Evil thoughts and bad habits — how to break free

Summary

The video script offers spiritual guidance on overcoming intrusive evil thoughts and behaviors. It emphasizes the futility of confronting evil directly and instead advises to ignore such thoughts, avoiding their influence. The speaker encourages turning towards Christ for strength and nurturing a close relationship with Him. They suggest using Psalms as a means to redirect focus during spiritual attacks and highlight the importance of cutting ties with anything that leads to sin. The message is one of hope, emphasizing Christ's victory over evil and the individual's role in choosing to side with God.

Takeaways

• 🛡️ The speaker emphasizes the struggle with evil thoughts and behaviors that can waste our lives, suggesting that confronting them directly often leads to defeat.
• 🧘‍♂️ It is advised to ignore intrusive evil thoughts rather than engaging with them, aiming to prevent them from taking root in the mind.
• 🤲 The speaker promotes the idea of turning towards Christ and building a stronger relationship with Him as a means to combat evil thoughts and behaviors.
• 🔗 There is a connection drawn between the presence of certain people, places, or objects and the likelihood of falling into sin, suggesting the need to distance oneself from these influences.
• ⛪️ The importance of prayer, especially Psalms, is highlighted as a tool to turn towards Christ without acknowledging the evil thoughts directly.
• 🏃‍♂️ The concept of 'running away' is redefined as a courageous act of cutting away from oneself thoughts, people, or behaviors that lead to sin.
• 🙏 Prayer should be pure and focused on Christ, avoiding the acknowledgment of the presence or significance of evil thoughts, to maintain spiritual purity.
• 🌟 The speaker reminds us that we were created to be one with God and to embody light, not to spend our lives confronting darkness.
• 💔 The feeling of shame or failure in spiritual battles is addressed, asserting that it's not shameful to admit the need for Christ's help in overcoming evil.
• 🌱 The idea that we must continually choose the side of God and actively turn towards Christ to achieve freedom from evil is presented.
• 🌼 The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to support their work in prayer and monastic life, reinforcing the communal aspect of spiritual growth.

Q & A

What is the main issue the speaker addresses in the video?

The speaker addresses the struggle with intrusive evil thoughts and behaviors that can waste away our lives and the common mistake of trying to confront them directly, which often leads to failure.

What is the speaker's view on the approach to dealing with evil thoughts and behaviors?

The speaker suggests that instead of confronting evil thoughts and behaviors head-on, one should ignore them and turn towards Christ, focusing on building a stronger relationship with Him.

What does the speaker describe as the 'greatest mistake' in dealing with evil thoughts and behaviors?

The 'greatest mistake' is the desire and ambition to confront evil directly, which the speaker observes leads to losing the battle against such thoughts and behaviors.

How does the speaker recommend responding to intrusive evil thoughts?

The speaker recommends acknowledging the presence of the thought without giving it significance or creating correlations with past experiences, and then letting it go without interacting with it.

What is the speaker's advice for prayer when under attack by evil thoughts?

The speaker advises to ignore the thought itself and to turn to Christ in prayer, using Psalms or prayers unrelated to the evil thought to maintain a pure connection with Christ.

Why does the speaker suggest carrying the book of Psalms or memorizing some Psalms?

Carrying the book of Psalms or memorizing Psalms allows one to turn to them during an attack of evil thoughts, providing a way to focus on Christ without acknowledging the presence of the evil thought.

What does the speaker mean by 'running away' from evil thoughts and behaviors?

'Running away' in this context means actively cutting away from one's life the thoughts, people, places, or objects that lead to sin, and turning towards Christ instead.

What is the speaker's perspective on the role of Christ in overcoming evil thoughts and behaviors?

The speaker believes that Christ is the key to overcoming evil, as He has already won the battle against the devil, and by turning towards Him, one can achieve victory over evil thoughts and behaviors.

What is the speaker's view on the concept of shame in the context of spiritual battles?

The speaker asserts that there is no shame in running away from evil to Christ, and that acknowledging one's inability to win the battle alone is not a sign of failure but a recognition of Christ as the true Savior.

How does the speaker relate the spiritual battle to the teachings of Christ?

The speaker relates the spiritual battle to Christ's teachings by emphasizing the commandment to cut away anything that leads to sin, like plucking out an offending eye or cutting off an offending hand, as a proactive and courageous spiritual act.

