YOUR MIND THE BATTLEGROUND- GOOD MORNING

Your Mind, The Battleground

Spiritual warfare is one subject that is highly misunderstood by a lot of Christians. Many hold the view that they have to fight to defeat the devil. However, satan has been defeated, Jesus stripped him of all authority and gave that authority to you.

So in spiritual warfare, you are not fighting to obtain victory, you fight from a position of victory to maintain victory. Your battle is to sustain the victory that Jesus already obtained for you.

2Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For 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;). 5 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.”

The above verses have been erroneously used to apply to battling principalities and powers. But when you read it in context, you will find out that it is not about the devil.

It is simply telling Christians to take control of their own thoughts and imaginations, so they can prevent the devil’s lies from building strongholds in their mind.

The fourth verse says… “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds…”

The word carnal comes from the Greek word “sarkikos “ which means governed by mere human nature or controlled by the flesh.

In other words, your “weapons” are empowered by God for tearing down strong holds or have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places.

But you might say Pastor Emmanuel, what are strong holds?

Are they some fortress in the first heaven where principalities dwell? Certainly not.

You see, strongholds come form the Greek word “Ochuroma” which speaks of arguments and reasoning by which a disputant endeavours to fortify, buttress strengthen his opinion and defend it against his opponent.

Put differently, strongholds are formed by thoughts that have been allowed to run unhindered in your mind(battleground), which in turn are nurtured by more thoughts, creating a fortified house of thoughts.

Strongholds will make you say, “I can’t stop doing this.” But your weapons of warfare are able to dethrone such stronghold.

Notice that the word weapon is in plural, thus inferring that as Christian people, you have an arsenal or stash of weapons to tackle anything the enemy throws at you.

However, the reason some of you are losing the battle as Christian people llllllllis because you don’t know your weapon, you don’t know where the battle ground is . Some of you don`t even know who the enemy is and are busy creating and fighting the wrong enemy. Some of you don`t even know what the enemies strategies are, thus you arrogate to Satan powers that he does not have.

Scripture informs us that we have seven weapons, the first five are for defensive purposes, the last two are for offense. (Ephesians 6: 10 -18)

The opening text ( 2 Corinthians 10:3-5) show us what these weapons accomplish: They cast down strong-holds, imaginations, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought captive.

All of these have to do with your thought process, your thinking.

So in spiritual warfare the battleground or place of engagement is your mind.The enemy wants to take control your mind, because what goes on your mind determine what goes on in your life. You are the product of your thoughts.

The adversary only weapon are wiles or deceits and he battles you through the power of suggestion -with thoughts that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Your counter should always be the thoughts of God, which is the word of God. You must allow the word of God dominate your mind.