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.