2 Corinthians 10:4-6 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.Satan's strongholds are thoughts. If the devil can get you to entertain his thoughts; fear, anxiety, doubt, apprehension, and so on, he can have a doorway to controlling your mind.He will put a ring in your nose and lead you around if you let him, but, we don't have to let him. The Word of God tells us how to be victorious.
It shows us how to be more than conquerors in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.James 4: 6-8 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'' Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.To simply try and resist the devil without doing the rest of what this Word says is to be taking it out of context. Vs.
8 says Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.Double mindedness is another way of saying you are wishy washy when it comes to what you believe, or that you are not settled in your spirit that the Word of God is true. There is a cure for that. Find out what God's Word has to say, and then hear it, meditate on it, let it take root in your spirit. Let faith arise in your heart.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.Double-mindedness is quoting the Word of God with your mouth and not really expecting it to come to pass; your allowing doubt and unbelief to be your ruler.Romans 10: 9-10. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.If you really don't believe God's Word, and just think that if you have a good confession concerning what ever you desire, that it will come to pass, you're amiss.Fear, doubt, anxiety, and other such tools of the devil come to us through our mind. To try to stand against such things without first having our minds renewed with the Word of God is going to cause failure and a defeated attitude.
In order for us to appropriate the victory purchased for us by the Lord Jesus Christ, we must first renew our minds with the Word of God, and begin to look at ourselves as God looks at us.Psalms 1:2-3. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
THEN, we can confess the Word of God and be steadfast in it, and not be double-minded and we will see the end result of it.Many times we know what the Word of God says about different areas of life and we may see some victories, but if the outward circumstances do not always agree with the Word of God, we think our faith has failed and we get discouraged and allow condemnation to come in from the enemy. This is truly the trial of our faith, we must make a choice to stand up for what we believe. The circumstances of life or the Word of God. I know that it is not always easy to bring your thought life into captivity to the obedience of Christ, but God's Word tells us to do it, therefore we can.
We cannot do it by our own power or by the strength of our own intellect. A Christian can not lead a victorious life except by the anointing of God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have to go to the Word of God first, and then lean on the Spirit of God for our strength.
John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.We must allow God's Word by the power of the Holy Spirit to charge our spirits until our spirit is dominating our mind and flesh, or the world and the devil will join forces and defeat us. By allowing our born again spirits empowered by the Word of God to dominate our mind, we can bring it into subjection to God's Word and stand victorious when all Hell is coming against us. Then the devil can not toss us around with doubtful thoughts, or discouragement, and gain supremacy over us.
When a Christian learns that the circumstances of life does not at all show where he or she is spiritually, he or she will rejoice, for when we learn that our recreated human spirit can be masters of our intellect and senses, we can have a strong and constant faith life.Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.Spiritual mindedness is much more than just thinking about Heaven, it is not allowing your mind to be swayed by circumstances or doubtful thoughts, and is putting your mind under submission to the Word of God. By constantly dwelling on God's Word and meditating on His precepts we bring our mind into submission to God's will. God's Word is God's will. When we renew our mind to the point where doubt has no more room, the power of faith can be released and Godly results obtained.
Satan loves to attack the thought lives of Christians. He batters Christians with thoughts of fear, anxiety, worry, sickness, defeat, and death. But we can be victorious in Jesus Christ for He has shown us how to be.We opened up with; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (or mental) but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,.
We have a part to play in victory, these are our weapons, we have to use them. God will not use them for us. Renewing our mind is an on going experience, we must die to self daily, we must continually keep our mind under subjection to the what God's Word is saying. This means we have to feed on God's Word continually to be made strong. When negative thoughts come, and they will, we have been given the tools to deal with them.Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy meditate on these things.
The first step is knowing for sure that you have eternal life. If you want to know for sure that you are a child of God then earnestly pray this prayer.Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Your word says, "?and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
" (Jn.6:37), So I know You won't cast me out, but You take me in, And I thank you for it. You said in your Word, "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
'' (Ro. 10:13).I am calling on Your name, So I know You have saved me now, You also said, "?that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation." (Ro.10:9,10).
I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He was raised from the dead for my justification. And I confess Him now as my Lord, Because Your Word says, "? with the heart one believes to righteousness?" and I do believe with my heart, I have now become the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21).And I am saved! Thank You, Lord! I can now truthfully say, I see myself as a born again child of God! Glory to God!!!! Amen.
.I was raised Catholic, and was born again at the age of 17. I received God's call into ministry at the age of 19 and began to prepare for ministry.I graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center in 1979. The Lord has called me to teach. My desire is to help others come to a knowledge of the truth and I have started a web site for the purpose of teaching and discipleship called The Olive Branch; Mark Baker.
http://www.olivebranchministries.us.
By: Mark E. Baker
