{"id":7008,"date":"2016-05-24T06:04:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T06:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=7008"},"modified":"2016-05-13T09:38:43","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T09:38:43","slug":"mind-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/mind-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/armour-of-god.jpg?w=565\" alt=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The other week I was off work for 3 days due to a sickness bug, nothing serious just one of those bugs that seem to knock the stuffing out of you completely and leave you rolling about the floor wishing your mum was around to nurse you better.<\/p>\n<p>I had to cancel meetings and miss a 2 day conference that I was due to attend. As I started to feel better and didn\u2019t have to remain within 10 feet of the toilet, I started to feel sorry for myself in the way that only us blokes do. I was wishing that I had a little bell that would alert my wife to come running with the chicken soup and a cloth to mop my brow\u2026<\/p>\n<p>My mind began to wander to the missed opportunities due to cancelled meetings and I began to follow the conference on Twitter, realising that fantastic Kingdom business was taking place and I was missing it!<\/p>\n<p>As these negative thoughts started to go round in my mind one thought kept on coming back: \u201cGod doesn\u2019t really care about you\u201d. Now of course this statement is totally rubbish and untrue, God loves us so much that he sent His Son to die for us, even when we were his enemy. But it made me realise how easy it is for negative thoughts to start in our minds. The enemy of course loves this kind of thinking and is actively engaged in trying to convince us that God is against us.<\/p>\n<p>The danger comes when we start to focus on and believe the negativity that can often sneak into our thinking. We start believing the lies that the enemy is subtly telling us, often placing these thoughts over the truth of scripture. After allowing these thoughts to affect my thinking for a few hours while I was feeling sorry for myself, I was quickly brought back to what the Bible says about the matter. I really love the weapons that God has given us in our daily battles with the enemy and the reminder to put on our armour every day.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Put on all the armour that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil&#8217;s evil tricks \u00a0For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age. So put on God&#8217;s armour now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy&#8217;s attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground. Ephesians 6:11-3<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As we face new challenges each and every day let\u2019s remember to put on our armour, resist the enemy\u2019s plans and focus on the truth contained within scripture and not the negative thoughts that can often plague our thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/j_Ch0mwBNds\" target=\"_blank\">Henry Hustava<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/mind-games\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The other week I was off work for 3 days due to a sickness bug, nothing serious just one of those bugs that seem to knock the stuffing out of you completely and leave you rolling about the floor wishing your mum was around to nurse you better. I had to cancel meetings and miss [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":7011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1261,1260,1259],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/armour-of-god.jpg?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-1P2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7117,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/mind-games-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":7008,"position":0},"title":"MIND GAMES","date":"30 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A few times when I was at the gym training for the half Ironman, I would be on the treadmill and just give up. I would be running well, and be on around 45 minutes, slight knee pain, bit of discomfort but ok, then I would just literally stop running,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Team CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/fighting-fit.png?fit=565%2C350&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1544,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/robs-round-up-17\/","url_meta":{"origin":7008,"position":1},"title":"Rob&#8217;s Round Up","date":"13 June 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Jenson Button overtook Formula One Championship leader Sebastian Vettel on the final lap to win the Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel spun his Red Bull under pressure from Button, who recovered from a collision with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton and Fernando Alonso failed to finish a severely rain-affected race in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Blog\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9627,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/sport-principle-22-hearts-minds\/","url_meta":{"origin":7008,"position":2},"title":"Sport Principle 22: Hearts &#038; Minds","date":"26 October 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"About the Sport Principle I love rugby league. But this hasn\u2019t always been the case. It took my youngest son joining a local club, and then his coach to organise a trip to watch his club, Wigan Warriors, followed by an international at Anfield, for us to be hooked! We\u2019re\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/mind-BLOG.jpg?fit=610%2C291&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7076,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/what-would-make-you-change-your-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":7008,"position":3},"title":"What Would Make You Change Your Mind?","date":"15 July 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A friend and I were having a conversation recently. \u201cI was so left,\u201d he said, referring to his political persuasions. \u201cThat was my background,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhen I then, later on, began to ask why I thought that way, I began to change my mind on a few things.\u201d This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Demolition Squad&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/what-would-make-you-change-your-mind.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":712,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/news\/hero-conference\/","url_meta":{"origin":7008,"position":4},"title":"Hero Conference","date":"26 May 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"With the Codelife2010 conference fast approaching I wanted to tell you about another exciting conference happening just a couple of weekends after. Hero Conference is quite possibly the only conference aimed at younger guys in the UK. Intentionally aiming for young men between 14-25 with a great line of speakers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9371,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/friends-of-cvm\/sport-principle-9-whats-it-all-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":7008,"position":5},"title":"Sport Principle 9: What\u2019s it all for?","date":"25 May 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"About the Sport Principle: Life in the Olympic village: This year, the Olympics will be very different. Due to the global pandemic, there will be no international spectators and the competitors themselves will be in and out of the village, only permitted to stick around for the duration of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Friends of CVM&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/olympcis-BLOG.jpg?fit=610%2C291&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7008"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7012,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7008\/revisions\/7012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}