What is the speaker's final advice for those struggling with evil thoughts and behaviors?

The speaker's final advice is to continually turn towards Christ, to create time for Him to step in, and to actively cut away from one's life anything that leads to sin, recognizing this as an act of courage and faith.

Outlines

00:00

🧘‍♂️ Overcoming Intrusive Thoughts with Spiritual Discipline

The speaker addresses the struggle with negative thoughts and habits that can consume our lives. They emphasize the common mistake of trying to confront these issues head-on, which often leads to failure. Instead, they propose a method of spiritual warfare that involves ignoring intrusive thoughts, not giving them space in one's mind, and turning towards Christ for strength. The importance of building a close relationship with Christ is highlighted as the key to overcoming these battles, rather than fighting them alone.

05:00

🙏 The Art of Spiritual Combat Through Prayer

This paragraph delves deeper into the spiritual battle against negative thoughts, suggesting that prayer is a powerful tool. The speaker advises against confronting the negative thoughts directly in prayer, as this gives them power. Instead, they recommend using Psalms or other prayers unrelated to the intrusive thoughts to maintain a pure connection with Christ. The act of 'running away' from these thoughts towards Christ is portrayed as a courageous and active spiritual practice.

10:01

🏃‍♂️ Spiritual Growth Through Active Avoidance of Temptation

The speaker discusses the importance of actively avoiding people, places, and things that have led to sin in the past. They argue that recognizing these sources of temptation and removing them from one's life is a courageous act of spiritual discipline. The speaker also refutes the idea that it is shameful to rely on Christ for help in these battles, stating that it is a sign of faith and an acknowledgment of Christ as our Savior.

15:05

🕊 Embracing Christ's Victory Over Temptation

The paragraph focuses on the concept that Christ has already won the spiritual battle against evil, and it is up to us to choose to side with Him. The speaker encourages the listener to turn towards Christ repeatedly, creating space for His presence in their lives. They discuss the importance of recognizing and cutting away sources of death in one's life as an act of courage and faith, and the need to create opportunities for Christ to intervene in our battles.

20:07

🙌 The Importance of Community and Support in Spiritual Warfare

In the final paragraph, the speaker expresses hope that the shared insights resonate with the listener and commits to revisiting these topics. They highlight the importance of community and support in the spiritual journey, asking for prayers for their monastic community and expressing gratitude for any support received. The speaker concludes with a blessing and an acknowledgment of the ongoing nature of the spiritual battle.

Keywords

💡Evil thoughts

Evil thoughts refer to negative, intrusive, and harmful mental impulses that can consume one's mind and lead to destructive behaviors. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the struggle with these thoughts and the importance of not allowing them to take root in one's consciousness. The speaker advises to 'be aware of its presence and then Let It Come and Let It Go,' illustrating the concept of acknowledging the thought without engaging with it.

💡Orthodoxy

Orthodoxy, in the context of the video, refers to the Eastern Orthodox Church, which is a branch of Christianity with its own distinct practices and beliefs. The speaker mentions a tendency among those converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism to confront evil directly, which is contrasted with the suggested approach of ignoring and avoiding evil thoughts.

💡Confrontation

Confrontation, as used in the script, implies a direct face-to-face struggle with evil thoughts or behaviors. The speaker warns against this approach, stating that it invariably leads to losing the battle against these negative forces. Instead, the speaker promotes a strategy of avoidance and turning towards Christ.

💡Ignorance (in the context of not acknowledging)

In the video, 'ignorance' is used to describe the act of not acknowledging the presence or significance of evil thoughts. It is presented as a method of defense against these thoughts, suggesting that by not giving them attention or importance, one can prevent them from affecting the mind.

💡Intimacy with Christ

Intimacy with Christ is a central theme in the video, representing a close, loving relationship with the divine. The speaker encourages investing spiritual energy in nurturing this relationship rather than in fighting evil. This is exemplified by the phrase 'investing the same time the same energy in creating a stronger closer more intimate loving relationship between us and Christ.'

💡Spiritual energy

Spiritual energy, in this context, refers to the personal strength and focus one devotes to their spiritual life and battles against evil. The speaker criticizes the misuse of this energy in fighting evil directly and instead advocates for its investment in building a relationship with Christ.

