You become a battle ground when you listen to the enemy.
I want you to think about that. Even when Satan was cast to the earth, it was not a battleground for man. Why? Because Adam was listening to one voice, the first voice, God’s voice. Everything was under man's rule, including satan, as long as man listened to the first voice. Nothing could stop Adam and Eve from the authority that God had given them except they, themselves, by listening to the wrong voice. There was not a question in Adam’s mind if he could or could not do what God told him to do, because he was wired, he was created, he was made to do it. The supernatural abilities that Adam had they were natural to him. Adam didn't doubt God because that was the only voice he heard. The battle entered when Adam started listening to second voice which questioned the first. It still creates a battle today in the sons and daughters of the Living God. The enemy's voice rings out in the mind, but God's voice rings out of the Spirit, out of the heart of man.
I'm going to teach you some things about the mind that will really help you. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10 it says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We have weapons to stop that battle, to stop that war and destroy speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God.
The battle is not with what is outside of you, the battle is with what is inside.
The reason you have a battle every day is because our minds are always thinking. You think, you over-think, you under-think. You think ‘okay I'm gonna be still’ but then you're thinking about being still. We need to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. In other words, we're taking those thoughts and we're making them come into conformity with the Word of God. Now we know that the Word of God is important, we know that in this book is life - we know all of that but today I believe you're going to get the revelation of it.
Romans 12 says therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship; and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. That's a key because once you understand the mind and once you understand the way the mind works, now your victory starts to come, now you start to build faith, now you're ready to receive what God has for you. 1 Thessalonian 5:23 says may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless and complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The spirit of man is the part of us that is connected to God, that's that part of us the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, around verse 8, that we are one with God. Understand that our spirit is the part of us that's connected to God, then we have the soul which is the mind, will and emotions; and then we have the body. The way it was designed to work is the Holy Spirit speaks to your spirit, your spirit speaks to your mind, and your mind speaks to your body.
Our spirit communicates with God and our mind is unseen but it manifests the natural.
The reality of this is your mind and brain are two different things. Your brain is the natural, tangible part attached to your body. Your mind is the part that cannot be seen that works through, and with, the brain. The mind is the part of us that works the brain, not the spirit. It is that part of us that connects the two worlds. That's important for you to understand.
I remember a doctor sharing that she was living a normal, successful life with no fears, worries, concerns or anxiety. Then something happened. Her husband had a stroke all of a sudden and she started living in fear. It affected and changed her brain because as she continued to fear a phone call coming. That incident changed the landscape of her brain. When your brain is wired one way and something out of the ordinary happens, it creates another pathway to deal with it. That's the way of the brain dealing with it so she decided to create a new a pathway to get rid of the fear. This is how powerful the Word is, and this is why God gives us so many instructions regarding our minds. It is so important that our minds are renewed to the Word of God because then we start to think the way God thinks, and create a new pathway that is in line with the Word of God that brings us victory. She had created a pathway based on the fear, so she created a new one to be able to live outside of it so that fear did not control her life. A scientist, Eric Kandel, has shown that our thoughts, even our imaginations, can turn certain genes on and certain genes off changing the structure of the brain. The Word of God says that as a man thinks in his mind, so is he. As we think and imagine, we change the structure and the function of our brain’s thoughts. Our thoughts have power to change the brain. Many of you have a lot of patterns and habits that you've been living with for years. So God comes and He tells us to renew our minds so that those thoughts and patterns in our brain would change because it's when those patterns change, is when we start to live that way consistently. The unseen controls the seen.
Research shows that 75 to 98% of illnesses come from the thought life.
That means that only 2 to 25% come from genes and environment and that is why everybody can be healed. It doesn't matter what you have or what you were born with, you can be healed. Science and scriptures show that we are wired for love and a positive outlook on life. When we react negatively with our thinking and our choices, the quality of our brain goes to a critical place. Negative thinking is not normal and it affects the brain. You weren't created that way. Negative thinking becomes easy because of environment - where you grew up, what you grew up in, and genetics. We were also not created for fear. If you would bring your mind under the Word of God then all of that would leave. You don't have to be a victim - you have the power to change anything and everything with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
I want you to realize that the second voice always tries to get you out of the greater first thought. Your miracle is locked up in your obedience but that second voice will steal your miracle as it always brings a negative spin to the first voice. The second voice brings doubt which means that you'll never step out in faith. Research shows that our DNA changes shape according to our thoughts. Herbert Benson, a medical doctor and a president of Harvard Medical School Mind/Body Institute, says that negative thinking leads to stress, affecting our body's natural healing capacities. Toxic thinking wears down the brain (ie. Dementia and Alzheimer's). Thoughts are so real that they occupy mental real estate and that's a term that suggests that we are always thinking. Just as you can change your mind, guess what you can do? You can change your brain. We are victors over and above our biology because our minds in line with God's Word, changes our biology. You are not a victim of your circumstances. You don't have to stay where you are in life today. If you don't like where you are then do something with your mind.
Deuteronomy 30:19: I placed before you life and death, choose life so that you and your generations may live.
- Adelle Brown