The Battle for Our Mind
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” II Cor. 10:4
Background
According Lewis Sperry’s study of the Bible, God does approximately seventy-five things for the believer based solely on the believer’s trust in Christ. Nothing is required of the believer other than faith alone in Christ alone for salvation.
Since God has given every man faith, the distinguishing factor as to who receives these seventy-five things from God is the fact that he has placed his faith in Christ. What we must believe is brought out in John 6:37, 39; and I Peter 1:5. John 6:37 says that when we come to Jesus by faith, He will never cast us out. Verse 39 tells us that when we come to Him by faith, Jesus will never lose us; and in I Peter 1:5 God explains that the reason He will never cast us out or lose us is because we are kept saved by His power .
Spiritual Warfare
One of the things that God does when we trust Christ as our Savior is He births us into His family. Because of this, we have a new spiritual nature which cannot sin. However, our old sin nature cannot do any good. Consequently, at the moment we are born again, we enter into a warfare between our flesh and spirit.
“Casting 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.” II Corinthians 10:5
This is the battle for the mind. The prisoners of war are our thoughts and imaginations. Our carnal (fleshly) birth has captured our thoughts and imaginations by feeding our mind with what we see and hear. When we first trust Christ, our thoughts our flesh holds our thoughts captive hold us as slaves to the desires of the flesh and of the mind. However, God has made the power to conquer Satan’s stronghold and free our mind from bondage available to the obedient believer. The problem is, this does not come naturally. What comes naturally is of the natural man.
In the battle between the flesh and the spirit for control of our mind and, ultimately, our life we must starve the flesh by protecting our mind from seeing and hearing sinful things, and feed the spirit by Bible study, prayer, going to church, and talking about the plan of salvation. Dr. Jerry Lloyd
Introduction
The third step of sin is thinking about evil. You hear it with your ears, and you see it with your eyes. That is how you feed the flesh. Then you start thinking about it. Thinking about sin begins what might be a very short decline through the eleven steps of sin. So, of the eleven steps of sin, if we do not stop feeding the flesh through avoiding exposing our flesh to watching and listening to evil by what we see and hear, then the first step AFTER FEEDING THE FLESH is thinking about what you have seen and heard. The third step through the eleventh are all the results of feeding the flesh through seeing and hearing.
Our Past
Before we are saved we feed the flesh exclusively, because we do not have a spirit birth yet. We have not yet been born again. So thinking about sin is the first of the nine results of feeding the flesh through seeing and hearing about sinful things.
In II Corinthians 10:3-5 God says:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting 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.”
We are talking about a warfare in these verses. The eleven steps of sin are a very small portion of that warfare, but it is a very important aspect of that warfare nevertheless. So we have a warfare between our flesh birth, which we receive from our earthly parents the moment we are born, and it has a sin nature inherited from our parents. That is the only thing you feed in this life until you trust Christ as your Savior.
The New Birth
In John chapter three Jesus introduces the truth of the new birth to Nicodemus. Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus said, “That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit.”
Here Jesus introduces the fact of the two natures to Nicodemus. So Nicodemus asks, “How can these things be?”
In answer to his question Jesus first spoke the now familiar words of John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Notice that all the action and all the work is done by God. God did the loving. Love is an action. Love is obedience according to the I & II John. And God did all the giving. When Jesus came to earth, He was completely obedient to God’s plan and commands of God the Father. Then Jesus lived a perfect life, but because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), He died. God the Father came to earth and then He died to pay for our sins. He gave His only begotten Son. God did the loving and God did the giving.
Results of Believing
“That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but, have everlasting life.” There are two results of what God did for whosoever. We shall not perish in the future. We do not have to worry about going to hell or being separated from God. The second thing is something that is true of the present. “Whosoever believeth in Him hath (present tense) everlasting life.” You have it now, and it is everlasting. What must we do to have this work of God applied to us? “That whosoever believeth in Him.”
What We Must Believe
What is it that we need to believe? According to John chapter six God tells us that that all who come to Him by believing will in wise lose ever become lost, and God will never cast us out. When we believe in Him, we are believing His promise that He will never cast us out or lose us. Then in I Peter 1:4-5 God tells us that we are kept unto salvation by His power through faith:
“To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
So if we believe in Him, we must believe His promises concerning salvation and security, that happens for you. He gives you everlasting life, you will never perish, He will never cast you out, He will never lose you, and He will keep you by His power to salvation because of your faith.
