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Fighting Between The Ears
Contributed by Rodney Burton on Jan 30, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: A look at the battle that takes place in our minds and the need to have our minds renewed and to live with the mind of Christ.
Fighting Between the Ears
Ephesians 4:23
The biggest battle a Christian will ever face will occur between your ears – in your mind.
You will either be a person who controls your mind or you will be a person who is controlled by their mind.
Our mind is the area of most consistent attack by the enemy.
Our mind is the doorway into who we are.
If we can’t win the battle in our minds, we will never win the battle in our world.
1. What’s On Your Mind?
a. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 bringing your thoughts into captivity.
b. Thoughts in and of themselves are not wrong or problematic. It is what we do in response to our thoughts that can get us into trouble.
c. If the enemy can infiltrate our thoughts, he can infiltrate our entire being.
d. We often also have to deal with the thoughts generated by the things we have allowed into our lives.
e. Our mind works as replay (memory) and preplay (imagination). How much of what we think on is a direct result of the bad choices we have made in life?
2. Who Rules Your World?
a. Mark 5:1-16 the demoniac who was set free by Jesus.
b. This man didn’t have demons crawling under his skin. This man was being controlled in his mind and his very being.
c. Whoever or whatever you allow to control your mind will also be what controls your world.
d. This man’s mind was controlled by demonic forces and he found himself dwelling among the dead as a direct result.
e. If the enemy can get in and control our thoughts, he will work to bring us to a place among the dead in our spirit and even in our lives.
f. When Jesus delivered this man from the demonic forces that controlled him, we are told that the people found him “in his right mind”.
g. We must allow God by His Spirit to renew our minds so that we don’t find ourselves living among the dead and following the ways of the world (Romans 12:2).
h. Not only did this man escape the death of his life, he also became alive himself and went about sharing that life to others.
i. It is time that we have our minds renewed and that we leave the death around us and instead go about providing life.
3. What If . . .?
a. 1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us we have the mind of Christ.
b. What if we really believed this verse and lived it out?
c. What if we lived our lives with the mind of Christ? How might things look differently in our world?
d. What if we made it a point to please Him and Him alone?
e. What if someone really wanted to make a difference more than they wanted to make a reputation?
f. What if you walked through your life and viewed and approached your world with the same mind that Christ had when He was here on this earth?
g. We can no longer allow the enemy to convince us that God can’t do great things in and through our lives.
h. We can no longer allow our thoughts to dwell on impossibilities.
i. What if you are the one God wants to use to bring about the greatest move of His Spirit this world has ever seen?