How to Battle Negative Thoughts
Sep 04, 2026Summary
Have you ever wondered how to battle negative thoughts spiraling out of control in your mind? When you are going through your day feeling overwhelmed by mental chatter, harsh self-criticism, and whispering lies telling you that you are not good enough or that God has forgotten you, it is incredibly discouraging. If you are desperate to know how to break that mental loop and find real peace, you are in the exact right place!
In this episode of the Arise Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson is joined by counseling student and author Tiffany Fletcher to unpack a biblical approach to mental health. Discover the "two-step punch" to evicting mental darkness: first casting out the adversary's influence in the name of Jesus Christ, and then using the power of narrative therapy to rewrite your internal story with God.
We also look at the story of the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19 to reveal how negative thoughts love to strike when we are physically depleted, and why you should "never doubt in the night what you learned in the day." Tiffany shares practical visualization tools to shift your brain out of fight-or-flight mode so you can hear the Spirit clearly. Tune in to learn how to run your thoughts through the filter of Philippians 4 and let God re-author your story today!
Episode Takeaways
- The Two-Step Punch: You cannot reason with darkness while it is sitting in the room! When your mind is spiraling, you must first cast out Satan's influence in the name of Jesus Christ. Only then can you choose a new, positive story for your mind.
- Narrative Therapy (Romans 12:2): Renewing your mind is an active, daily reprogramming! Ask yourself: What negative, unhelpful story am I telling myself right now? Ask God to help you re-author your story. If you put God in your story, you can do anything!
- The Philippians 4:8 Filter: When a thought pops into your head, run it through the biblical filter. Is it true, honest, pure, and lovely? If a thought is accusatory, toxic, hopeless, or shaming, it fails the filter and is NOT from God. You do not have to give it rent in your head!
- Physical Depletion (1 Kings 19): Negative thoughts strike when we are tired, just like they did to Elijah. God didn't shame Elijah for his catastrophic thinking; He gave him food and sleep! If negative thoughts hit at night when you are exhausted, ask God to put them on the shelf until you are rested.
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Reflection Questions
- What is one negative, unhelpful "story" you have been telling yourself recently that you need to ask God to help you rewrite?
- Run your current mental chatter through the Philippians 4:8 filter. Are your thoughts true, pure, and lovely, or are you giving "rent" to accusatory, shaming lies?
- Are you currently trying to battle negative thoughts while physically exhausted? How can you show yourself grace and prioritize rest like God did for Elijah?
Host & Guest
Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson
Tiffany Fletcher @tiffnyfletcher
Transcript
Tamara K Anderson
00:00:00.400 - 00:01:34.920
Hey, my friend, have you ever wondered, how do I battle negative thoughts spiraling in my mind?
Because you're going through your day or night feeling overwhelmed by mental chatter, harsh self criticism and the whispering lies telling you you're not good enough or that God has forgotten you. Oh, this can be so discouraging. And perhaps you want to know how to break that mental loop and find real peace.
Ah, well, don't give up hope, because by the end of today's episode, you will know the two step punch to evict mental darkness, how to rewrite your internal story with God, and how our Savior Jesus Christ renews your mind and restores your clarity. Stay tuned. Ordinary women, extraordinary faith. When God calls, we say yes. Hello and welcome back to the Arise Women of God podcast.
I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and joining me today is the wonderful Tiffany Fletcher.
Tiffany Fletcher is a counseling student getting her master's, an author, a wife and a mother who has walked through deep trials and now helps others move from darkness into the light and hope. And I'm so thrilled to have her join me today as we talk about how to battle negative thoughts.
But let's start with Tiffany sharing the first non negotiable step to halting a negative spiral in our minds.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:01:35.640 - 00:03:58.230
The very first thing that I tell my clients when they come into my office is if you want to be able to heal, you have to cast Satan's influence out first because that is the key when you are spiraling in negativity. Satan will just prey on you and pray on you and pray on you unless you cast his influence out.
So, so first and foremost, it's important to cast his influence out in the name of Jesus Christ. Pray for those angels and for Heavenly Father spirit to be there. I always like to also I pray that I'll be forgiven. I repent.
I ask Heavenly Father forgive me of those things that keep me from his presence so that I can have his spirit in greater abundance with me to help me combat the negative thoughts. So as a therapist, one of the therapies that I absolutely love is called narrative therapy.
Of course, I'm a writer, so narrative therapy really resonates with me. But what it is, it's about learning the stories that we tell ourselves.
Sometimes when we get into those negative cycles, we need to be able to learn how to stop the cycle and change the story. I created a video a long time ago about my story about growing up with a mom who had multiple personalities.
And it's interesting to me, before I was ever a therapist and knew about narrative therapy. In that story, in that video, I talked about changing my story.
I talked about how my ecclesiastical leader helped me see things differently, helped me see my mom differently. And in that story, I say, by seeing things from his perspective, my story changed.
No longer was I the abused daughter of a mentally ill mother, but I was the daughter of a mother who loved me so much, who even in her brokenness, she saved me. And that is a totally different story.
When we can stop ourselves, like to stop the negative spiraling and ask ourselves, what negative, unhelpful story am I telling myself and how can I change the story to be more helpful and to be more motivating in giving me what I need to continue to have the hope to move forward? And so I think it's like it's a twofold kind of thing. It's like a one, two punch that we need to do.
First, we need to cast Satan out and get him out, pray for those angels to come in.
And then we need to recognize that a lot of times our thoughts are a choice and we get to choose whether or not we stop them and think something different or if we continue to spiral down in those same old thoughts that keep us stuck.