IT IS YOUR CHOICE
God has given every man the measure of faith whereby you can be saved, but it is your choice where you place that faith. You can choose to put your faith in your own good works and faithfulness, and never be sure of going to heaven, because you think you have to be good, or dedicate your life, or go to church or pay your tithes. That is trusting yourself. That is putting your faith in your own goodness or works.
On the other hand you can choose to trust what Jesus said and did for your salvation. What did He say? He said if you believe in Me, then you have everlasting life. I will never cast you out. I will never lose you, because I will keep you by my power, because you believe. That is what you have to believe. If you do not believe it; you do not have it. If you believe it, you have it. That is what Jesus promised.
Enter the Warfare Between the Two Natures
When you believe in Jesus that way, then you are born again, spiritually. When you are born again, for the first time you have a spirit nature that cannot sin, but you have a sin nature that cannot do good (Romans 7:18). So when you trust Christ as your Savior you enter a warfare between your sin nature and your new nature. Since your new birth cannot sin, why is it that believers still sin after they are saved? They sin, because they yield to the flesh. How is it that the believer can do good? When a believer yields to the spirit then he will do what is right. In every situation in your life, you have the choice whether or not you will yield to the flesh or allow the spirit to control your life. So when we trust Christ as our Savior there begins a warfare between the flesh and the spirit. That is what God is talking about in II Corinthians 10:4:
“Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.”
This is not a physical warfare. It is a spiritual warfare. Instead of destroying people and countries with guns and ammunition, we are in a far more dangerous, real, serious warfare, because it is spiritual.
“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (flershly), but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”
Our weapons are better than our opponent’s weapons. Our opponents are the world, the flesh, and the devil, and our weapons are stronger. They are better. However, when some people say about the sword of the spirit, the Word of God, “I don’t believe the Bible,” we have a tendency to say, “O.K. Let’s put that away and talk about something else.” We probably should say, “That’s really amazing, and a very dangerous position to hold in view of all the proofs of the Bible. How did you come to such an opinion?” Or maybe a simply ask a question like: “Why not?” Then when they try to answer simply ask: “How do you know that?” or “Who told you that?”
When you go into battle, you do not throw your weapon away just because your opponent does not like it, or is intimidated by it, or does not believe it.
What are our weapons?
According to Ephesians 6:17 God says, “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Our Sword
Our weapon is a spiritual weapon “the Sword of the Spirit,” and, therefore, it is not carnal. It is not temporary. It is eternal, and it is the Word of God.
In Hebrews 4:12 God says, “The word of God is quick.” That means it is alive. Just like the quick of the fingernail is alive. “And powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.” There is not another weapon made that is sharper than the Word of God, but if you put that away, then you have infereior weaponry. Do not into battle without your sword. The Bible says that it is “a fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” So do not try to match wits with the witless. “Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Notice that it is the Word of God that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Our Armor
God explains the weapons of our warfare in Ephesians 6:13-18. They include the utility belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness in verse 14, having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel in verse 15, the shield of faith of verse 16, the helmet of salvation and sword of the Word of God in verse 17, and prayer in verse 18. All of the armor is for your protection, except for the sword. They are for your protection. The offensive weapon you have is the Word of God.
Feeding the Spirit
The way we feed the flesh is through what we see and hear, but rather than avoiding seeing and hearing the wrong things, we should concentrate on seeing and hearing the right things that are found in the Word of God. Then your spirit will become strong and your flesh will start weakening as you starve it. Remember the desires of the flesh will never go away once you have whet the appetite of the flesh through exposing it to seeing and hearing evil, but those desires can be weakened. When a person backslides and feeds the flesh by watching what he should not watch, or listening to things he should not listen to, then his flesh will go back to the worst wickedness that it has experienced. The person who relapses will go back to the same degree of wickedness as where he left off.
The Spoil
So for what prize or spoil is the flesh and spirit fighting?
“Casting 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.” II Corinthian’s 10:5.
“Casting down imaginations.” It is interesting that imaginations are almost always evil in the Word of God. In verse 4 God says that we are “pulling down strongholds.” Our sin nature is building walls around our mind by our imagination. This battle takes place in the mind. The battle between the flesh and the spirit is a battle for your mind. It is a battle for your imagination. It is a battle against everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It is a battle of knowledge.
