The Battle for the Mind: The Conqueror’s Mind

Introduction:

Week 1: The Battle for the Mind: A Competing Mind (flesh vs. the Spirit) - must recognize this in order to even begin talking about having victory over satan in the battle for the mind…

The competition for preeminence:

Romans 8:5-6 (5) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

This competing battle in your mind makes decisions such as:

Going to church (Pleasing the Spirit) or staying home (fulfilling the desires of the flesh)

Responding kindly to my wife and kids (pleasing the Spirit) or speaking harshly in anger (fulfilling the desires of the flesh)

The mind of Christ finds the living sacrifice order in Romans 12:1 to be a reasonable sacrifice and not unreasonable…

It’s not unreasonable to give your life to God

Having the mind of Christ is a choice…

Philippians 2 and 3 says “Let this mind be in you”… the word “let” is used several times indicating the mind of Christ is a choice…

Week 2: The Battle for the Mind: A Unified Mind (mine to God and mine to each other)

Unified to the mind of Christ and unified to the brethren in the church…

Week 3 and 4: The Battle for the Mind: A Servant’s Mind

The ready mind to receive truth

The ruined mind to resist truth

The ready mind to serve God

The replicating mind to serve God

The resilient mind to remain steadfast

Nehemiah and the people had a mind to work, so must we…

This Week: The Battle for the Mind: The Conqueror’s Mind

Premise of message: Despite the unchangeable circumstances in my life, I can have victory through God

We must define what “victory through God” means?

It means:

to purposely choose to mind the things of the Spirit and not the things of the flesh

to purposely choose that being a living sacrifice for God is not unreasonable

to purposely choose to have the mind of Christ

to purposely choose to receive truth and not resist it

to purposely choose to remain steadfast in my service for God

to purposely choose to reject sin in my life and do the things that please the Lord

It doesn’t mean:

to always be comfortable

to never have any health ailments

for everything to always go as planned

Church, we will be dealing with these things until we get to Heaven, but it doesn’t mean you have to let it take your purpose for the Lord away…

Also the premise of the message: Don’t expect to live a conquering life of victory when you won’t submit to God’s Word

Don’t be mad at God when He won’t just bless any choice you make. You want the result? You must use the recipe.

Have you gone from:

Peace to fear

Joy to depression

Victory to defeat

What happened? Are you living in complete submission to God and His Word?

Philippians 2:5 “5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”

Mind: the element, part, substance, or process that reasons, thinks, feels, wills, perceives and judges the processes of the human mind

Since God created you, than He also is privy to your genetics, individual gifts and mental ability or inability in order for you to live a victorious life.

You can’t say “My genetics aren’t right.” or “I was destined to be an alcoholic because that was what all my family is.”

You make your own personal decisions and God did not predestinate you to live a life of defeat to sin.

He created you for a purpose and to succeed at that purpose He created you for.

Jeremiah - “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Psalm 139:1–4 KJV 1900

1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

Romans 8:37 “37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

What things? Those mention in

Romans 8:35 “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

We have so many reasons to lose the battle of the mind.

But the Bible says, “we are more than conquerors THROUGH HIM that loved us...”

He will go on to say that NOTHING can separate us from God’s love…

Because He loved us… we have access to God…. Because we have access to God, we can be MORE than conquerors… despite any external reason to live a life of defeat…

Conqueror: to overcome, to utterly defeat

What are some external unchangeables we use to admit defeat?

POOR HEALTH - can live a life of a conqueror

POOR GENETICS - can live a life of a conqueror

POOR UPBRINGING - can live a life of a conqueror

POOR FAMILY - can live a life of a conqueror

We can’t allow these things to become excuses for why we don’t do what God wants us to do…

Job - lost health, wealth and family, but refused to curse God…

Joseph - sold into slavery, falsely accused, imprisoned, but conquered the situations in faith through God…

Moses - Couldn’t speak well, but conquered this issue through God…

“Who am I that I should go?”…. “I am of slow speech and of a slow tongue.”… God - “Who hath mad man’s mouth?”

Mephibosheth - crippled in both feet after a childhood accident and later befriended by King David…

2 Samuel 4:4 “4 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth.”

Paul - thorn in the flesh… God CHOSE to leave that there

Premise of message: Despite the unchangeable circumstances in my life, I can have victory through God IF I win the battle in the mind to conquer the undesirable unchangeables

What does this have to do with a battle for the mind? It requires a different mindset in order to reject the undesirable unchangeables in our lives and live a Christian life as more than a conqueror through God anyway…

Judges 11:1 “1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.”

Jephthah was a mighty man of valour AND he was the son of an harlot…

Could Jephthah help that he was born to a harlot?

The thing he could help was that he was described as a mighty man of valour…

The thing he could help was how he lived his life that God would deem him worthy to be placed in the chapter of faith in Hebrews

Just the same, you can’t help who you were born to…

You can’t help the history and pattern of your family before you were born…

You can’t help if you were born with a defect…

You can’t help your genetics…

Can I also say that you can’t help what gender or race God made you, but you should just accept that you were fearfully and wonderfully made in the eyes of God…

Let’s look at the life of Jephthah to understand what a life of victory for God can come from:

1. Insignificance

Everything about the existence of Jepthah was insignificant…

After all, he was born to a harlot…

What he was known for according to God was what he did after his birth, not what his family did before his birth…

Hebrews 11:32–34 “32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.”

2. Rejection

Judges 11:2–3 “2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.”

“…they thrust out Jephthah…”

Don’t look for acceptance in man, but in God…

Joseph was also hated by his brothers and rejected…

King David was mocked by his brothers and told to go home when he went to fight Goliath…

Jesus was rejected by His people…

3. Hatred

Judges 11:7 “7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?”

“The circumstances of birth or of family are not a handicap tot he person who will live by faith.”

4. Used

Judges 11:4–11 KJV 1900

4 And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Ammon made war against Israel. 5 And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob: 6 And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon. 7 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress? 8 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. 9 And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the Lord deliver them before me, shall I be your head? 10 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The Lord be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words. 11 Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.

He was only wanted when it benefited them…

Again playing to his insignificance…

5. Accused (from Ephraim)

Judges 12:1–4 KJV 1900

1 And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire. 2 And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at great strife with the children of Ammon; and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands. 3 And when I saw that ye delivered me not, I put my life in my hands, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and the Lord delivered them into my hand: wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day, to fight against me? 4 Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites.

Jephthah’s victory in Judges 11:32-33

Judges 11:32–33 KJV 1900

32 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands. 33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.

Despite people, difficulties or situations beyond your control, you can still have victory… lineage or no lineage… health or no health… abilities or no abilities….

All these people had something in common… faith and devotion to God and His Word… Meaning what? Don’t expect a life of blessing when you live contrary to God’s Word… Expect defeat when you won’t live by what the recipe for victory is (the Bible)… Be faithful to God’s Word and obedient to Him is the first step to victory and being a conqueror in this battle of our mind…

Jephthah’s victories came through:

Acknowledging God (Judges 4:9 “9 And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.” )

Speaking to God (Judges 4:11 “11 Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.” )