Talk

Winning the Battle of the Mind

Louie Giglio

February 23, 2020

We can all relate to the feeling of having to contend for our thoughts; that’s why this truth was so encouraging: Jesus has given us victory at The Cross, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, the ability to take every thought captive for his glory in the fight towards winning the battle of the mind. The battle in our minds is real; it’s not something we can push away or ignore.

Key Takeaway

If I am fearful, worried, tempted, devaluing myself, or struggling with uncertainty, I have let the enemy plant seeds in my mind. My Father does not desire or speak these things over me. He has given me the authority to win the battle in my mind through Christ.

Victory is not circumstantial. It's about the state of our mind. Therefore the enemy attacks our thought life.

Genesis 3:1-7. What did the enemy do in the Garden of Eden? He planted a seed of doubt in Eve's mind. He didn't come right out and shove fruit in her face and say, "Eat the fruit! Eat the Fruit!" over and over. He kept on her, calling into question God's Authority, convincing her that God was holding out on her. We don't know how long it was between the seed being planted and the actions Eve took, but if we let a thought go unaccounted for...it will always lead to action.

What seed or thought has the enemy planted in your mind?

"You deserve to be angry, bitter, selfish, etc", "You are your failure or addiction", "God is a hoax", and "You deserve all your success, it's all yours" are just a few.

Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. We become what we think about, and the enemy will wait you out.

Numbers 13:33- the spies went into the land and saw the giants occupying it. They said that they looked like grasshoppers in their own eyes and in the giants' eyes as well. How do they know that? There is no recording of them talking to the giants or threats from them. No, they had a thought, and they followed that seed of doubt.

5 ways that let us know the enemy has planted seeds in our minds.

Fear

Worry

Temptation—to do, say, or think something stupid

Lack of value or worth

Uncertainty

Your Father does not put uncertainty in your life, devalue you, tempt you, or ask you to worry or fear. That's all the enemy. He wants to shut you down and destroy your life. He's got no mercy and all the time in the world. Jesus, however, came to make a way.

Genesis 3:15 speaks specifically about Jesus and tells how He is victorious. He may be bruised, but the enemy will be crushed.

1 Corinthians 15:57 says God gives us the victory through Jesus Christ. Nikos, the Greek word for victory, means victory through conquest. In the New Testament, His victory always refers to the conquest accomplished for the believer by Christ, who conquered all the powers of darkness and sin. Accordingly, death cannot exert conquest over the believer. You can create a beachhead because Jesus has already paved the way. He frees us to fight.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Take captive every thought. Nothing is free floating through our brains. You have the capacity in Christ to win the battle of your mind, and no one is going to do it for you. If you are living in defeat, it's because you are letting yourself stay there. You have the power of the finished work of Jesus alive and active in you through the Holy Spirit.

How do you take every thought captive?

1.Identify the thought. Stop being so agreeable. Challenge the thought, don't agree with it, and allow it to set up shop in your mind. Ask yourself, "Where did this thought come from?" and "Is it congruent with God's Word?'

2.Bind the thought in the Name of Jesus. It's not crazy to do this? Tell the enemy that he can't pitch a tent in your mind. You have to use the name of Authority and Power of Jesus's name and the truth of God's Word. This is taking authority in taking thoughts captive because you're going to be either bound by it or you are going to bind it. Jesus bound every temptation with Truth when tempted by the enemy. So, you're going to have to learn some Truth.

In Deuteronomy 11, we see that the people of God literally wrapped the Word of God around their arms and heads. Wrap yourself in His Word.

3.Change the narrative. Change what you are thinking about. You control what thoughts you allow to play over and over.

Philippians 4:8 says that whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy...think of THESE things. Have these scriptures running through your mind every day.

Sunday- Ephesians 1:18-20, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in me.

Monday- Isaiah 43:1, My God knows my name

Tuesday- Isaiah 42:12, My God goes before me

Wednesday- Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Thursday- Romans 8:18, my present suffering pales in comparison to my future glory

Friday- Isaiah 54:17, no weapon formed against me is going to prosper

Saturday- Romans 8:16, I am a child of God

4.Act on the truth. If you are saying, "I am a child of God", then act like a child of God. Agree with the truth.

5.Repeat. Do it over and over. Get involved. Get sick of living in defeat. Do not let the enemy lie to you about who you are, whose you are, what kind of capacity you have in Jesus, or what He has won for you. Do not let the enemy convince you that you cannot when He has already told you that you can. Jesus has stormed the gates of Hell for you.

“

If you want to do something great, get ready to be tested greatly.

”

Louie Giglio

Discussion Questions

Where are you now? Can you see where you want to be?
Read Genesis 3:1-7, what does the enemy do to Eve? How long did this take?
What seeds or thoughts has the enemy planted in you?
How are Proverbs 23:7 and Numbers 13:33 related?
What are the five seeds that the enemy most often tries to plant in us?
What is the full meaning of the Greek word "Nikos" in 1 Corinthians 15:57? How is this good news for the believer?
Read 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. What does it instruct us to do?
What are the 5 steps to taking your thoughts captive? Which is the hardest for you to actually do?
Will you commit to repeating the daily promises Pastor Louie gave? How can you remember to meditate on them each day?
How does Genesis 3:15 explain how you are rescued?

Scripture References

57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

15And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

5We 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.

Love and Obey the

Lord

1Love the

Lord

your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. 2Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the

Lord

your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; 4what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the

Lord

brought lasting ruin on them. 5It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, 6and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the

Lord

has done.

8Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 9and so that you may live long in the land the

Lord

swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12It is a land the

Lord

your God cares for; the eyes of the

Lord

your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

13So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the

Lord

your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.

16Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17Then the

Lord

’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the

Lord

is giving you. 18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the

Lord

swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

22If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the

Lord

your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him— 23then the

Lord

will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. 25No one will be able to stand against you. The

Lord

your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.

26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— 27the blessing if you obey the commands of the

Lord

your God that I am giving you today; 28the curse if you disobey the commands of the

Lord

your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. 29When the

Lord

your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses. 30As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, toward the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. 31You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the

Lord

your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, 32be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.

8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.