Framed Pt. 1 – Mind Games
There are many influences that have bearing on who you are. Your environment. Your education. The region in which you were raised. However, I believe that when it comes to defining you and determining the type of individual you will be there are a couple of factors that have more power and more impact than your environment, family, education or anything else. Over the next 2 weeks I am going to deal with the first of those factors which is your mind or your thoughts. I can point you to many examples that prove this. For instance if this wasn’t true then no one would ever escape the projects. No one would ever rise above family issues. No one would ever excel beyond their educational level. Our mind is powerful! In fact, I would say that it is the climate of your mind more than the climate you are surrounded by that is important. That is why we must practice climate control in our head. I believe Scripture backs this up. Let’s see what God says about how we think.
Text:
Proverbs 4:23 Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.
Proverbs 23:7 - as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. Unless we learn to control our mind, manage our mind, and sanctify our minds we will find ourselves framed!
So, what I want to do this morning is take you into an account and see if we can learn some things about how the enemy frames us by playing mind games with us.
Text: 1 Kings 19:1-5, 9-10 1-2 Ahab reported to Jezebel everything that Elijah had done, including the massacre of the prophets. Jezebel immediately sent a messenger to Elijah with her threat: “The gods will get you for this and I’ll get even with you! By this time tomorrow you’ll be as dead as any one of those prophets.”
3-5 When Elijah saw how things were, he ran for dear life to Beersheba, far in the south of Judah. He left his young servant there and then went on into the desert another day’s journey. He came to a lone broom bush and collapsed in its shade, wanting in the worst way to be done with it all—to just die: “Enough of this, GOD! Take my life—I’m ready to join my ancestors in the grave!” Exhausted, he fell asleep under the lone broom bush.
9Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?” 10 “I’ve been working my heart out for the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,” said Elijah. “The people of Israel have abandoned your covenant, destroyed the places of worship, and murdered your prophets. I’m the only one left, and now they’re trying to kill me.”
1. Your perception determines your reality! He saw how things were? How were they? Let’s take a look at how they were . . . reality . . . Elijah has been hidden and fed for 3 years and the king and queen couldn’t touch him. He has just squared off against the prophets of Baal. He calls down fire from heaven and it consumes the water and the sacrifice. He rises up and kills 400 false prophets! He ushers in a national revival and return to God. After this great victory, very public demonstration of God’s power and favor on his life, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, he gathers up his cloak and outruns King Ahab’s fastest chariot back to the city because he has just prayed an end to the 3 year drought.
The reality is that things weren’t how he saw them. However, his perception determined his reality to the point that he literally asks God to kill him! That is why it is important that you have the correct perception and that you see clearly. That is why it is crucial to have folks in your life who can help you see from a different perspective. You need someone who can see clearly when your viewpoint is clouded by fear, exhaustion, or sickness. You need someone who can step in and say you aren't seeing correctly. You have to have someone who get you to wait, stop, step back and settle down. Because if you don’t have clear perception you will make life altering and life-changing decisions based on on perceptions!
This account also teaches us about our perceptions after victory and when we are tired. You have to be on guard when you have won a great victory and when we are tired. The enemy will attack when you are tired and when you are tired you are vulnerable to wrong perceptions. When you are tired you will begin to think things are dead when they are still alive. You will give up too soon. If you are tired you will fail to perceive your victories! This is why I believe the NT says don’t grow weary in well doing! If we don’t give up we will reap a harvest. I am concerned that some of you are tired from good things. The Lord knew that if we grow tired our perception will be off and we will quit too soon. We will give up on our marriage too soon. We will give up on our kids too soon. We will give up on our dream too soon. You have to guard your mind when you are tired.
2. Be careful because what’s in your head can get into your feet! Solomon instructs his sons to be on guard about what they think. Elijah should have taken this instruction to heart.
See what happens. Jezebel drew a word picture on the canvas Elijah’s mind and he ran away from what she drew. It doesn’t say that when he heard Jezebel’s threat he ran. No, it says when he saw how things were. He ran after great success not from reality but from a picture she placed in his head!
