This is a short study on what the bible teaches about the mind.
In History there have been some great battles; in the second world war there was the battle of the som, fort from the trenches. The Battle of waterloo when Napoleon and his navy were destroyed by Lord Nelson.

The greatest battle that is raging is not between God and Satan, it is between Satan and the Church, also Satan and Israel.
Every battle has a battlefield

This battlefield is in the minds of men and women
Mind is like a fertile soil, ready to receive good or bad seed.
In the parable of the sower and the seed we can see this clearly
Satan wants your mind, Satan attacks the mind
Before Christ we had a mind that was Alien to God Ephesians 2:3

We alienated God, by our wicked Works
Colossians 1: 21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
We followed our lusts and desires, wicked inclinations and there was no place for God

II Timothy 2; 26And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Satan desires to rule the minds of men.
Could someone highlight some of the traps Satan may set for you?

We will show you how through the scriptures the battle can be won, every time.

What does the bible say about temptation!
I Corinthians 10:13….God will make a way of escape.
I remember watching a program called batman it would come on every week when I was just a boy. The enemy, the joker or the riddler would always get batman in some trap or another. But he would always seem to escape.
God will help us to find a way out of temptation.

Jesus teaches us how to win this battle
Matthew 4:4-10 in the last temptation Jesus said away with you Satan.

We are to resist the Devil and James said he will flee from us.

It is an interesting thing to be a pastor, you can learn so many lessons about human nature.
I have seen some people come in they are on fire for God, they attended every service, prayed greeted the brethren, smile, then all of a sudden when they, attend the service there face has a scour, they look as if they sucked on a lemon.
They no longer stay and greet, there gone before anyone even approaches

them….What happened ! I would ask God. And a felt directed to II Timothy 2:25-25 their minds have been taken captive by Satan. They have been trapped and caught in his snare.
He gnaws away like a locust Joel 1:4 it does not happen overnight.
The Mind, the bible says we should gird the lions of our minds I Peter 1: 13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

In other words, do not be caught with your trousers down.
Tighten the belt, do not listen to gossip, slander, false teaching
Guard your heart and your mind, fill it with the word of God.

Titus 1: 15Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
We must guard our minds from outside sources.
Demons defile and desire to corrupt us.

There was a film epic called the Battle of troy.
The walls of Troy were impregnable, so the Greeks built a Trojan horse as a gift, then the King opened the gates to receive it. At night when the soldiers were sleeping there were soldiers inside the horse, they began to climb out and besiege the city. And open the gates for their army.
We must be careful what we watch and what we listen to, it could be a Trojan horse.
In fact when you go on the internet, if you don't have an antiviral system, or a firewall a virus will come in and corrupt the disk.

The other day I was ministering to a sister who was attending another church, and the guy she was dating said to her that if she loves him she must have sex outside of marriage, he is a Christian and she is also one. That brother is a Trojan and he wants to corrupt her mind. But she quoted the word of God.
Resist him, flee youthful lusts.

The warfare isn't for us in the heavenlies, we are to leave that to the Angels.
Our battle is in the mind.
Maybe you have been praying for something for so long, and you know the bible says in patience we must posses our souls, the a voice comes into your head forget it, you are wasting your time, God has forgotten you.
The mind is the place of attack.
Look at Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, so intense was the battle his sweat became blood, to produce that chemical reaction in the body you must be under great duress.
One of satans main attack is accusation, and condemnation, he is the accuser of the brethren
Revelations 12:10
I am Losing My Mind !

The devil uses condemnation, and slander to destroy us.
First he tempts us, he entices us to commit sin, and after we have yielded, the next stage is to condemn us, and tell us it is all over now you might as well give it up, ,….he tells us God will never accept us.
The devil is a liar, and to counteract that we must, quote scripture
Romans 8 …there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ
Christ corrects us but the devil condemns us
.Just by the kind of military terms that are used by Paul, it is clear that he was aware of the spiritual battle that we are engaged in. II Timothy 2:3-4
II Corinthians 10: 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
If your thought does exalt Christ or challenges the knowledge of God. You must cast it down.
When your opinion rises above what the word says you must cast it down.

