DAYDREAMING--A Maria Letter! Maria No.18
DO1915
1/85
--Capture Your Thoughts!--Don't Look Back or Be Double-Minded!
1. (ONE OF OUR LEADERS EXPLAINED TO MARIA THAT HE'S HAD A PROBLEM WITH DAYDREAMING ALL HIS LIFE. He said that even in school he let his mind wander & therefore he'd often completely miss what the teacher was saying. It's been a real problem for him here because he'd let his mind wander back to his wives & children & loved ones, which would then cause him to miss them. It was a real battle for him, so Maria shared the following lesson.)
2. I THINK EVERYBODY HAS PROBLEMS WITH DAYDREAMING TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. I can be sitting in class & something Dad will say will trigger a thought in my mind, or I'll be thinking, "Let's see, what time is it, in thirty minutes so-&-so is supposed to make a phone call." Everybody does that to a certain extent, but if it's a real problem for you then maybe you should have desperate prayer about it to help you "Bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ." (2Cor.10:5) It's like you have to keep your thoughts under control by force, you have to capture them, you have to make a forceful effort to hold them in captivity! It takes work to stop your mind from wandering & to keep your thoughts where they should be, you really have to fight! I think you need to fight it & to make it a habit to not think of those things, or if you start thinking of them, to stop immediately just as you have let it become a habit to think of these things.
3. I SUPPOSE THAT MOST PEOPLE HAVE A TENDENCY TO DAYDREAM SOMETIMES, ESPECIALLY IF THEY'RE IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE. When I was in college dating Wayne Bellis, the boy I told you about before, I fell in love with him. When we weren't seeing each other any more, I was working in a lawyer's office, & I didn't have a lot to do then because sometimes work was pretty slack & I would find myself thinking about him constantly. My mind would drift & I'd be daydreaming about the nice things we'd done together, & I found myself doing it a lot! It was nice to do it & it's enjoyable to go into the past & to think about the nice things you did together & the nice things you could've done if the situation had been different, & you sort of make up little imaginary stories. You enjoy it, & it's not something you want to stop.
4. BUT I WAS DOING IT AN AWFUL LOT & FINALLY THE LORD STARTED TO SHOW ME THAT I COULD EASILY BEGIN TO LIVE IN A DAYDREAM, IN A WORLD OF DREAMS, IF I DIDN'T STOP IT! I could just go on & on & on & never stop & I could forget about my work & my responsibilities, & the more you are in it & like it, the more you can continue in it. He showed me that every time I thought about Wayne I just had to put him out of my mind.--And that wasn't easy, because I liked to think those thoughts & dream those dreams because it made me happy.
5. I'M SURE IT'S THE ENEMY THAT KEEPS BRINGING THOSE THINGS TO YOUR MIND TO DISTRACT YOU & TO GET YOU AWAY FROM WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING. It's not only distracting to your work, but it's also not even good for you to be thinking those things. It's remembering the past & we're supposed to forget the things that are behind! You're not only to bring every thought into captivity, but you're also supposed to forget those things which are behind! (Phil.3:13)
6. EVERY TIME WAYNE CAME TO MIND I HAD TO DELIBERATELY TRY TO PUT HIM OUT OF MY MIND & I HAD TO DO IT HUNDREDS OF TIMES A DAY until it started to get easier & I thought of him less, & finally I stopped thinking about him completely.--But it took a long time!
7. I WAS LIVING IN A DREAM WORLD. I SEE NOW, THOUGH, THAT IT'S TERRIBLY DISTRACTING TO LET YOUR MIND WANDER LIKE THAT. When you're working, your mind is supposed to be on your work, but daydreaming gets your mind off what it's supposed to be on, & it causes you to look into the past, which is against the Lord's admonition to forget the past! It seems that those whose major job is paperwork or desk work have more opportunity to daydream because they are sitting there all day, whereas those whose job is more active & requires them to work with their hands don't have the time or opportunity to daydream since it's a necessity to focus their concentration on whatever they're doing, like taking care of children or cooking meals.
8. WE CAN'T PROPERLY RUN THE RACE & FIGHT THE WAR & PRESS ON TO THINGS AHEAD WHILE WE ARE LOOKING TO THE PAST, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DIVIDE YOUR CONCENTRATION LIKE THAT, YOU REALLY CAN'T DO TWO THINGS AT ONCE! Oh, people say they can, they say they can listen to music while they work, but that's not true, because, if you notice, while you're reading or concentrating on your work you block the music out! Of course, you can stop your reading & then you can concentrate on what the music is saying, but you can't really concentrate on two things at the same time. Even the dictionary definition of "concentrate" says it means to direct your thoughts or efforts toward one object. You can be conscious of more than one thing at a time, but that's not actually concentrating on them. If you're going to concentrate on the lessons you're learning & what the Lord wants for you today, then you can't be constantly concentrating on the past.
9. IT'S LIKE PEOPLE WHO LOSE THEIR HUSBAND OR THEIR WIFE, A LOT OF THEM JUST LIVE FOREVER IN THE PAST AFTER THAT & THEY JUST REFUSE TO BE COMFORTED. In a way it's a comfort to them to live in the past & to relive all the wonderful things they went through. Sorrowing for them in a way is a comfort because it feels good, it brings back their mate, it brings back those good times, so they refuse to accept reality & they just live in their world of the past. I guess it's easier for them, but it doesn't help anybody else because they're not able to go on to new horizons, they just continue to live on in the past. If they're old and that's all they have to live for, then maybe living in the past is God's mercy on them & maybe that's the only way they can survive.
