Last week in my post Which Redeemed of the Lord Are You, I talked about how God was pressing on me I was one of the Addicted. I’ve overcome several addictions, so I certainly identified with that profile, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what any current issue might be.
Over the next few days, he led me to Joyce Meyer’s book Battlefield of the Mind. My sister lent me a copy of it over three years ago. Three years. I kept putting it off, never feeling like I should read it. I was thinking, it’ll be nice to read for reference, but it’s not really FOR me, you know?
Well, I was wrong.
Joyce talks about the conditions of our mind and how Satan uses it to do what he always does—steal, kill and destroy us. I truly was blind to the issues I had. In general, I would have said I’m a thinker, a pretty positive person, maybe a bit worrisome in some aspects and maybe a bit negative towards myself at times. But holy cow, there are thought processes I had that were destructive and I simply had accepted them as normal.
In particular, she talked about Mind-Binding spirits. And listen, this is all charismatic-y so if that scares you off, that’s fine. Joyce talks about how God led her to look into these mind-binding spirits and sure enough, once she began praying against them for herself she felt “a tremendous deliverance.”
She says all of her deliverances have come from believing and confessing the Word of God and quotes two passages of Scripture as her testimony. John 8:31-32 is the first “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” And now wait for it. I want you to guess what chapter the second one was from…PSALM 107—the same chapter from last week’s post. Psalm 107:20 says “He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.”
For me, this was total confirmation that God was indeed preparing me last week and showing me this addiction, or bondage.
As I continued to read, Joyce described six different types of unhealthy conditions:
- A Wandering, Wondering Mind
- A Confused Mind
- A Doubtful and Unbelieving Mind
- An Anxious and Worried Mind
- A Judgmental, Critical and Suspicious Mind
- A Passive Mind
I hate to even admit how much all 6 of those resonated with me. I wish I could go into detail about how each of them was true for me in some way or another.
This weekend I spent some time in prayer. I prayed against the mind-binding spirits and confessed all the ways my thoughts had been wrong. I asked for healing.
In my mind, he gave me a picture of dark rows of cages in my mind. As I prayed, they were all removed and replaced with light and green grass. I realized that it was a green pasture and then a waterfall and river appeared. The Lord then brought Psalm 23 to my mind
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want
He maketh my lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters
He restoreth my soul.
God was letting me have a picture of my mind healing and bringing to life that Scripture.
I walked away feeling lighter than ever. Since then, I of course have been hit with negative thoughts, but the book talks about the importance of capturing our thoughts and fighting back with Scripture. Certainly this is nothing new, but God gave me new eyes to see that I actually needed to do it!
Guys, as Christians, we can and should have a positive mind because no matter what we face, we have God by our side. This is not positive thinking so it turns into blessings and bad things don’t happen to us. This is even when you face bad things, we can be positive because we have God. It’s about believing what God says is true. It’s about not judging people. It’s about not reasoning yourself to death. It’s about doing the things God says to do. It’s about being actively engaged with those around us.
I see so much negativity, anxiety, judgment and cynicism particularly in Christians (including myself) and I’m seeing now how prevalent and destructive it is. You might be like me and not even realize you have a problem. Perhaps you know one of these thought patterns resonate with you. I’d highly suggest reading her book and also spending some time seeking the Lord to see how he leads you. He is our great Guide and Counselor!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
lito palco says
Truly, the six states of the mind are mind sets that the Lord wants us not to have. Through out the new testament, these sets are always dealt. It is because man doesn’t want to change because of comfort zones. But are they really comfort? Look at the number of states that you saw. Was it coincidence that there were six , the number of the devil? Let us continue to change people paradigm. For the mind is the battlefield of the devil.
Praise God that you have shared this wonderful miracle. May the Lord send you storms of blessing for showing His miracle in this world – to the believers so that they including me be encouraged and to non believers so that they may believe and be rebuke. For the word of God is used for both encouraging and rebuking. God bless you and may the Love of the Father, Grace of Jesus Christ, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always. Amen