BATTLEFIELD OF THE MIND

I was reading Joyce Meyer's book on 'Battlefield of the mind' and I found so many truths in it. I found many answers to the struggles I had and the experiences I went through the past few years. Some of the attacks were due to spiritual resistance but some were due to a wrong believing I had. Slowly, bit by bit, the Holy Spirit showed me where the areas of my mind that needed renewing. And I had to learn to cooperate with God and yield to His thoughts rather than my flesh. 

It was a process of dying to my fleshly nature and submitting to the Spirit. It was painful and many times I didn't want to do that. I wanted to indulge my flesh. I wanted to revert to my old ways of thinking and doing. I didn't want to rein in my tongue. My flesh wanted me to say anything I desired. Even negative things. I wanted to join in the complaining of the people around me. I wanted to talk about nonsense things. I loved to compare and I wanted to judge things, judge people.

I wanted to watch whatever I wished. Given a choice I don't want to guard my ear and eye gates. I wanted to talk about my heartaches and disappointments. I wanted to share all my struggles. I wanted people to know how tough it was to wait so long for a promise. I didn't want to rein in my thoughts too. I wanted to think whatever comes to my mind whether good or bad. When disappointed, I felt indignant and wanted to wallow in self pity. I wanted to give up.

Now I see clearly that it's all about me, nothing about God. But thank God I had been trained by His word to think in a certain way, so I couldn't lapse into thinking whatever came to my mind. Whenever negative thoughts or thoughts contrary to the word of God tried to hijack my mind, it would put up a strong fight, like a defence mechanism. Sometimes I would fail and lapse into negative thinking but God usually wouldn't allow me to stay there too long. Perhaps a day or two then I would have resolved the issue with God and come back to the place of peace. 

The mind could be a fantastic aid to the spirit but more often than not, it works against the spirit. It's in enmity to the word of God. That's why it was important not to give in to the mind. I have testified and seen how people's minds worked against them in the area of healing. They have received a word from God about healing but their carnal minds couldn't make sense of how it would happen. Many a times that opposing mind either hinders the healing manifestation or slows the manifestation. 

At the end of the day I realised it wasn't just the promise of God's blessings that the devil was trying to steal. He was after my mind. He wanted to have my mind. He wasn't interested in those blessings God has in store for me. He didn't care whether I possess those blessings or not, especially if such blessings could draw me away from God. He just didn't want me to hear from God, to fill my thoughts with God's word and to act on what God told me. He didn't want me to enjoy my life, to be joyful and be spirit led.

Although inheriting our possessions is important to God, it couldn't be achieved without a transformed mind, the mind of Christ. And the enemy could let you have those blessings without putting a fight if he could have access to your mind. Because once he had your mind, those possessions would eventually belong to him. You will lose whatever ground you have gained, whatever possessions you have obtained. 

I also realised that though these blessings are important to me, they might not be the greatest treasure I could ever have. Like God told me, the most precious treasure is the building of my faith, my spiritual growth, a transformed mind. All these are so subtle and one could easily be distracted by the enemy. One could be so focused on his blessings that he missed the One who blesses. He could be so focused on the destination that he forgot about the journey, the process. Yet it was not the destination that really mattered to God, it was the process of building up our character. Above all, God wants our hearts and minds. 

Because things like change in thinking, building of faith and character are not visible to the human eye unlike blessings, they could be overlooked. Yet the greatest work of God isn't in areas the human eyes can see, it's often in the hidden crucible of our hearts.