Think Up to Get Up: How to Break Free from Destructive Ways of Thinking

By Robert Lowery

You can't think how you're thinking going where you're going! 

• Do you allow your fears and insecurities to control you?
• Is your self-worth connected to what others say about you?
• Do you doubt your God given ability to be all God is calling you to be?
• Do you feel anxiety when you attempt to step out of y

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Mar 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781647736071

Robert Lowery

No author bio.

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Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

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Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2021 by Robert L. Lowery III

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769.

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-64773-606-4 (Print Book)

ISBN 978-1-64773-607-1 (ebook)

To my dad, Robert Lowery Sr. (February 5, 1946–January 27, 2018).

He gave me the strength to do and be more than I see in myself.

Love you!

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: What Does It Mean to Think Up?

Don’t Allow Your Bad Past Experiences to Be the Thermometer of Your Value

Think Up to Get Up Means to Discipline Your Thoughts

Chapter 2: Defeat Is Spelled S-E-L-F L-I-M-I-T-I-N-G B-E-L-I-E-F-S

What Are Self-Limiting Beliefs

Your Beliefs Are the Foundation of Your Thoughts

What Empowers Our Limiting Beliefs?

How to Break Limiting Beliefs

Beliefs I Acted on to Eliminate My Limiting Beliefs

Chapter 3: Your Desire to Get Up Must Be Greater Than Your Desire to Stay the Same

Your Environment Feeds Your Desires

Desire Matures to Faith, and Faith Matures to Belief

Nothing Is Overcome without a Diligent Spirit

Chapter 4: Defeat Is a Mindset

Destructive Thoughts Lead to a Destructive Life

Prolonged Tolerance Will Lead to Accepting Destructive Circumstances

Chapter 5: Truth Must Be Matured unto Personal Convictions

Truth Plus Acceptance of Truth Equals Beliefs That Grow into Convictions

Don’t Allow the Lies You Have Accepted as Truth in Your Past Remain True in Your Future

Receive with Meekness

Chapter 6: Vision Is the Starting Place of Thinking Up

The Height of Your Vision Is Intertwined With the Depth of the Value You Have of Yourself

Vision and Your Surroundings

Stand at the Door

Chapter 7: Don’t Allow What You’re Ignorant of to Control You

You Can Be Alienated from the Life God Has for You Through Ignorance

Have an Open Mind to Examine Truth Before It Is Accepted or Rejected

Ignorance of Who God Is Will Result in Ignorance of Who You Are

What the Holy Spirit Does Not Do

Power Over Principles of Ignorance

The Power of Ignorance

Innocent Ignorance Matured to a Foolish Heart

Chapter 8: The Difference between Thinking Up and Thinking Arrogantly of Yourself

Seeing Yourself Clearly Protects You From People or Circumstances Defining You

You Will Not Rise Above Any Limiting Circumstance Or Belief If You Do Not Believe You Can

Chapter 9: Building Relationships That Support You

Healing Begins with God And Continues Through Relationships

The People You Surround Yourself With Are the People You Will Become

You Are Only as Strong As You Allow Yourself to Be Weak

Signs of an Unhealthy Relationship

Seven Signs That You Are in an Unhealthy Relationship

Chapter 10: Change Your Goals into Requirements

The Difference Between a Goal and a Required Goal

Fight Tired

Chapter 11: You Are Not a Victim Even If You Have Been Victimized

A Victim’s Mentality Is a Learned Behavior

Character Traits of the Victim Mentality

The Danger of Masking Dysfunctions with Scripture

Your Response Determines Your Victory

Overcoming the Victim Mindset

Thinking above Ignorance

Strength Is Understanding

Chapter 12: Get Out of Yourself

Self-Awareness Precedes Growth

Steps to Take to Get Outside of Yourself

You Will Rise or Fall

Thinking Roadblocks

God’s Truth Makes You Free!

Forms of Strongholds

Growth Is Just as Uncomfortable as Stagnation; The Only Difference Is One Is Intentional

Chapter 13: Fifty Principles That Will Inspire You to Think Up

Introduction

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink! he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

—Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

King Solomon gave a timeless principle when he shared those words. Your thinking determines who you are, and James Allen, in the book As a Man Thinketh, added, And as he continues to think, so he remains. Unfortunately, there are countless people who chart their course in life based on what’s been said about who they are and what they’re capable of. Thoughts like this are just how it is: I can’t get ahead, My parents struggle with depression, anger, poverty, etc., so it’s just in my genes. These are a few examples of thoughts that have been accepted most likely at a young age and have taken root in your heart.

