2 Corinthians 10:4-5, The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

These are familiar verses and we know that our biggest battle is most often in our mind.  That’s not saying that “it’s all in your head”, it means that our minds are where satan chooses to do his best to defeat us.  Usually, we take the phrase, “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” but just before that, we see just exactly the war that is waged.  “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”  

When you accept Jesus as your Savior He gives you His Spirit to live within you.  Stop for a moment and think of all that the Spirit of God contains.  It goes beyond the display of “power”, it includes wisdom and knowledge of who He is and who He created you to be.  Genesis 1 tells us that we were created in His image and in Psalms we see that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  God created each one of us with a purpose and plan in mind and satan wants to keep you from it by replacing the “knowledge of God” and what He says with lies from Hell.  In other words, when you don’t take those thoughts captive they are waging war against the “knowledge of God” that He has said to be true. One benefit of His Spirit living within you is self-control which will give you the power to reject any lie from Hell telling you that you can’t accomplish anything, or that you don’t measure up, or that God loves everyone but you are somehow the exception to that rule, no matter what lie he is trying to use, you can reject it.  So when those thoughts start to bombard your mind remember James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  Submitting to God is taking Him at His Word so stay in His Word every day.  Don’t allow satan the opportunity to feed your mind with his lies.  As soon as that thought pops into your head, resist it and tell him to go and leave you alone, in Jesus’ name.  God has equipped you for all He has called you to and truth is only found in Him!

This makes me think of the old Cherokee Legend:

An old grandfather was teaching his grandson about life:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.  “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.  One is evil ~ he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”  He continued, “The other is good ~ he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:  “Which wolf will win?”

The grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed.”

It isn’t just enough to resist those thoughts we must feed our minds with the Word of God.  We must choose which thought we will agree with every single time ~ the lie from Hell or the truth from God’s Word.  In order to become all He created you to be you must choose.  I find that satan loves to attack when I am tired when I don’t feel good, when I am in an uncomfortable situation, or at any other opportune time.  He doesn’t mind waiting until he thinks you may be weak so you must set your mind that when any thought comes that you know is against the Knowledge of what God’s Spirit within you says it is not entertained for even a moment, you reject it immediately!  It takes being intentional in training yourself that as soon as it hits you simply reply, “Get behind me satan ~ I will accomplish all God has for me ~ I am who He says I am in Jesus’ name!”  Don’t allow that bully to have a moment of your time!  He must listen because the Spirit of the Most High God lives within you and He has already overcome!

God has a plan for you and He wants to use your story for His glory!  You are an overcomer!  Our time is short and none of us have time to be entertaining the enemy and his garbage talk so fight.  The battle is in your mind but the beauty of that is that it is YOUR mind so take those thoughts captive, the battle has been won unless you choose defeat.  If you struggle with this just ask God to give you the strength you need and for Him to remind you that every single time a thought comes to your mind that shouldn’t be there to stop it at the door.  There are other people out there counting on you too to fulfill your purpose.  Whose life may be changed if you set your mind on what God says not only about you but about them?  That is what satan is trying to stop.  Let’s take our stands and block the enemy so each of us can be who God created us to be!