Battlefield of the Mind

2 Corinthians 10:1–6 NIV84

1 By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

Everything starts with an idea (dream). The idea must overcome our thought processes to eventually become a reality.

Taking your thoughts captive simply means gaining control over what you think about yourself and life.

What you put in your mind has an effect on what you think

1. You are the result of your thoughts

Prov 23:7 “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Accept responsibility for your thoughts. You have the ability to exercise control over your thoughts. God warned Cain to focus his mind on the right things, but Cain chose to think about the wrong things - anger and jealousy - which led to his murderous actions. Are you willing to admit that you can, with God's help, regain control of your thoughts - and think enabling thoughts instead of disabling ones?

The first step to getting out of a hole is to stop digging

This is what we know

The human mind absorbs negativity seven times more easily than it absorbs positivity

We also know that language is the most powerful carrier of negativity

Thinking about my struggles is nowhere near as powerful as verbalizing them

When it comes out of my mouth, it affects me tenfold

If it’s negative it may be seven times more on top of that

A 2014 study published in Neurology linked higher levels of “cynical distrust”—another term for negative thoughts—with a higher incidence of dementia

In other words, thinking negatively could actually kill you.

Stop digging holes

Take charge over your thoughts

2. Change your future by changing your mind

If you don’t like who you are, change your mind

If you don’t like what you have, change your mind

If you don’t like your attitude, change your mind

Your mind - not just your behavior - must change. God calls us to change sinful behavior that does not honor Him. Instead of focusing on your outward behavior, work on disciplining your mind - from which the behaviors stem. Allow God to transform you by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2).

An attitude is a habit of thinking

It is formed in the same way we learn to be good or bad at anything—through repetition (or lack of it)

We weren’t born with attitudes. They get shaped from a young age. In the beginning, I’m not who I think I am. I’m actually who you think I am

A four-year-old may smile up to 500 times a day

An adult? Fifteen times

Hope is the most powerful weapon we have. Make hope a habit

Negativity, in any form that we choose to bring into our lives, is poison

3. Think through rather than just react

Think through your problems rather than just react to them

There is a reason we have two ears and one mouth

Everything we say matters

Your mind matters

You exert incredible influence on what you think

What you see

We don’t have to accept life the way it comes to us

We can design it in advance so we can get the life we seek

When you experience difficult challenges, you can react to them and think yourself into despair every time

Or you can look forward to the next opportunity and ask yourself what you learned from this failure

Is your first thought I'll never do anything right?

You don't have to get trapped by disabling thoughts

You are capable of getting out of your shame, despair, hopelessness, and anger - by taking control of your thoughts

4. Make every thought obedient to Christ

Take your disabling thoughts captive through confession

It is so true that our minds are a battlefield

The enemy uses this battlefield to gain ground – to try to use things and situations that have happened to us to turn us away from God

He reminds us of our past, brings up regrets, and brings others to mind who we think have it better than we do, all to get us off track

He tries to discourage us from the things that are important to us

The enemy wants us to be nothing more than worms, thinking negative, discouraging thoughts, all the time

He doesn’t want us to inherit the destiny that God has planned for us

His greatest weapon is to knock us out of faith and trust, straight into doubt and discouragement

Paul urges us to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"

Confront your disabling thoughts

Turn them over to God and become who He sees you can be

It will take work to take your thoughts captive each time they pop into your mind

But it is possible with the help of the Holy Spirit

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” -Romans 8:6

Every day, there is a great temptation to believe the worst about someone or something that has happened to us

Even greater, is the temptation to believe the worst of God, that due to something that has happened or not happened; that He is not good, and He is not on our side

5. Refocus your thoughts on the good

Choose to focus your thoughts on the right things

We are to think about those things that are Phil 4:8 “8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

When we think about those things, God promises to give us His peace

What a contrast that is to the thoughts of millions of people today

Don't look to a movie, TV show, or how-to formula to accomplish this for you

It takes personal discipline and commitment

Declare that your carnal mind is dead

Determine to report to a new commander in chief

Never forget, the battles are won or lost in your mind