The Importance of the Mind, from the part 1 of the Book: Battlefield of the Mind


PART 1

THE MIND IS THE BATTLEFIELD

Ephesians 6:12; For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We are in war with the devil and his demons. The devil bombards our mind with a thinking pattern that actually produces the problems in our lives.

2Corinthians 10:4&5; For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  It is Satan that sets up strongholds in our lives; he puts us in bondage due to a certain way of thinking. He argues with us, he offers us theories and reasoning. All of this activity goes on in our mind. The mind is the battlefield.

As believers, we find it difficult to drop certain attitudes that make us miserable due to strongholds that the devil has established in our minds over the years. It maybe attitudes we picked from our family background, environment or something that happened to us in the past. But we can pull down these strongholds by renewing our minds with the word of God. Jesus defeated the devil with the word and so we can:

1.   Abide in the word of God, studying to know the truth and acting on the truth so we can be set free.

2.   Praying with the word of God.

3.   Praising God from the depth of our heart.

 

A VITAL NECESSITY

Do you know that your thoughts have the ability to create things?

Note: you cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:5 clearly shows us that we live according to how we think. When we realize that a lot of things are wrong in our lives because of years of wrong thinking and that our lives will not get better until our mind does, we will get serious about tearing down the strongholds Satan has built in our minds. We may be determined to take it serious but we need the Holy Spirit to help us overcome.

REMEMBER: Right thinking is vital to victorious living. Get more serious about thinking about what you are thinking about.

 

DON’T GIVE UP

Galatians 6:9~ so let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.

The way to make progress is to “keep on keeping on.” There are thousands of thoughts presented to us every day. We have to keep making efforts to choose right thinking.

When we begin to feel that the battle of the mind is just too difficult and that we are not going to make it, then we must be able to cast down that kind of thinking and choose to think that we are going to make it. Not only must we choose to think that we are going to make it, but we must also DECIDE not to QUIT.

When the devil starts bombarding us with doubts and fears, we must take a stand and say: “I will never give up! God is on my side, He loves me, and He is helping me!”

Proverbs 18:21~ the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Our thoughts become our words. We have to choose right thoughts so we can speak right words.

 

LITTLE BY LITTLE

Romans 8:1; so now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. The devil will want to stop you through discouragement and condemnation. God is delivering you little by little, so don’t be discouraged and don’t feel condemned if you make a mistake. When condemnation comes use your “word weapon”. Remind the devil that you do not walk after the flesh (depending on yourself), but you walk after the spirit (depending on God).

Psalm 42:5, Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Don’t get discourages. When discouragement and condemnation try to overtake; EXAMINE YOUR THOUGHTS. Change your thinking and you will be free. Think good thoughts like: “I believe God. I believe He is working in me no matter what I may feel or how the situation may look. The Lord has begun a good work in me, and He will bring it to full completion.”

Go the extra mile and not only purposefully think right thoughts, but also speak them aloud as your confession.

 


BE POSITIVE

Matthew 8:13; Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

What we believe determines what happens to us. Begin to think positively about your life. That doesn’t mean that we can get anything we want by just thinking about it. God has a perfect plan for us and we can’t control it with our words and thoughts, but we must think and speak in agreement with His will and plan for us.

Don’t stop believing the best no matter what is happening at the moment. For we are assured that all things will work together for our good (Romans 8:28). We must learn to become the kind of person who plans things but who doesn’t fall apart if the plan doesn’t work out. A positive person won’t always have things work out the way he thinks it will, but the positive person can go ahead and decide to enjoy himself no matter what happens. The negative person never enjoys anything. He is always complaining no matter how good things are going. If you are a negative person, trust God to restore you. Whatever it is that caused it, remember you are a new creation now (2 Corinthians5:17). You don’t have to allow the old things that happened to keep affecting your new life in Christ. You can have your mind renewed by the word of God. Also ask the Holy Spirit to convict you each time you start to get negative.

 

 

MIND-BINDING SPIRITS


Psalm 107:20; He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. Was there a time in your life when you started becoming miserable and questioning God in unbelief? Believing and confessing the word of God will deliver you from the mind-binding spirits attacking your mind. As Christians, we need to learn to decide to believe. God often gives us faith for things that our mind just can’t always seem to come into agreement with. Make a decision to believe the things God told you personally even if you don’t understand why, when or how it would come to pass. If the devil starts attacking your mind to believe otherwise; pray in Jesus name. By the power of His blood, come against “mind-binding spirits.”

 

 

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT

Psalm 119:15; I will meditate on your precepts, and contemplate your ways. The more time a person spends meditating on the word, the more he will reap from the word. The amount of thought and study we devote to the word will determine the amount of virtue and knowledge that will come back to us. If we want to do what the word of God says, we must spend time thinking about it. The word ‘meditate’ means: to reflect on; ponder; to plan or intend in the mind; to engage in contemplation.

Think about what you are thinking about: As a Christian, you may be having troubles controlling your thoughts. Your mind may be busy thinking about things that are not productive in a positive way. We sometimes read the scriptures without thinking about what we are reading; and that way no knowledge will come back to us.

When David became depressed, instead of meditating on the problem, He meditated on God’s word, pondering on the doings of God and the works of His hands. Psalm 143:5; I remember the days of old; I meditate on all your works; I muse on the work of your hands.

Note: Your mind plays an important role in your victory. We need to line up our thinking with God and His word. If we have our minds renewed to God’s way of thinking. We will be transformed into what God intends for us to be. So many of us have been born again for years, but have no victory in life; the reason is because we are THINKING ON THE WRONG THINGS.

 

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