The Battle of the Mind

Sometimes the thoughts we keep stored in our minds can lead us to sin, we overlook those thoughts because no one can hear them and we quickly try to brush it away or get stuck at what to do. Some of you may even get afraid because you’re aware that God is listening and instead of taking the authority He gave to us, you may spend time hiding. Sometimes we choose to respond to those thoughts that aren’t ours thinking they are ours or the voice of God.

Our mind is the biggest battlefield. That’s where most of us spend time waging in war. Most of our problems aren’t with other people, we’re wrestling with what’s on the inside. We battle with thoughts of insecurity, jealousy, low self-esteem, lust, etc, and if we’re not careful we take every thought on as if they are true or worse project them onto others. When you project your thoughts or how you feel about yourself onto others it keeps you divided from potentially knowing someone God blessed to be in your life. You no longer see them as a person that needs love or forgiveness but as the very lie, you’re telling yourself or thought you’re holding onto that was never meant for you to keep. But the truth is if you are in Christ, you are a new creation and there is now therefore no condemnation in Christ. We have the access to the greatest weapon to transform us, and that is the Word of God.

For those of us who have separated ourselves from the world, we are called to be ye transformed by the renewing our mind. As a child of God, God wants to spend time with us in the secret place so He is able to heal us, transform us, equip us, and prepare us to be sent out into this world but most importantly change our thinking and our perspective. He wants us to be ready to go to war in our minds and it could simply be done by remembering and reciting one Scripture to ourselves. Even if it’s just a place where people are saying things, wearing clothes and listening to music you know as God’s Child you aren’t supposed to, we have the power to overcome it all without judging or trying to change others without first changing ourself, because how can you get the speck out of someone else’s eye if you haven’t first got the log out of your eye? Matthew 7:5

There are three voices we hear in our mind and influencing our decisions everyday in us and all around us.

• God’s voice
• The devil’s voice
• Your voice

As a child of God it is our right to overcome these thoughts and walk in victory. Out of all three of these, there is only one voice we can trust, and that’s God. No matter who we are God never changes and everything that comes from God is good.  He has thoughts of peace towards us. He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us. Jeremiah 29:11

In John 10:10 Jesus came so that we can have life and life to the full.

There is nothing deadly, unrighteous, dark or evil about God because God is good and everything He created is good. God’s agenda is to give us life, not death. It is not in His will for any of us to perish.

When we focus on God and His thoughts toward us, we win. Focusing on our thoughts has gotten us nowhere except into more thoughts which eventually led us astray into sin because we soon feel as though we’re not worthy to be God’s child and the devil is a liar. Or you could be on the opposite side of the boat where you trust in the knowledge you’ve attained and now you feel as though you’re too worthy to be in the presence of others, which honestly leads to self-righteousness and superiority and causes you to look at sinners or those not as far in Christ as you are as if they are a bag of trash that needs to be taken out.  We have to humble ourselves and spend time in the Word to know God and from there we will know how to conquer the thoughts we tell ourselves and the thoughts that are influenced by the devil.

The Bible tells us to cast down those imaginations and every high thing that tries to exalt itself above the knowledge of God. We have to quickly take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ.

That could simply look like saying:

• I cast down all imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
• I bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,

• Telling  yourself scripture immediately when it comes across your mind,
• Or my favorite, we could pull what Joseph did when he was getting seduced and tempted to sleep with pharaohs wife.

“How could you ask me to commit such wickedness, and sin against God?”

Casting your thoughts down alone, using Scripture against your mind and submitting it under the will of God has so much power within itself no matter how small or innocent the thought seems. I don’t know about you, but I love to imagine stories in my head and although they aren’t sinful before they get there I have to immediately cast them down. I may not catch it every time but all it takes is learning to be aware of a thought that’s not healthy or a pure lie from hell.

The Bible tells us the eye is the lamp of the body, so we have to be careful of what we put into our ear gates and eye gates because my friend, what we watch, see, and ponder on goes directly to our heart. Our heart consists of our will, thoughts and emotions. Everything that we store in our hearts will linger in our minds and if we don’t cast down or fish out what’s not of the Father and cling onto what is pure, holy, and clean it’s possible we set ourselves up for a life of bondage or of fear.

Focusing on God is the only way to overcome this world and it’s thoughts towards you. This world has opinions of you and it’s easy to get influenced by it. Even when you want to study who our enemy is you must know who the One who defeated the enemy is. Jesus was sent to overcome this world and the same spirit that raised Him up from the dead three days later lives in us. And my friend the bible clearly says, “He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world.” You can’t walk in this authority if you don’t know the One who has given it to you. That’s why intimacy between you and God is required. He can’t send you out into the world or to your neighbor if you first don’t know how much God loves you and wants to transform you personally. Focusing on Him, He will train your hands to go to war. He will reveal all things to you. His spirit will lead you and guide you into all truths.

You can’t go to war against the devil when you don’t have the strategy or download from God, Himself. Focusing on what’s true, good, and real will allow you to overcome the fake and lies of the enemy. Spending time meditating on the scriptures will allow you to dodge the enemy’s arrows. We can’t fight this battle carnal minded; this is a spiritual war, and your weapon is the Word of God. Speaking the word of God is what holds the weight, not your thoughts, not your feelings, not your head knowledge but the Word of God alone.

Even when you don’t feel like it say that word, repeat that word, meditate and think on the word. Because again the Word doesn’t move according to how you feel. Faith comes by hearing the Word and hearing by the word of Christ. It doesn’t matter how you feel about yourself, about how the devil makes you feel, or how your loved ones make you feel. Last time I checked friend your identity is in Christ. What He says about you is true and when you spend time in the presence of God just you and Him in His word, and nothing else, you will come to know who you truly are in Him and His opinion of you.

Just know that:

• You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)
• You are loved (1 John 4:10)
• You are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9)
• You will prosper in all areas of your life (Deuteronomy 30:1-8)
• Your wounds will heal (Isaiah 53:5)
• You are an overcomer (1 John 4:4)
• You are more than a conqueror in Christ (Romans 8:37)
• You are not your past mistakes (Hebrews 8:12; Psalm 25:7)
• You are not a failure (Ephesians 2:10)
• Nothing can separate you from His love through Christ (Romans 8:35-39)
• You are a chosen people and a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)
• You are worthy (Matthew 5:13-14)

THIS IS THE TRUTH!

Why?

Because that’s what God says, and He made a promise to Himself. He’s a good Father who keeps His word. He’s not a man that He shall lie. His thoughts towards you 24/7 are of peace and prosperity not of harm or evil. Nothing of God is evil, malicious, suspicious, or dark, everything that comes from God is good. Just because your situation is weighing you down doesn’t mean God isn’t good. A lot of times He just wants you to come to the knowledge that He that is in you, is greater than he that is in the world, and you have the power to use the word He’s given you access to to speak life into your situations and mind. It’s His Word that transforms and He’s freely given us access to Him, something none of us can take credit for.