Thinking The Battle of the Mind

Thinking

The Battle of the Mind

What is the most important battle?

It is the one that says you are not made in the image of God

When you battle for the earth you will be buried under the earth

When you battle for heaven you will for eternity be united with Christ

God made Adam and Eve pure in His image

Adam and Eve were deceived in their thinking and became damaged goods

As the Father and Son created all the provisions of the earth

So the Father’s love gave His Son to make provision for you

To be restored to the image of God

Know what God made you

And don’t give up any territory of your mind to anything else

The Battle of the Mind

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn’t measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It’s not winning battles that makes you happy, but it’s how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.” — C. Joy Bell C.

This phrase “choose your battles wisely”

has gotten a lot of attention for good reason.

What is the greatest battle we should fight?

There are a lot of battles I can think of that are

worth fighting for, but what is the greatest battle of all?

I think Paul in 2 Corinthians helps point us to what it is.

Paul takes us back to the Garden of Eden.

I promised you to one husband, to Christ,

 so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.

 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning,

your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere

and pure devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:2, 3

Eve was deceived.

Her mind was led astray from the

sincere and pure devotion to God.

The image is that of a pure

virgin given to her husband.

The husband is Christ, pure and holy,

 His marriage partner should be like Him.

“Like Him”

When God made Adam and Eve,

He made them in the image of Himself…

Made to live with Him forever.

In a covenant relationship of love.

What could be greater than that?

The greatest battle you and I fight is…

We are made in the image of God.

We are not God, but in His image.

Like a wife is submitted to her husband…

We were made to serve, rule and reign with God.

Every provision God made has been given to us.

Adam and Eve were deceived in the Garden.

There was a battle in their minds…

A choice to be united with God or do life alone.

The greatest battle is in our minds.

The battle is over who you are

and who you are united with.

God made you and I in His

image to be married to Him.

If we see ourselves as anything else, we are deceived.

God has from the beginning wanted to share all things.

The Bible is a love story of the perfect

woman who did not see herself as she was.

And a man, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father

who loved her despite her deception.

Jesus laid down His life, giving the woman the

provision to come back to Him and all she was made to be.

The final picture of this is in Ephesians 2:4-10…

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

So when it comes to waging war,

it is not for the ground you

will someday be underneath.

It is for heaven where we shall be with the Lord,

co-heirs as the Bride of Christ.

So anything in your mind that sets its

self up against the knowledge of God…

 

Knowledge of who He made

you to be “in the image of God”.

Fight it with spiritual weapons.

The Word of God –

Know what God has said,

it is a sword.

Defend the knowledge of God with the shield of faith.

Put on truth because He’s more powerful than deception.

Put on your head the convent of
God that cannot be broken.

Let righteousness protect your heart.

Walk out the Good News.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

We are damaged goods, but Our Groom, Jesus,

 has given us all the provisions

we need to be right with Him.

So think about being in the image of God.

Think about why,

so you might be united with Christ forever.

So any thoughts come against

that – bring us into captivity.

That is a battle worth fighting for.

  

Think about how God made you.

Don’t get lost thinking on the surface of things.

 2 Corinthians 10:7

God is jealous over you.

 2 Corinthians 11:2

So He will fight for you.

You can win the battles in your mind.

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 10:3-7 NIV

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 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. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

7 You are looking only on the surface of things.

2 Corinthians 11:2-3 NIV

 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.