Others allowed mind games to get them in trouble.
- Abraham and Sarah – Abimelech might kill me.
- Israelites have a grasshopper complex in their head that keeps their feet going in circles.
- Absalom – in his mind he decided he looked like a king and could be a better king than David. So he ends up running to death.
- Gideon has a poor man/weak man picture in his head.
- Timothy – backward and timid and afraid to lead.
If we don’t manage our mind the enemy of our soul will draw pictures in our mind that will get us to run, get us to quit, get us to circle, get us to back up!
The enemy is a great fictional artist. He paints false pictures in our head and convinces us they are real. That is why he is described as an angel of light. He hides in darkness and makes it look like light. He tries to make what isn’t real look real and what is wrong look right. He is the father of lies and a master of deception.
Here are some common mind games he uses - some of the pictures he paints to get us to march into destruction:
No one in that church likes you. And you run only to discover that you ran away from a God ordained covering in your life.
You will be alone the rest of your life. You aren’t on schedule. The clock is ticking. All your friends are getting married. And you will settle and discover that you made a huge mistake.
I have to drive this type of car to be seen as successful. I have to live in this size of house and wear these types of clothes. And then we find ourselves so far in debt that we can’t see the light of day and wind up in bondage.
They are talking about you. The truth is they haven’t talked about you at all but if you are not careful you will allow the enemy to create conspiracy theories and paranoia that will drive a wedge between you and a relationship you needed to fulfill your destiny.
You will always be sick. You will always be broke. You will always be ___________. He will diligently paint a picture that will get you to fill in the blank and get you to exit God’s plan and purpose for your life. He paints word pictures in our minds that cause us to run to something or someone that appears to be but are not effective solutions and can never satisfy.
What they thought was true caused them to make life altering, life risking choices. If you are not careful about the pictures that you allow the enemy or certain people to paint in your mind you will find yourself framed into depression, distress, disease, and destructive choices!
A framed mind will paint pictures that are fantasy or fiction that you will accept and act on as reality and fact.
3. Get your head right and everything else will follow! The song writer had it right when she said ... free your mind the rest will follow. We are instructed to take every thought captive. We have to make our mind think right so that we can walk in freedom and victory! Otherwise, if we don’t get our head right we will buy into the mind games of the enemy!
How do you think? As a man thinks in his heart so is he. You can think yourself into broke, poverty, and sick. You can think yourself right into depression. Your mind frames your life. Your mind frames your actions. Get your mind right ... you get your life right.
Every problem you are going to come out of you must come out of head first! As a man thinks so is he . . . my thinking action creates my reality.
Poverty is not an economic issue it is a mind frame. You can give someone in poverty 1 million dollars tomorrow and they will come back tomorrow broke! Because poverty is a way of thinking!
It is absolutely imperative to get rid of stinkin’ thinkin’! Because if you can get rid of stinkin’ thinkin’ you can also get rid of stinkin’ livin’!
If your head is right you can find peace.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. – Isaiah 26:3
This is an important promise. How many of us lose our peace because our mind is focused on everything but Him?
Philippians 4:7- And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
You get your head right and you get peace. You get peace and your head stays right!
If your head is right you can bring change into your life.
Romans 12:2 - “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
You have got to get a new picture framed in your mind. Can you picture yourself as an overcomer? Can you picture yourself as a conqueror? Can you see yourself as free? Can you see in your mind’s eye what God says about you or is your world being framed by what your enemy has said? In your mind are you sick or are you well? Are you broke or are you blessed? Frame your world with your mind! Need to put some Holy Ghost Kilz on the picture you have had painted on your mind. Blot it out!
Close:
Pray for tired folks! If you are weary you are vulnerable to believe the lies of the image that the enemy is trying to frame your life with! If all you see is the picture the enemy has said to you then get down here and let’s fix that frame!
