was a reminder to me that momentum affects not only the physical aspects of life but also the mental ones. It got the best of me that day as my mental desire to stop and my physical situation of perpetual motion never made the connection. There was no mind over matter in sight. 


Sometimes, mental momentum still gets the best of me. Stumbling through negative thoughts, worrying about the "what ifs" of life, and pondering way too long on what "could have" or "should have" been done in given situations only causes me to continually stumble down a mental pathway without a hand to reach out and save me. One that delights in plunging me into a very dark place of fixation, and the perpetual movement of my mind is in a direction that will not redirect my path. Continuing down this road, mental momentum offers me only one outcome, the development of strongholds. With just the right nursing, coddling, and cultivating such thoughts, roots from disappointment, disagreements, and hurt grow deep and strong into the depths of my heart.


Protecting thought life from such invasions of the mind includes calling on Jesus. In such times, He reaches out His hand and offers us another venue. One that doesn't require us to continue in thoughts that lead us to stumble along in life, letting the woes of our minds get the best of us. He knows better than anyone what our battles are; He goes before us, stands beside us, and follows behind us, ever watching, always listening and ready with a strong arm to lift us when our minds suggest otherwise. Jesus wages an all-out war on the enemy who pursues our minds. He reminds us that this is His battle, if we will, but release it to Him. We can wave the white flag of surrender in moments when the momentum of the mind tries to get the best of us.  We are called by Him to not become a captive of our thoughts but rather bring them captive to Him. We can trust His power, His ever-sufficient capability to break down holds that cause us to believe we are powerless. We can know that He will relentlessly pursue us, no matter how many times it takes, so that we can walk in His will and His way to accomplish His plans for our lives upright, not stumbling along the pathway of life.  

 


Father,

Many times, Father, I am a prisoner of my thoughts. I forget that brokenness, doubt, and disappointment are not where my mind needs to rest yet sad and ashamed, that is precisely where it is at times. When I am weak, Father, please help me to exercise what I know about the truth of your Word. You say you will fight for me. You say you will empower me with resurrection power. You say you will tear down things that hold me against your will for me. It is me, Lord, that you are waiting on to surrender, to give it all over to you so that you can take your stand in my mind, for as your child, it rightfully should be indwelled by you.

​

So, I will surrender, Lord. As many times as it takes, I surrender.

Amen

 

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have the 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."


2nd Corinthians 10:3-5

New International Version

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