💡Psalms

Psalms are biblical songs or prayers from the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. The speaker recommends using Psalms as a form of prayer during spiritual attacks, as they provide a pure way to turn towards Christ without directly addressing the evil thoughts.

💡Running away

Running away, in the video, is metaphorically used to describe the act of avoiding evil thoughts, behaviors, people, or places that lead to sin. It is portrayed as a courageous and active spiritual decision, as seen in the speaker's words 'Run Away by removing from your mind even the memory of those thoughts, do not allow them to land anywhere.'

💡Cutting away

Cutting away is similar to running away and refers to the deliberate act of removing sources of evil from one's life. It is an act of spiritual surgery, where one severs ties with anything that has led to sin in the past, as illustrated by 'if your eye leads you to sin pluck it out if your right hand leads you to sin, cut it out.'

💡Sin

Sin is a term used to describe actions or thoughts that are morally wrong, particularly from a religious perspective. In the video, sin is presented as the consequence of engaging with evil thoughts or behaviors, and the speaker encourages avoiding sin by turning away from these influences.

💡Christ as Savior

Christ as Savior is a fundamental Christian concept, referring to Jesus Christ as the one who saves humanity from sin. The speaker emphasizes this role, stating that Christ has already won the battle against evil and that believers should turn to Him for salvation and strength in their spiritual struggles.

Highlights

The video is for those struggling with bad thoughts and habits that waste life.

The greatest mistake is the desire to confront evil directly, which always leads to losing the battle.

A better way to fight evil is to prevent intrusive thoughts from taking root in the mind by ignoring them.

Acknowledging the presence of bad thoughts and trying to confront them only gives them more power.

People converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism often feel the need to fight evil directly, but this approach is flawed.

The key is to run away from evil thoughts and turn towards Christ instead.

Investing time and energy in building a closer relationship with Christ is more effective than fighting evil directly.

The devil knows that if we strengthen our bond with Christ, he would have no chance against us.

We were created to be one with God, not to spend our lives confronting evil.

Praying about the evil thought itself is the worst thing to do; instead, pray with Psalms or unrelated prayers.

Praying with Psalms helps turn towards Christ in a pure way without feeding the evil thought.

Running away from evil is not shameful; it's an active, courageous spiritual act.

Cutting away thoughts, people, places, or objects that lead to sin is a courageous and spiritually active choice.

The devil inspired pride in Adam and Eve, telling them they could achieve godliness without God.

Recognizing our inability to win the spiritual battle alone and turning to Christ is not shameful but courageous.

Christ has already won the battle against evil; choosing God's side is our only purpose.

Creating time for Christ to step in and cut away from sources of death is a sign of a healthy soul.

The speaker will continue to share these thoughts and tools to help confront one's own thoughts and behaviors.

