A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Today on A Daily Walk, Pastor John Randall draws attention to the battle of the mind.

John Randall: When a saved person, when a born-again believer in Jesus Christ comes out of darkness and into light—Colossians puts it this way in Colossians 1:13: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." When that happens, now you’ve got a target on your back. Now you are part of the warfare. Formerly a captive, now a soldier.

And we battle against principalities and powers. The Bible says we are battling the world system, our own fallen nature (the Bible calls it the flesh), and the devil. All three of these are constantly confronting us. And the field of battle is often the mind.

Guest (Male): When a trial comes into our lives, it's common to experience a number of emotions, from fear to worry, even anger. And those emotions, if we're not careful, can distort our thinking and lead us to wrong decisions. Pastor John Randall suggests testing every thought by the Word of God, especially during trials.

He'll explain why as we move along today in our study of 1 Peter. Today on A Daily Walk, we're learning what it takes to win the battle of the mind.

John Randall: The battle in the mind. And if ever there was a timely message for what we are about to encounter in the days ahead of us, this is a good word for us. The battle in the mind. 1 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 13, if you would follow along with me this morning.

"Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'"

When nations engage in warfare, in combat with one another, there are several tactics that are employed in attempts to defeat one's enemy and win the war. One tactic is to defeat your enemy mentally before the fight ever begins. Therefore, attempts are made in seeking to incite fear in order to take away your desire or will to fight.

One of the most effective devices in tactical warfare is what is known as psychological warfare. In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense defines psychological warfare in the following way: the planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions have the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives.

Psychological warfare employs any weapons to influence the mind of the enemy. As believers in Jesus Christ, we experience an ongoing battle within our minds. And we have an enemy that is very crafty. He is very deceitful. He is relentless in attacking the minds of men and women, and he has been doing that since the beginning of our existence.

The devil loves to incite fear, discouragement, anxiety, hopelessness, suspicion, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, greed, pride—the list goes on. And he attacks the mind in order to rob us of even the will to engage in a spiritual conflict. He's hopeful that it will produce defeat in the life of the Christian.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, Paul talks about how this enemy works in the mind. He says, "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." So much of the spiritual warfare that we experience as believers, it begins in the mind.

When a saved person, when a born-again believer in Jesus Christ comes out of darkness and into light—Colossians puts it this way in Colossians 1:13: "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." When that happens, now you’ve got a target on your back. Now you are part of the warfare. Formerly a captive, now a soldier.

And we battle against principalities and powers. The Bible says we are battling the world system, our own fallen nature (the Bible calls it the flesh), and the devil. All three of these are constantly confronting us. And the field of battle is often the mind.

Our mind encompasses our intellect, our emotions, our rationale, our will, which ultimately leads to the decisions that we make. And as a Christian, I seek to live according to the will of God for my life. I seek to have my thoughts directed by the Lord and by His Word and by His Spirit.

And it is in this process that we encounter a struggle in the emotions, our thoughts, as the enemy seeks to bring confusion. At times he can even use scripture to bring confusion in order that we would act outside of the will of God. Have you ever noticed, have you ever experienced times when you have the most unthinkable thoughts come into your mind at the worst time?

Example: during worship. Suddenly, it's like, oh, where did that come from? Times when you're reading the Word, times when you go to pray, just these thoughts that come in and you think, why, where did that come from?

The battle within the mind is never so difficult as when you are going through trials and hardship. The stress of a situation, the pain in the midst of suffering, the devastation of a broken heart can cause one's mind to wander, and you become desperate. You start to look for answers, solutions outside of God's Word.

We end up reacting emotionally or conducting our lives carnally, and then the enemy comes in after that with condemnation and discouragement and hopelessness. The apostle Peter knew this to be true in his own life. If you know the story of the apostle Peter, you know that Peter was a man of resolve. He was a leader. He was determined. He had a strong will.

Yet we also observe that there were occasions in his life where his unguarded strengths became his greatest weakness. Peter thought at one point in his mind, I am more righteous and more committed to Jesus than all the rest of these disciples. If they deny You, I never will do it. It’s not going to happen. That's what he thought until the night that Jesus was betrayed and he denied Him three times that he knew Him.

The believers that Peter is writing to in this letter were in a similar condition. They were in great spiritual distress, and thus it was important for them to have the right mentality, to maintain their focuses upon the promise that God made to them. So Peter, you remember, he wisely reminded them about this great salvation that they had been given.

That no matter how bad their circumstances would become, they would still see Jesus one day face to face. They were on their way to heaven. They might lose their lives in martyrdom, but their salvation was kept by the power of God. And thus, he reminds them, don't forget this.

