The Power of Thoughts: How to Have a Healthy Thought Life

By Lauren Rose Correa, April 11, 2025

Oh, the power of thoughts! The thoughts we think have so much control over our lives. When I was younger, I didn’t understand this. I didn’t believe my thoughts mattered as much as my actions. But everything we do and everything about who we become begins with a thought.

I recently shared my testimony of how my thoughts led me to experiencing psychosis. However, this is not the only potential consequence of having a bad thought life. So many things are birthed by the thoughts we entertain – lust, fear, anxiety, bitterness, insecurity, and much more. What we think about will eventually manifest in our actions in one way or another. For this reason, it’s so important to guard our minds from any sinful thoughts that come our way.

The Power of Thoughts: Tips for a Healthy Thought Life

But how can we have a healthy thought life? How can we control what we think about? Here are some things you can do to harness the power of thoughts in your own life.

Meditate on God’s Word

We are told in scripture to meditate on God’s Word, day and night (Joshua 1:8). When we are filling our minds with God’s Word, we are taking control of our thoughts. We are thinking about the positive and pushing out the negative. For me, this can be as simple as reading a short passage of scripture and then thinking about it throughout my day. You can also write it down and place it in your mirror or somewhere you will see it.

Pray Without Ceasing

It’s important to be in constant prayer! Again, this doesn’t need to mean a complicated, perfect-sounding pray all day long. Throughout my day, I’ll pray short prayers to God, asking him for help and for peace. When I’m struggling with a thought that I know is wrong, I ask God to help me. Ask him to help you guard your mind.

Replace Bad Thoughts with Good Ones

Don’t just try NOT to think about something – this is a surefire recipe for thinking about it. Instead, have a replacement thought prepared for when bad thoughts come. For me, a negative thought I might experience is worry that I will experience another episode of psychosis. When I worry about this, I express gratitude to God for how he’s helped me in the past, and I think about how far I’ve come.

Be Mindful of the Media You Consume

Let me start by saying that TV is not a perfect medium. It’s really hard to find totally pure shows, and the shows that I choose to watch are by no means perfect. But there are certain themes I intentionally avoid because I’m aware of how they affect me. For example, I can’t watch violence without being very affected by it. I also avoid shows with dark themes, preferring comedy and uplifting shows.

Perhaps for you, you find sex scenes are a problem. Be aware of your own struggles, and select entertainment that doesn’t cause negative thinking.

Take Every Thought Captive

2 Corinthians 10:5b says, “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” When a sinful or negative thought comes your way, don’t be passive about it. We are instructed to take every thought captive. This means that we examine every thought in comparison with truth, and actively rid ourselves of anything that wouldn’t please God.

The Power of Thoughts: What About Intrusive Thoughts?

Do you struggle with intrusive thoughts? These are thoughts that are pervasive, that flood your mind and can be hard to get away from. They can even come with urges to take action and do something that you don’t really want to do.

I believe that guarding our minds can help us overcome intrusive thoughts are well, though it may take more patience. If you are struggling in this area, please take a look at my advice for how to overcome intrusive thoughts.