Battlefield of the Mind

Battlefield of the Mind

Winning the Battle in Your Mind

Author: Joyce Meyer

Publisher: Faith Words

No. of Pages: 280

This was an article I had written for a local Christian magazine on Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind. It is not primarily a grace book, per se, and I would have liked something a bit more positioned from the victory stance — from the perspective of the finished work of the cross. But there were helpful lessons that I've learnt from it, and I hope it helps you too :-)

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The Victorious Christian Life

Renew your minds by aligning your thoughts with God’s Word and see Him transform your life.

Jesus promised us an abundant and victorious life in Him, but often these Biblical truths seem like an elusive dream. Life’s challenges and our own weaknesses seem to get the better of us, despite our best intentions and efforts. How do we take hold of those promises and walk in the newness of life that Jesus died to give us?

In her bestseller, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in your mind, author Joyce Meyer shares how the key to victorious Christian living begins with the renewal of your mind —aligning and submitting your thoughts to God’s. There are many insightful truths in the book that would be helpful for anyone seeking to experience God’s power and good plan in their lives.

God’s truths never change, and they always hold true. However, Satan, the father of lies, is on a mission to make us doubt all that God has said and to keep us in bondage with his bombardment of lies. And this attack primarily takes place in the mind, the battlefield.

Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “As a man thinks in his heart, so does he become” — our thoughts result in our actions. In Romans 8:5, we also see that those who set their minds on things of the flesh are controlled by unholy desires, whereas those who set their minds on things of the Spirit are controlled by the Spirit.

Mind Conditions

When we accept Jesus, we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). The Holy Spirit dwells in us and reveals God’s wisdom to us. According to Meyer, the normal Christian mind — the mind of Christ — should be calm, peaceful and alert at all times, regardless of circumstances.

However, years of experiences and influences have conditioned our carnal minds to think wrong thoughts. Meyer lists several mind conditions that’s “abnormal” for a believer. There’s the busy mind that misses the still small voice of God; the wandering mind that lacks discipline; the wondering mind that asks the “what ifs”; the confused mind that tries to reason everything out; the doubtful mind that wavers with every lie; the anxious and worried mind; the judgemental and critical mind; and the passive mind.

Meyer also highlights what she calls “wilderness mentalities” that hinder us from experiencing the victorious life God has given us. We blame our condition on everything — our past, our upbringing, our inadequacies — instead of moving forward into the Promised Land. Some of these mentalities include: “My future is determined by my past and my present,” “Don’t make me wait for anything; I deserve everything immediately,” “I feel sorry for myself because my life is so wretched,” I don’t deserve God’s blessings because I am not worthy,” and “I’m going to do it my way, or not at all.”

Steps to Victory

The good news is that God is on our side in this battle; His Holy Spirit is there to help us, and all we need is found in Jesus, who defeated sin and the devil at the cross. The fiery darts of the devil are helpless against the shield of faith. As our minds are renewed into God’s way of thinking, our lives will be transformed (Romans 12:2).

When we can use our weapon — the Word of God — in praise and prayer, we tear down the devil’s strongholds. Throughout her book, Meyer gives a few ways that help us to align our thoughts to God’s:

·         Meditate on the Word of God

“Meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)

Meyer says that the more time we spend meditating (reflecting, thinking, pondering) on the Word, the more we can harness the wealth and power in it and counter the devil’s lies.

·         Meditate on the works of God

When faced with challenges, David the psalmist didn’t meditate on the problem. Instead he would break into song, pondering the work of God’s hands (Psalm 77:12, Psalm 143:5). He’d remember what God had promised and look back at all He has done. Praising God according to His Word and goodness defeats the devil quicker than any other battle plan, Meyer says.

·         Meditate on God’s love for you

Meyer says we need to be “God-loves-me” minded —to meditate on His love for us, experience it for ourselves and renew our mind concerning our right standing with God through Jesus. When we know how much He loves us and His unconditional acceptance, we no longer fear or beat ourselves up with guilt and condemnation.

·         Meditate on “these things”

Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of virtue and praiseworthy. What we think about affects our attitudes and moods. If we fill our minds with negative and critical thoughts, we will act and react negatively and critically — the smallest hiccup is magnified into a catastrophe of end-of-the-world proportions. Likewise when we think of good and praiseworthy things, it overflows into our actions and attitudes.

·         Speak Life   

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of  it.” (Prov 18:21)

Many never see the answer to their prayers because they negate what they have asked for with their own thought and words before God gets a chance to work in their behalf, Meyer says. She gives the example of parents who pray for a child with behaviour problems and then entertain all kinds of negative thoughts and say, “This kid will never change.” We are called to encourage and build one another up in love (Eph 4:29). When we line up our thoughts with God’s Word, we can say, “We believe God is working in this child, and we will see him change from glory to glory.”

Meyer is quick to note that positive thinking and speaking is not about controlling God to do what we want by our thoughts and words. Instead, it’s about thinking and speaking in agreement with God’s will and plan for us. It’s also not about denying reality, but it’s about speaking the same things that God says about a situation. For example, if we are sick, we can declare God’s word on healing instead of worrying about the worst possible scenarios (“I’m going to get worse and die”).

·         Develop a thankful mind

A complainer finds fault in every good thing, while a thankful person finds good in the worst of situations. The more we find things to be thankful for each day, the more we fill our hearts with life and love. Ephesians 5:20 reminds us that at all times and for everything, we can give thanks to God.

When we see others who seem more favoured than us, rejoice with them. We don’t have to compare and compete with them. Look to God and trust Him for He loves us and will do whatever is best for us.

·         Hope and trust

People often do not like to hope for fear of being disappointed. But Biblical hope is the anchor of the soul (Heb 6:19). We are called to believe and follow what God says even when you don’t understand why, when or how it would come to pass. Just like Abraham continued to trust God for His promises despite the unpromising facts — hundred-year-old body, dead womb, no son (Romans 4:18-20).

While we believe for many “things”, we are actually believing in Someone — Jesus. So if “things” do not materialise the way we want them to, know that Jesus never changes and He always works everything out for good, better and the best. So don’t be afraid to hope and expect good things in your life.

Little by little

The renewal of our minds is not an overnight process, hence Meyer encourages readers not to give up in the face of setbacks or failures. When you find yourself slipping into the pit of wrong thoughts and actions, just get back up, dust yourself off and start again. Declare out loud, “Things are going slow but thank God I’m making some progress. You love me, Lord. I refuse to be discouraged or condemned. You sent Jesus to die for me. You help me choose right thoughts today.”

While the world may promote its own new age “positive-thinking” philosophies such as “the law of attraction”, the anchor or cornerstone of our faith is the truth of God’s Word in the person of Jesus. He is the one who came to bring good news, to set captives free, to give sight to the blind, to deliver those who are oppressed and to proclaim the favour of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). And, whatever your problem may be, He wants to lead you to victory today!