[Shakeh]

IM A Christian,When I am in church or holly places I have fear of having sinful thoughts I am not in that situation when Im in my home or somewhere with my friends,walking.. this condition is getting worse when I am under some emotional pressures or I am tired ,I start to worry and try to control my thoughts and that makes me to feel tired mentally. I think this are all my fears that are pushing me .Can you help me please?

[JoeCanada76]

What kind of thoughts do you have exactly. Please explain. There are many people who have had the experience of negative thinking.

[Shakeh]

well i can't explain like this.its a kind of emotion that if i think somethimg negative in the church tehn i will make a sin ,the point is i don't like to think negative..

[JoeCanada76]

No one likes to think negative but it does happen. If you are in church, pray to God that you are protected and everybody else is protected from negative thoughts. Pray for protection. Trust that God will be by your side. Protecting you and others from any kind of negative thoughts. Amen.

[NeedKarma]

The Lord is very forgiving, there is no reason for you to believe that a punishment is imminent if the same thoughts you have outside of church occur in the church.

[valinors_sorrow]

The thing is you have made a "Thing" about it. All you need do is be in one of these places and bingo, you have activated the thing. So you fight having the thoughts which drives the fear higher, that feeds the "thing" , that makes the sinful thoughts seem more possible. Round and round you go.

I call that a "loop" and I am very familiar with them. Its important to create an exit to the loop. For me that is usually best done with discipline (interrupt the loop) and research (learn more about the underlying topic).

You are right to connect that thoughts sometimes turn into actions but they don't so do without our permission.

Before you go to these places again, make a list of topics you would prefer to think about - all the things you would like to pray about, all the things you love about your church, all the things you praise God for, chores you need to get done at home, supplies you need to buy from the store, anything really. The farther from this loop topic the better.

When you are there and the pesky loop shows up, interrupt it like you would changing channels on a TV set. Pull out that list and think about those topics instead. If you run out of good thoughts, make the list longer or more detailed for next time. Try to leave before you fail so you can experience "winning" with this - you just may discover this is easier than you thought!

Meanwhile what I really sense is driving this is your fear that you may not be worthy of God in general and detailed discussion about what makes a Christian worthy with your minister might be in order too.

Just some thoughts that I hope are helpful to you. Thanks for posting.

[Shakeh]

Thanks Dear NEEDKARMA and Dear VAL for your kind and wise answers,your answers was so useful thanks again.:) :)

[shunned]

Sounds like psychotropic phenomena.

[ndx]

I think its called being human, with a touch of OCD. Don't worry about it, and they arnt going to send you to hell, if that's what your worried about. :)

[ayla87]

Some Christians may believe that is a type of spiritual oppression that can be relieved by praying relevant scripture. The Bible talks about "vain imaginations" and "taking every thought captive into the obedience of Christ", (2 Corinthians 10:5) which refers to thoughts that do not actually originate from our own spirits, but from spiritual wickedness (an external source which is imposing upon you). You have to confront Satan's deceitfulness with truth (Biblical scripture, the actual inspired Word of God).

The idea is that if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you trust God that those scriptures are truth, then when you pray those scriptures, those unwanted and unsolicited thoughts will go away and you can have peace from them. This may or may not happen immediately, and it may happen again, and you may have to pray again, but eventually it will stop. Also, you need to grow in understanding of God's grace that covers the difficulties we experience, but you can grow in your "discernment" also by overcoming this experience. You can endure something like this, learn from it, and still be right with God through it all.

I wish you well in this, because I imagine the point of this type of spiritual attack is to make you uncomfortable in church, and if you're uncomfortable in church, you're more likely not to go, and we all need to grow in our relationship with God!

[chiradeep]

Dear friend! I can understand your problem. Trust me if you confess your sin, 'Jesus is faithful and just to forgive you from all sins' (1John 1:9). When we are on earth we will commit sins but it does not mean that we will do it knowingly. Do not be worried. Worng thoughts come but you need to overcome it by good thoughts.

How can you do that?
1. Avoid things that brings bad thoughts in your mind.
2. Read & Study your Bible as much as possible.
3. Pray & ask God for strength

Lastly! Do not worry, if you think bad. Just ask forgiveness, He won't punish you but forgive you. But do not do it knowingly. Thanks for sharing...

May God give you spiritual strength to overcome all these... trust me you are not sick.

[Choux]

People can't control what they think!

Thoughts come and go when we are quiet, as in church... they don't stay unless we choose to devote a few moments, or minutes to comtemplate these thoughts.

This is natural human activity.

If someone has told you that you can control your thoughts, they are mistaken.

If you think something that is not acceptable to you, just don't dwell on that thought, relax and move on... :)

Best wishes,