The Battlefield of Your Mind

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14

Do you pride yourself on being a realist? Do you insist on everything being common sense? Is logic your highest form of reasoning? Do you dismiss certain thoughts because they don’t fall into what you accept? Do you negate the Voice of God in your mind? No? How many times have you dismissed thoughts that were too uncomfortable or revealing of your sin, pride, procrastination, or fear? Are your familiar with His Voice enough to recognize it when you ‘hear’ it within your mind? Do you dismiss thoughts because you determined that they are ‘crazy’? Have you learned which thoughts are from your own mind, which thoughts are from the Spirit of God, and which thoughts come from His enemies? Yes, the demonic and other enemies of God can place thoughts into your mind. Even the US military has worked hard at developing this skill. If you haven’t learned how to decipher the source of your thoughts …your mind will become the biggest battlefield in your life. You will be inundated by thoughts that will keep you confused, emotionally distraught, and impotent in being able to move forward with your life.

How does one learn to discern the things of God? First you need to understand God’s character and ways and the first and easiest way to learn that is by reading the scriptures. Do you know them well? Well enough to find ideas and concepts again in the scriptures when you think of them? One of the main duties of the Holy Spirit is to remind you of what God has said. Does a scripture ever just ‘pop’ into your mind? After that has happened have you ever asked Him why? Have you asked Him what He wants you to know about that scripture? Or how you are to apply that scripture in a certain situation? Do you have conversations with Him in your mind? Or do you think your mind is completely closed off to any other type of ‘voices’. Then how is the Spirit of God supposed to ‘speak’ to you? Are you so stubborn that you are requiring Him to speak to you audibly .. in a LOUD Voice? Is He actually that far away from your ‘heart’?

Do you understand that interpretation is actually ‘translation’? Being able to take a language (thought) and find a way to describe it in another language — is actually translation. Do you understand that’s how we have different translations of the Bible? Which translation is best? To know that you must understand the person translating the material / words. So translations will take on much of the character and understanding of the translator. Are you beginning to see how important it is to understand His Voice within your own mind? The Spirit of God (Holy Spirit) should be the MAIN translator to your mind and heart. Otherwise you are being led by someone else’s thoughts — instead of a ‘direct’ line from God. Do you understand that one of the main reasons Jesus did what He did was for this reason? To re-establish this connection with His Father — via the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit .. for anyone who asks Him. Jesus made the way for the Holy Spirit to come through His sacrifice.

Will you misunderstand the Holy Spirit in your mind? YES!! Especially at the beginning! Just like any relationship it will take some time and lots of conversations to actually learn to recognize His Voice with certainty and familiarity. Reading the Word of God is a tremendous help in this process. When you begin to read it — I always ask Him to help me understand it. I ask Him to show me things I haven’t seen before and to teach me through what I am reading. You should not give up on this process of hearing His Voice in your mind. Ask Him to help you make ‘order’ of your thoughts. Ask Him to help you recognize and block out the thoughts from His enemies that ‘pop’ into your mind. Ask Him to remind you of scripture in the Word — to confirm His wishes for and to you.

Learn how to manage the battle field of your own mind. 

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6