Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle of Your Mind

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T” stands for test every thought. Psalm 139:23–24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” Ask God to search and test your thoughts. Don’t believe everything you think. Test every thought. Philippians 4:6–8 gives us two ways to guard our minds from garbage: conversational prayer and concentrated focusing: At a certain point in my Christian experience, I made a startling discovery: I had an enemy of God in me. Even though I was a Christian, serving God, I discovered that my enemy was my own mind. In Romans 8:7, Paul explains: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” One of the primary ways he does this is through deception, trying to bring all kinds of negative thoughts to our mind. Second, Paul says that we should fix our thoughts. “Think about these things.” How do you do that? By concentrated focusing. This is one of the keys to overcoming temptation: don’t merely resist it; replace it. Whatever you merely resist persists. The more you hit a nail, the harder you drive it into the wood. And when people say I don’t want to think about this, what are they doing? They are thinking about it! And whatever gets your focus gets you. James tells us that “sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). So don’t merely resist it.

While I was growing up, my dad was on the staff of a seminary. So I heard more sermons growing up than most people. And as I heard all these sermons, I would write over and over again as I was taking notes, “ YBH, YBH, YBH” — yes, but how? But all I want to do in this chapter is give you four simple principles — four of the many, many principles that I have tried to teach to others over the years — for living like Christ and being effective for him. 1) Don’t Believe Everything You ThinkEarly in my Christian life, I had an experience in which I had to trust the Word of God for an entire year to bring my physical healing. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus says man shall live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” I had to do that. At the end of that year, not merely was I physically healed, but I had a completely different mind. I had learned to think differently. I had learned to think in terms of God’s Word. My prayer is that Acts 2:17 will be true in your life and in your church: “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Anyone who’s ever read The Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer knows that until we get our thoughts under submission, they will continue to rule us and cause us to make bad decisions, have bad (or ruin) relationships, and live with worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger, and feelings of condemnation. Think about what a rebuke that was to the Pharisees who had memorized the Pentateuch — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. They had memorized it, yet Jesus says that their problem is that they don’t know the Scripture. They needed to teach others their knowledge, teach others to love knowledge, and get rid of anti-intellectualism. (By the way, we need great Christian intellectuals today more than ever before — people a lot brighter than I! — who battle on the intellectual level against the many competing worldviews.) 2) Perspective (Wisdom)

Just because you get a thought doesn’t mean it’s correct. This is the reason why we have so many fallen Christian leaders, because all sin begins with a lie. The Bible says Satan is “the father of lies” (John 8:44). And if he can get you to believe a lie, he can get you to sin. Anytime you sin, you are thinking that you know better than God. God has said this, but what about that? And so you have to question what you think. First John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We deceive ourselves all the time. I have noticed how the next generation values authenticity. I would like to ask, when has inauthenticity ever been in style? Authenticity has always been an attractive quality. But a lot of those proudly promoting their authenticity don’t realize what it really is. You are not authentic until you can publicly admit how inauthentic you are most of the time. Authenticity begins when you start by admitting that you are inauthentic. When these thoughts get rooted in our minds, then they become strongholds that give the enemy control. We are taking notes and filling notebooks and thinking that because we are writing things down, we are really getting it. But we’re not. A wide gap exists between knowing and doing in American Christianity — and perhaps its cause is too much teaching. Before we actually apply what we have learned, we are on to the next thing, and we cannot handle it. We cannot change that much that fast. UPDATE: Our son Danny did not like school and struggled all the way through so I did a lot of wondering about him and his future. I thought you would enjoy knowing that he is currently the CEO of Joyce Meyer Ministries. All my wondering was wasted time. God knew His (sic) future and had everything under control."Having pressures in your mind, therefore, is not unnatural or abnormal. It is part of the Christian life. It is not necessarily a sign you are doing anything wrong, or are on the wrong path. It is just part of your total experience as a Christian. The enemy within The enemy will try to get to your thoughts early in the day. Some mornings I wake up and, before I ever get out of bed, I begin having all sorts of negative thoughts about people and situations.

The "Wilderness Mentalities" section of the book was my favorite part, and might've saved this from a one star rating. I could get behind the problems and the solutions for most of them. The first two sections... not so much. Mind-binding spirits? Please. H” stands for helmet your head. Put on the helmet of salvation. In California you can’t ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. You don’t have to wear elbow pads or knee pads, but you do have to wear a helmet. Why? Because if you get your head hurt, you are in deep kimchi. And the Bible says, “Take the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17).

Three strongholds

Recognizing the identity of my enemy was a tremendous step forward. I searched the Scriptures and found a verse that I believed would bring me the solution to my problem. Joel 2:32 says: “It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered.” Where does innovation come from? It comes from simply asking the right questions. The only difference between an innovator and anybody else is not that the innovator sees more than what everybody else sees but that he asks questions that nobody else does. Perhaps the biggest limitation on your growth and your ministry to others is your imagination. God cannot fulfill your dream if you don’t have one. God cannot bless your vision if you don’t have his vision for your life. God cannot help you reach a goal if you don’t have a goal. These battles in our minds are actually a normal part of Christian experience. In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul speaks about this very vividly. In verse three he says: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.” It’s not enough just not to believe everything we think. It’s not enough just to guard our minds from the garbage. It’s not enough to keep on learning and developing character. We must also let God develop our imagination. Because we must outthink and out-dream and outsmart the world for the glory of God — not for our private good but for the glory of God and the good of others.