Introduction

Have you ever wondered where the bad and scary thoughts in our mind come from? What is it or who is it that makes your mind restless? You will be surprised to know that all this does not happen because of your own self. How do you handle yourself when these bad feelings surround you?

In this book you will know how Devil is fighting a battle with you in your mind. Do you know how powerful our thoughts are? Devil knows this very well and that’s why he tries to enter your mind and attack it every day. You will also get to know how Devil does this and what you can do to fight it.

You will also know what is the role of God in all this, you will come to know about his mysterious ways. By the end of this book, you will have the weapons to defeat that devil and you will have won half the battle with him. So let’s go to the battlefield without any delay.

THE MIND IS THE BATTLEFIELD

When Joyce, the author of this book, was reading the Bible, she felt something. In the Bible, many things were written in the words of God which tells about the power of the human mind. There is an example of this, Proverb 23:7. In the King James version of the Bible, it is said that what a man thinks in his heart, he becomes that.

Our thoughts control our actions. Having a negative mind-set will only lead to a negative life. But focusing our attention on God will give us a positive mind-set.

Through a positive mind, we will start seeing the path that God has made for us and will start walking on it.

The scripture of Ephesians 6:12 says that in reality every human being is fighting a battle. Now this is no ordinary war where blood is shed, bombs are dropped. The battle that is mentioned in the Bible is our spiritual battle with Devil and his army. Devil often tries to deceive us. He shows everything that is false. Devil never lies to us immediately, he takes his time because he is making a great plan to weaken you.

The devil slowly starts sowing seeds like fear, doubt in our mind. In the beginning we do not realize it, but later it starts taking us in its grip, it starts surrounding us. There is a lot of patience in the devil. He builds a fort in our mind and starts proving our belief and thoughts about God as false. The purpose of this fort is to defeat us. This fort is such an area in which we get imprisoned by our wrong thoughts. All this keeps going on in our mind. The mind becomes its battleground. Let us understand this with a story where you will be able to see how there is a battle of mind in the unhappy married life of Martha and Josh.

Martha was not happy with Josh. Both of them always quarrelled and used to tell bitter things to each other. Even their two children were beginning to feel this hatred and tension. Martha didn’t want Josh to be the head of the house. She was an independent woman running her own.

She used to think that she should always have the right to take every decision. Now you must be thinking that in such condition Martha should take refuge in God. God will help him in this journey. But the thing is that Martha believed in God. She also knew she had convulsions and had a bad attitude, but she didn’t know how to change or fix it. She used to react like this because she didn’t know any other way to react.

The problem here is that Martha had a fort built in her mind, which was built long before she met Josh. Since childhood, the devil had been strengthening this fort in Martha’s mind. What do you think could be the reason for this? The reason was that Martha’s childhood was very painful. Whenever his father was in bad mood, he would beat him badly, hurt him. Martha and her mother endured this bad behaviour for many years.

Now as Martha grew older, Devil began to have an effect on her. A strong fortress was now ready in her mind against men. Martha got the point that men are dishonest and not worthy of trust. She felt that men would always take advantage of her. So Martha is determined that now no one can treat her badly, dictate what she has to do and how to do it, especially not men at all.

Now what can Martha do to destroy the fortress that Devil had built in her mind? She has only one weapon, to follow the words of God. But just reading or listening to the Bible is not enough. Martha will have to use God’s words over and over again as a weapon.

There are other spiritual weapons that we can use are praise and prayer. The more you serve the Lord, sing his praises and follow his words, the more you will know the importance of your thoughts and words. By following these things, you will know that Holy Spirit is always ready to guide you and show you the right path. Man concentrates on the things of the mind of the body, but spirituality teaches us to focus on the things of the soul.

Your service or praise should not be something that you are doing just for the sake of doing it, unintentionally. You have to do it with all your heart, with a sincere heart. Prayer means asking, talking to God. It is also asking them for help and also to build a deep relationship with them. We connect with God through prayer. This connection takes us towards the truth and the truth frees us from every bondage, every lie. With these weapons, Martha will be able to break the fort built in her mind. Then she will be able to know the truth that not every man is like her father and her husband is not like her father at all.

