Winning the War in Your Mind

Connection/Tension

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Anyone struggle with thought battles?

Tell about church flooding and feeling sorry for myself having to clean it up. Where is everyone? Why is this even my responsibility? I’m not appreciated. Everyone sees my post and they are ignoring it - even though I know some of them spend ALL THEIR TIME ON THEIR PHONE! All these sinister thoughts began forming in my mind. I’m holy that way…

Anyone else feel like they have an ongoing war in their mind?

You have this battle between wanting to have faith, but caught so often in fear.

You want to trust God, but you also want to be in control.

You have moments of confidence in your calling or vocation, but then crippling insecurity that paralyzes you

Our mind isn’t just a battlefield. It is THE battlefield. Most of life’s battles are won or lost in your mind.

The good news this morning is that God’s word is powerful. Not just to help you but to transform you. God’s word can renew your mind.

I want to read this morning from 2 Corinthians 10. This is by the apostle Paul. We could say that he is the ultimate thought warrior. You might remember having heard his writing in Romans 7 that the good he wished to do he didn’t, but did the very thing he hated. We see this wrestling and warfare in Paul’s mind, and in 2 Corinthians we’re going to get a glimpse into how Paul’s mind worked.

2 Corinthians 10:3–4 “Indeed, we live as human beings, but we do not wage war according to human standards; for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Dunamis - explosive power of God

Show picture of Julie and me outside Stirling castle

Ochuroma - military stronghold, often a fortress built at the highest point in a city, reinforced with walls up to 20 feet thick.

Now thing about what your spiritual enemy - the devil - does. He shapes your thinking - one thought at a time, one lie at a time - until you are trapped in a fortress of lies.

I can’t trust people. I won’t be successful. I’ll always be broke. I’ll never have a good marriage. God doesn’t hear my prayers. He doesn’t care. I’ll never make a difference. I’ll never amount to anything. And on and on… This is what our enemy - the one the Bible calls “the accuser of the brethren” - is always doing.

2 Corinthians 10:4–5 “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

So that’s what we’re starting today. A new series called Winning the War in your Mind. Would you like 2024 to be the year where you stop being controlled by anxious, fearful, and defeating thoughts? Then, as Julie often tells me, let’s get our mind right!

Text and Context

Let me start with a sobering truth: Our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. Make it personal. “Your life…”

That means you can never rise above your most base and debilitating thoughts. They direct and control your life.

Here science and the Bible agree. The science of Cognitive Behavior Psychology shows that there is a relationship between certain issues and our thought life. Relational challenges, eating disorders, addictions, some forms of anxiety - these are a direct result of toxic thinking.

The Bible says it this way: Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (NKJV)

The life we have is a reflection of the thoughts we think. Therefore, what we think determines who we become.

Think you can’t - you probably won’t. If you think you can - with God’s help you probably will.

If you dwell on your problems - they will overwhelm you. If you look for solutions - you will likely find some.

If you feel like a victim - you will become a victim. If you believe that you can overcome through the power of Christ - you can and will.

The life you have is a reflection of the thoughts you think.

I want to take a moment and have you think about the thoughts you think. This exercise is called a

Center this entire block all on the same slide. Have one line come in at a time.

Thought Audit

Worried 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Peaceful

Negative 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Positive

Worldly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Eternal

Worried: what people think of you, about kids, future, money, job, health

Secure in God’s care: you’ll do what you can and trust God for the rest and walk in peace.

Negative: critical of others, you find fault easily, discontent, you attitude is hardened

Positive: tend to see the best in people, life is good, the future is optimistic, God is working all things out for good for those who love him

Mind consumed with this life: material possessions, what you have, what you don’t have but want. Do people like me.

Eternal minded: Focus is kingdom of God. God has given me gifts that can make a difference in other’s lives.

What comes out of your mind - Comes out in your life. No matter what you do, what you have, who you know, what you buy, where you live, where you travel… You cannot have a positive life when your have a negative mind!

Centered on one slide - comes in at same time

Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts.

Are you excited about the direction your thoughts are taking you?

I have to be honest - I’m not. My mind is my best friend - sometimes. But sometimes it is my worst enemy. Long before I’m defeated in the physical realm I am defeated in the mental and spiritual realm. Anyone else? So my goal - and I hope your goal - for 2024 is to renew my mind. We’re going to look at two ways to start this process.

All on one slide coming in at same time

1) Identify the biggest stronghold holding you back.

2 Corinthians 10:4 “for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Mental strongholds are things like: I’m not good enough, my past is too bad, I’ll always battle my weight, I’m not good with money, I can’t get close to God, I’ll never be in a good relationship…

Science tells us that things like negative thoughts actually change the chemical makeup of our brain. Every thought creates a neurochemical change in our body.

Positive thoughts produce a surge of rewarding neurotransmitters called Dopamine. These are like legal drugs that produce a chemical buzz. Someone comments on your post - dope! Someone compliments your hair - dope! The wife calls and says “he big boy, I’m thinking about you. Come home” - dope!

The point is that our thoughts - positive or negative - produce Neural Pathways in your brain. There’s billions of these pathways. And the more often you think a thought, the easier it is to think it again, to the point that it becomes your default thought.