The Fortress of the Flesh
“Bringing into captivity every thought.” It is a battle for your thoughts, and your flesh down through the years has built a wall around your thoughts to create a stronghold to keep the thoughts that are contrary to what your flesh desire.
Have you ever asked a person why they do not participate in some activity of the church, and their answer simply expresses the fact that they do not desire to participate? It is not because they have to work, or they were sick, or was unable to get to church. They simply have no desire to participate in that activity of the church. What we desire is completely irrelevant concerning obeying God’s direction in your life.
Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” What are walls and gates for? They are to keep the adversaries out. Who is controlling these gates? They are the gates of hell. The world, the flesh and the devil are defending their ground, and we are the ones that should be on the assault. Our adversaries cannot prevail against our spirit adequately equipped with our spiritual armor. So the gates of hell are trying to keep the thoughts from the Word of God out of our mind. The flesh has built a wall around our mind by what we see and hear to keep the Word of God out. I am not talking about what you do. Those are the results of feeding the flesh, but what strengthens the wall around your mind is what you see and hear. But the WORD OF GOD can slash right through that wall.
The problem is we do not study the Word of God. We do not memorize the Word of God, and we, therefore, do not meditate on the word of God.
What is the goal in the battle? What is the spoil in the warfare? “Casting 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.” II Corinthian’s 10:5. Those are what we are fighting for. It is imaginations. It is knowledge. It is thoughts. We are battling for our mind.
Think About It
Job 31:1 says: “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” We need to make a commitment concerning our eyes, because when you look at something, the next step is you begin to think about it.
Proverbs 4:26 says, “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.” How are we going to establish our “way”? What way? The way of your life. How? Ponder it. Think about it.
Have you ever seen someone do something really dumb, and then someone says to them, “What were you thinking?” I think God is asking that a lot. In fact God says in Romans 14:12 “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God,” and in I Corinthians 4:5 God says that at this judgment where we give account of ourselves to God He also tells us what will judged. “(He) will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”
We are learning eleven steps in the downward path of sin. So we need to ponder the path we are taking. There is a better one. So if we think about it, if we ponder the path we should take, then our thoughts will be established and we will be able to bring every thought into captivity to Christ.
Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” This verse tells us how to have our thoughts to be established. You must commit your way to the Lord. Then your way will be established, and your way will be established by your thoughts. Your thoughts become established by committing our works to the Lord. So you must become predisposed or single minded that you are going to do what the Lord wants you to do. You are not going to do what your flesh wants you to do; you are going to do what your spirit wants you to do.
How do you know what your spirit wants you to do?
Romans 12:1-2 tells us. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Focus on verse two: “And 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.” “Be not conformed to this world.” Remember that all that is in the world is the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life is not of God, but is of the world; and God commands us not to love the world. So we are commanded to not be conformed to this world.
How to Change Your Life
“But be ye transformed.” Be changed. Your flesh has controlled your life long enough. Now that you are saved, changed. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you are on your way to heaven, but you are still going to life after the flesh unless you change. So be transformed. Do not conform to this world, but be transformed. How?
Once you whet the appetite of the flesh, it will never become less evil than it is right now. So we are not trying to change the flesh. So then how do you change your life?
Do you remember the serial killer named Ted Bundy that was caught in Florida and subsequently executed? It is said that the first step in his descent to execution was he found a discarded Playboy magazine, and through the exposing of his flesh through what he saw in that magazine, that started him on his was to become a serial killer.
Many counselors say that once you go so far, you cannot go back. However, with ten of the eleven steps of sin there I hope. God gives us the solution to how to defeat sin and the flesh nature for every step but the last. So how can you make the change when your thoughts have been corrupted by what you have seen and heard? Like the secular song said, “Take a look at yourself and make a change.” What does God say? “Be ye transformed (changed) by the renewing of your mind.”
How did your mind get to where it is now? By what you heard and what you saw. You have become what you are by the people, places, things, and ideas (thoughts) to which you have exposed your mind. So whatever it takes you need to separate yourself from seeing and hearing those things.
Renewing Your Mind
How do you renew your mind? You think new thoughts. You should not try to stop thinking the old thoughts. You must separate yourself from the source of those thoughts, but you do that by thinking new thoughts. Replace the things you to which you were exposing your eyes and ears with wholesome sounds and sights.
Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” You are what you think. So, if you want to make a change, you need to think new thoughts.”
Philippians 4:8 tells us what thoughts about which we should be thinking. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, 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.”
