Have you struggled with letting your thoughts dictate your actions? Me too. I’m a perfectionist by nature, which means I tend to put an unreasonable amount of pressure on myself to do everything “the best way”. When I don’t live up to those standards, it has led to negative thoughts about myself and my abilities—thoughts that I’m not good enough, smart enough, or capable enough to achieve anything. When I don’t intercept those thoughts with truth, they can dictate my actions and responses to life. It’s crazy how fast our mindset can start to control our life, but that is not what God desires for us.

The most important leadership role is the one that begins within. God desires for you to exercise the authority He has given you to lead your life. We have authority in Jesus Christ, y’all. That means we have a responsibility to take charge of our lives with the authority of Christ. We were not created to be bound by negativity. Thank you, Jesus!

If I’m being honest, something I still have to learn daily is that there is a difference between taking charge and taking control. I’m not capable of controlling what happens to me or around me, which is totally opposite of what my type A personality wants to hear. However, I have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to shift my mindset and my response. So have you.

Taking charge looks different for everyone, but it always requires us to replace the enemy’s lies with the truth of God’s word. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) says, We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Whenever I start having negative thoughts, one practice that helps me take my thoughts captive is speaking [out loud] one truth about God and one truth about who I am according to God. He is sovereign. I am worthy. These two statements might seem pretty obvious if you have been following Christ for a while, but I promise you, the more you speak it, the more you will start to truly believe it. Choosing to speak truth over the enemy’s lies completely changed my perspective.

God has given us the power to choose how we respond to what we cannot control and has extended an invitation to partner with Him in the process of leading our minds. When we are in constant community with our creator, that’s when we will see transformation take place in our circumstances.

It’s not easy, and it certainly isn’t pretty, to lead your life. It’s a process of learning how to shift your perspective every day from the doubt and fear to praise. We have to choose to rejoice in God’s goodness when we’re in the valley, so that we will praise Him on the mountaintop.

I urge you to think about what areas of your life you need to take more leadership over in the pursuit of healthy living. My prayer is that we would all make the active choice to respond with praise. It has changed my own perspective, and I pray that it will also begin to change yours.