Striving For The Mind Of Christ

“Striving for the Mind of Christ”

by

Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

Introduction:

A stronghold is a mind set that is impregnated with hopelessness that causes a person to accept as unchangeable something in their lives even though they know it goes contrary to the will of God.

The devil desires to have you that he may sift you as wheat. He wants to have control of your soul, not because he cares for you, but because of his distain for Jesus Christ. He doesn’t care anything about you, but he despises God so much that he doesn’t want Him to have you. The devil is too wise to just try to come and take you, but he realizes that if he can gain control of your mind that he will have control of your body which will cause you to do any and everything contrary to the will of God and ultimately loose your soul.

The Bible says in Luke 22:31 “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” The word sift is a very important word that needs to be understood. It embraces the whole concept of exactly what the devil desires. The word sift comes from a Hebrew word called “nữwa” and means to wavier, to mix up, to confuse the mind, to control your thoughts.

The devil still desires to sift the minds of men, women, and children in-order to cause them to miss out on eternal salvation as he has and receive eternal damnation instead.

Understand that our actions are direct results of our thoughts, which begin in our mind. If the devil is in control of our mind then our actions will portray the devil; however, if God is in control of our mind then our actions will portray God. This is the meaning of the two phrases Spiritually minded and Carnally minded.

The mind has been the fascination of scientific study and much advancement in medical technology and treatment is due to such extensive study of the mind. Psychology and Psychiatry are the scientific categories that deal with the study of the mind. Sigmund Freud, a pioneer of modern day psychology, developed a form of psychology called the “Psychodynamic Perspective” in which he suggested that both normal and abnormal behavior is determined by two (2) different entities, the unconscious forces and the unconscious mind, which exerts great control over behavior and controls the actions we carry out in our lives. He suggest that theses two different entities were battling in the mind and the victor of the battle would have control over the actions that were carried out in the behavior of the individual.

Mr. Freud was not that far from the truth; however, Mr. Freud was only able to operate within the carnal realm of understanding and was not fully capable of understanding the spiritual forces that were in warfare for control of the mind. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” There is a greater understanding of what is going on in the minds of people; it is a warfare of a spiritual nature, a warfare that will lead to eternal salvation or eternal damnation. It started in the heavens before the creation of man; however, the battlefield today is not a celestial battlefield, it is not currently being fought in the deserts or mountains, but is being fought in the minds of people everyday.

People are compromising the word of God, trading in integrity, Holiness, and Salvation in order to be popular and liked by man. Sin is passively being looked over and people are dying going to spend eternity in hell all because of who has taken control of the mind.

The Bible says in Luke 11:34-37 “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.” This is not strictly talking about your natural eye, but what we often call the third (3rd) eye, which is the eye of the mind.

The eye is the light of the soul, understands that this eye is the mind, light is knowledge, or even more specific that knowledge and understanding of God. The Bible says when you come into the light walk there in. When you come into the knowledge of who God is and what God is walk in that understanding.