HOW TO WIN THE WAR FOR YOUR MIND
By Frank Eiklor and Cecilia Contreras
LESSON 30 Part 2
INTRODUCTION
The moment you were born, you entered a war zone. The battle of all the ages is being fought on planet earth. Good versus evil. Love versus hate. Life versus death. God versus Satan. In simple terms, every human being has one father. Those not born again into God’s family are ruled by their father the devil. Those who receive God’s free offer of pardon and eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can rightfully claim God as their Father.
Once you come to Jesus, the battle is not over. It is just beginning. Satan will do all in his power to pull you back under his control. That’s why the Lord tells us to put on all of the armor of God so that we can not only fight this spiritual war, but win each battle through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 6:10-18) The main struggle is for control of your mind. That is where the evil one attacks constantly. You and I must learn how to win the war for our minds. This is the purpose of our present study. This is part two of the lesson. We will conclude this subject in our next lesson, part three.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK
The Bible says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7). Note the correlation between heart and mind—the heart is thinking. Picture the atmosphere as literally crackling with thought waves. Some are positive and beautiful, and others negative and ugly. Visualize two unseen personalities creating and projecting thoughts on the human mind: a caring and loving God and a subtle and sinister Satan. Both desire control of the mind. A believer is not immune to negative thoughts coming his way. He must choose whether to tune in to the voice of the Holy Spirit or to that of Satan. He must learn to think scripturally.
What is God’s plan for mind control? Interestingly, the Bible does not tell us not to think negative thoughts. Just try to concentrate on not thinking negative thoughts and you’re already thinking them. Scripture tells us to think God’s thoughts. In other words, it’s not what we are not to think on, but what we are to think on. Philippians 4:8 is fabulous. This verse states, “Whatsoever things are true—honest—just—pure—lovely—of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” That’s the secret. I’m to test my thoughts using this verse as a guide.
God’s plan for mind control also takes in James 3:17. “But the wisdom that is from above (God’s thoughts) is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” Note that the word “pure” comes before the word “peaceable.” Satan can sometimes give a counterfeit peace that is impure. Like the married man who fell in love with the divorced woman he met in church. He felt such “peace” being around her that he believed it had to be God. Throwing away the solid rock of Scripture for the shifting sand of circumstances, he became another victim who had a tragic fall.
A third way to test thoughts is through I Corinthians 13:4-7. Let me use the Living Bible for this one. Your thoughts, if growing in the love of God, will contain the qualities of “very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly notice when others do it wrong. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out.” These scriptures can be used as scales to weigh your thought patterns. Then you will know to reject the negative because it will not agree with God’s pattern.
UNSCRIPTURAL MEDITATION
Now let’s discuss unscriptural meditation. The dictionary states that meditation is, “to think deeply; reflect.” However, there are two kinds of meditation. One is dangerous. For example, transcendental meditation is when the mind is allowed to float in a vacuum of nothingness. This is deadly, because its purpose is to clear the mind of thoughts and leave a vacuum, thus opening it to satanic programming. That’s why scriptural meditation is not to dwell on self (“A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.” Proverbs 18:2) but to focus on the living God and our relationship to Him.
SCRIPTURAL MEDITATION
What is scriptural meditation? “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee…” (Isaiah 26:3). The word “stay” means to lift our thoughts or mind toward Him. Meditation should not be like a car racing down the freeway, but rather the parked car . There’s a time to drive the freeway of life, and a time to turn our minds on God and His Word. “Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10) simply tells us how the quiet revelations and secrets of God’s heart are best revealed to us.
The best way to meditate is over an open Bible. I love to think and meditate on Scripture.
I Timothy 4:15 says, “Meditate on these things.” Joshua 1:8 tells us to “…meditate therein day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written for then thou shall make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have good success.” Note that both scriptures emphasize meditating on the Word. Psalm 77:12 states, “I will meditate also of all your work, and talk of your doings.” Notice that effective meditation comes before effective talking. And remember the dictionary’s definition of meditate, “To think deeply; reflect.”
The simple but profound secret to waging successful war against Satan and winning the war for your mind is knowing what God thinks about every important subject in life and then obeying Him by acting on the Word of God. For example, I’m told to be a follower or imitator of God as one of His dear children (Ephesians 5:1). In other words, “Like Father, like son.” To the degree I live in the Word of God, to that degree I am also living in the mind of God. His words are His thoughts, so when my mind is filled with His thoughts and I’m reviewing them constantly, I will be a most difficult man for Satan to trap.
Most Christians don’t really know what God thinks about the subjects that constitute life, and so they follow what they believe to be the natural course of events and thoughts that enter their own human minds. They don’t realize they’re being programmed by either God or Satan—and that if they knew the Word of God, it would be fairly easy to recognize the evil one’s subtle voice, because he has a habit of disagreeing with God’s Word.
LIVING A TYPICAL DAY
The key person to giving us victory in the war being waged for our minds is the Holy Spirit. He is a person—not an “it”—and our greatest teacher, guide, comforter, corrector, empowered, and a hundred other things (John 16:7 Amplified Version). He’s in charge of taking you and me safely to the Kingdom of God and He guards us with a heavenly jealousy. He will not let you and me go, and so He wages total war against any demonic force that attempts to tempt, defeat, and control us.
1. An Eight-Point Exercise
Let’s now learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Instead of trying to imagine a whole lifetime of fighting a war (the very thought of that leaves one tired) let’s take life the way we were meant to live it—one day at a time (Matthew 6:34) and see the spiritual possibilities in a typical day.
You awaken in the morning remembering to give the Lord a “Good morning” greeting. This sets the pace for the day as you ask Him to “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). Before a morning quiet time in the Bible, start out with a brief eight-point exercise. It can take sixty seconds or ten minutes—depending on what you want to talk over with the Lord.
Praising. Just praise the Lord for Who He is and let Him know you’re proud to be one of His children. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
Confessing the Negative. Ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse you from any conscious or subconscious sins. “If we confess our sins…” (I John 1:9).
Knowing. Declare your old nature dead and that you are no longer its prisoner. “Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him…” (Romans 6:6).
Acting. Recognize that you are not only dead to sin, but alive and responsive to God. “reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God…” (Romans 6:11).
Filling. Each morning, ask the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh and possess your entire being. Then thank Him by faith that you’re filled, and go believing. “…be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).
Clothing. We clothe our physical bodies each day. We must do the same in the spiritual. “Lord, I take the helmet of salvation for my mind, the breastplate of righteousness for my heart, the girdle of truth for my loins, the shoes of the gospel for my feet, the shield of faith for my defense and the sword of the Spirit to fight spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:13-17).
Confessing The Positive. Confess boldly (declare openly) every good thing that Jesus Christ has brought to your life. For example, He says you have the mind of Christ ( I Corinthians 2:16); that you have been made a partaker of the divine nature (II Peter1:4); and that He is working in you His will and pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Simply say, “Lord, I declare all you are within my life today and I ask you to live Your life in me.” “…acknowledging every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus” (Philemon 6).
8. Worshipping. God is looking for worshippers—those who will love Him.
Take a few moments to worship and adore your wonderful Lord. “…
worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, 24).
These eight exercises may take only a brief time, but they will help you set your affections on things above, rather than just allow your mind and life to drift with the events of the day without any real sense of the presence of God.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
