Dealing with the Battles of the Mind

Our greatest enemy is the one we cannot see. You see, a lot is going on far beyond just the physical, and as Christians, we understand and believe in God, who is a spiritual being. The enemy ie. satan uses deception to get you to think that there’s nothing you can do about the battle that is taking place inside our minds. But all of that is about to STOP! By the end of this post, you will be equipped to deal with the battles of the mind.

With that said, do you want to know how to fight and win the spiritual battles of life? And win the war in your mind. Want to know how do you deal with our enemies spiritually? Sounds like you? Then, continue reading.

This post is for the individual saying NO MORE to anxious thinking, NO MORE to battles of the mind. Are you ready to take back your power?

This post is all about dealing with the Battles of the Mind

Are you walking in the Flesh?

Sinful Nature Thinking vs Holy Spirit Thinking

Romans 8:5-6 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Spending every waking moment entertaining and or satisfying every immediate thought that comes to our mind. Excessive sadness and dullness are a sign you’re walking in the flesh.

A life of joy and peace is the fruit of God’s presence, which is evidence that the transforming spirit is at work within you. When you see people joyful it doesn’t mean that everything is working and going right in their lives.

Joyfulness is a sign of faith that you know things will change. Laughter does the body good, it’s like medicine. You could have a multitude of circumstances you’re dealing with but fullness of joy and renewing of the mind is what makes the difference. We have learned to walk with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 12:2 – 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.

What do you believe to be True?

First things, remember the devil speaks nothing but lies and the truth is far from him. He uses sneaky attempts over and over to try and attack our minds. Feeding us everything opposite of what God says about us. When you are unaware of this we fall right into his trap every time.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..” Hosea 4:6

Do you believe what the Lord has said about You?

I am Chosen: Ephesians 1:4

I am Blessed: Ephesians 1:3

I am Loved: John 3:16

I am Forgiven: Ephesians 1:7

I am Worthy: 1 Corinthians 6:11

I am Called: 1 Peter 2:9-10

I am Valuable: Job 33:4

I am Courageous: Deuteronomy 31:6

I am Gifted: James 1:17

Knowing what God has said about you will help you to determine who is speaking to you when dealing with battles of the mind. More on this later in the post.

Romans 8:38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Psalm 91:1-16 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions [feathers], and under his wings, you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, …

Time to Armor UP!

The Armor of God

The Breastplate of Righteousness
The Shield of Faith
The Helmet of Salvation
The Sword the living word of God
The Shoes of Peace
The Belt of Truth

What does the helmet do?

It covers the head, it protects what’s inside. The brain. Your mind!

The Helmet of Salvation helps with your decision-making on earth and controlling your thoughts.

Developing an intimate relationship with The Lord for yourself is unmatched and far greater than anything this world could offer you. That means getting into the Word and reading the Bible for yourself. It’s one thing to go to church or watch a sermon online but it is completely different getting to know God for yourself.

Let’s put some tools in your tool belt with Scripture memorization.

Scripture you can start with ( Psalm 23:1-6 , 2 Timothy 1:7 , Job 13:15-18 )

The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Jonah 2:5-7 ESV

To remember you must REMEMBER! Meaning scripture memorization. Because when you’re in that deep dark pit finding the strength to even open your bible can be…a major task!

But with scripture memorization, you’re feeding your spirit spiritual food. So when the time comes – because it will, the Holy Spirit that lives on the inside will bring to YOUR remembrance what the Lord has spoken over your life. Pulling you up by your spiritual bootstraps and walking you out of that pit.

Bring every thought Captive

2 Corinthians. 10:4-5 says,

“4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;“

Every spiritual battle begins in the mind. If we are internally negative then our fruit will be negative. If you’re internally positive, your fruit will be.

To win the battle of the mind we must start by casting down those wrong thoughts and pay attention to what is going on in our life. Physically and spiritually.

Why is your mind so valuable, so important? Because…

“As a man thinkth, so is he ” Proverbs 23:7 or As Joyce Meyer puts it “Where the mind goes the man will follow”. Simply put, your thoughts are your reality.

what do you do when an intrusive thought comes to mind?

So now that we already know the way God looks at us. You can stop and ask yourself, is this God calling me a failure? No!

That is the perfect time to fire off scriptures and shove them right back in the enemy’s face.

Deuteronomy 28:13, Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

But sometimes these intrusive thoughts can and will catch us off guard. I could’ve been folding laundry or doing the dishes and BAM!

Here’s what I learned to say when this happened. “ I rebuke you in the name of Jesus and you can go back to the pits of hell where you belong”

I’d either mumble it aloud or recite it in my head. Either way, I felt instant relief. Talk about James 4:7 at its finest.