10. BUT FOR US WHO HAVE A BATTLE TO FIGHT & A WAR TO WIN, WE CAN'T BE CONSTANTLY THINKING ABOUT THE PAST & THE DAYS OF OLD & HOW GREAT EVERYTHING USED TO BE, BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE TIME! It was very hard for me to break my daydreaming because it had become a habit of constantly thinking of him. I had to fight it with a lot of will power. I was saved & I prayed for the Lord to help me, but it took a lot of will power to constantly say no to those thoughts because I liked to think about him and I wanted to think about him, but I had to stop! You've got to pray of course & ask the Lord to help, but you have to do a lot of it by just refusing to accept those thoughts, or when it comes & you realise it, you must immediately put it out of your mind & fight it! It's a bad habit, & it can get a big hold on you after awhile, so you've just got to break it!
11. EVERYBODY DAYDREAMS TO SOME EXTENT, BUT IF YOU HAVE A REAL PROBLEM WITH IT, THEN YOU NEED TO FIGHT AGAINST IT! You can stop it, with the Lord's help, & you can refuse to think those thoughts! We all occasionally daydream, but it's easier for some of us not to do it because we haven't let it become a constant habit. But when you have a weakness & you entertain it for so long, it can become a habit. Whether it's daydreaming or thinking negative thoughts or nagging your mate or arguing or whatever it is, it gets to be a habit! Anything you just keep doing, whether it's good or it's bad, becomes a habit, you get into that pattern & you do it so long that you become used to doing it & it's very easy to do. It's like praising the Lord, if you do it constantly it becomes a habit, so of course some habits are very good, but I think this constant daydreaming is definitely a bad one.
12. LIKE I SAID, EVERYBODY DAYDREAMS SOMETIMES IN THEIR LIFE & EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY NOT HAVE MADE IT A LIFELONG HABIT, there may be certain times when they are drawn much more to the past. Perhaps you just left your loved ones & you miss them & are concerned about them, which of course is common & natural. But like Dad said, when he was on the road for Fred he never kept pictures of Mother Eve & the children, because he felt he had a job to do & he wanted to be single-minded & he didn't want to be constantly reminded of what he was forsaking. So he tried to keep his mind on the Lord's Work without distraction & he trusted the Lord for the care of his family. Of course, you want to pray for your loved ones sometimes, but if praying for them draws you into thinking about them & missing them, then maybe you should ask other people to pray for them.
13. BECAUSE YOU'VE DAYDREAMED SO MUCH ALL OF YOUR LIFE IT REINFORCES THIS NORMAL SITUATION & YOU DO IT EVEN MORE THAN OTHERS NORMALLY WOULD. It's easier for you to daydream & it's more difficult for you not to, because you're used to just letting your mind go whenever a thought comes in. You haven't disciplined your mind!
14. I DO THAT IN CLASS SOMETIMES, EVEN AS INTERESTING AS DAD'S CLASSES ARE, he'll mention something about the clock & then I'll think, "Oh my, we've got to call after class" or we've got to do this or that & I have to forcefully bring myself back. No matter how many wonderful Words of the Lord Dad is saying, you still get tempted with all kinds of other sidetracks, you start to think that you're uncomfortable or you're hungry or tired or whatever. That's a very normal temptation or a trial, but you have to bring yourself back!
15. IT'S WISE TO PRAY FOR A REAL DELIVERANCE FROM THESE PROBLEMS. They can be very spiritual. Hope had to get delivered of the spiritual power that was prompting her negative thinking, but even then it was still a habit & she really had to fight it, but now she has some personal control over it. When she wasn't delivered, that negative spirit had pretty much control, but after she was delivered it was within her power to resist it!
16. LIKE I SAID BEFORE, PEOPLE LOVE TO DAYDREAM, IT'S REALLY NICE & ENJOYABLE. But we can't effectively live in the past & live in the present at the same time! If you try, then you're double-minded! "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways", you're thinking about two different things, one is the past & the other is the present or the future.--Or even something or somebody else in the present that distracts you from your job. You can't really concentrate on the work at hand if you're going to be constantly going back & forth between them both.
17. I THINK YOU NEED TO HAVE A REAL DELIVERANCE FROM IT & THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO WORK TO BREAK THE HABIT! It's like the prayer delivers you from the spiritual hold it has on you, so that then you can break the habit if you want to! You have to work at it & it's hard & you don't always win, but you can if you want to & the Lord will help you! You're really going to have to fight it because you like to daydream & that's an extra pull on you. Not only are you used to it & it's a habit, which is why it comes so easily, but it's a habit that's comforting & you like it. So you've got two things to fight against--not only the habit, but the fact that you like it.
18. THE LORD IS THE ONE WHO'LL DELIVER YOU, BUT THEN HE LEAVES A LOT UP TO YOU TO BREAK THE HABIT. You have to keep working at it & it takes time, but you're sort of reaping what you've sowed! You took a long time to form the habit & let it grow over a long time & now the Lord sort of expects you to work at it to get rid of it, & it's important that you do! Memorisation is a real help because it's letting the Light in so that the darkness will flee!
19. IT'S A FIGHT TO OVERCOME YOUR WANDERING THOUGHTS! Like the Bible says, "Bringing every thought into the captivity of Christ." You have to capture those thoughts & hold them in submission, & when you've let them wander for all your life it can be a real fight!--But it's worth it!--And if you ask the Lord for deliverance & for help, He'll help you! He never fails!--Amen? God bless you & help you to kick the habit, in Jesus' name, amen!