Our First Battlefield

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. - Ephesians 6:12 KJV

Every morning we open our eyes and walk out onto a battlefield. The battlefield of our mind stretches before us. Battles will be fought there that will guide the course of our day and eventually our lives.  Thoughts our mind entertains, moves to our hearts and then comes out through our actions.

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There is a slogan many of us have heard, The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste. It was the campaign slogan for the United Negro College Fund for over 40 years. In 2013 they changed the slogan to "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste but a Wonderful Thing to Invest In." It was the same concept but pushed on from just acknowledgement to action.  All of us can acknowledge that we shouldn’t waste our minds, but how many of us spiritually invest in the battle for our minds.

Our minds are a peculiar thing. I did an internet search on the importance of our minds. I received a wide array of results.  How Your Mind Works and Why It's Important To Know. Why Training Your Mind Is the Most Important Priority in Life. Your powerful, changeable mindset - Stanford Report. The Importance of Mindset. 5 Reasons Why Mental Clarity Is So Important.  Those are just a few of the results that populated. On the first page only three results were Christian sources. Our minds are a terrible thing to waste and the world would like to use it for their purpose.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1‭-‬2 KJV

When we come to Christ we have to be transformed in our thinking. Our sinful human thinking battles with the thoughts of a holy God. 

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:5 KJV

The battle for our mind starts when we open our eyes in the morning. I know I am guilty. I reach for my phone. As I am waking up I check my messages. I may check Facebook or Instagram. Already the battle has started. Negative news. Posts from unsaved loved ones. Ads for who knows what. All coming at me before I even stepped out of bed. What I don’t realize is I am setting the course for my day. The mind is the rudder of our lives. It guides what we do and what we feel.

And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines.  But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory. - 2 Samuel 23:11-12 KJV

Our mind isn’t just a battlefield, it is a field for seeds to be planted. Just like Shammah we need to stand our ground and not let the enemy have our field. Philippians 4:8 say we are to think on what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if it has virtue or gives praise. Some days we may feel like we are standing there with a sword knocking back thought after thought. That thought is a lie, it doesn’t belong. Swish of the sword. That is a bad report. Swish of the sword. That isn’t virtuous. Swish of the sword. Finally, a good report! Yes! A song of praise. 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:  Isaiah 26:3‭-‬4 KJV 

When thoughts get overwhelming and weigh on us, our mind isn't on God. Sometimes we literally have to move the thoughts of our minds. I have told my teenager that she can determine where her mind dwells. She may have to make a conscious effort to put them on good things, but it is her choice. There is an old song that I love the chorus to.

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace."

The battlefield is easier to manage when we allow Jesus to be at the center of it. Contrary thoughts and feelings pale and fade when His glory shines on the field. When Jesus is at the center the first battlefield becomes our easiest.

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