Believing you are a certain way because of genetics or any other reason that places you in the seat of a victim is exactly what the enemy wants you to think. Why? Because if this lie is accepted, you will go throughout life forever reacting to your circumstances and never overcoming them. This book will help you understand and apply biblical principles that will help you begin your path to freedom that is rightfully yours through the blood of Jesus Christ! The power of God is more than able to deliver you from any emotional or psychological stronghold that the enemy has been using to control your peace, your joy, your purpose, and your life! As you read this book, pray and ask God to give you wisdom and revelation on how to break the specific strongholds in your life. Also read this book along with your Bible, and if this book helps you to broaden your understanding of a scripture, I suggest you pause reading this book and begin to study that scripture, because revelation of scripture comes from God, and if He is releasing a greater wisdom, it is always for your benefit and should not be ignored.

In the following chapters, I intend to expose the tactics of the devil to keep you in a defeated, impoverished mindset and to help you break free from this stronghold. I am not an expert on psychology, nor am I an Ivy League scholar giving you points I think are simply good ideas that can help you; I am just a person who struggled to overcome depression, low self-worth, and all the unspoken principles those methods of thinking taught me. I am just a guy that is, to this day, still thinking and getting up myself.

This book is to the person who is afraid to courageously go forward and embrace who God has created you to be because of the fears your past has taught you through bad experiences. To the person who is afraid to live and afraid to die. To the person who submissively accepts what people say about you rather than what you say about you! The content in this book is comprised of principles I have grown to understand and apply to my life as I fought through my fears, poverty, low self-worth, and every thought that you can think of that represents defeat. This book was written to help you discover the abundant life Jesus died for, but just like with any other gift, in order to enjoy it, you first must accept it. I was drowning in depression and low self-esteem, and God gave me the grace to change just as He is giving you.

The observations and principles in this book, I have grown (and am still growing) to learn and apply to my life. I pray that this book will help you overcome destructive thinking just as these principles are helping me overcome mine. Let go of whatever it is you need to let go of and embrace whatever it is you need to embrace to be all God is calling you to be! I have learned that it is more beneficial to first identify and break free from destructive thinking habits that you have adopted over the years before you embrace the principles that will help you come out of destructive thinking.

Just as you can’t pour new wine in old wineskins (see Mark 2:19–22), you also cannot apply new ways of thinking without first disregarding the old ways of thinking. When you let go of a destructive belief, you, within the same action, cut off the life blood that is supplying all the destructive thoughts connected to that belief. This frees you to go forward and be all God has called you to be, one thought at a time. Let’s do as Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV) instructs us to do, which is to break free from every weight and sin, together, as we journey through this book.

Thanks for your support!

What Does It Mean to Think Up?

If you focus on the storms and frustrating situations that you are involved in, you will continually produce that same end, perpetuating those feelings in your thoughts. Betrayal, physical or emotional abuse, etc. If you’re not careful, paying too much attention to your past has the potential to cause you to continually be drawn to future circumstances that reinforce that same abuse you have suffered in your past even though that abuse was years ago.

Mephibosheth, King Saul’s grandson, is a clear example of this. The story of Mephibosheth is told in 2 Samuel chapter 4, verse 4, and chapter 9. He was dropped as a child and crippled. Because of this handicap, he could not provide for his family. He was clearly in a position to accept help if it was offered, right? King David one day decided to honor the family of King Saul, the former king, for the sake of Johnathan, King David’s best friend (see 1 Samuel 18:1–3), and reinstate all the property owned by King Saul to his family. Mephibosheth was the only person King David could find. But when he informed Mephibosheth that he could now stay in the palace and be taken care of and receive his inheritance, which was rightfully his, Mephibosheth’s response was, Why do you look upon a dead dog as I? (See 2 Samuel 9:8 NKJV.)

Like Mephibosheth, so many people today are so defeated in their mentality that no circumstance will change the low opinion they have of themselves. It takes the power of God unto salvation to awaken your spirit and for you to begin to see what God sees about you. King David