Most Spiritual warfare teaching is unscriptural, and glamorises Satan, and talks about the cosmic battle between good and evil, that is more like harry potter and lord of the rings. And even freemasonery.
A stronghold is like bazra was in Iraq, An area in the battle where you experience the strongest resistance.
Lateness could be a stronghold, your temper could be a stronghold, you find that when in great problems you lie to get out, lying is most definitely a stronghold.
Cast it down!
Fear is a stronghold.
Deppression, you find yourself getting depressed for no reason, you experience these emotions, you lose purpose and drive for life, the word says he has given us the Garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Isaiah 61:3

Low self esteem is a mindset, and can become a stronghold. Low esteem comes out of comparing yourself with others, the bible says doing this is not wise.

You find when its time to pray something distracts you, or you fall asleep, or you feel to stop after five minutes. It has become a stronghold

Gossip can become a stronghold, you just talk and talk about people non stop

They talk about princes of a city, and they see demons every where.

They are on there own private quest to finish off what Christ left behind, in there eyes Christ has not completed the Job so they have to finish it off for him but in
Colossians 2:14 (KJV)
14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15.

In the new king James and other modern translations it says that Jesus disarmed the devil. And publicly overcame him.
The devil is like a bee without a sting.
Islam has a stronghold in modern English culture, they have banned the piggy bank, the have prayer rooms for both Muslim and Christians instead of Chapels
Cities are in darkness because there is an absence of light.
Satan works through the mind.
We must not give place to the devil
How do we give place to the devil?
Acts 5:3 Why as satan filled your heart to lie
When Ananias and saphira agreed together to lie about the money they received after purchasing there house and land, what overtook them.
Number one; they were already covetous and greedy, so Satan had something he could work with.
Number two: they had an inclination to lie
Satan needs something to work with.
I Timothy 6:9 rich fall into temptation

Number two: Another ingredient he needs to fulfil his schemes is pride, once you are proud you are close to Satan.

Daniel 5: 20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

Philippians 2: 3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. James

Again in the book of Philippians it says we should arm ourselves with the mind of Christ.
Christ did not care about his own reputation
Be of a sound mind
Many people believe the Holy Spirit gives them gives them an excuse to act crazy, over emotional, and erratic.
The Holy Sprint Gives you a sound mind II Timothy 1: 7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
Your thoughts should be clearer, your behaviour should be sane.
Whenever Jesus met somebody that was mad, by the time he was finished with them they were sane Mark 5 : 5And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

We are to guard the mind and the heart..for out of it comes the issues of life!
How do you guard the mind?
The best analogy would be in computer terms, would be to use an internet security package, with a good firewall, and spam killer, so when the devil sends his virus and spam…..you need to change your church, pastor does not like you, that brother does not want you in the church….
Your firewall and spam killer block the messages.
We are not to shaken in mind as Paul advised the church of Thessalonica.
What Does it mean to have a reprobate mind?
Romans 1;28….REPROBATE MIND CONCERNING THE TRUTH
You will find this word used again in Jeremiah 6:30
It is used to describe silver that is unrefined, when silver or any metal is refined the dross, or in terms of steel we call pig iron or the slag, when it is not fully separated from the Iron or silver.
Someone who is reprobate is when the Job is not quite finished, the work of salvation did not complete, there is still dross, or slag
This is the idea from which Paul refers to reprobate
Peter uses the analogy of a dog returning to eat its vomit. II Peter 2:22

The best way to have a victorious mind is to turn it over to the Lord, fill it with the word of God, fill it with pure thoughts.

Helpful Scriptures:
Isaiah 26: 3Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 4Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
Daniel 5: 20But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

Mark 5 : 5And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Acts 17: 11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Romans 1: 28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Romans 7: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. &
25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 8: 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Romans 12: 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12: 16Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

I Corinthians 1: 10Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

2 Corinthians 13 :1111Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Ephesians 2: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Ephesians 4: 17This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Ephesians 4: 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.