Peter begins with this word in verse 13. He says, "therefore," which by the way, is a connection word. "Therefore" connects you to everything Peter said previously in the chapter. In light of everything I said about your inheritance that is reserved, incorruptible, undefiled, because of this great salvation that is kept by the power of God, because of all of this, "therefore," this is what you’re to do: gird up the loins of your mind.

It's a rather interesting phrase, isn't it? Gird up the loins of your mind. Who knew that your mind had loins? What are we talking about here? This seems so strange in our context. When Peter exhorts them to gird up the loins of their mind, he's using an illustration that they were very familiar with in that culture.

Men typically dressed in long flowing robes. I'm certain that that would be comfortable. We don't do that as much today. But if you wanted to do some kind of work, if you wanted to engage in some kind of conflict, whatever, you had to gird up and tie off the robe so that your legs would be free, so that you could run or you could move or you could work.

And so what Peter is saying is you have to gird up the loins of your mind. You’ve got to be sharp. You’ve got to be ready for action, in other words, because your mind is constantly under attack. In Exodus chapter 12, you remember when the nation of Israel was departing from bondage in Egypt?

That Moses said to the people, when they ate the Passover meal, he said, eat the Passover meal with your loins girded, meaning you need to be ready to go. You need to be ready to move. Don't let anything impede your progress. Let nothing be in the way lest you stumble on the journey. Be ready to go.

In writing to the Ephesians in chapter 6, the apostle Paul used a similar metaphor in exhorting the believers to be prepared for a spiritual battle by girding up your loins with truth, he said. So when Peter says gird up the loins of your mind, he's telling us that we must be committed and prepared for action mentally.

He's exhorting us that it is to be a priority to guard our minds from anything that would impede our progress, to avoid anything that could hinder us from thinking properly. Loose thinking leads to devastating results. If we don't guard our minds, the work of the Holy Spirit could be hindered. We’re not using our minds clearly. We're stumbled from going forward.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 4 in verse 23, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life." Guard your heart. Guard your mind. Jesus said in Mark chapter 7, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile a man."

You understand why we have to guard it. You understand why we have to gird up the loins of our mind. But the question is, how can this be done? When your mind is constantly being assailed by information and misinformation from every direction, how do I stay pure in a polluted world?

I believe that it is accomplished in a number of ways. It begins with understanding of the things that we are to pursue and the things that we are to avoid, the things that we are to run after and the things that we are to run away from. And I want to mention a few of these, and I think that this will serve us well as we go into a new week.

The Lord knew exactly where we were going to be in scripture, and I love that, how the Lord does that. We need to have the proper mindset going into the week. And so it begins, number one, guarding your mind. Guard your mind, protect it. In Luke's Gospel, the 11th chapter, Jesus said this in verse 34.

He said that the lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, then your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body is also full of darkness. In other words, whatever comes in through the eye gate, what I see, can make its way into the heart, to the mind. It can then be verbalized with words or carried out in actions.

And granted, there are certain things that we cannot avoid. But there are other things that we can avoid and that we should avoid. Martin Luther said you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop him from making a nest in your hair. And I think that's important as it relates to our mentality.

The eye in scripture, what we see, is pictured as a window through which light comes into the body. If a window is clean and the glass is clear, then the light that comes in will properly light every part of the room. But if the window is dirty, or if the glass is uneven, or it's tinted, or it's discolored or cracked, then the light will be hindered and the room will not receive the full benefit of the light.

The light that comes into a man's soul depends on the spiritual condition of the eye through which it has to pass, because the eye is the window into the body. The Bible says this, Proverbs 23 verse 7: "For as a man thinks in his heart, so he is." In the book of Philippians, you may recall, the apostle Paul listed eight standards by which every child of God can test whether their mind is dwelling on that which is worthy of their consideration.

Here's the test. Oh man, apply this this coming week. You ready for it? Here it is. Philippians: "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate," or literally think, "on these things."

And if ever there was a day when we needed to gird up the loins of our mind and run our thoughts through the grid of scripture, it's now. Not just because of misinformation, not just because of deception, which obviously that is something that we need to consider.

But let me also add something to that, and that is this: the pornography industry is continuing to destroy the moral fabric of our nation, of the world, really. This is a deplorable thing that we need to repent of because it's not just in the world. It's in the church.

I mean, this is something that is a silent killer, and the statistics for men and women are alike. And it's staggering. And the effects of the pursuit of it—actually, the medical field has referred to it as toxic. Interesting, the medical field done studies on those who engage in this and they say that the effects of it are the exact same to the addictive behavior of a cocaine user.

