Spiritual Warfare

Why does the "way" people think change? Look at what has happened to our world over the past few decades, and how the insanity has snowballed in the past few years. The "way" people think and reason has been changed, and is being changed at a much faster pace now. The only way to have a sound mind and sound reasoning is to have a mind that is stayed on truth. Lies, fantasy, and misinformation corrupt the mind and the ability to think and reason properly is affected or done away with completely. The corruption in our minds comes mostly from influence of other people, with their corrupt minds and hearts and their insane opinions, especially about moral issues. This is why the Scripture tells us to "come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord."

The mind is such an important part of our being. It is the power to reason, conceive, and judge, and if it is feeble in these matters our life will be one disaster after another. Feeble means to be weak and powerless, and therefore easily deceived. There are a number of reasons for a feeble mind, but none of them are hopeless because of the promise of God that He will give us a spirit of a sound mind, and that we can have the mind of Christ. This is the comfort for feeble-minded folks.

Our mind is our own and we can control it. Our spirit is our own and we can rule over it, if we simply WILL. If we do not rule our spirit and control the thoughts of our mind, we are wide open to spiritual evil. They move in quickly and establish strongholds in the mind through that inner dialog that only you hear in your thoughts. All this knowledge will do no one any good unless it is applied and practiced in our life at all times.

Paul admonished Timothy to be "a good soldier of Jesus Christ." Also, to war a good warfare. The first business with any kind of soldier is training. He must learn to recognize the enemy and defeat him. He must learn how to stay alive keep from getting wounded by the enemy. Most people who profess to be Christians have no training at all and are absolutely impotent in the face of the enemy. We cannot be ignorant of his devices, how he works, and what his strategy is. Until we know how the difference between natural appetites, desire, and lust, and how the tempter uses them against us, we are doomed to fall into his snare again and again. We are to arm ourselves with the same mind that Christ had in this warfare. Too much is at stake and it we cannot afford to be careless in this matter.

The first time the devil tempted a human being he did it by convincing Eve that if it tasted good and looked good, then it was good for her. Temptation is always an appeal to the mind to set aside truth while under the influence of some desire that has been aroused in your heart by the sight of, or the thought of, some object. What kind of appetites do I have in my thought life? That secret place of mine where no one sees or knows what is going on? We are drawn to thoughts in our minds just like we are drawn to food when we are hungry, or to other fleshly desires. The devil and his helpers in this world are able to direct our thoughts by directing our attention to some object. Once we see an object the image of it is forever filed away in our memory, so from that point the devil does not have to put the actual object in front of our eyes anymore, he can just remind us of it and we see it again. This is the power of sin and the answer as to why it has so effectively destroyed the human race. That battle is in the mind, and our thought life has to be governed with the help of the Holy Spirit, or all will be lost.

Appetite and desire are two words we need to consider. Appetite speaks more of a desire of the flesh for gratification, either of the body or the mind. There are natural appetites and there are artificial appetites. Having an appetite for food and drink is a natural appetite. Having a desire for tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or anything that is not life-sustaining and beneficial to the body or mind is an artificial appetite. God gave us natural desires and they are not sinful in themselves, but temptation to sin always involves our natural desires. The first sin on earth happened when Eve developed an appetite for that which God said would bring sure and certain death. So our desires can manipulated and directed by outside influences. So knowing this fact and having this understanding, we should take up arms against whatever would affect our appetites and desires.

Many people who call themselves Christians have fallen for a trap that the devil has laid for them. Being a critical thinker has become a kind of badge of honor that many boast of now, but they have taken the same bait that Satan gave Eve in the garden. The Bible tells us that we are not to believe every spirit, but we are to try the spirits to see if they be of God. The modern concept of critical thinking makes each person the judge of all people and all things with no foundation of truth but their own prejudices, preferences, priorities, and opinions. By the world's own definition critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. Therefore, it is self-serving, as well. It is to doubt everything and not believe anything. It leads to absolute uncertainty about everything, and leaves people totally lost and without any moorings, or waypoints, or landmarks, or sense of direction at all. To search for truth in order to obey it is right and what God wants from us. But to search for a way to overturn truth is plainly of the devil himself. Be careful with that critical spirit and that doubtful heart. It is not pleasing to God and will take you away from Him, not closer to Him.

To "think no evil" means to put the best possible construction on the motives and the conduct of others. It is not about evil thoughts or temptations to sin in the mind. It is about our attitude toward other people. If we are under the influence of charity we will "think no evil." Love will be our first reaction and we will not think evil until it is impossible not to. The devil has a great advantage over us in this matter because we have been hurt by the evil in others all our lives. But the Holy Spirit of God who indwells the true believer will enable him to overcome in this matter. To think evil is ungodly. To think no evil, even when the evil is obvious, is to be like Christ. We overcome evil with good, and this is a matter that is vital to our testimony as a Christian. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

The first goal of the devil is to try to take away our hope. You will hear his voice in your mind very often, telling you there is no hope and the future is nothing but dark and dreary. The Christians hope is in eternity, not in anything or anyone on this earth or in this life. It seems that only hope most people have is for what God will do for them here and now in this life. When circumstances are bad they lose hope. Now abideth faith, hope, and charity. What if we lost our faith like we lose our hope? What if we lost our charity like we lose our hope? The only way we get in trouble is when we get our eyes off of eternity and on the present circumstances of this world. No matter what happens in our life here on earth our hope lies beyond all this. Don't let the devil take, or hide your hope from you.

There is spirit and there is flesh. One of the main themes of the teachings of Jesus was to point out to man this fact. The flesh profiteth NOTHING, it is the Spirit that gives life. Only when a person is born of the Spirit of God are their eyes opened and they begin to see that life is about more than what they can perceive with their physical senses. God is a Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and truth. A spiritual person and a religious person are two different creatures. One sees God and is directed by the Spirit of God with an awareness of the spiritual world, while the other sees only the physical and lives according to his carnal interpretation of everything.