Alex Adegboye

Alex Adegboye

Senior Pastor: Word Alive Ministries International

The Battle For The Mind (1)

This subject―the mind is so crucial that it will take a time in series to systematically and progressively exhaust its content for proper understanding. There is a titanic battle going on in our minds and this is the core of all other battles of life. It predicates all other battles. There is a great power in the human mind and it is different from the soul as it mistakenly substituted for each other.

Many of our minds are either asleep or unproductive, and this becomes a problem in the battle of faith. The greatest battle in a man’s life is the battle of the mind. It determines the outcome of every other battle you encounter. If you lose the battle in the mind, most assuredly you will lose any other battle. This is not a psychological sermon, as a matter of fact, this subject has scriptural basis; even what psychologist have not come to know. You are your mind, and your mind is you!

Pro 23:7 for as he thinks in his heart, so is he; Eat and drink, he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

Who you are is actually a product of your thought life. The form and situation of your life today is a result of what you are thinking. You are jobless, broke or unmarried today because of the nature and pattern of your thought. As a matter of fact, nobody knows what exactly you are thinking about even if you share it. But it is known by looking at your physical condition. Your outward look is a true reflection of your inward look (your mind).

ANATOMY OF THE SOUL

The mind is the engine room of the human life. As the engine determines the release of energy of the car, so does the human mind determine the release of the energy of his life! Here is a brief anatomy of the soul: man is a spirit, he has a soul and dwells in the body. He is tripartite. The soul of man is sandwiched between his spirit and body. The soul itself is made up of three parts also:

  1. The will
  2. The mind
  3. The emotions
  • The mind is the biggest component of the soul; and it controls the will and the emotions.
  • The battle of life goes to the most important part of your being – your mind. Even unseen physical battles start from the mind.
  • Whatever and whosoever controls your mind controls your life.
  • You can live or survive without you hand or leg, but can’t do so without your mind!
  • Every attempt is being made by God, the devil and the world to control your mind.

For instance, your employer, the government and even marketers all aim at controlling you mind. Advertisement is targeted at getting your money, but to do so, is to get your mind because your mind controls where your money is coming from and is going. You have to think to win the battles of the mind. Anyone that can control your mind or do your thinking for you will control your life! He becomes the determinant of your destiny. Many Christians are mentally lazy because of their refusal to thoughtful think – this is a grave problem!

DIFFERENT KINDS OF MINDS

  1. Blinded Mind – 2 Cor 4:4, 3:14.
  2. Corrupted Mind – 2 Cor 11:3.
  3. Shaken Mind – 2 Thes 2:2.
  4. Lowly Mind (Humble Mind) – Phil 2:3.
  5. Single mindedness
  6. Made-up mind

THE MIND OF CHRIST

1 Cor 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

God expects of you and I to have the mind of Jesus: think like Jesus, talk, imagine and meditate like Him. Our mind is not born again; only our spirit is. Rather, it is meant to be renewed. It is meant to develop; and by this development, it becomes the mind of Christ, Rom12:2. There is a battle of growth, development and Christ-likeness ongoing in the mind.

Rom 7:22-25 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

You can serve God in your mind; you can also magnify Him in your mind also. The goal of every communication is to influence the mind. Even the sermons you hear are geared at influencing you mind, because if it gets to your mind it will definitely get into your spirit.

Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

FACULTIES OF THE MIND

  1. Imagination
  2. Thinking
  3. Meditation

If I begin to say something in a way that it gets to you or impresses you, then you will begin to imagine it, think about or meditate on it. Whatever you imagine, think about or meditate on can control you mind and eventually your life. No wonder God enjoins us to meditate on the scriptures, so that it can control our lives positively. Anything that can change your mind can change you. Also, anything that can control your mind can control your destiny. The entrance to the mind are the eyes (sight), tongue (taste), ear (hear), noise (smell) and skin (feel) – the five senses. These entry points are the gateways for battle and are universal to all mankind.

Jos 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night…

FAITH AND THE MIND

Isa 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

There is a relationship between the way you think and the faith you have. Faith cannot function in you without your mind. To keep your mind focused on God on any issue is attributed as an act of faith. An attendant peace follows when your mind stays on God. A faith mind is a working mind. So, take time to think, imagine and meditate on the word of God. It is needful for faith to work.

Rom 12:2-3 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Conformation to the style of the world starts from the mind; and whatever you conform to you eventually become. Renew your mind with the word of God and you will be transformed. Hallelujah!

Eph 3:20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

GOD’S EFFORT TO CHANGE A MAN’S THINKING

Judges 6:11-16 And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

And the LORD said unto him, surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.

This man – Gideon, has been a slave for seven years and here is God in a move to deliver the Israelites through him. But first, He had to change his slave-mentality (the mental image of himself). He had this mentality:

  1. God is not with us.
  2. All he knew about God was stories told by their fathers.
  3. He cannot be a mighty man of valour.
  4. He is from a small tribe.
  5. In this small tribe, His family is the smallest and he (Gideon) is the least of the family.

God in many instances will need to change you thinking system first, before doing anything worthy with your life because it all starts there. When your mind is transformed you will experience the power of God like Gideon. Nobody will give you a chance until you give yourself one. You have to take the chance heaven gives you.

You are a mighty man of valor even though you are broke or sick. This is God’s mindset about you. Your life is still useful to Him for the following reasons:

  1. God sees what you do not see. Don’t base your judgment of self on what people say about you, but what the scriptures declares about. Don’t allow anybody define you wrongly.
  2. God sees His investment in His son. He gave so much (Jesus Christ) to purchase you. Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
  3. God sees your relationship with Jesus. You are a joint heir with Christ, not a co-heir. Rom 8:17, John 17:23.

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

CONCLUSION

There is a potential in your mind that can make all things work for your good. There is nothing you do without first thinking it; good or bad! The devil will do anything to gain control of your mind. Something must happen in your mind. Let this word produce something in your mind that will propel you to action. That is why your deliverance starts first in your mind. You are a mighty man of valor. Pray it into your mind, your consciousness, and your spirit.

God bless you.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Anything that can control your mind can control you.

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