The Battlefield of the Mind
Dr. Marty Baker
Romans 12:2
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
February 2, 2003
www.stevenscreek.net
This past week, millions of Americans watched the State of the Union Address. We heard President Bush speak about several different issues. But, you know the one thing that was at the fore front of most of our minds was the impending war with Iraq. Next Wednesday, Colin Powell will present our case before the United Nations.
Right now, there are plans for 200,000 people to be in the Middle East waiting for the President’s call into battle. These battles will not be like anything we’ve ever seen before. They may involve Patriot missiles, Stinger missiles, laser-guided weapons, the Tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided missiles, and a whole host of other technologically advanced weaponry. These staples of modern war are vastly different than the weapons of former generations.
Most of us have never fought in a war, and many of us never will. The closest that we will get to this war in Iraq will be sitting at home watching it unfold on the News.
War is immanent, but not just the war in the Middle East. Do you realize that right now each of us is engaged in a battle? Even before we witness one bomb being dropped in Baghdad, there are battles already raging inside of each one of us.
I am not talking about battles that are fought with biological weapons and chemical warfare that will be used on the battlefield that is known as the Iraqi theater.
No, I am talking about the constant battle that we have every minute of every hour and every hour of every day and every day of every year of our lives. I am talking about the struggles in the theater of our minds. Over the last several of weeks, we have been in a series called Mind Games. This series has been based on Romans 12:2.
Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Today we continue with "The Battlefield of the Mind". Last week there was a battle on the gridiron fought in San Diego. Well, if you were one of the 137 million Americans that watched Pastor Todd’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Oakland Raiders in the Super Bowl, you would know that there was not much of a battle.
The real battle took place in-between plays. Our nation was bombarded with visual images and advertising campaigns that fought for our attention. In fact, companies spent 2.1 million dollars for a single 30 second advertisement. Well, what did we see? (Show censored slides of advertisements)
Well, most of the things that we saw last week may embarrass us a little in this setting. It seems as if the advertisements lean toward the sensual and the seductive. There’s no doubt that explicit ads gather the most attention. The sad reality is that the images that parade across our screens present only one side of the story. They fail to mention how many people are wounded with the arrows of alcohol. They fail to mention how many diseases are spread and how many marriages are hurt by promiscuity. Advertisers have a way of presenting half-truths and making it seem like the whole story. It’s a game they play - a mind game.
Modern advertisers are not the first ones to play with our minds. Since the Garden of Eden we have been wrestling with an evil force that seeks to destroy everything that is good in our lives. This evil force is named Satan. He is more than a cartoon character; he is an enemy that wages war against you. His primary battlefield is in your mind. He seeks to control you through negative self-talk, static images, and obsessive thoughts.
You need to remember that Satan’s great weapon against you is deception. If he can convince you to believe things that are not true, then he can control your life. Remember the words of :
Proverb 23:7
As a man thinks in his heart, so he becomes.
If Satan can get you thinking negative thoughts, then you will become a negative person. Satan is a deceiver. He promises you one thing, but gives you another. He tricks you into thinking you are a helpless victim who will need years of group therapy the rest of your life.
Satan tells you that sin is just a part of being a man, and their is nothing you can do about it. He knows a lot about addictions and he makes you believe that you’re not really addicted. He convinces you that you are off the hook and that you are not required to live an obedient life because God understands your situation and wants you to be happy.
God is more concerned about your holiness, than He is your happiness. The Bible says that Satan is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (NIV)
How do we combat this evil influence? How do we win the battle of the mind? How do we conquer the negative images that parade across the screens of our psyche? Let’s be practical?
How do you win any great war? You have to have a strategy; you have to have a battle plan. Each military operation has at least two strategies: an offensive strategy and a defensive strategy. If we are going to win the thought battle, then we need a strategy.
Let’s begin with the defense. To establish a defensive plan that protects your mind, you have establish a perimeter. A perimeter will set a boundary and help blockade the enemy’s entry way into your life. Some of our greatest struggles develop because we live our lives without boundaries.
Boundaries protect us. In 1991, the United States and Britain declared to protect the Kurds in Northern Iraq and the Shi’ite Muslims in Southern Iraq. To do this, we established boundaries called no-fly zones. The U.S. Declared that if someone compromises these no-fly zones, then they will suffer the consequences.
In a similar fashion, if we are going to win the battle of our minds, then we must establish a no-fly zone in certain areas of our life. Boundaries will help you clarify right from wrong. We need to know when we are living close to the edge and are in danger of going out of bounds.
When we fail to establish a perimeter, we welcome the enemy’s influence into our lives and we find ourselves in situations and do not know where or how to get out of them. How do we do it? How do we establish a defensive perimeter? We begin with our eyes.
*Your Eyes
Your eyes are the outermost defense.
Matthew 24:4
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you.
Watch ... Keep your eyes open. Be on your guard. Stay focused. Make sure your priorities are always in view.
Proverbs 4:25-27
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
Secondly, you need to build a defensive perimeter in regard to your thought life.
*Thought Life
Guard your mind. What goes in eventually works itself out in your behavior. I have been in some conversations where I have said things that have surprised me. I’ve wondered, "Where did that come from?" I realized that it came from inside of me. There was something ugly living inside of me. How do you get the ugliness out? Through reading the Bible.
Ephesians 5:25-26
... Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
Your Heart.
You defensive strategy also includes guarding your heart. That’s why Solomon, the smartest man in the Old Testament wrote:
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
We guard our hearts by setting our affections on God and His purposes for our life.
A strong team not only needs a good defense, but they need an offensive strategy. The Apostle Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
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.
This verse reminds us that the battle of the mind can be won if we use the right weapons. We need God’s power to defeat the enemy’s strongholds in our life. A stronghold is a place where evil is entrenched.
Paul makes the point that evil is entrenched in the thinking of people even to the point where people allow their own beliefs to supersede God’s Word. Our thinking must be based in truth. The Bible is that truth. If we are going to win the battle of the mind then, we must take our thoughts and make them obedient to God’s Word. Here’s how.
Developing an Offensive Strategy
It is important to develop an offensive strategy in order to win the battle of your mind.
1. Make a commitment to love God with your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Surrender your life to Jesus Christ and ask him to fill you with His Holy Spirit.
2. Make a decision to get rid of the filth that you have been feeding your mind.
Don’t allow your mind to stay in the gutter. Get rid of the junk.
James 1:21
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
3. Focus your mind on good things.
You become what you think, so focus your mind on good thing. Paul said it like this:
Philippians 4:8
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.
4. Commit your life to prayer.
I want you to pray with a confidence that God is not only going to hear your prayer, but that He is going to act on your behalf. Be specific in your prayers. Here’s some things to concentrate on:
*Pray that God will keep you from wavering and stumbling.
Ask God to put more light on your path and courage in your step. You need to take a stand against the forces of evil.
*Pray against spiritual opposition.
Ask God to silence the voices of confusion and evil in your life. Satan attempts to confuse you with lies. Seek the truth and allow the truth to set you free.
*Pray against possible spiritual oppression.
Ask God to release power to break spiritual oppression over your lives, your home, your career and your finances. It’s no secret that the devil wants discouraged and broke, but God wants you to be blessed.
Let’s move from the classroom to the lab where we will put it into practice. Before we do that, you will not want to miss next week because we are going to examine ways to stay focused.
Let’s stand for closing prayer.