A VITAL NECESSITY

There is a lot of power in our thoughts. So we should be very careful what kind of thoughts we keep in our mind. So what is the right way to think? The right way is when our thinking becomes similar to what God has said or starts matching with them. The author insists that if your mind is negative then you can never lead a positive life.

Romans 8:5 speaks of two different minds – the first being the mind of our body and the second being the mind of our soul. The mind of the body tells about the thoughts which are wrong. It tells about the negative thoughts that come in our mind. It is called the brain of the flesh because we do bad and unholy things to ourselves. We start fulfilling the desires of our body even if it goes against what God has said. This fleshy mind stops us from living a positive life. Whereas listening to the mind of the soul is more important because it is like thinking like God, which satisfies the Holy Spirit.

Let’s say you get a call from your bank that you have withdrawn more than $850 from your account. You get very surprised and embarrassed to hear this. You remember that maybe this month you forgot to deposit money in your account. You deposit money by reaching the bank quickly. Resolving this issue immediately will not create further problems.

Similarly, the author advises that you also make your mind new. If you have been thinking wrongly for years then your life will remain unorganized. Always remember one thing that your life cannot be organized until your mind is not organized. You have to be serious to break the fort that Devil has built in your mind. You have to break the fort using the weapons of God’s words, praise and prayer.

Ask God for help to make your mind positive. The Holy Spirit will help you, trust in Him. You cannot defeat Devil alone and hence it is very important to think right to believe in God. It is as important as the heartbeat to stay alive. Just as your physical body needs food to survive, your spiritual life also needs nourishment.

And we achieve this by spending some time every day with God.

The Bible says that a tree is known by its fruits. The same is true of our life. Thoughts bear fruit. Good thoughts bring good results in our life and bad thoughts bring bad. A good person never thinks bad about others in the same way the thoughts of a bad person are never good.

WHEN IS MY MIND NORMAL?

What should be the state of mind of a believer in God? Before diving into this question you should know about the principal that the mind helps the soul. When a person welcomes God into his life, the Holy Spirit starts living in that person. According to the Bible, this holy spirit also resides in the mind of God. Therefore, the soul helps us to attain the knowledge of the Lord. This soul is associated with all of us and with God. When the soul gives us the knowledge of God, then we come to know the truth, although the soul wants to give us knowledge but it is not always successful. The reason for this is that we have become so busy that our mind does not pay attention or remember what the soul tells us. A mind that is always busy is an abnormal mind. A normal mind is when it listens to the words of the soul. Such a mind is calm and relaxed. A normal mind does not have negative emotions like fear, anxiety or restlessness.

Joyce has always sought knowledge from God in her life. But she could not understand that since when the soul which is sitting inside her is giving her what she was asking for from God. She could not hear the voice of her soul because her mind was so busy, there was so much turmoil.

Suppose there are two people in a room. The first man is trying to whisper something in the ear of the other. But the other man could not hear it because there was a lot of noise in the room. This is exactly what happens when the soul and the Supreme Soul try to talk to us. The soul is very soft, its voice is slow. That’s why we should make our mind as calm as possible so that we can hear what the soul wants to say to us.

Devil knows that your mind and soul are working together. He starts a war in your mind to put a stop to this. He constantly sows the seeds of fear and anxiety in your mind. The more you think about your thoughts, the more tired your mind becomes. Because of this fatigue, he is unable to hear the slow voice of the soul. That’s why a normal mind is that which has peace and is not tired.

THE MIND OF CHRIST

Now how do you know whether your thoughts are right or not? This chapter will tell us how Jesus thought when he was on earth. Taking a look at Jesus’ thoughts will make it easier for you to follow in his footsteps. You must be thinking that it is impossible, it is not possible to think like Jesus. He was perfect. But God has given us a blessing above those lakhs of blessings, we were given a new nature at the time of birth, this is the nature of God.

