“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” ~ Ephesians 6:12
REFERENCE:
There is an invisible world that is more real than (and affects and controls) the visible one. It is where the central spiritual warfare takes place. The devil operates in the sense realm, seeking to manipulate or sway the mind; victory will elude you if you live there. The battle is not with the enemy but the ‘inner me’. To fight and win the battle, you must mind your mind.
Paul reveals that in this invisible battle for control of our mind, our enemies are spiritual: We are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
The mind is the seat of emotion, intellect, and will. It is your ‘feelers’ and the canvas upon which a man paints the picture of his future. It is your number one instructor, counselor, and adviser, the factory that produces everything that comes out of your mouth and life. It is a score sheet that grades your performance and can eventually define you based on your scores.
These definitions of the mind show why the devil targets our minds. He knows that (a.) Whoever or whatever controls a man’s mind controls his life (b.) What ruins a man is not what goes into him, but what comes out of him (his mind) (c.) A man will believe as real, whatever he perceives as real in his mind (d.) Wrong believing will lead to wrong behavior and then wrong living.
The food of the mind is pictures; the mind runs our lives through images and thoughts. “As a man thinks, so is he.” In the furnace of thoughts, a man can either forge the weapons by which he destroys himself or fashion the tools with which he builds for himself a heavenly mansion of peace and joy. There are no mountains anywhere; every man’s mountain is in his mind. A great deal of attention must be paid to the mind if you want to win in life; you must mind your mind.
We will continue tomorrow to see the tools satan deploys against the mind.
PHOTO QUOTE
ADDITIONAL TEXTS:
Matthew 15:11-19, Mark 4:24, and Proverbs 23:7
PRAYER:
+ Lord, always give me the discipline to mind what goes into or on in my mind. I refuse to let the devil paint pictures of failure, lust, low self-image, condemnation, or fear on the canvas of my mind. I renew my mind with the word of God, and I walk in perpetual victory in my mind. Henceforth, my mind will produce good fruits, and my life will be better for it, in Jesus’ name.
