The Battlefield is in the Mind
You might have heard this title before- sermons, book titles, the movie The Matrix, and probably in a million TED Talks. It is one of those cliché phrases that sounds really good for the first few minutes after hearing it, but after that it is thrown out into the void until you hear it again.
So what does the phrase, “The battlefield is in the mind” actually mean? Not in the cliché sense, but in a practical way that can be applied to everyday living?
First of all, it is a supremely weighty statement. How often do you beat yourself up for the past, the present, and even the future? On social media, I see thousands of people living out negative scenarios for the entertainment of others, but honestly to the detriment of themselves. Wild statements such as:
“If I caught my girl cheating I would . . . .”
“If my teenage daughter ever came home pregnant I would . . . “
“If my co-worker ever comes for me I will . . . .”
“If my team doesn’t make it to the Super Bowl, I will. . .”
Look down your timeline as an experiment after reading this article and I bet you can find several instances of the above, but you don’t have to go as far as your social timeline.
Listen in on your thoughts today. How many negative stories are you telling yourself about yourself? I bet if you take a moment to evaluate your thoughts you will hear:
“Eww, I look awful today”
“I’m not smart enough for …”
“I wish I looked like him/her..”
“In my childhood, my mom should have….”
“In my childhood, my dad should have…”
“In the past I should have . . . .”
“I’m broke.”
“I’m ugly.”
“I feel worthless.”
These are thoughts that invade almost everyone’s mind, unconsciously and daily. We spend most of our days and much of our mental capacity berating ourselves for every little thing.
Every little mistake, every problem, and every failure plays over and over in our minds.
Why Do We Think Negative Thoughts?
Why exactly do we spend so much time and mental energy dwelling on our fears, doubts, past mistakes, future worries, and negativity? There are many answers, but only one is solid and crucial to understand.
Sometimes we are regurgitating things we heard in our childhood from our parents and our bullies. Sometimes it is learned behavior from a family member who often expressed their shortcomings aloud and we incidentally were nurtured to think those same thoughts about ourselves.
Sometimes it stems from a toxic romantic partnership, other times we are simply born with inherit feelings of shame and inadequacy that we live out daily.
Social media, popular music, and television don’t help at all in our personal feelings of worth. The media constantly tells us that we aren’t good enough, and we take those thoughts and internalize them.
Again, there are many reasons our minds may be filled with toxicity, negative thoughts, and half truths, but there is only one reason that is of highest importance- Satan needs our mind.
Satan and the Mind
Satan, the devil, the enemy, Lucifer whatever you want to call him, was once an angel. His original name Lucifer means “Morning Star”. He was an angel of light, and beautiful; however, in his vanity, he wanted more power and he fell from grace. He took many of the heavenly angels with him when he was cast down from heaven and they became demons.
After that, Satan and his army have had a master plan to overtake God’s kingdom by destroying humanity mostly through plots against the mind.
His first attempt against humanity was Adam and Eve. You many know the story of Adam and Eve, the first humans who dwelled in the Garden of Eden happy, naked, with really nice animals, and fancy free.
Adam and Eve were so happy, God walked with them in physical form, and they had everything they could ever possibly want or need.
However, Satan appeared to the couple by taking on the form of a snake and in that moment he tried to convince the two humans that God was holding out on them and if they would eat from the tree God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from, then they would be like God and know the difference between good and evil.
Let’s stop for a moment, you see what Satan did there? Adam and Eve really had no concern for eating from the Tree of Life and they certainly never had a singular thought cross their minds that they wanted or needed to be like God. They were happy and well provided for until they allowed the devil to get into their minds and make them feel lack and defiance.
This example illustrates how Satan operated then and how he continues to operate today.
Christian or not, the devil uses our minds as his playing field. In our mind he presents us with lack, low self-esteem, and self-loathing. He makes us feel afraid and fearful, and because we often don’t realize the battlefield is in the mind, we feed into those feelings like Adam and Eve and eventually led a life of misery and pain just like Adam and Eve did after they fell into Satan’s trap.
Every time we see an appearance of Satan in the Bible he is always seeking to devour the mind, by giving people wrong ideas about themselves and their situation.
Even when Jesus went on a forty day fast before His public ministry, the devil tried to tempt Jesus by offering Him the entire world if Jesus would only bow before Satan.
If Jesus had have fallen for the demonic trap, he would have missed the point that He actually owned the whole world, though God His father who was the creator of galaxies.
Ephesians 6:12 states, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.
