Tag Archive - enemy

Mind war

October 26, 2008 • 0 Comments

When I take the time to dig deep into the areas of my life that are struggling, it always comes back to my thoughts, my mind. I am growing more convinced that our spiritual battle is waged in our minds.

If the enemy can convince you of something, and you believe it, then he’s got you. Belief is the tool God uses to release his power on the earth. And the devil knows that, so he also uses our belief in a counterfeit way to release his hellish power into our lives.

Jesus said, “Have faith in God. I assure you that you can say to this mountain, ‘May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,’ and your command will be obeyed. All that’s required is that you really believe and do not doubt in your heart. Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it.” (Mark 11:22-24).

When Jesus said, “Have faith in God”, he was simply saying, “Believe.” He didn’t say go and do something. He said to believe. That starts in our mind.

The key to victory in any area of your life starts with your thoughts. What you think about leads to action. What you believe about yourself, about your situation, about others will come to pass. And, it’s not those one-time random thoughts that will come to pass—it’s those constant, pounding, never-ending thoughts that you focus on and believe that will come to pass.

  • I’ll never beat this depression.
  • I’ll always be a failure.
  • My marriage won’t last.
  • My grandpa died from cancer, so I’ll probably die from cancer.

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

We’ve got to stop accepting these thoughts like they are our own! We must “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). We must hunker down and wage this mental war as fiercely as it’s being waged against us by the devil.

To overcome any issue in your life, you must change the way you think and believe. This is what God commands us to do throughout scripture:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is” (Romans 12:2).

We must let God change the way we think about things, then we’ll really know what his will is for our lives.

As I wrote and finished this post, I thought, It sure would be good to share a real-life, practical example of this in my own life.

So, here it goes. When I was a kid, I had these episodes of fear that were incredibly intense. Terrifying. They would often manifest themselves in panic attacks, agoraphobia and sheer terror. This went on for years. In college, I was officially diagnosed with “Chronic Anxiety and Panic Disorder”. At this time, I wasn’t really a Christian. I pretty much believed every thought that came into my mind.

In 1991, I became a Christian, but it wasn’t until years later that I learned this principal of faith and thoughts. I started a website ministry called Season of Peace for Christians battling anxiety and panic attacks.

Throughout this condition, I constantly battled negative thoughts. I will never get free from this. These kinds of things run in the family. There’s no hope for me. I guess I’ll just have to live with this. I’ll probably need medication the rest of my life.

Any of that sound familiar? But, in 2000, I experienced this mind change. God showed me that I can change things by changing the way I think about them. I don’t have to live like this. God whispered into my heart, “You can be free.” And, here’s the key: I believed him.

Shortly after that revelation, I started believing in freedom. I started to believe that I don’t have to live my life in fear, or fear of the fear. I don’t have to rely on medication the rest of my life, like my doctor said. I can believe God.

Today, it has been more than eight years since that revelation, and life is awesome! No more panic attacks. No more crippling anxiety. No more fear.

God spoke to my heart, and I believed him. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).

Thank you, Lord, for my freedom in Christ.

A Conceived Thought

October 18, 2008 • 0 Comments

The biggest battle we face as humans is this war of the mind. Thoughts lead to action. So if the enemy can direct our thoughts, then he’s won.

Think about it for a moment. Where does temptation start?

    Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death (James 1:14, 15).

It starts in our thoughts, our evil desires. And when “desire has conceived”, the result is sin. A conceived thought. Using pregnancy as the obvious analogy, our mind is like the egg, fertile and ready to receive the seed. But, what are these seeds?

Here’s what the Bible says in Luke 8:11, “The seed is the word of God.” We are to plant God’s word into our minds so that we are impregnated with seeds of life. If we let the enemy plant his seeds, then it will give birth to sin and sin brings for death.

(Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares? There were two seed sowers. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” Matthew 13:24, 25.)

I’ve really been thinking about this a lot lately. Are there any sins that are fully active in your life right now, habitual sins like lust, pride, lying, fornication, drinking, anger or something you know is not right?

I am becoming more and more convinced that even as a Christian, habitual sins will lead to death. Not a spiritual death, because your spirit is new in Christ. But, if you do not take steps to overcome your habitual sins, they will destroy your soul, which will in turn destroy your body. Sin has consequences.

When we start entertaining thoughts in our head, eventually the thought will take root in our mind. And, the conceived thought will continue to grow in our mind, maybe in a matter of minutes. Maybe years. But, once conceived, it’ll grow until it gives birth to action. Sin. Or, until you uproot that thought.

Is there hope? Can we overcome these “evil desires” and “conceived thoughts”? I think so. But, it takes discipline. Read this promise carefully. The key is here:

    For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 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, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

We must train and discipline our mind to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. We must learn to “cast down arguments” and everything that tries to position itself higher than Christ in our thoughts. If you don’t fight this, then “you are a slave to whatever we choose to obey” (Romans 6:16).

Prince of the Air

September 8, 2008 • 4 Comments

This past weekend, my wife and I were driving back from a baby shower of a friend. It was a nice peaceful drive. We were talking about our pastor’s message this weekend. He was preaching about how God has chosen to limit himself to our faith, to what we believe. It was an excellent message and right on.

As we were driving, I made this blanket statement, directed mostly towards my own attitude and unbelief. I said, “I wonder sometimes if we don’t see answers to our prayers because we don’t really believe God.” My wife got quiet all of sudden—something was stirring. I realized later that it wasn’t a good stirring.

When we got home, she was very upset with me. I asked her why. I didn’t understand what I had done wrong. (That’s pretty normal for me.) When I made that statement about our prayers not being answered because we don’t believe, here’s what she heard me say, “Angela, it’s all your fault. You don’t really believe when you pray. You’re the reason God doesn’t answer our prayers.”

Whoa! Where did that come from? That’s not what I said. Nor was that what I intended. I was speaking totally about myself. Yet, what she heard was a condemning accusation about her faith.

Immediately, I knew exactly where that came from. Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan “the mighty prince of the power of the air.” He has this “gift” to mix up the words we say so that the hearer receives them completely different than what we speak. He can manipulate thoughts and ideas so that when the words come into our minds, we misinterpret them and immediately become offended. It’s an incredibly effective strategy, especially when people are completely unaware of it.

Thankfully, my wife is the kind of person who likes to talk things out (sometimes in gory detail). So, we talked about my comment and my intentions, and she quickly realized that I was not accusing her nor pointing my finger at her faith. It was more about me and my walk with God. Not hers.

Think about your own life. How many times have you said something only for it to be completely interpreted wrong? Or, how about those times when you sense something is wrong with your spouse, and she comes in crying, “You said this and you said that.” And you can’t recall every saying that. The prince of the air is at work.