Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle of Your Mind

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For Meyer, a close relationship with God is the driving force behind a positive mind and life. To reap the full benefits of our relationship with God, both our rational mind and our spirit must be attuned to and focused on His wisdom, teachings, and love. She explains that God invites Christians to share His love and wisdom through the power of the Holy Spirit, which provides a link between our own spirit and our mind. Since our rational mind is susceptible to becoming confused and discouraged, the Holy Spirit can help us feel the right thing to do. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says that God has given us the appropriate weapons. There are many weapons for us to use in this war, but I believe the two most essential are time spent in God’s Word and prayer. Meyer sees Satan as the source of our difficulties, arguing that he creates our negative mindsets by keeping us apart from God, which he does by controlling our minds. In Part 1, we’ll explore Meyer’s ideas about how our mindset shapes our reality, her view of Satan as the source of our negative thoughts, and her imagery of our minds as a battlefield between God’s positivity and Satan’s negativity. Our Thoughts Shape Our Reality I believe the toughest enemy to fight is the one we don’t know about. I was a Christian for years before I realized I had an enemy, Satan, who will do everything in his power to prevent us from walking in God’s good plan for our lives.

This is actually my second time reading this book. It has helped me deal with issues of anxiety -- of worrying too much, particularly about things I can't control anyway. Thus, the battlefield of the mind. The book teaches me (I'm still working on this issue.) how to lean on God, how to, as folks say, let go and let God. The result is a peace that surpasses all understanding. K” stands for keep on learning. The Bible says, “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress” (1 Timothy 4:15). Do others see progress in your life? Are your words and conversations more powerful, more meaty, deeper, stronger, more practical, more life-touching?

Now look at the very last phrase in the passage: “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” Take captive every thought. The Greek word aichmaløtizø there means “to control, to conquer, to bring into submission.” We take captive. We make it submit. Every thought obedient to Christ. Make it obedient. Hupakøe means “to bring into submission, to bring under control.” Early in my Christian life, I had an experience in which I had to trust the Word of God for an entire year to bring my physical healing. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus says man shall live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” I had to do that. At the end of that year, not merely was I physically healed, but I had a completely different mind. I had learned to think differently. I had learned to think in terms of God’s Word. Sadly, you can learn the Bible without really knowing it; in other words, you can know all the facts without really knowing the content. You don’t really know something until you apply it. That’s why Jesus implies to the Pharisees that their problem isn’t that they don’t know Scripture but that they don’t know the power of God (Mark 12:24).

H” stands for helmet your head. Put on the helmet of salvation. In California you can’t ride a motorcycle without wearing a helmet. You don’t have to wear elbow pads or knee pads, but you do have to wear a helmet. Why? Because if you get your head hurt, you are in deep kimchi. And the Bible says, “Take the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17). Anyone who’s ever read The Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer knows that until we get our thoughts under submission, they will continue to rule us and cause us to make bad decisions, have bad (or ruin) relationships, and live with worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger, and feelings of condemnation. But if you are going to really learn, you need one quality in particular: humility. Why does God resist the proud and give grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5)? Because the humble are teachable. I would rather admit that I don’t know it all than to pretend that I know it all and not learn. You can learn from anybody. Another example of the way the spirit and the mind work together is the gift of tongues with interpretation. All of these words deal with the realm of the mind: arguments, the knowledge of God and taking every thought captive. Paul has made it clear that the battlefield is the mind.The central tenet of Meyer’s book is that the state of our lives mirrors the state of our minds. A negative mindset produces a negative life, while a positive mindset produces a positive life. According to Meyer, a “positive mindset” is one that is focused on God. She argues that when we put God at the center of our minds and spirits, we're happier, more successful, more fulfilled, and we positively impact those around us. While Christians believe in one God; He is conceptualized as three noninterchangeable entities, called the Holy Trinity, for practical and spiritual reasons. The concept of the Holy Trinity explains why Meyer references God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in different contexts. For example, Meyer specifically discusses how a partnership with the Holy Spirit can guide us to a positive mind.

A lot of the biblical passages used were forced into the scenario making it feel contrived. Things were often taken out of context to make a point that wasn't in the original meaning, but I think that's par for the course when discussing religion. Another weakness of the church today when it comes to learning is that often we pastors are not teaching our people to be self-feeders. We do all the feeding instead of teaching the sheep how to feed themselves. We each need to learn for ourselves the skills of doing a systematic Bible study, a thematic study, and a book synthesis. How do you analyze a chapter? What are the steps in doing a word study? What are the steps in how to do a biographical study? We preachers can do a lot of ought-to preaching without giving our people the how-to’s. We are in a spiritual battle, and we must fight with spiritual weapons. God has given us His Word as our main line of defense against the lies of the enemy. What Do You Believe? The next time you notice yourself thinking the same old negative things, choose to replace them thoughts with truth from God’s Word. Shortform note: Meyer believes that God has a specific plan for each of our lives, although she doesn’t elaborate on how we know what that plan is.)Meyer’s idea that our thoughts have the power to shape our reality is well established in the field of psychology and our culture. Henry Ford’s famous quote, “whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right,” or versions of it, are commonly cited to remind us that thinking positively is the first step to success. What is a stronghold? A stronghold is an area where the enemy entrenches himself and takes control. You have probably heard this term used when referring to soldiers fighting battles. Open in prayer. Ask God to help you to get what you need from the message and to open your mind and heart to what he has to say to you through Joyce's words You would never invite somebody, “Why don’t you murder somebody right here in my living room?” But you do it every time you watch a TV show in which somebody murders. How do you guard your mind against garbage? How do you help others guard their minds against garbage? Some people are so open-minded that their brains fall out. They think they can allow anything into their mind, and they will be just fine. They’re kidding themselves. Two Ways to Guard Our Minds The first two have to do with knowing. The second two have to do with being. And the third one has to do with doing. You can use these as a template for all of your discipleship — moving people from “come and see” to “come and die.” 1) Knowledge