Conditions of the Mind, from the part 2 of the Book: Battlefield of the Mind

 


Romans 12: 2; And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Our minds are not born again after the new birth experience, they have to be renewed.

Is your mind normal? Is it supposed to wander all over the place, or should you be able to keep it focused on what you are doing? Should you be upset and confused, or should you be peaceful and reasonably sure of the direction you should be taking in life?

As believers, we are spiritual, and we are also natural. The natural does not understand the spiritual; therefore, it is vitally necessary for our minds to be enlightened concerning what is going on in our spirits. The Holy Spirit desires to bring us this enlightenment, but the mind often misses what the spirit is attempting to reveal because it is too busy. A mind that is too busy is abnormal. The mind is normal when it is at rest- not blank, but at rest.

The mind should not be filled with reasoning, worry, anxiety, fear and the like. It should be calm, quiet and serene.

Note: the renewal of the mind requires time, but we will overcome if we continue to pray and study in this area.

  A wandering mind

When the mind is wandering, it will not be able to concentrate and this is an attack from the devil. A lot of things can result to inability to concentrate. Things like

1. Years of letting the mind do whatever it wants to do

2. Certain B vitamins deficiency

3. Extreme fatigue

So many children and adults don't comprehend what they read, because they cannot concentrate.

 

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Ecclesiastes 5:1

 

 

A wandering mind will not let you stay focused on what you are doing. Your body can be in church while your mind is at home cooking. Remember the mind is the battlefield, the devil knows that even if you are in church but you can't keep your mind on what is being taught, you will gain absolutely nothing.

 

A WONDERING MIND

Wondering leaves a person in indecision and indecision causes confusion. When a mind is always wondering, it finds it difficult to trust God and to take positive actions.

"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:23-24

 

A CONFUSED MIND

An unstable, unreliable and uncertain mind will not receive anything from the Lord. Read James 1:5-8.

A lot of people are confused as a result of wondering and reasoning. Reasoning occurs when a person tries to figure out the “why” behind something. God may be leading you to do something that does not make logical sense; the mind will reject it after reasoning and you will end up moving out of God’s will. The natural man does not understand the things of the spirit because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14) .

When God speaks through His word or in our inner man, we are not to reason, debate or ask ourselves if it is logical; we are to obey. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5.

If you want to stop being confused, stop trying to figure everything out.

 

A DOUBTFUL AND UNBELIEVING MIND

Doubt has to do with uncertainty, wavering between hope and fear; while unbelief has to do with disobedience. God has placed a measure of faith in our heart, but the devil tries to negate our faith by attacking us with doubt. Doubt comes in the form of thoughts that are in opposition to the word of God. This is why it is so important for us to know the word of God.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:18-21

Disobedience is disregarding the voice of the Lord, or whatever God is speaking to us personally, not just transgressing the Ten Commandments. When God tells us to do something, the faith to do it comes with the word from God, but Satan knowing how dangerous we will be with a heart full of faith, attacks us with doubt and unbelief.

Since we have realized that the devil doesn’t want our mind to agree with our spirit in faith, when situations and circumstance are pushing us to waver, let us keep our mind on something that will make us have faith and give praise to God. Make a decision to believe God and not the devil. Don’t let the devil steal your peace and joy with doubt and unbelief.

 

AN ANXIOUS AND WORRIED MIND

Some people are addicted to worry and it is impossible to worry and live in peace at the same time. To worry is to torment yourself with disturbing thoughts. Worry is an attack from Satan upon the mind.

Matthew 6: 25-34

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Take note of the following:

  • There is nothing in life that we are to worry about.
  • You are more valuable than the bird, yet your heavenly father takes care of them. 
  •  Worry is useless, so why worry?
  • If a flower that does nothing can be well taken care of and look so good, then we can believe that we will be taken care of and provided for

5.   The enemy knows that if he can get enough of the wrong things in our mind, they will eventually come to our mouth. Our words are very important because they confirm our faith or our lack of faith

6.   If we seek  the Lord, He will add to us all the things He knows that we need

7.   Don’t spend today trying to figure out tomorrow. God’s grace is on you to handle whatever you need for today, but tomorrow’s grace will not come until tomorrow.

 

A JUDGEMENTAL, CRITICAL AND SUSPICIOUS MIND

Being judgmental, opinionated and critical are three sure ways to destroy relationships. When we judge others, we are setting ourselves up as God in their lives. We become critical when we always see what’s wrong instead of what’s right and when we think there is something wrong with others, just because they do not share our opinion.

Judgment and criticism are fruits of pride. Romans 12:3; for by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

The devil loves to keep us busy mentally, judging the faults of others. That way, we never see or deal with what is wrong with us. We cannot change ourselves but we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit to change us.

Ephesians 4:32; (be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.) should be our attitude to others so the Lord doesn’t allow our own weaknesses to tear us to pieces. Doing unto others as we want them to do to us is a good life principle that will prevent a lot of judgment and criticism.

Several disappointing experiences can make us form the habit of suspecting others. Meditating on the components of love and realizing that love always believes the best can help us develop a new mindset. When Satan has gained strongholds in your mind, it has to be renewed according to the word of God.

 

A PASSIVE MIND

An empty passive mind can be easily filled with all kinds of wrong thoughts. An individual can cast down imaginations repeatedly, but they will always come right back until he learns to fill up the empty space with right thinking.

When a believer is inactive in any area in which he has capability or talent, that particular area begins to atrophy or become immobilized. The longer he does nothing, the less he wants to do anything. The first step to overcoming passivity in actions is to overcome passivity in the mind. You cannot make progress until you make a decision to change you way of thinking. A passive person may want to do the right thing, but he never will do so unless he purposely activates his mind and lines it up with God’s word and will.

If you want to live the resurrection life that Jesus has provided, then seek that new, powerful life by setting your mind and keeping it set on things above, not on things on the earth. If we want the good life, we must keep our mind on good things. Many believers want the good life, but they are passively sitting around wishing that something good would happen to them. If you truly want victory over your problems, you must be active, not passive. Right action begins with right thinking. Don’t be passive in your mind. 

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