This scripture alone tells us that the battle that we fight isn’t physical. We are not fighting poverty, sickness, our friends and loved ones. Our battle isn’t our kids or our jobs, our battle is how we fight the physical in a mental and spiritual way.
God’s been Talking and we haven’t been Listening
I’ve learned from my study of the Bible that God never really screams the messages He wants us to know. He very subtly instructs us and it is our responsibility to seek His wisdom for the meaning and application.
Look at these scriptures below and see how God has been instructing us for ages that our thoughts are imperative to the wellness of our lifestyle:
Hebrew 4:12– For the word of the God is living and powerful, and shaper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Proverbs 23:7 – {abridged} – For as he thinks in his heart, so is he . . .
Matthew 5: 28 – But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.
2 Corinthians 10:5 – and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every though captive to obey Christ.
Romans 12:2 – Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
These are just a few examples in scripture where God reminds us what we should do with our thoughts, but why are thoughts so important
Why Are Thoughts so Important
Thoughts are so important because wrong ideas about yourself and others and can utterly destroy us.
Recently, I read the book The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson and I learned how old emotions can become trapped in the body for years and years and at a later date present themselves as minor illnesses or fatal disease.
Dr. Nelson retold story after story of people who carried thoughts of wrong ideas about themselves and their situation and experienced infertility, speech problems, cancer, stomach troubles, chronic pain, headaches, and ever manner of illness based on those thoughts.
These thoughts were so detrimental that many of Dr. Nelson’s patients were carrying around chronic pain, based on trapped emotions inherited from as far as twenty-five generations ago! Thoughts presented as emotions so strong that almost one hundred people had to bear the weight of great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandma’s wrong ideas about herself.
In a Netflix documentary, Heal, the documentary follows people who thought negatively about themselves, became very ill based on those thoughts then used holistic therapy and positive thoughts to completely heal themselves.
Thoughts bare hefty weight that has the power to either heal or totally destroy ourselves.
That is why God instructs us to think on good thoughts as good thoughts will heals us and propel us into our destinies.
Conversely, Satan wants us to think on negative thoughts as we can destroy our lives and our futures if we think on negativity too long.
There is also proof that with our thoughts we manifest things into our physical reality. Just recently, as an experiment, I’ve been thinking of flowers, because I REALLY love receiving flowers. I received no less than six or seven gifts of flowers unexpectedly afterwards and one arrangement was so large I had trouble caring it.
I told my mom about my little experiment. She loves throw pillows so she started thinking about those. In less than a week, my brother-in-law found throw pillows for an outlandish bargain and brought her 17!
The book and the Nextflix documentary, The Secret, discusses how with our thoughts we can manifest anything, good or bad. This is why we most guard our thought at all costs.
Just as my mom and I manifested throw pillow and flowers, one can also manifest sickness and debt with their unintentional negative thoughts.
The Bottom Line and How to Win the Battle
In this article, we explored that there are a number or reasons we have negative thoughts, but the main reason is because Satan would like to destroy our mental space by introducing wrong thoughts and ideas into our mind. We learned that in the scriptures God revealed to us the importance of thought and with our thoughts we manifest either health and wealth or sickness and damnation. So how does one win the battle that is raging on in our minds?
The only way to win the battle is by guarding our thoughts and thinking positively. When your mind starts to wondering on lack and negative self talk, this is your opportunity to begin thinking positively. Think on good things, lovely things, holy things, also be careful of what you consume.
Watching a thousand cop shows that depict rape and blood stained bodies won’t help with positive thinking. Hard core Rap and Rock music aren’t the greatest to feed your brain everyday, and keeping company with negative people won’t help a lot in your venture either.
Surround yourself with uplifting media. On social media, follow positive and uplifting people and your thoughts will start making a natural shift. Start a gratitude journal and write down the things you are thankful for. Breathe, exercise, and take a walk in nature.
What you surround yourself with directly affects your thoughts.
Prayer is also one of the most effective ways to win the battle. Cast all your cares, fears, and worries on God in prayer and he will give you the solution to your problems.
There will be times of negative thoughts and feelings, but the cool thing about life is you don’t have to sit with that negativity. You have the power to heal your thinking with positivity and love.
You want to win this battle and you can win this battle! Keep your life positive and prayed over and the victory of life and purpose is within your reach. You were called for a purpose, you are loved, you are wanted, and you can do this! You can win!
Want to learn more about the importance of human thoughts? Here are some great resources to check out:
The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson
The Battlefield of The Mind By Joyce Meyers
Supreme Influence:Change Your Life with the Power of the Language You Use by Niurka
The Secret on Netflix
Heal on Netflix
