The Mind: The Real Battlefield
There are many voices in our heads sometimes. Many people do not realize that we do not have to think on just any thought that comes into our minds. Just because we are thinking something does not mean it is our thought. How can we know the difference and what do we do about the thoughts filling our minds?
We as humans are tri-part beings meaning we are a spirit, we have a soul and we live in a body, 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Our spirit requires a body to live on this planet. When that body wears out our spirits return to God. Our soul is made up of our mind, our will and our emotions. Our mind is our personality, what we like, what we don’t, how we think and it houses our will. Our will is our chooser. Our body cannot do anything until our will decides to do it.
Our minds are the real battleground as believers. The enemy has no access to our spirit man, but he does our minds. He attacks us in our minds with thoughts of fear and doubt. It is our responsibility to take control of our minds and choose to think about what we are thinking about.
We hear that voice in our minds and it sounds like us. It sounds like our voice, but it is not always. We have to be mindful to know when it is the enemy’s voice and be quick to resist it. I love that new Zach Williams song, “Fear is a Liar.” Fear isn't the only thing the enemy is trying to bring to you. He comes with lust, unbelief, depression and more. These lyrics show some of the thoughts that come against our minds.
“When he told you you're not good enough,When he told you you're not right
When he told you you're not strong enough,To put up a good fight
When he told you you're not worthy,When he told you you're not loved
When he told you you're not beautiful, That you'll never be enough
When he told you were troubled, You'll forever be alone
When he told you you should run away, You'll never find a home
When he told you you were dirty, And you should be ashamed
When he told you you could be the one, That grace could never change…
The enemy offers us these kinds of thoughts all day long. He wants us to believe them and act on them so that we become defeated. Jesus said of him in John 8:44b, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ”He is incapable of telling the truth. Jesus said, “Dedicate them to yourself by means of the truth, your Word is truth.” John 17:17. God’s word is our standard of truth. His word can be trusted and relied on.
So…what do we do when our minds is bombarded with accusations telling us we are no good, we will never get it right, we are a failure, we are stupid bla bla bla? First we must realize that these statements are not coming from us. They are coming from the father of lies. How do I know that? Because all of those statements are false, they are lies.
That is not how God feels about us. He redeemed us by Jesus blood and He sees us through that blood. He sees us as pure, holy, and a new creation in Christ, as loved and valuable. If the thoughts coming to our minds do not line up with what God’s word says about us then we are to reject those thoughts. We must engage our wills to choose to fight these lies.
How do we do that? By speaking back to those thoughts! Just like in Romans 10:9-10 we are saved when we believe and then confess or SPEAK, we must say out loud to our enemy,” You say I'm to blame but God says in Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. ”I am not a failure because Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me.” I am not stupid because 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God gave us a spirit of power, love and a sound mind.”
We must fight the enemy with God’s word. Jesus did this very thing as an example to us on how to fight the enemy. In the wilderness when He was being tempted for forty days, the enemy came to Him with three temptations. Jesus replied to him each time with a scripture, the Word of God. In Matthew 4 He replies to the devil with, “it is written…” He defeated Satan by speaking the truth and that is how we will defeat him.
We lose the battle when we let our emotions lead the fight. When we are hit with negative thoughts we can immediately “feel” down, sad, helpless or defeated. Then when those thoughts come we believe our emotions and then agree with the thoughts and boom! The enemy has won because we have accepted his lies as our own thoughts and believed them.
To fight him we must know the word of God. During a battle is no time to go searching for your weapon! It must be in our hearts and come out of our mouth when we need it. The chorus of the song says, “
Fear he is a liar, He will take your breath, Stop you in your steps
Fear he is a liar, He will rob your rest, Steal your happiness
Cast your fear in the fire, Cause fear he is a liar.
We must understand we are in a battle. It.never.stops. Daily the enemy will try to defeat you in your mind. We have to be smarter than he is and stand against his lies. Do we always “feel” like doing that? Heck no! But we can’t afford to be led by our feelings. Our feelings are fickle and can change minute by minute. The only true constant and the only reliable truth is God’s word. Read it, learn it, and memorize it! Then when the enemy comes you will be ready for the fight he’s bringing! Aint nobody got time for his junk…take a stand against his lies and be the overcomer Christ died to make you!