Transcripts

hello my dear ones I record this video

for those amongst us who are struggling

with thoughts or behaviors that waste

away our lives bad thoughts evil

thoughts that are intrusive and that try

to take away take over our minds and all

bad evil habits that lead us to waste

months if not years or Decades of our

lives and the greatest mistake I have

seen in both myself and in those I know

from confession or from meeting face to

face the greatest mistake I've seen is

this desire this ambition it's a much

better word to confront this evil be it

in our minds or in our bodies if you're

talking about a behavior to confront

this evil will face to face there is a

desire and a need particularly in those

amongst us who are converted to

Orthodoxy from some type of

protestantism there's a need in us to

fight evil face to face and that will

always without

exception always lead to us losing the

battle there is a much better way to

fight evil and it is about this much

better way that I want to talk to you

about

today every time an intrusive evil

thought comes to your

mind the one thing you should aim for is

simply to prevent it from finding a

landing place in your mind the one thing

you should strive for is to Simply

ignore it do not IGN acknowledge its

presence do not acknowledge its

significance do not create correlations

between that thought and your past

experiences simply be aware of its

presence and then Let It Come and Let It

Go simply register its presence nothing

more it checked in and it checked out do

not interfere with it in any way do not

interact with it in any way try to be

dead to these

thoughts and try to be alive to

Christ when you perceive when you become

aware of of the closeness of the attack

of these

thoughts the way to do battle with these

thoughts and we'll talk a bit afterwards

about the way to do battle with

behaviors as well because they are very

clearly

connected the one way to succeed against

them is to run away from them to run

away from them towards Christ we waste

most of our time most of our spiritual

energy in fighting evil instead of

investing the same time the same energy

in creating a stronger closer more

intimate loving relationship between us

and

Christ and the devil knows that this is

the way to lead us to lose the

battles because the devil knows that if

we invested the same time the same

desperation the same level of spiritual

energy in creating our relationship our

our link to Christ the devil knows that

then because of this relationship with

Christ he would stand no no chance

against

us as long as we are separated from our

Shepherd as long as we lead this battle

by ourselves we are doomed to fail we

are doomed to lose this battle again and

again in our teen years 20s 30s and so

on until the day we die the only sure

way to to do this battle in a successful

way is to turn ourselves towards Christ

and to invest the time and to invest the

energy into loving him into welcoming

him into our lives remember my dear ones

remember that we were not created in

order to do battle with evil we were

created to be one with God remember that

our purpose here the reason for whom for

which Christ created us is not that we

should spend this life this God even

life to confront evil to face evil to

face Darkness but to face light and to

embody light in

ourselves so how do you pray when an

evil thought kind of tries to find a

lending place in your mind how do you

pray then well the worst thing you could

do is to stop in your mind and to turn

your attention to the to the thought and

to confront it to curse it to to tell it

to get away from you that is

absolute absolutely the worst way the

worst thing to do the second worst thing

to do is to turn in prayer towards

Christ praying for him to take away that

particular thought in in the sense of

you acknowledging the thought

acknowledging its presence acknowledging

the type of thought and the significance

that it has for you personally because

the devil knows you and the devil will

send you the thoughts that are relevant

to

you the way to turn to Christ in this

battle is By

ignoring the the thought

itself the one advice that was very

helpful to me was to always carry with

me the book of Suter just to have the

Psalms St David St David's Psalms with

me all the time or if possible to learn

a few of them by heart and every time

I'm under attack open the Psalms and

read or say the Psalms you know by heart

in your mind and what makes this better

and different from Simply turning to

Christ and saying I am attacked by lust

or I am attacked by anger I am attacked

by gluttony help me out of this because

you know that in the past lust or anger

or gluttony have taken me down and so on

and so forth the reason why praying with

the

Psalms or with

any prayer that is not related to that

evil thought is because you turn towards

Christ in a pure way that doesn't at the

same time

feed that thought in your mind you turn

towards Christ in a way that doesn't at

the same time give weight to that

thought in your mind you do not

reopen a way a little gate for that

thought for that behavior to reenter

your mind and afterwards Your Love life

your physical life to re-enter your body

we need to find ways to turn towards

Christ in prayer every time we are under

attack but in such a way that we do not

acknowledge the significance the weight

the very presence of these thoughts

because otherwise that is an impure

prayer which is with half our mind

turned towards Christ and the other half

look back at the evil Beast trying to to

distract us it's a distracted prayer it

is a prayer which is contaminated by the

very thought from which we want to run

away there's no shame in running away my

beloved one

instead running away is perhaps the

safest and most courageous ious thing we

can

do what we call running away think about

it is in fact cutting away from

ourselves certain thoughts or cutting

away from the reality of Our Lives

certain people who always lead us to sin

or cutting away certain behaviors

certain places certain objects that will

lead us into sin and although we call

that running away which is a passive

concept having the strength Having the

courage to cut away these things these

people these

places that have in the past given us

pleasure is one of the most courageous

and active spiritually active things you

can do Run Away by removing from your

mind even the memory of those thoughts

do not allow them to land anywhere Run

Away by removing from your life the