So if you're in this and you are in bondage to it, God can free you, but I just want you to know something: you need to be delivered from it. And this is not only for adults, but it's also for children. Access to things you never would have seen without working really hard to find it—not anymore.

It's a matter of life and death. How important is it to protect our mind? Extremely important. Because it's death to families, death to marriages, death to relationships, death to ministry. Job declared this, Job said in Job 31 verse 1, "I have made a covenant with my eyes, why should I look at a young woman?" Hey, make a covenant with our eyes. Let's make an agreement here. Lord, I want to protect my mind.

The Psalmist said, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O God." And so we pause and we ask ourselves, am I guarding my mind? What are we placing in front of our eyes today? What are we placing in front of the eyes of our wife and children? What have we allowed in? What have we caved to? What have we just kind of loosened up on?

It's easy to do in this culture, isn't it? In addition to being ever vigilant with what we set before our eyes, another practical step in the right direction is to take every thought captive. Guard your mind, oh, but then when the thoughts come, take them captive. What does that mean?

2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 through 5. Make a note of this. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds," and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Both Peter and Paul are describing a disciplined mind, a mind that tests every thought, every emotion by the Word of God. And the reason is because God's Word is truth. And God's Word becomes the filter for my thinking—what thoughts I entertain, what thoughts I dismiss. That's not from the Lord.

And when you’re going through, as they were here, a difficulty, a trial, a hardship, it's not safe to trust your own heart. Because our heart—the Bible says our heart is deceitfully wicked above all else, who can know it? I'm not going to trust my heart. I'm going to trust the Lord. I'm going to read His Word. What is God saying?

Because what happens is the enemy comes in in that moment and he tries to capitalize on it and he’ll lie. He’ll say something that's contrary to the Word of God. So when that happens, I have to run that thought through what God said. I'm asked on a regular basis in different contexts, different people, different age groups, all the time: "Hey, I battle anxiety. What do you think I should do?"

"Hey, I battle lust. What do you think I should do? Hey, I battle this, self-pity, condemnation. What should I do?" This is my response every time: read your Bible. Read your Bible. Hide God's Word in your heart. Meditate on it. Why is that so important? Because the Bible helps me to fight off those things.

Anxiety—Jesus said, "Do not worry." It's a command. "Do not worry, you are more valuable than the birds and of the flowers of the field. Be anxious for nothing, but everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord."

When we talk about, "I deal with this," or "I deal with that," well, this is what the Bible says about that. I deal with thoughts of lust. Well, you know what the Bible says? It says that if you continue in that direction, your life will be reduced to a crust of bread, the Proverbs says. Do you want to be a crust of bread?

I don't want to be a crust of bread, so I hit myself with truth. A hard dose of reality and truth in the midst of what is a lie, and I think, okay, no, that's not for me. The truth of God's Word. I'm afraid. There's no fear in perfect love.

Oh, I don't know that God loves me. God has demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So you go back to the truth. It's there. You have recall of it. And that's how you take the thoughts captive when they come.

As I bring the Word of God to bear on thoughts of fear, anxiety, insecurity, I find that I can trust in what God has said. And that thought is now taken captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. That thought goes against what God has revealed Himself to be and what He says about me and what He says about you. And now it's brought under the power of God. And I choose to trust God rather than to be fearful. So it's important to keep that in mind. Hey, what about temptation?

Every single person in here faces temptation to some degree. And the Bible tells us where it comes from. James chapter 1 says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I'm tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." How are people tempted then? Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. And then the desire has conceived and it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it's full grown, it brings forth death. That's how it happens. You just stop thinking biblically and you start going in a direction and pursuing temptation rather than running from it. But if I know the Word of God, I know that God says with every temptation, there's always going to be a way of escape. And I'm going to take the exit when I see it when temptation comes.

There's a way of escape. God's Word reminds me. And it's interesting, isn't it, that your mind can be attacked many times in a day? I mean, you wake up in the morning, there it is. Midday. Lunchtime. Later on before the evening, another attack. Just comes in waves, doesn't it?

And then you lay down at night, and then you wake up in the middle of the night. It just doesn't stop. It doesn't stop, so I have to gird up the loins of my mind. I want to protect my mind, take every thought captive. Are you taking your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, or are you being taken captive by your thoughts?

Guest (Male): We've been learning all about the battle of the mind today on A Daily Walk, just part of Pastor John Randall's new study in 1 Peter. You can listen to our recent programs on our website at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts. We also offer an app too. To download our app, do a search for Calvary South OC and check out A Daily Walk devotional video there at our website as well for daily encouragement from Pastor John. That's adailywalk.org.

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