The Bible says that by following God’s words and following the path shown by him, we will get many things like – his soul, a new heart, and a new mind. What does this mean now? Romans 8:6 says that the mind of the flesh leads you to a bad end and the mind of the spirit leads to life. To make a mind like Jesus, knowing the difference between life and death is a great victory in itself.

Suppose a man did something bad to you. Your anger intensifies as soon as you think about him. You keep telling yourself how much you hate that man. If your mind is of soul then you will not allow such bad thoughts to come in your mind because when you look carefully you will know how much hate you are filled with. Due to this you will be upset, restless and your head can also hurt. On the other hand, the soul’s mind will tell you how many things you have got in life, how lucky you are.

One way to think like Jesus is to maintain positive thoughts. Because your mind is very powerful, so it should be filled only with positive thoughts. You can achieve this by creating a positive mindset and attitude. Jesus is its perfect example.

He suffered a lot during his time on earth. People lied to him, cheated on him and left him alone. There was a time when Jesus was completely alone and he was being ridiculed. Still, he maintained a positive attitude. He always used to encourage the people around him and his followers by filling them with enthusiasm and passion.

God wants us to remain positive always. Devil wants to hurt and suppress us. He does this by attacking our mind with negative thoughts. Now, how do you deal with depression?

First let us know what is the main cause of depression. Chances are, this is a sign of Devil’s attack on your mind. Second, accept that depression sucks life out of us and makes us lifeless and makes us a living corpse. It fills you with fear and makes you feel powerless. The longer depression stays with you, the more difficult it will become for you to remove it from your life. Third, remember the good times of your life.

Thinking about the good moments of your life will give you hope. Depression brings darkness with it, it will act like a light that will spread light in your sad mind. Positive memories also give some ideas to defeat the devil. Fourth, use your spiritual weapons in bad times. Remember that prayer and praise to God are your weapons. Raise your hands and pray to God. Most people get depressed because they look for what they want in the wrong places. They only need God. Talking to them will surely show them the way.

WILDERNESS MENTALITY #1 My behaviour may be wrong, but it’s not my fault.

It has been told in the Bible that the jungle mentality had dominated the Israelites. They spent 40 years in the jungle whereas their journey would have ended in just 17 days. Jungle mentality means wandering around in vain which does not allow us to move forward or progress. Joyce realized that this mentality is present in all of us. Here he means to say that we get stuck in any situation for so long that we cannot move forward. It takes us years to achieve something whereas we could have achieved it in very less time.

It is wrong to have this kind of mind-set. It prevents us from improving ourselves. On the other hand, the right mind-set makes us better. A passage from Colossians teaches us that we should have a Permanent Right Mind-set. It takes us on the path that God has made for us.

This type of mentality which is common among many people is not to take any responsibility for your actions. This has been going on since the beginning of time. When God asked Adam and eve why they ate the fruit they were forbidden to eat, they both started blaming each other. They also blamed the devil. Both of them did not admit their mistake.

Joyce says that there was a time when she used to have the same mentality. She saw it in herself and in her husband, Dave. At that time, Joyce used to pray that her husband should change. When she started reading the Bible and praying, her soul said that it was her own fault, not her husband. Nobody likes to admit that they are wrong. But Joyce did not take this thing lightly. She cried a lot for three days. God had shown Joyce how difficult it was to be with him. She herself saw how much she was controlling, demanding and complaining about almost everything. After realizing this, she started working on herself.

Often you get stuck in solving the same problems because you do not even consider changing yourself. There are countless words like “if, wish…..” in your mind in which you want others to change but you don’t want to change. These thoughts keep coming up in your mind that if my parents had worked a little more, I would have got admission in a better university, if my husband was more supportive, I could have done that job, if I had a little more money, I would have had bought a more beautiful house. You have seen how many ifs are in your mind.