So we should replace any thoughts that do not measure up to this list with thoughts that do.
“Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do.”
Notice that God commands us to do the things that we have “heard and seen” in Him. So instead of feeding the flesh by what we see and hear, feed your spirit by what you see and hear from God, and then we do them. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
How to Clean up Your Act
Psalm 119:9 says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.”
Do you want to clean up your act? Here is how a person can clean up his way. How? By taking heed according to Thy Word.
Verse 11 says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
I have hid God’s Word in my heart; I have memorized God’s Word, I have renewed my thoughts, that I might not sin against God’s principles. What should we do next after we memorize God’s Word?
Verse 15 says, “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.”
The prerequisite for meditation is memorization. You cannot meditate on thoughts that you have not placed into your head by memorization. To have respect unto God’s ways, you meditate unto what you have memorized of God’s ways. Obviously, you cannot meditate on God’s Word unless you have memorized God’s Word unless you have the Bible open in front of you. But when you are driving down the street, you must have memorized God’s Word before you can meditate on God’s Word.
After I had dedicated my life to the Lord, I determined that I should go into the ministry while I was mowing the lawn. The mower was loud, and the work was mind numbing, so I began to meditate on God’s Word. I thought about the mansion God would have for me according to John 14:1-2. I thought about the rewards God promised for work I did for Him in I Corinthians 3:11-15. I thought about the Judgment Seat of Christ in II Corinthians 5:10. I thought about God’s promise to provide food, drink, and clothes God had promised, if I would seek His Kingdom first and the dwelling place He promised in Psalm 37:3-4 to those trust and who delight in Him. Then I compared what I was hoping to earn when I finished my education at University South Florida with the hundred fold reward Jesus promised if I were willing to give up those worldly things to serve the Lord, and I realized that to give up all that God promised to bless me with if I would serve Him, it became clear that if I forfeited all of that to pursue a career in the medical field would be foolish. The rewards that Christ promised were too much to gain to lose. I came to that revelation, because I could meditate on Scriptures I had memorized.
So you need to memorize Scripture so you can meditate on it, but if you have memorized God’s Word, then you cannot meditate upon God’s Word unless you have the Word of God open in front of you.
How to Get Everything Your Heart Desires
In Psalm 1:2 God says, “His delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
A person who is mediating upon God’s Word day and night is “delighting” in the Lord. God has a special promise for those who delight in the Lord according to Psalm 37:4:
“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
If you mediate on God’s Word day and night, you are delighting in the Lord, and if you delight in the Lord, the result is God will give you the desires of your heart. The things that the flesh desires will never satisfy you, because you cannot keep them, because when you die you will lose them all; and your flesh will always want more. You will lose those things and when you get to heaven, you will lose the desire for those things. But if you delight in the Lord God, He will give you what your heart desires. What does your heart desire? Basically, your heart desires love, joy, and peace. These three things are what your heart basically desires, and they can only be had by memorizing God’s Word, meditating upon God’s Word, and then doing God’s Word.
Therefore the next verse says, “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”
“Thy way.” Commit yourself to what you are learning in His Word, and your ways will be changed. That is how you can have victory over the flesh. Whenever you are meditating on God’s Word, you have been looking at God’s Word, and listening to God’s Word, so your spirit becomes strong, your flesh nature becomes weak, and you get the fruit of the spirit, the first three of which are love, joy, and peace. Those are what your heart’s desires, and that is what you must do to get your heart’s desires.
Avoid Listening to Your Heart at All Cost
If you look within yourself to try to determine what your heart desires, you will be deceived, because Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
Your heart is the most deceitful thing in the universe. It is even more deceitful than Satan, and there is only one person your heart can deceive. That is yourself. But God tries the reins. He knows the heart, and He will give you according to your ways. Keep your heart right with His will and you will receive the fruit of your doings which will be the fruit of the spirit.
We might think that our heart desires a motorcycle, or a new car, or camper, but what we really desire is the joy we think those things will bring us. You have heard the old saying, “The happiest two days of a boat owner’s life is the day he buys it, and the day he sells it.” We think we will love that camper, but it will never love you back, and one day you will lose it. Most of the things that we think will give us peace and satisfaction will only waste away until we are gone or they are gone.
So, If you want something that will never leave you even when you die, will give you peace of mind and satisfaction, then delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Dr. Jerry Lloyd
The Test
Memory Verse
“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” Job 31:1
The second step of sin is seeing. God challenges us through Job’s words to make a covenant with our eyes not to look at the lusts thereof.