“So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.”

We’re going to discuss this more in the next section, Fighting in the Spirit.

Fighting in the Spirit

How do I fight spiritually?

How do I ask God to fight my battles?

Our biggest enemy is the one we cannot see.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

We are not powerless like the enemy would like to have us believe. Our flesh only wants to see things in the flesh but our fight, our power is in the word of God; in the spirit.

We already started to touch on this topic in the last section but as we already know, Satan is a deceiver but he knows the word. Using it in a very sneaky, manipulative way, he twists the truth; God’s word. By doing so, getting us to believe whatever lies he comes up with to deceive us the same way he did back in the garden.

Once we equip ourselves we realize that Satan has been using the same old lies and tricks for centuries.

So, It’s time to take back our power. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me four times…( wait ) There a pattern here? Either way, it’s time for war; Spiritually that is.

Would you allow a stranger to walk into your home, start a fire, and leave? Of course not! The enemy is no different. We fight with the word. We fight on our knees; in prayer.

Equip yourself. Armor yourself with the word because it’s only a matter of time before the enemy comes back.

This Time I’ll be Ready…

But this time will be different because you’ve now put on THE WHOLE Armor of God and now have a sword ( Psalms 91 your Canopy of Protection and the other scriptures in your tool belt)

And you’re going to cut him down with every scripture you fire off.

By speaking the word of God we release the angels that’ve been assigned to us. They respond to the word (scripture), which gives them their marching order to fight on our behalf. Here’s when we become BOLD in our faith because God has given us dominion and authority, so act like it.

Our angels are unemployed and cannot fight on our behalf if we speak anything other than the word of God.

For instance, if you find yourself saying things like “Oh Lord every time I take one step forward, I take two steps back” = Unemployed angels!

Gather your scriptures, and equip yourself to fight in the spirit.

Filtering Your Content to Defeat the Battles of the Mind

With social media, What we watch and the music we listen to. Make sure it’s nourishing our souls and not depleting them.

How do you know if the content is doing one or the other?

Ask yourself, how do you feel after scrolling?

How do you feel after watching that video or show?

Check in with yourself. If it’s creating feelings of jealousy, anger, envy, and resentment then you have your answer.

What I’m saying is to know your triggers! Know thyself. Be honest with yourself!

Reflection :

Does the enemy know your triggers better than you?

Prayer: Lord I will not walk in the flesh. I will not open myself to envy, discontentment, jealousy, or bitterness. I bind that spirit in the name of Jesus. I will not allow it in my home. I will not give it an open door. I give the enemy no open doors to my heart. According to your word in Hebrews 13:5, I am content with what God has given me. ( Galatians 5:26, Romans 12:2 )

Practicing Gratitude

I know from personal experience, that when I find myself in a bit of a funk dealing with battles of the mind, I would ruminate on all the things that are going wrong- It’s easy to go to that negative space.

Battle of the Mind scriptures and how to beat depression, anxiety, confusion, sadness, etc. use Philippians 4:4-8 as your guide.

Philippians 4:4-8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

So the next time those intrusive thoughts come to mind, focus on the good in your life. We must retrain our thoughts by reflecting on all the things we’re grateful for.

Get Help…

I know at times it can be hard to confide in someone let alone admit you need help. But we gotta start somewhere.

“It seems God is only limited by our prayer life. He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him” – John Wesley

“Ye have not, because ye ask not”

Call upon those prayer warriors, find a Christian therapist and if none of that seems possible, try God! (which should’ve been first but you understand )

You can always confide in the Lord. I must say He is an AMAZING listener, comforter, teacher & friend. Which is a win-win and you could never go wrong.

Lord of Lords, King of Kings, The Alpha and the Omega. I praise your Holy name. Lord, I thank you for being my shield, Protector, and my place of rest. There’s nothing that I can do or say for you to ever stop loving me, for everything was factored in on the cross. Thank you for rescuing me and protecting me. Because just like your servant Job said “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Lord, I trust that your plan is better. Lord, I love and honor you.

In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

The key to victory is found in The Word. The word of God will sustain and keep you, so allow the word to plant roots in your heart. Do not lean on your limited ability of understanding but place your full trust in the Lord.

Reflection:

How do you deal with the enemy spiritually?

What thoughts are creating anxiety as opposed to a peaceful flow?

Make a list of at least twenty-one things you’re grateful for, as well as love and appreciate about yourself.

If you enjoyed the post and found it helpful, comment below. Have something you’d like to add? In this community, we gatekeep nothing : ) PLUS, you never know who could benefit from it. We’d love to hear from you!