Tamara K Anderson
00:03:58.710 - 00:05:15.790
That two step punch is so profound. You cannot reason with darkness while it is sitting in the room. You have to evict the adversary first and then choose a new story for your mind.
Scripture gives us the exact blueprint for this in Romans 12:2 Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Notice that renewing your mind is not a passive event. It is an active daily reprogramming using the truth of God.
When a thought pops into your head, run it through the biblical filter of Philippians 4. 8. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, just pure, lovely of good report.
If there be any virtue, any praise, think on these things.
If a thought is accusatory, toxic, hopeless or shaming, it completely fails this filter and is not from God and you do not have to give it rent in your head. So you may be wondering, how do we ask God to help us rewrite these old broken narratives?
Let's head back to Tiffany as she shares how asking Heavenly Father to reauthor her story gave her courage to go to graduate school at age 4. 49.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:05:16.270 - 00:06:59.930
You know, a story before I went back to graduate school, a story that I was stuck in was, why am I going back to graduate school? I am not smart enough to go back to graduate School at 49.
And then there's also the the story of everyone else your age is getting ready for retirement and you're starting a career. Like, you know, all of those stories my story became. I know that this is where God wants me to be, and he is going to help me through it.
No matter how old I am. And it is going to give me an opportunity to serve his children and for a very long time.
Because Even when I'm 70 years, 70 years old, I can still sit and listen to someone, you know, I can still help them. And so it is something like, for me, a motivating factor is God. If you can put God in your story, you can do anything.
Because with God, nothing is impossible. And so if your new story is, God invited me to do this and I'm going to step up and do it for him. Yeah, you've got it. And you can do anything.
Here I am two semesters away from graduating and, and working as a therapist intern, and it's changed my life and it's been the most incredible thing. And if I would have got stuck in that story, where would I be today?
I'd be sitting at home crying because all my kids are adults and I'm all by myself. Instead, I get to go out and I get to serve people and I get to bless lives. It's making all the difference, right?
And so really, the stories that we tell us, those negative spirals that we're in, Ask God what's stopping you from being the disciple he needs you to be. Ask him what story you need to rewrite. And then this is the beauty, the beautiful part about it, with his help, re author your story.
How can I make this story better and brighter and more beautiful than what I can see right now with my own eyes? Help me to use your eyes to see.
Tamara K Anderson
00:07:00.490 - 00:09:03.329
Putting God in your story changes everything. Now we also need to recognize that negative thoughts love to strike when we are physically depleted. Look at the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1 8.
Right after that massive spiritual victory on Mount Carmel with fire coming down out of heaven, Jezebel threatened his life.
Elijah was exhausted, and he immediately fell into catastrophic thinking, fleeing into the wilderness, sitting under a juniper tree and crying out, it is enough now, O Lord, take away my life. Please notice what God did. He didn't shame Elijah for his negative thoughts and discouragement. God gave him food, water, and sleep.
And then God addressed his physical depletion first and then spoke to him in a still, small voice. I had a very similar experience not long ago. I had a wonderful morning Bible study where I felt God's Spirit teaching me so very clearly.
But by the next evening when I was physically exhausted, sudden doubts about what I was doing came flooding into my mind. I stopped immediately and prayed. God, I know I am tired and I know the devil always attacks when I'm depleted.
Please take these doubts and help me put them on the shelf while I sleep and can we talk about them tomorrow morning when I'm rested? The next morning I woke up with total peace and clarity.
I happened to be prompted to open my journal and reread the inspirations God had given me the day before. The doubts were instantly countered with God's truth. Sister Never doubt in the night what you learned during the day.
Now what practical tools can we use in the moment when our thoughts are spiraling? Let's listen to Tiffany Share how music and visualization can calm the brain if.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:09:03.329 - 00:10:08.890
You are feeling that you are in a spiral and you cannot change your thoughts, I invite you to first of all cast Satan's influence out. Say that prayer and cast him out in the name of Jesus Christ. Pray for the Spirit to be with you and angels to be with you.
And then I invite you to listen to some really beautiful God connecting music and just put on those headphones and just let your thoughts just imagine them being written on clouds and just floating away and connect with God in a way that will allow him to override those thoughts.
And you will notice that your thoughts change, that they will be more out of that fight or flight mode and more into executive functioning mode where you can actually sit and hear what the Spirit needs you to do and think in a more grounding way. So and and there's other things that you can do. If music isn't your jam, then you can go outside and take a walk.
Or you can just meditate, listen to some meditation videos or or podcasts. Or you can spend time with family to just get those thoughts so that they're no longer spiraling in your head. But it is something we have to choose.
It's not gonna happen on its own.
Tamara K Anderson
00:10:09.280 - 00:11:52.910
When you know how to cast out the adversary's whispers, filter your thoughts through scripture and reset your mind in Christ, negative thoughts and spirals lose their grip on your life.
If you want practical tools to help you identify whether a thought is is physical fatigue or a spiritual attack, we at Women warriors of Light want to put our complete digital guide directly into your hands for free down in the description below. Click the link to download your free copy of our Mother's Spiritual Defense Guide. Six Empowering Steps to Fortify Home and family.
Once you get it, turn straight to the Is it mine? It's a three step mental health hack, a simple diagnostic test to help you stop shame spirals and discern physical glitches from spiritual attacks.
You'll also find the Cast out the Adversary Word for Word Prayer Script and the Five Senses Calming Strategy. Download your copy free on our website today. Oh my dear sister, your mind is sacred ground.
You do not have to accept every lie the Adversary whispers.
You can ground your mind in thoughts of Christ and through the power of Jesus Christ you have the authority to cast off darkness, renew your thoughts and walk in his glorious light. Thank you for joining us today and until next time. May you arise and do it God's way. God Strong.
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