The Battle of the Mind

In my journey of life I have come to realize that we all have many battles which are in common. One of those is with the mind. Books, magazines and seminars have been written and developed on this subject which is pertinent to all of us; for our thought processes can be our best friend or even be used to be our enemy.

Life is not easy. Life is not fair. Life is good however because God is good!! The Good News for those of us who are saved is that Jesus Christ is in control and by His grace we are granted unmerited favor to get through the daily grind. Whether young or old, male or female we battle the constant bombardment of daily issues which can dampen our faith; tactics used by Satan himself to spiritually tear us apart and take us away from our Heavenly Father if we are not on guard suited with the shield of faith.

My dear friends, I know from personal experience what we must do in times of spiritual famine as the devil battles our mind. I could write my own books about the many battles of the mind Satan has and continues to put me through, yet each time a struggle begins God comes shining through!! Satan knows where each of us are our weakest and you can rest assured that the battles have come and will come again. With this in mind, what can we do mentally that will help us spiritually? What daily applications can we apply to life to help sustain and get us through?

First of all, run to God’s Holy Word for in the scriptures we find many passages which reaffirm who we are in Christ and a truth that through God’s power and assistance Satan is defeated. Do not run to idleness, spiritual laziness or the easy chair. Be proactive and fight by the power of God’s Word and the strength of His sword, the Word of God. Secondly, we must continually stay in a spirit of prayer. One of our faithful members at the Church recently told me, “Pastor Johnny, I am always praying.” Brothers and Sisters--- take that same attitude. Do not simply pray in the morning when you arise or in the evening when you go to bed. Do not simply pray at meal time for the food that is before you. Continually throughout your day stay with Jesus in prayer and seek His face for His hand can heal and help each of us with the “Battle of the Mind.” The third and final thing I would suggest is to lean on your Christian brothers and sisters in Christ. Our staff is always here to speak with you and pray. We have other wonderful Christian folks at Daniels Chapel who are ready to “stand in the gap.” My encouragement to you is that when you feel like you have reached the end of the road and no one cares, remember that Jesus does and so do we!!! As the song of old says, “Everybody needs somebody to lean on!!”

Today and everyday… do not let Satan steal your joy. God created you to run the race and to be awesome in His sight. Make godly decisions and let His Spirit direct your path. You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God with a purpose and awesome destiny. Do not make stupid decisions and think before you act or speak. Even though past times have looked bleak, look in faith to the future for better times and days to come.

Rest assured….Satan is going to try to get in your head today. He wants you to be down on yourself, down on the Church and down on Jesus Christ and other people. When he does, overthrow Him through the power of the Bible and have a quiet time in prayer with your God. Lean on each other and trust in God to win the “Battle of the Mind.”

Joyce Meyer has written a lot on this subject. In her book In Pursuit of Peace she writes, “A life of frustration and struggle, a life without peace is the result of trying to do something about something you cannot do anything about. Once we realize that we are struggling with something and feel upset, we need to start praying and immediately turn the situation over to God.”  

She also writes on an internet blog these words, “Each day our minds are bombarded with a constant stream of nagging thoughts, suspicions, doubts and fears. While any one of these can cause defeat and devastation, we are often plagued by more than one…filling our daily lives with mental combat against an array of aggressors. It's a painful process to face our deceptions and deal with them. It's so easy to allow our past and how we were raised to negatively affect us for the rest of our lives. Our past may explain why we're suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage. You may have some major strongholds in your life that need to be torn down. Let me encourage you by saying, "God is on your side." There is a war going on, and your mind is the battlefield. But the good news is that God is fighting on your side!”

The Bible says:

(Ephesians 6:12-13) “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

(Colossians 3:2) “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

(James 4:7) “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

(Philippians 4:8) “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.”

Let us pray: Dear God, life is a battle. You know this very well. Help each of us control our thoughts and attitudes as we look to You in faith and Word. As Satan sends forth His array of tactics to spiritually overthrow us, help us to stay firm in Your Word, fervent in prayer and seek out the assistance and wisdom of our other brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank You Jesus for winning the war. Help each of us in the battle. In Christ precious and loving name, AMEN.

Come see us Wednesday at Daniels Chapel!! A great day of Worship, fellowship and activity is being planned. Don’t let the devil talk you into staying at home on Wednesday. Come join us for worship and praise to Jesus Christ!!

I LOVE YOU!!

Pastor Johnny

P.S. A few other things…

1.   Please support the Food Drive for Hope. At this time we are having to spend around $400 a week from funds at Hope Station to stock the shelves with food. The more food we collect, the less we have to spend. Please support the Youth in this endeavor!!

2.   I also want to encourage you to support our Stewardship Campaign. At this time we have received pledges and gifts over $55,000. We are only $20,000 away from getting ready to remodel and update the Church Sanctuary. Please prayerfully consider giving to the Lord and His Church so we can very soon move forward with this project. I will be glad to speak with any of you at anytime on how you can support and be a part of this project. Just remember…. God looks at the heart and the gift, not the amount!!! Let us rally around this cause and get this done for Christ and the Church.  

3.   Many thanks to all of you for your prayers for my dad. We have been at the Oncologist office today and here is the latest updates. My dad does have something that we are dealing with, we just do not know what. I can tell you that he has an enlarged nodule in his right lung. He is also a cancer survivor from 13 years back. My dad is scheduled for a bone scan in Wilson at the Hospital on Friday. Secondly, he will be having a broncoscopy in the coming days where they will go into the bronchial tube of his lung and biopsy the area of concern. The bones around his lung are also showing signs of concern, which is why they have ordered a bone scan for Friday. All of this has happened quickly. A year ago, none of this showed up in his chest x-ray. Now we have an issue. I am very appreciative to all of you for your calls, notes, text messages and for checking in on my family and me. Your prayers and support have always meant more to me than words can describe. As you know, my heart is broken and overwhelmed by all of this. I do know that GOD IS GOOD and He is going to take care of my dad no matter what. The Lord Jesus Christ healed him 13 years ago from lymphoma. I am convinced that Christ can do this again!! Thanks for your prayers for us. Please do not stop now or forever!!