The Battle For Your Mind
The Battle For Our Mind
In Proverbs 23:7 God tells us that “As a man or woman thinks in their heart,
so are they”
In other words,
what happens in the battlefield of our minds ends up translating itself in and
through our lives, our actions, our decisions, and writes the story of our
lives. Whatever you give shelter and
sustenance to in your mind is ultimately what will grow in your garden. You're
going to reap what you sow
You have the power to change your
mind. You may not have the power to change your circumstances. You may not have
any control over the situation, but you can pray about it.
God wants us to wake up to the
reality that by the power of Almighty God and through the transforming work of his
word, we can change our minds. If you change your mind according to God’s word
you change you. If you change your thoughts, you change your actions, then your
change your path, and that’s when
you change your life.
It’s all about you taking control
through God’s power to win the battle for your mind.
The spiral begins this way: a
temptation or thought that's not from God comes into your mind. Stop right
there. Identify that reality. If a harmful thought enters your mind, it's not
from God. We must be awakened to this. Those thoughts are from the Enemy, who
often uses our own desires against us.
When a harmful thought or
temptation comes into our minds, we have a choice. We can either discard that
thought or entertain it. If we discard it, good. But if we entertain it, that's when the Devil
sits at our table.
Don’t give the Enemy a seat.
Don’t entertain his ideas. These thoughts are not from a good and trustworthy
Shepherd. Move on.
When a thought enters your mind,
you have to identify that thought.
1.
Go
back to the Garden of Eden. God provided abundantly for Adam and Eve. He only
had one rule, one tree was forbidden—the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. When the enemy approached her, Eve needed to examine the thought the
snake planted in her mind, but instead she gave the enemy a seat at her table.
2.
How
should Eve or you or I examine a thought? Simple, ask two questions. Where did
it come from? Is it congruent with God’s word?
Once you’ve identified the
thought, you have to speak to that thought in Jesus’ name
1.
Paul
tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “For though we live in the world, we do not
wage war as the world does, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of
the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
a. Whatever the
enemy is saying, remember that’s not coming
from God and
it’s not congruent with God’s word.
b. Use the name
of Jesus: “I bind that thought in Jesus’ name.”
c. Either you
bind the thought or the thought will bind you.
d. You can
demolish strongholds that are contrary to God’s word
and you can bind
those thoughts in the name of Jesus.
2.
God’s
word says you can win the battle for your mind.
a. For some of
us to win the battle for our mind, we’re going to
have to get
completely reorganized.
b. Be persistent
and consistent as you identify thoughts and then capture them in the name of
Jesus and one day you will realize you are walking in a different way of life
through the power of Jesus.
If you and I are going to win the battle for
our minds, we need to claim the truth.
1.
Jesus
taught us to do this. When confronted by the enemy Jesus responded with the
word of God. Jesus answered by saying, “Here’s what God says.” Enemy defeated!
2.
You’ve
got to know the truth and you’ve got to come with the truth. God’s word stands
forever. So, when your opinion becomes God’s word you’ve got something to fight
with.
Once you know what the
alternative truth is, you have to walk in that truth daily.
1. Every day spotlight any
thought that enters your mind, examine it, and speak to it in Jesus’ name.
2. If it’s not of the Lord, come
up with the opposite of it, the truth of God’s word.
We’ve all seen the scripture
memory cards. We know people who carry them around and pull them out in
necessary situations. But we’re not talking about having the scripture memory
card, we’re talking about living the scripture memory card. It’s about acting and
walking on truth, the truth in God’s word.
The Enemy wants you listening to
his voice. The Enemy wants you losing the battle for your mind. The Enemy wants
you looking away from the Lord. But Psalm 34:5 points you in a different
direction: 'Those who look to him [the Lord] are radiant; their faces are never
covered with shame.' Do you think of yourself as 'radiant'? That's a powerful
image and the opposite of shame. If you're looking to the Lord, you are
radiant. Your face is reflecting the light and love of Christ. You are never
covered with shame
The way you renew your mind is to
wrap your thoughts around Scripture. You can take control of what you think
about. You deliberately plant the good seeds/thoughts of God in your mind. As
these thoughts take root and grow, they will help remove the destructive weeds
that the Enemy tries to plant in your mind.
When a thought is obedient to
Christ, it either aligns with Christ or is rejected by Christ and by God's
teaching found in Scripture. See, if a thought is not taken captive by you in
Jesus' name, that thought will take you captive. You will bind the thought, or
the thought will, in time, bind you.
There’s going to be some fighting
involved in the battle for your mind. But it’s not a mystery either. It’s just
walking. When thoughts come, you’re going to identify them, bind them, and use
the power of the name of Jesus. You’re going to learn the word of God that will
set you on a new course. No matter what your past has been, take your seat at
the table God has prepared for you. That’s how you can win the battle for your mind.
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