people who in the past have led you to

sin if those people or those places or

those objects have led you to sin once

or twice or 10 times or 100 times then

my beloved one it is a given it is an

axiomatic truth

that they will once again lead you into

the same scene if you've seen the

evolution if you've seen that by

interacting with those people or by

being in those places or

by welcoming these objects in your life

from food to maybe your telephone or

your your laptops if you've seen a

correlation between the presence of

these things in your life and then you

falling into sin then Run Away by

cutting any relationship with these

people or places or objects in your

life you are not doing anything shameful

you are fulfilling Christ's commandment

if your eye leads you to sin pluck it

out if your right hand leads you to sin

cut it out this is a very active way of

living your spiritual life if you notice

a certain thought or a certain Behavior

a person or a place or an object that

again and again they lead you to sin the

same thing will happen my beloved one

again if it happened a 100 times before

it will happen 101 more times

afterwards run away because every time

you run away from Evil you run away to

Christ and there's nothing shameful in

turning your back to the devil so that

you may face the source of Life the

source of light Christ our

creator there's nothing shameful in not

allowing the Devil to Define you there's

nothing shameful and this is a good

thought glory be to God that He gave it

to me there's nothing shameful in you in

you

acknowledging your

inability to win this battle

single-handedly there's nothing shameful

or wrong in

you telling yourself telling Christ I

cannot do this alone I need

you it's only a devil inspired sort of

Pride that makes us think that we should

be able to do this by ourselves we

should be able to do battle

alone we should be able to to be

successful in the spiritual battles

alone this is what the devil did to Adam

and Eve the devil told

them that if you eat out of that tree if

you disobey God you will be like God

without God we know now that God's plan

for Adam and Eve was all the time that

they should be like God because we are

created in God's image and the purpose

of our life is to become one with him in

eternity we know that this was God's

purpose but we can achieve that purpose

only in opening us to Christ's presence

in our life we cannot do this alone and

this is what the devil told Adam and Eve

that You by eating that Apple that fruit

which was forbidden by God you will be

able to achieve this by

yourself so that every time you think I

have failed miserably because I should

be able to do this alone I should be

able to defeat these thoughts alone or I

should be able to find my way out of

this destructive Behavior alone every

time you feel that way every time you

think that way remember you are not the

first human being to whom the devil have

inspired those

thoughts long before you and I my

beloved brother and sister he did the

same thing to Adam and Eve and we know

very well where that

led the way to do battle is to run away

run away from Evil thoughts run away

from evil people behaviors and places

turn yourself to Christ in prayer again

and again in a way that does not carry

in a prayer that does not carry in

itself the memory of that bad behavior

the memory of that bad thought and

acknowledge before him that he is the

savior there's a reason why we call him

Christ Our Savior and there's a reason

why we don't look in the mirror and say

look at you you are my

savior he is our savior he is our

Shepherd he is our protector he will win

this battle for us indeed he has already

won it this battle is already won Christ

has won and the devil has lost and now

it's simply up to us to choose a

side this is our only purpose to choose

the side of God to choose the sight of

the one who has already won the battle

we were not created to waste away our

life in shame and in in Gloom and in

darkness facing the devil fighting the

devil every single hour of our Lives we

were created to be completely free from

him and we achieve that Freedom by

turning ourselves in l a billion times

an infinite number of times turning

ourselves towards light towards God

towards

Christ run away run away with courage my

beloved one gain time when you are under

attack from an evil thought or an evil

desire gain yourself some time say some

prayers go out for a walk reach out to a

friend

um do something else for as long as

possible create time for Christ to step

in create time for you to be once again

able to open yourself to Christ's

presence because once Christ steps in in

our being into the reality of Our Lives

the devil can do

nothing the devil is nothing the the

devil is truly nothingness because the

devil is creation and creation like you

and I like any tree or any flow or

anything else that is created is brought

out into being from

nothingness run away to Christ there is

no shame there's nothing passive in

actively again and again choosing life

in actively again and again cutting away

from you those those parts of your

reality of your life that lead you to

death that is the sign of healthy

behavior that is the sign of a healthy

Soul you recognize death or a source of

death and you cut it away like a rotten

part in a flower or in a tree or like a

cancer cut it away and

remain into life there's nothing

shameful about that it is the very Act

of Courage and the Very act that proves

our faith in Christ and the fact that we

recognize him to be our savior not

ourselves I have no idea if any of these

got to you my beloved one but I'll get

back to them again again and again

because these are the thoughts that

leave in my mind as well these are the

tools the the things I meditate upon the

things I bring back upon you you know in

front of my mind of my heart again and

again in order to do my own battles in

order to confront my own thoughts my own

behaviors so I'm I'm certain we'll talk

about this

again in the meantime I pray for you pre

please pray for me and for all

monasteries on the a of mul and the ale

of aona and if you can and if God gives

you a good heart remember to support

us every single support every single

donation everything you do helps us to

continue the work we do here our work in

prayer Our monastic lives here and even

something silly like like these videos

that we've been recording for I think

close to 3 years

now God bless you my beloved brother and

sister

amen

amen

amen