We have learned that in the battle between our sin nature and our new spirit birth, the flesh is strengthened by what we see and hear (“For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” II Peter 2:8). Therefore, if we want to win this battle, we must starve the flesh by depriving it of sinful sights and sounds. In other words, as the children’s song goes: “Be careful little ears what you hear…(and) be careful little eyes what you see.” So, we must make a commitment not to expose our ears to sinful input, and not to expose our eyes to sinful sights.
The next step or third step of sin is thinking. If you have never heard about something or seen a certain evil thing, you are not going to think about it. The only way that could happen is by creating evil in your imagination, and, believe me, plenty of that goes on, too.
What did Job do to keep from thinking evil thoughts?
“I made a _______________ with mine ______________ .”
What sinful thing did that keep Job from doing?
“Why then should I ________________ upon a maid?”
The flesh and the spirit are at war (“I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, (flesh) warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” Rom. 7:22-23
So, the question naturally arises: “What are they fighting for?” What is the spoil? What is the prize? The battle is for control of your thoughts. It is a battle for your mind.
Memory Verse
“Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.” Proverb 4:26
What must you do for your ways to be established?
“ _______________ the path of thy feet.”
“Think about it!” That is what God is telling us to do.
You flesh and your spirit are both battling for your mind. The sinful nature or natural man has had a head start. It molded and dominated your thoughts at least until you trusted Christ as your Savior. At that time, you were born again, and for the first time you could think spiritually. However, your new birth was just a babe: (As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby,” I Peter 2:2.) So, we must start feeding the spirit by studying the Bible, attending Bible teaching, praying, and talking to others about the Lord. So replace the natural tendency to view and listen to things that displease God, and cultivate spiritual thoughts.
Memory Verse
“Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Proverb 16:3
How do we establish our thoughts? “ _________ thy works.”
To establish our thoughts takes commitment. If we simply do that which is “natural,” then we will follow the desire of our natural man rather than our spiritual man.
What must you do to established godly thoughts?
“Commit thy works unto the _________________ ,
and thy thoughts shall be established.”
]You must make a commitment to choose to think about right things. You must make a “covenant with your ears and eyes not to expose them to sinful things.
Memory Verse
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Proverb 23:7
What determines what a man is?
“As he ____________________ in his heart, so is he.”
It has been said that you are what you eat. Of course, in a very literal physical sense that is true, but in a spiritual, emotional, and mental sense that is only true if food is what you think about. While this may sound like an absurd illustration, as it was meant to be, I have met many people whose thoughts seem to be dominated by where they were going to eat their next meal, what they were going to eat, or even how much they were going to eat. However, we “feed” our fleshly mind by what we hear and see. If we listen to sinful talk and watch sinful activities, soon our life will become characterized by sinful activities.
We must replace ungodly sights and sounds by things that will feed our spiritual birth.
Memory Verse
“And 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 12:2
If, as a believer, you conform to the worldly desires of the flesh you will never be able to change your life for the better.
Your flesh and spirit are battling for control of your mind and, therefore, your life. From the time you were first born until the time you trusted Christ as your Savior, your thoughts were controlled by your sin nature. To change your life, you must change your thoughts, which are controlled by what you see and hear. Therefore, you must view and listen to different things than you did before.
What must you do to change or “transform” your life?
“Be ye transformed by the ______________ of your mind.”
Memory Verse
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, 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.” Philippians 4:8
In Romans 12:2 we learn that the way to have our life transformed is by renewing our mind. Simply put, what we need to do is think new thoughts. Being true to His character, when God gives us a command such as this, He also gives us the instructions of how to do it.
In this verse God gives us a list of things about which we should think. Then God gives us a command. What is it?
“ _________________ on these things.”
What step to of how to win the battle for the mind is this?
“ _____________ , brethren.”
_______________________________________________
Memory Verse
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Psalms 19:14
When the LORD came to earth, took all of our sins onto Himself and died for them, that is what the LORD did to redeem us. We have all sinned, and the payment for sin is death (Romans 3:23 & 6:23); but Jesus died to redeem us. Redeem means “To deliver by paying the price.”
For the LORD to be our strength takes a single-minded commitment after salvation.
What two things does the LORD command us to do to be acceptable?
“Let the ___________ of my mouth, and the____________
of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight.”
The next step of sin (fourth) is speaking about evil things.