Looking Through a New Lens - The Battle in Your Mind
There is a violent battle raging around us twenty-four hours a day.
It is the battle for your mind, and that battle is intense. It is vicious. It is never-ending, and it is unfair because Satan never plays fair. In this battle, your perspective can be the difference between victory and defeat.
Before I get into this word, I want to encourage you to take a couple of minutes to read and pray over these verses. Ask God to help you to live this out:
“3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 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.” — 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV
This passage is an anchor point of this series looking at mental health. What is most encouraging to me from this passage is the victory that is secure in Jesus over our thoughts. This “divine power” is at work in you if you have placed your faith in Jesus. This doesn’t mean that life becomes easy, nor does it mean that you won’t face negative thoughts. It means that you can have the victory over life’s difficulties and your thoughts.
Filter your thoughts through a “Kingdom perspective.”
I think a great example of this is found in the life of the apostle Paul during his imprisonment.
“12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.” — Philippians 1:12 NIV
Paul finds himself in a rather terrible situation. He has been arrested and has undergone serious physical harm in his walk with Jesus, spreading the Gospel in a place that was governed by those who didn’t want it. These afflictions were severe, and yet Paul’s thoughts are not negative. He has a “Kingdom perspective” even in his prison cell; his hardships advanced the Gospel because Paul encountered and preached Jesus to people that he only met as a consequence of his imprisonment.
I remember when I was a “newborn” Christian several years ago, and I carried a lot of guilt and shame about the sin in my past. After encouragement and coaching from a mentor at the time, I took the opportunity to share my testimony with the college ministry that I was a part of at the time. Opening up about my past addictions and shame was difficult, but pointing through them towards God’s redemptive love and grace was amazing. After I had finished sharing, several people approached me with a similar conversation starter: “Thank you for sharing what you shared. I’m actually going through something really similar right now and I was wondering if we could talk.” From that moment on, I began to grow in this perspective shift, “that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.”
Don’t let your circumstances control your perspective; let your perspective change your circumstances.
Now, Paul’s “Kingdom perspective” wasn’t just the lens through which he looked from his prison cell. During his time serving with the church in Corinth, Paul still had this lens over his thoughts and circumstances. During that time, Paul wrote this to the church in Rome:
“2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” — Romans 12:2 NIV
“9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
—Romans 12:9-12 NIV
Paul’s perspective was not as a result of his circumstances, but was rather an anchor in whatever circumstance he faced. We can have joy because Jesus is our hope and our circumstances can’t change that. We can be patient in our affliction because God is at work. We can be faithful in prayer because God’s timing is perfect, and His love for us never fails. This is the battle. Satan would hate for you to have this lens over your eyes as you look at life. It won’t be easy, but remember, if God is for us (and He is), who can be against us?