BATTLE OF THE MIND

BATTLE OF THE MIND

Heb 12: 1-3  12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³ For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Before you can enjoy the kind of victory that God has made available for you, you must first learn about the strategies the devil is using against you.

You must learn how he operates, so you can put a stop to his operations in your life. You must find out exactly where he is going to attack you.

We must lay aside and get rid of everything that slows us down… sin, wrong desires…We must look away from ourselves, or at the circumstances surrounding us, and keep or eyes upon Jesus.

If we start looking away, our eyes will be deceived; we must keep Jesus in our sight.

We are not the first to struggle with the problems we face, look at what the disciples faced.

Look at what Jesus faced, he saw the joy ahead of him, so he endured death on the cross and ignored the disgrace it brought Him.

Then he received the highest position in heaven, the one next to the throne of God the father.

Unless you become weary and faint in your minds, you too will have an eternal position with Christ.

As long as you live in a mortal body, your carnal natural mind is the place where your fight with Satan will be won or lost. Some people think Satan’s attacks come in the realm of the spirit, but they don’t.

Jesus defeated him where the spirit realm is concerned…once and for all. When we made Jesus the Lord of our life, that victory became forever ours. The battle for your spirit is over; it has already been fought and won.

As a believer you have been spiritually re-born into the image of God. There is absolutely nothing the devil can do to change that.

You must understand the difference between the soul and the spirit.

When you’re operating purely in the realm of the spirit, your mind, which is the realm of the soul is not in charge.

Even though Satan himself is a spirit, he has lost all his authority in the spiritual realm.  He can not fight you in the spiritual realm anymore. But he can battle you in the mind.

1^st Corinthian 10:13   There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

When you are tempted, God will give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.

That means, satin has to operate in this natural soulish realm, and even in the natural realm he has no authority.

But he can deceive you, deception is all he has. That doesn’t mean that he will just pack up and go home. He is still going to try to steal, kill and destroy you and your relationship with Jesus. He is going to try to do it by gaining control of your mind.

If you’re going to take a successful stand against the devil, you will have to do it on the battlefield of your mind.

If we start looking away from Jesus, our eyes will be deceived; we must keep Jesus in our sight.

Stay in the word,

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT

1 Timothy 4:1   Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Paul is saying here the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last days some will turn away from what we believe.

They will follow lying spirits and teachings that came from the doctrines of devils. False teachers were and are still a threat to the church.

Even today it is not enough that a teacher, minister or evangelist appears to know what they are talking about or says she or he is speaking for God.

If their words contradict what the bible says they are teaching false. These hypocrites, false teachers are lying spirits that are teaching what come from demons.

The devil deceives people by offering a clever imitation of the real things of God. Don’t be impressed with a teachers style of credentials, his teaching must line up with the word of God.

Because we still live in the flesh we sometimes get weak in our thinking and that is very fertile ground. It leaves room for the devil to work on our minds.

Eph 4:23-27   ²³ And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

²⁴ And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.²⁵ Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.²⁶ Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:²⁷ Neither give place to the devil.

Our old way of life before we got saved should be completely in the past. We must put on the new nature, go in a new direction and have a new way of thinking that the Holy Spirit gives us.

Don’t give place to the devil. Why, because it is his goal to deceive you. It is so important to avoid the worthless deeds of evil and darkness and stay away from evil influences.

When things don’t work out the way we think they should or the way we want them to, that is when wrong thoughts start coming into our minds. That is when we start thinking of things. Satan fights with lies and sometimes his lies sound like truth.

Satan often attacks our heart, the very center of our emotions… self worth… and trust. He wants us to think the good news of the gospel is worthless and hopeless.

Satan wants to make us doubt God. Never doubt in the enduring power of the heavenly realm.

Did you ever have a bad habit that you actually hated, and know in your heart that it is wrong? Sinfully wrong. In your heart you would say, I am never going to do that again.

But sure enough this nagging thought would drive you crazy, and without thinking you would do it again. The temptation was so strong that you could not stop yourself.

You are not alone, that probably describes half the population or more. Bad thoughts lustful thoughts and thoughts of wrong desires only come from one source, the devil.

We all have areas where temptation is strong and habits are hard to conquer. These weaknesses give the devil a foothold. We must deal with our areas of vulnerability.

We still live in the flesh, most people struggle with a particular sin. The sin is bad enough but the big problem is when we try to justify it.

1 Peter 5:8    ⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Your adversary, the devil, is always on the prowl, seeking someone to devour. Just like a real lion who seeks out the young and feeble to attack and kill.