The reality is that it is very difficult to face the truth. We feel that we will be defeated in front of our problem. God can help you changing yourself. But if you do not take responsibility for your action, then they will not be able to do this. You have to be honest with yourself and with them. God is very kind but you have to learn to take responsibility for what you are doing right and wrong.

WILDERNESS MENTALITY #2 Why shouldn’t I be jealous if everyone else is better than me?

We always compare ourselves to others. Because of this, gradually the feeling of jealousy starts building inside us. By keeping your mind fixed on others, you will keep wandering like this. But why do we get jealous when we compare ourselves to others?

That’s because we are insecure. As a human, we do not value ourselves, do not understand our value. Because our mind is full of fear and doubt, we do not feel secure about ourselves, so we tend to compare and compete with those who are doing better than us. Joyce has also experienced this struggle. But when she realized that God made her very special, yes special, especially because there is absolutely no one other like her in the whole world. You are absolutely unique in this whole world. It’s a truth we tend to ignore, and it’s this truth that gave Joyce the freedom she was looking for.

It is told in a passage of Luke that the disciples of Jesus also used to compete with each other. They would argue with each other about who is the biggest devotee of Jesus. Jesus told them that whoever considers himself to be the greatest disciple would actually be the worst disciple. But why so? When Jesus was in this world, he told everyone that the world of God is completely different and inverted from this world. This point is also in Mark’s passage. Jesus said that the first in this world will be the last in heaven.

This world gives importance to those people who are the best. We all want to be the best student, best employee. But after reaching the top, peace and contentment are hard to come by. You will feel true peace within yourself only when you get rid of the thought of competing with others. Even when we play just for fun, there is always a feeling of competition in us somewhere.

If you want to be the best, then there is nothing wrong with that. We want to do our best because it can give us promotion or scholarship in a good university. But the biggest promotion is the person who has unwavering faith in God in the eyes of him. When you do any work keeping them in mind, they will always support you.

Jealousy connects us with the mind of the body. Such feelings have no relation with the mind of the soul even far and wide. Rather, it is also said to be the main reason for the mentality of the jungle. Next time when you start feeling jealous towards someone, ask yourself – what will I actually get from being jealous of someone? Will I be blessed?

Trust God because he knows what is best for you. You should not be concerned with what God does for others, what he gives to them.

Conclusion

So you learned that we are all fighting a spiritual battle with Devil. Our mind is the battlefield where Devil has waged a war. We have to defeat him by fighting in the field of mind itself. Every thought which is against God and considers itself above the knowledge of God, you have to uproot it from the root. The real problem lies in our behaviour and thoughts.

And Devil knows that if he controls our thoughts, he will also control our actions, so he fights this battle in our mind. Devil knows how powerful our mind is. He starts making such forts in our mind which force us to think negative things. God has given us weapons to fight against Devil which is to obey the words of God, pray and praise God.

Creating a positive mind can be a bit difficult but it is not impossible at all and God does not expect you to struggle alone to achieve it. So ask them for help. Even without a voice, God hears the true call coming out of the heart. Devil will always attack your mind so ask God for strength. Surrender yourself to God because he is very merciful.

God has written his thoughts in the scriptures, so examine your thoughts in the light of God’s words and try to make your thoughts like his because his thoughts are the best in which all goodness is hidden. Deeply understand the thoughts going on in our mind because we often live in our false pride and ego which has the power to ruin not only ours but the lives of the people around us.

We often complain that God has sent or left us alone in this world. No, not at all, he has sent a part of himself with you in the form of a soul. The voice that comes out of the soul does not give wrong opinion, so listen to your soul, not the world.

How comforting it is that there is someone who always cares and cares for us, even if the whole world leaves us, but they will never leave. They are present for us all the time, it is too late to remember them from the heart. When the battle going on in your mind makes you tired, make you bow down on your knees, do not panic, just pray and ask God for help because you are not alone in this battle, God is with you every moment, so in the end victory is yours. Just don’t let your faith in God waver.