Every day you and I battle monsters.  No, we don’t call them monsters, but that is what they are. Envy, Judgment, Criticism, Hurt…these are the monsters that can inhabit our hearts.

If we keep them hidden inside of us, we unknowingly feed the monster. Our pain increases, our jealousy grows, our anger swells, our criticism rises to new levels.  The monster grows and begins to take over our heart, our mind, and our attitude.

Many times we don’t even recognize that the monster exists. We feel justified in our feelings.  We lick our wounds, not even realizing that infection is settling in.

Every one of us deals with these monsters and sometimes they may pay us a visit several times a day! Once we start recognizing the monsters for what they are and the damage they cause, we can choose not to feed them, but rather to starve them!

How do you starve a monster?

1) Call it what it is: Envy, Judgment, Anger, Hurt.  Tell God what monster you are dealing with and apologize for even entertaining it at all.  You might even share it with a friend…calling the monster by name. (i.e. I’m struggling with judgment today. My heart is full of judgment against my friend/my husband/my child/my co-worker.)

2) If you have been offended, choose forgiveness.  It is a choice we have to make to keep our heart cleaned up and uncluttered.  This is how we escort the monsters out of our heart and mind.  (This doesn’t mean we don’t address the hurt in the future. If we choose to address the hurt with the person who caused the hurt and we do it with a forgiving heart, it will be a much better conversation!) (i.e. God, I forgive my friend/my husband/my child/my co-worker for ….”)

3) Choose to focus on what is good rather than what is bad.  Philippians 4: 8-9 confirms this, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (i.e. “God, I choose to focus on what is good about my friend/my husband/my child/my co-worker.  He/She is…”)

Now enjoy the peace of knowing that you’ve starved this monster and it didn’t gain any ground in your mind and heart.