That’s what a stronghold often is. It’s a wrong thought pattern that you’ve told yourself so often that you’ve created a rut in your brain. For instance, if you walk the same way through your yard - maybe from your house to your shed - what happens? A rut is formed. This is what happens with the thoughts in our mind. But what happens if we stay off that path for 100 days? The grass grows back and the rut is removed.

Our negative, critical thoughts create unhealthy, unhelpful neuropathways in our brain. The apostle Paul writes Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…” We have to capture these thoughts and create new pathways by renewing our minds!

You have a bad day at work. You come home to chaos because the kids have been stuck inside because of the snow, and your old pathway is to yell. But instead, your pause, you pray, you count to 10 - or a hundred and ten - and instead you tell your spouse/kids you had a bad day and hug them. All the sudden, your walking a new pathway.

Feel bad about yourself, so you develop a neural pathway that leads to the freezer, and you eat ice cream, and then you feel worse because you ate it all. Forming a new pathway might mean instead of walking to the freezer you take a walk or workout, and you get a little dopamine hit that makes you feel good about yourself. A new pathway is formed.

You’re bored and so you scroll through FB or Instagram and you see what your friends are posting - and you hate them. Because it looks like they have such a good life and you’re a loser. That’s forming a neural pathway. But instead of following those thoughts, you can pick up your Bible and be reminded of who God is and who he says you are. Because, remember, as a man (or woman) thinks, so he/she is.

Bottom line: if you want to think a different way, you have to forge a new path in your brain. And the more you walk that path, the easier it becomes to keep walking it.

So the first part of your homework is this: Identify the biggest stronghold holding you back. Just one. No need to overwhelm ourselves. Maybe it’s that you don’t feel loveable, or never good enough, or God doesn’t love/care about you. Identify your stronghold. Name it. You cannot defeat what you cannot define.

The second step in renewing our mind is…

All on one slide coming in at same time

2) Name the truth that demolishes that stronghold.

2 Corinthians 10:4–5 “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.”

Tell Craig Groeschel’s story of capture the flag with Kevin Penry - door unlocked the whole time…

How do we demolish the strongholds in our minds - those lies that keep us locked up? We take them captive. This is a warfare term - we capture them like we’re storming a fortress with spear and sword. What is the sword we fight with? Word of God! This is the truth that demolishes our strongholds.

Do you know my stronghold? Maybe it’s one you share. It’s a sometimes overwhelming sense of inadequacy regarding my job. You know, before I became a pastor I don’t think I ever struggled with feeling inadequate. I felt pretty competent in my secular job as a programmer. I felt pretty secure in my parenting ability. I thought I was a pretty good husband - I realize now I may have just been delusional. But when I became a pastor, all of the sudden inadequacy became my constant companion.

I don’t feel like I’m enough. And guess what - there’s some truth there. But guess what else is true? 2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness.” This is the truth that demolishes strongholds!

Maybe you feel inadequate. Personalize that last verse: His divine power has give ME everything I need for life and godliness. He has given me enough time, patience, energy, wisdom, resources, intelligence, whatever I need, he provides.

So your homework is:

All on one slide coming in at same time

1) Identify the biggest stronghold holding you back.

2) Name the truth that demolishes that stronghold.

Gospel/Response

Jesus said: John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” If we embrace the truth of God’s word, it will open the doors that lies have kept us locked behind. You can be free!

I can’t is replaced with I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When I am weak, he is strong!

I don’t like the way I look is replaced with the truth that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

I feel alone and forgotten is replaced with God will never leave me nor forsake me, and I am the apple of his eye.

I am a victim and powerless is replaced with I am an overcomer in Christ and greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. I am NOT who the enemy says I am.

Listen, this is not just positive thinking. It is combatting the lies of the devil with the truth of God.

Let’s recap:

Centered on one slide, each line coming in one at a time

Your life is always moving in the direction of your strongest thoughts

What comes into your mind comes out in your life

You cannot have a positive life with a negative mind

Capture the lies and replace them with truth

Don’t stay locked in prison. Jesus holds the key that will set you free!

Jesus said that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth is more than a concept, it is a person. Jesus is THE truth.

One of the biggest lies that the devil keeps us held by is a distorted truth about who God is. That he is angry, vengeful, unmerciful, harsh. The truth about God, demonstrated at the cross, is that he loves you. He will give anything for you, including giving his Son to take our sin and shame, dying for us so that we can be set free to live for him. Today, God wants to replace lies you’ve believed about him with the truth of his love. If you have never said yes to that love, I invite you to take that step today. (Show next steps slide) Turn away from your sin, turn away from the lies of the enemy, and accept Jesus as your savior. I’d love to meet with you and talk about next steps.

I want to give space to the Holy Spirit to come and begin to set us free where we have been captured by lies. Some of you have been walking certain pathways in your mind for so long that they aren’t ruts, they’re trenches. Jesus wants to fill those in and lead you in a new pathway. We believe in the divine power of God’s word. And we believe in the present power of the Holy Spirit.

Invite response…