John 10:10   The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Who is the thief? The one who comes to kill, steal and destroy. How does he kill steal and destroy? He does it By deception, getting you to doubt yourself and God.

This deception does have a good ending, Jesus says I am come that you might have life and that they might have life more abundantly.

Yes you will be tempted, Jesus was tempted, yes there will be thoughts that come to your mind, some not so good, some worse.

You need to consider the source; you know these thoughts are not of God so they must be from the adversary the devil.

James 4:7   Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Tell his as Jesus did to get behind you.

REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD

REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD

Isa 53: 3-6    ³ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Sin is in the body

Iniquity is in the soul

Transgression is in the spirit

It was our grief Jesus carried, it was our sorrows that weighed him down, and people thought God was punishing him for his own sins.

He was wounded in the Spirit, he was bruised in the soul and he was chastised in the body.

He was chastised for our peace, not for our healing

He was chastised when they beat him,

He was chastised when they put the crown of thorns on his head.

He was being chastised while he was suffering,

Chastisement was not only by the pain he suffered

But also the agony he suffered.

First he was wounded before his soul was bruised.

He was wounded for our transgression (sins).

At that time he began fighting for our salvation.

Then the battle became so intense that his soul was bruised and his sweat became as great drops of blood.

It was on that day that his spirit was wounded and he began to experience our transgressions.

I believe that in Gethsemane, not only did the battle begin, but he began to experience separation from God. We can never know how painful it was. Jesus had never been separated from the Father.

Luke 22: 42-44   ⁴² Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.⁴³ And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.⁴⁴ And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

We don’t know when the father left Him, but we know that it was between Gethsemane and the cross

Matthew 26:38   ³⁸ Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

In Gethsemane He said my soul is sorrowful, stay here and watch with me while I go and pray.

I don’t believe His separation from God happened in a moment. I believe God the Father had a very hard time leaving His Son.

I believe the Holy Spirit had a very hard time walking away.

When Jesus was pleading… Let this cup pass… I believe everything in the heart of God was exploding with pain.

As the separation began, the wounds began to increase.

Isa 53 and Matthew 26 are not just about healing, think about the price Jesus paid for our salvation, our healing, our blessings and prosperity. Not to mention spending eternity in the lake of fire.

He is in Gethsemane saying to his disciples…my soul is sorrowful unto death, if you don’t stay with me I might die before I even get to the cross.

Even so the disciples kept on going to sleep, then Jesus said… sleep on now and take your rest…

This was when God sent an angel down to strengthen Jesus.

I really believe Satan tried to kill him that night.

That same night Judas came with a great multitude of soldiers with swords, sent by the chief priests and elders.

They led Jesus away as a prisoner to the house of Caiapais, the high priest… to judgment hall.

That is when the chastisement started; they began to beat Him, pulling out his beard and hitting in the face until he was unrecognizable.

They sent him to the dungeon until morning. In the dungeon he was still bleeding, the blood didn’t stop flowing, his face was disfigured.

Early in the morning they took him before Pilate

Pilate said to the chief priest, I find no fault in this man

When Pilate heard Jesus was a Galilean he sent Jesus to Herod. When Herod saw Jesus he was happy to see him.

Luke 23:6:16   ⁶ When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean.⁷ And as soon as he knew that he belonged unto Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at that time.⁸ And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.⁹ Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.¹⁰ And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.¹¹ And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.¹² And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.¹³ And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,¹⁴ Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:¹⁵ No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him.¹⁶ I will therefore chastise him, and release him.

So Pilate had Jesus chastised, which means he was whipped, or scourged on the back with a whip. That was for our healing… the crown of thorns came from Herod’s soldiers.

Jesus at this time was most likely taken out of the dungeon early in the morning, around four or five o’clock. He was on the cross at nine AM, on a Wednesday morning.

Jesus was beaten with the whip but that was not enough to satisfy the chief priests and the people.

Luke 23: 20-21   ²⁰ Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.²¹ But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

Pilate gave the sentence that it should be as they required.

I believe with all my heart, that Jesus paid the price for our transgressions and our iniquities, and our peace as they were beating Him.

He was wounded and bruised on Tuesday, he was chastised on Wednesday.

He was wounded when the separation from God began. He was bruised in the garden when his soul was sorrowful.

As they began to beat him and whip Him the healing began to come for us.

Isaiah saw this four hundred years prior to the cross, and prophesied it and said with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53 is not just about healing…by the time Jesus said it is finished we were healed.

