Dwight Fletcher | Freedom - the battle for the mind - Part II

Last week, we stated that Satan works doubly hard to control our minds with negative thoughts. But by accepting the truth of God's word, we can walk in victory, with our minds free from negative thoughts of suicide, condemnation, and not being good enough. By accepting the truth of God's word, we can learn how to fight. One constant battle many of us face is keeping our minds focused on God.

Why are we still battling with the same thoughts and feelings that we had before we became Christians? 2 Corinthians 10:3 (NLT) reads, "We are human, but we don't wage war as humans do." Some of us may be carrying the wrong tools to the battle. The battle for our minds cannot be won using the same thinking we had before we accepted Christ. We are in a spiritual and mental war, and the weapons at our disposal aren't natural weapons. They're supernatural weapons that have the God-given power to destroy demonic strongholds. To win the battle with our minds, we need to change our minds.

The Bible outlines the battle plan that you can use to win the war for your mind. Here are some:

Battle Plan # 1 - DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK

We naturally feel that if we think something, it must be true. But thinking something does not make it true. We are bombarded all the time with false ideas from Satan and our sinful nature. But, our minds are broken by sin, so we cannot trust even what we ourselves think. Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

This is the reason we have so many fallen leaders; 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 and live by that lie, he can destroy your life.

Battle Plan # 2 - DESTROY HARMFUL ARGUMENTS

"We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ". 2 Corinthians 10:5b (NIV). We can have victorious minds when we capture every thought that goes against what God says to us. No rogue thoughts should be allowed to roam free in our minds. If we spot an inappropriate thought, then we must not entertain it. We attack it with the truth, and we make every thought pay attention/listen to what Jesus has said.

Battle Plan # 3 - RENEW YOUR MIND

You must reprogramme your mind to think right. "Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think." Romans 12:2a (NLT). The Holy Spirit will renew us, but we must cooperate and agree with what He's doing. James 4:7 (Christian Standard Bible) says, "Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Once we submit to God and cooperate with the Holy Spirit, then we will have the power to defeat the enemy. We must make a conscious mental decision that Jesus Christ will be honoured by every thought that stays in our minds.

To reprogramme our minds, we must also read and memorise Bible verses. Studying the Bible and memorising scriptures helps to give us an assurance of who we are in Christ. "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." 1 John 5:11-12 (NIV). The Bible teaches us that we have to grow our understanding and, subsequently, our faith in who we are for us to walk victoriously. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2 (NIV).

After we have memorised Bible verses, we need to weaponise them. The word of God is one of the most powerful spiritual weapons at our disposal in the battle for our minds.

Join us next week when we put into practice the Bible verses we have memorised and make them into weapons of atomic destruction as outlined in Ephesians 6:10-18.