Defeating the Inner Critic

One of the greatest obstacles to experiencing love and breakthrough is the pesky voice of the inner critic.

There is nothing more disempowering to progress than the inner voices that resist you at every turn and leave you feeling defeated. They relay thoughts and feelings that beat you up and keep you bound in your battles. 

I believe one of satan’s top assignments is to make you an enemy to yourself in your thoughts. When you become a villain against yourself, the inner critic becomes a dominant voice in your life.

Most people become “one” with the inner critic, thinking, “this is just the way that I am.” They end up believing, “I am my own worst enemy.” If the resistance can get you to be at war with yourself, then you’ll be sent into a lifetime engulfed in a conflict of “you against you.”

Fighting the Inner Critic

For centuries, people have been trying to kill these self-beating thoughts by debating them; attempting to argue against these parasitic thoughts. Well-meaning believers shout from rooftops with militant aggression and a warfare-like posture, in order to break free.

Although aspects of this can be helpful, tactics of force alone can at times leave you discouraged and exhausted. This type of battleground needs a more refined approach. 

A Refined Approach

I spent years trying to fight these self-attacking thoughts with aggressive repentance and deliverance tactics. There is nothing wrong with utilizing those methodologies. But I learned first-hand that the only way to defeat the inner critic is to infuse your heart with an immersion in the love that God has for you. Only love can drive out this self-destructive inner dialogue.

To really overcome the inner critic, you have to learn to have a better relationship with yourself. This must begin with learning to love yourself the way that God loves you.

Victory doesn’t come by first trying to remove all the interference, but by allowing love in invade while the inner critic is talking. Eventually, the transformative love of God will drown out the toxic voices of the enemy that seek for your attention. 

If you had to get all the voices to stop before love will have its work, then it defeats the point of love. God’s love is unconditional. The power of His love meets you in your suffering and struggle, loving you right where you are.

If you’re trying to get rid of all these thoughts first, so then you can experience love, you’ll be spending your whole life in endless loops.

Instead, invite God’s love into your heart right now, while the interfering thoughts stand in the way. Don’t sweat it, this will take some time.

As the voice of God’s love builds up, it eventually drowns those toxic thoughts.

So if you find yourself battling the inner critic, turn your focus from arguing with it, and instead, turn your heart to what it means to be loved . . . right where you are . . . right now.

If this speaks to where you are at all, take advantage of the resources below that will lead you to the next level.

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