They took his body off the cross at three pm and laid it in a tomb before the Sabbath started at dusk. That was on a Wednesday night. By six o’clock pm on sat, he conquered hell and the grave and rose from the dead Sunday morning.

                               


                        Our healing and our salvation cost Him much.

We are Babes in Christ

We are Babes in Christ

1 Thessalonians 5: 5-6   ⁵ Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.⁶ Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober

Once you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in your spirit.

At that time you become the children of the light.

 Notice it stated Children… when you made Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Lord of your life, a new spirit was born in you.

This baby spirit has no knowledge, same as a natural born baby.

You and I know that the natural baby doesn’t know the things of the world and can not protect itself.

This new born natural baby needs parental support, training, feeding and protection from this evil and unsettled world.

You can’t produce a new born baby and expect it to have knowledge like a grown person.

The only thing a newborn knows is to cry when it is hungry and cry when it is in pain.

Your new born spirit is a baby same as a natural born baby. It too needs parental knowledge and training. Otherwise it will suffer the consequences of being unlearned and untrained same as a natural born baby.

If the natural newborn isn’t trained in the way it should grow it will have a disastrous life. It must be fed and nurtured so it can grow up to be strong and wise.

It is the same way with the spirit child; it will also have undeveloped wisdom and not have the necessary biblical skills it needs if you do not feed it the word.

Both babies have to be fed, nourished and have parental training to be used for life’s purposes and Gods purpose. Both the natural baby and the spiritual baby inside of you.

If you never spoke to your new born it could never speak itself, because it never heard the words to learn to speak.

If you never speak Gods word to your newborn spirit child it too will never develop in the word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

It takes words to train both children. Words develop them for the world they must face each and every day.

They will need common language and spiritual language for the development of both natural and spiritual children.

You need to think about what you are feeding your spiritual child. Are you ignoring your inner spiritual child or are you feeding it the word of God, your spiritual child needs more than just one meal a week. Life is not about just having a one time meal.

Your spiritual child needs to be fed often, just as you would feed a natural child.

Proverbs 4:20-23
 ²⁰ My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.²¹ Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.²² For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.²³ Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

My son… we are his children.  He says, listen to what I am saying, open your ears to my words, and don’t loose sight of them.

Keep them deep within your heart, because your heart is this spirit child. The word is life to those who find it, and health to the physical body or inner child.

Both children win when the word of God is applied to their daily lives.

Everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die to get there. If you do not feed your natural baby it will die, if you don’t feed your spiritual baby it too will die.

You need Gods word daily to feed your inner spiritual child. If you don’t feed your inner spiritual child it will never mature in the word of God.

No one with common since would take their natural child to Disneyland and turn it loose and walk away with out giving that child the proper training.

We must not turn our spiritual child out to the things of this world without the proper training.

What are we feeding our spiritual child today?

The word to the spirit child is like medicine to the natural child. If your natural child was sick you would take it to the doctor to get it healed.

If your spirit child is sick from lack of knowledge, just feed it the word… it will get well.

Taking care of both children is a daily thing, but it is something that is necessary to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.

Meeting Jesus

Meeting Jesus

 John 3:16   King James Version (KJV)¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

 God loved his creation so much until he sent Jesus down to earth to clean up the mess we people (his creation) created.

He knew we were helpless against Satan and his demonic forces.

What most don’t understand is that Jesus didn’t come down to condemn us, but rather that we would be saved from our sins and be with God forever.

 When we choose to believe Him, in the one that God sent, we won’t be destroyed. The situation today is there is no awareness of God’s love, or the fact that if he came to take his people ( the ones who choose to believe in Jesus and accept Him as savior) to heaven they would be left behind for their choice not to believe in Jesus.

The left behind will have to face the seven years of tribulation. 

2Thessalonians 2:3    King James Version (KJV)³ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

It speaks of the fact that people will deceive you by any means. There will be a great falling away of Christians from the gospel just before the great tribulation.

Many Christians have turned away from reading the word, hearing the word and do not spread the word. These same Christians then wonder why their prayers are not answered. 

Life is not a game of chance; it is a matter of choice.

The devil does not play fair. However the Lord did not leave you at Satan’s mercy. The only way to win this spiritual war is with the word. Put on your armor every day. Decide every day to follow Jesus.

We have a new covenant with Jesus our savior. He is faithful. He will not leave or forsake you. He is only a prayer away.

Matthew 10:38King James Version (KJV)³⁸ And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

 It says… he that take not up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Your decision to follow Jesus every day will determine the outcome of your eternal life. Someday you will stand face to face with Jesus. Have you made the right choices? Will you spend eternity with the Lord? I hope to meet you there.