Saturday, December 30, 2017

Mind Control: Standing Against the Powers of Darkness

Mind Control
The Battle Between our Ears

II Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Today we are going to discuss mind control. We are not discussing mind control on a government level but rather on a spiritual level. As daughters of the most high God, we have power and authority over all the power of the enemy. One of the tricks of the enemy is to steer us away from our state of grace, our authority in Christ and our power through the Holy Spirit. How this is done is by the whispers and the seducing spirits of the air.

The seducing and whispering spirits of the air, are done in a subtle and orchestrated manner, in which, if we are not careful, will have us looking at aspects of our physical life, instead of the spiritual. Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:12? “For we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

So what the enemy has subtly done is moved us away from what the word deems as truth. And when we are moved away from this truth, we look at how the world would handle our situations, instead of looking at how Jesus instructed us to handle them.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he left us with the power of the Holy Spirit and we have been graced with this power, and it includes love and a sound mind. But in order to have a sound mind, we must nurture our mind and feed our mind with fruits of the spirit and spiritual things. We have to be very careful as to what we feed into our mind. For instance, if you are tending to your garden, you will not pour into your garden those things that will kill or destroy your flowers, herbs, fruits or vegetables. You are not going to pour into your garden elements that will kill what you have grown, what you have worked so hard to develop and what you have nurtured overtime. In this regard, we treat our mind the same way. We will not pour those things into our mind that will kill or destroy us.

For those of you who are over thirty-five years old, you might remember the drug commercial with the frying egg in the saucepan listed here in this link https://youtu.be/3FtNm9CgA6U I have often wondered why this commercial is not often seen on television, especially in these days. But if we can envision our mind in this fashion, imagining what putting destructive elements into our body will do, we can eliminate, take back, deter and stop all the tricks that the enemy throws our way.

Picture this: I have two empty glasses. In my right hand is a bottle of water. In my left hand is a bottle soda. Water is a representation of life and soda represents the ways of life. Now, I pick up my Bible and I spend a few hours reading and soaking in the word. Imagine yourself soaking in the word. Imagine what that looks like, what that feels like. It's refreshing and rejuvenating. For we know, according to Proverbs Chapters 3 and 4, as well as John 6:63, Jesus says the word is life. He says,“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” So now I will pour half the bottle of water into my glass. Now, as I look at this glass, there's nothing really fancy about it, there's simply water in a glass without a smell. And after drinking the water there's really no elaborate taste to it.

Now, a couple of hours have gone by, and my flesh is wanting something colorful, something tasty, something to hit the spot in a different way the water did. So now, I am having thoughts about this bottle of soda. It fizzles, it's colorful, I can taste it. I can even smell it. I open my bottle of soda and I pour half of it into my glass and I listen to all that fizzle. I drink my soda and I'm loving each and every swallow.

What has happened here is during the time of pondering whether or not I should drink this soda, the whispers of the air, the seducing spirits of the air are nudging me. Once I had the initial thought of hmm — and began to process, the soda vs. the water, the whispers are adding to what the flesh wants. My flesh is coming into agreement with the seducing spirits.

As we read in the book of Genesis 3:6, right before Eve bit the fruit, she saw that it was good for food and pleasant to the eyes. As you see, there is no difference between the fruit and the soda or anything else that comes up in your life that contradicts the word of God. It is always going to be good in that moment It will always be pleasurable or pleasant in that moment. After the pleasure is gone, the consequences will appear, sometimes shortly thereafter, or subtly over time.

Now, I have half a bottle of water left and half a bottle of soda left. I finish pouring the bottles in the glasses. As I look at the glass with the water, I notice that it is clear. I can see through it. It's not harmful to my body and I didn't need to belch afterwards. My spirit within me, did not attempt to reject it after it was drank.

I now look at my glass of soda. I can't see through it. There's a lot of small bubbles floating around inside the glass and my spirit within me attempted to reject it by belching. On the other hand, it tastes good. It's colorful and adds a level of enjoyment to my flesh.

As we take a moment and look at these two glasses, one represents life and the other does not. One sits well within us and the other does not. One is refreshing and rejuvenating and the other, burns going down and is rejected later on. One is attached with the Holy Spirit and the other one is attached to seducing spirits. Which glass will you choose?

If you can look at every aspect of your life in this manner, the enemy will flee. When your house begins to get out of order and your children are experiencing mind-bottling changes, and you and your spouse are now frequenting arguments, you can believe the enemy has crept into your space. The enemy is now in your realm of existence. The enemy has a foot into your life. What we do not want the enemy to do is, take a seat.

How do we keep the enemy from taking residence in our home? By keeping our thoughts pure, focusing on heavenly things, not on earthly things, soaking in the God's word, praying against evil and blessing our territory.
Colossians 3:2, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

This verse speaks volumes. Everything that happens in your life, in your realm of physical existence, first began in the spiritual realm. For the Apostle Paul continues to say, For we are dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3) If our life is hidden with Christ and we are dead in the physical, then we operate in the spiritual (heavenly) with Christ. On earth as it is in heaven. We are operating from heaven. We have been given the authority and power to tread on the serpent and cast out evil. And whatever we bind on earth is bound in heaven (Matthew 16:19).

Once we have identified the ruling spirit in our life we can then bind the spirit while standing on God's word. If there is a spirit of strife present, you bind that spirit. Remember, when the spirit of strife is apparent there comes confusion and every evil work (James 3:16).
This is what you would say:

I bind up the ruling spirit of _______ in the heavenlies with the chains from heaven. I stand on the word of God that says, And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I bind you up hand and foot, and I cut of all cords between the ruling spirit and the spirits in this person, and I cast them off in the name of Jesus.

Once you become familiar with the process of binding and loosing, and recognizing the spirit and stronghold, you can choose your words accordingly and stand boldly in your faith. In the meantime, while you designing your strategy to win the battle against the enemy, be strong and stay in prayer. Ask the Father to give you guidance and to send his holy angels to take charge over you and your family (Psalm 91).

Prayer is the beginning stages before learning how to battle.

  • Write your problems/challenges down
  • Devise a strategy.
  • Trace your problems to its source such as; strife, adultery, depression, then take the necessary steps of binding and loosing.
  • Structure your faith
  • Keep a prayer journal.
The enemy attacks the mind first and foremost. As long as the enemy has a hold on your mind he can turn your head any way he chooses. This makes the enemy your head and you the tail
(Deuteronomy 28:13). Think of the enemy as the puppet master and then pray to get control over your wits. You can also think of the enemy as a spider that is weaving its web around you.
Don't look at strongholds or spirits of the air as a male or female having an earthly physique, but as an expression, shape or characteristic of an animal. Hence, the saying, be wiser than a serpent, but gentle as a dove.

  • crafty or subtle = snake
  • annoying and harassing = fly
  • stalker or prowler in the shadows = wolf
And always remember to trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path (Proverbs 3: 5, 6).

Word for Today

God has blessed me with a sound mind and I will use this mind in every area of my life today. Rather in the privacy of my home or out in this world. The grips of the enemy shall end today. I will feed my mind with that which is good as a child of God should.

Additional reading

Spiritual Warfare by Richard Ing
The Virtuous Woman's Diary: Spiritual Warfare for Women by Von Cook

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