Alex Adegboye

Alex Adegboye

Senior Pastor: Word Alive Ministries International

The Battle For The Mind (4)

I want to believe, by now; you are seeing clearly as much as I do that there is a big battle going on in every mind. God wants your mind, the devil wants your mind, so also, you and I want our minds. Victory over this battle is a sure victory over other battles. The major battles in life hold in the mind. This describes our outlook: as he thinks in his mind so he appears.

Pro 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

WORRY AND ANXIETY

In this lesson, we shall be considering the mind in the context of worry and anxiety. This is also an area of battle. Everybody has a worry. The rich has something to worry about, as much as the poor. Men and women have worries too. No matter your status in life, there is something that bothers you, and God wants us to be able to deal with our worries properly. When Satan wants to mess you up, he goes to your mind and gives you anxiety. He attacks our minds and ideas through the things we see, hear or read. Everybody has a problem with worry about. Many sickness and diseases are the products of worries. Many marriages are destroyed because of anxieties. Even businesses and families are thrown overboard because of our inability to handle the worries that come to us. The bible thus has a way as to what we should do with our worries. These duos have destructive aspect and can bring you into ill-conditions. Some of your terrible conditions are borne out of worries and anxiety. The reason you are broke, poor, failed an exam, unmarried or your family is breaking up, is because you have allowed the devil to give you some thoughts to make you anxious. A foothold of worries in your life can cause so much damage.

Worries and anxiety are the major causes of our problems. Unfortunately, we try to deal with the problem without first dealing with the root cause (worries and anxiety). This is treating the symptoms, not the root. Worry is habit-forming, that is, people develop it as a habit. I am able to get this truth from my personal experience. Before, I used to be a world champion worrier. I would worry about the world, Nigeria, my wife and my children what they should bother themselves. Truly, if you think a lot, you will worry about many things. It is a habit you pick up without even knowing. Sometimes, you even wonder why other people are not worrying when you worry. This habit is deadly and dangerous. It is set to kill, steal and destroy. God wants us to be a people who refuse to neither worry nor be anxious about anything because He is there to be the burden.

1 Pet 5:7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.

The world we live today is a world of so much worry. Everything around us communicates worries and anxiety. These worry signals constitute the news, the government, our offices and everything around us all aiming at bothering us. The bible through the Apostle Paul claimed anxious moments will come.

2 Cor 11:27-28 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

Worry is everywhere and it affects every strata of the human society. Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself, there will be something to worry about. After every achievement, there will be something to worry about in the new place. This subject concerns the wisest and the foolish, the most renowned and the most dejected.

Phi 4:6-8 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and [special] petition, along with thanksgivings, you should make your requests known to God.

7 And [when you do], the peace from God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and thoughts [from anxiety] in [fellowship with] Christ Jesus.

8 Finally,  brothers,  give  [careful]  thought to these things:  Whatever is true,  whatever is noble,  whatever is right,  whatever is pure,  whatever is lovable,  whatever is commendable.  If it is excellent; if it is praiseworthy; [think about it].

God says here, do not fret about anything. This is a tall order. But how possibly will I not worry about anything? The solution actually is to have the mind of Christ. 1 Cor 2:16b But we have the mind of Christ.

WHAT IS THE MIND OF CHRIST LIKE?

Luke 8:22-25 22Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.

23But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.

24 And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.

25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! For he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

In this account, Jesus was asleep amidst a water-filled boat. How can you sleep when you bed is floating? This is the mind of Christ. He had peace in the midst of the storm. He slept so soundly they had to wake Him up. Jonah had this mind. On his way to Tarshish he slept amid a storm. Peter had same mind. He slept soundly the night preceding his execution.

Jonah 1:5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.

Act 12:6 The night before Herod was going to bring him out to the people, Peter was sleeping between two guards. He was tied with two chains, and there were guards on duty at the prison gate.

WHAT IS WORRY?

Worry means to feel uneasy or troubled. It is to feel anxious or distressed. It also means having a nagging concern. Worry is to torment oneself with disturbing thoughts. It can be much difficult to keep good thoughts in the mind and much easier to keep bad thoughts there. Consider if you’ve just being told of a new job offer and the demise of a loved one. Which thought would stay or come to mind often? Another definition of worry is to seize your thought life by the teeth and harass you by repeated biting and snapping. Jesus said stop wasting your time worrying about the affairs of life because God has committed Himself to your needs and take care of you. He said it is futile spending today to figure out tomorrow. Worry occupies your mind with wrong things.

Mat 6:22-34 22 The light of the body is the eye. Therefore if your eye is sound, your whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say to you, Do not be anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them; are you not much better than they are?

27 Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?

28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin,

29 but I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much rather clothe you, little-faiths?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what shall we be clothed?

32 For the nations seek after all these things. For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for its own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it.

THE DESTRUCTIVE NATURE OF WORRY

  1. It takes away your joy and peace, Rom 14:17.
  2. It takes away your physical health and opens the door to sickness and diseases of various descriptions, Job 3:25-26.
  3. It destroys the forces of faith and patience, James 1:6.
  4. It destroys focus and directions, Matt 6:22-23.
  5. It destroys relation between you and people, and you relationship with God, Luke 10:40-42.
  6. It binds you. You are in bondage to it, Isa 30:15

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU WORRY?

  1. Think about what you are thinking about and you will stop thinking about it.
  2. If it is worth thinking about, cast it upon the Lord, and He will catch it, 1 Pet 5:7.
  3. Believe God loves you. One difficult thing common to most of us is to believe God loves us and accept it, 2 Tim 1:12, John 14:1-2.
  4. Don’t be afraid, 2 Chron 20:15-20.
  5. Keep your focus on God, Psa 121:1-3.
  6. Fill your heart with the word of God. Immediately worry comes, look for scriptures. Isa 26:3-4.
  7. Live a holy life, Isa 32:17-18.
  8. Pray instead of worrying. Spend time praying than worrying, Psa 61:1-2

CONCLUSION

Worry closes the door of faith. Any prayer you pray in worry will not be answered. Many times, because we are worrying, we worry God out of our lives and situations. Align your thought with the thought of God. Your mind at any time can never be empty. Whenever ugly or negative thoughts come to your mind, chase them out while replacing them with godly ones.

1 Pet 5:7 Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. (AMP)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

If it is worth worrying about, cast it upon the Lord, and He will catch it!

God bless you.

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