How To Fight When the Battle Is In Your Mind
In Joyce Meyer’s excellent book Battlefield of the Mind, she talks about how the enemy uses distracting and confusing thoughts as spiritual warfare against us. She says,
to combat the enemy’s noise our minds must be deeply convinced of the love of God for us.
When that is the case, we will be so rooted in His love and truth that the enemy’s lies will not be able to shake us. She says: I had an unconscious, vague sort of understanding that God loved me, but the love of God is meant to be a powerful force in our lives, one that will take us through even the most difficult trials into victory.
Thankfully, God has given us a simple tool for dealing with distractions—the name of Jesus. His name is the ultimate weapon of our warfare: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds ( see 2 Corinthians 10:3‐4).
Our weapons are not of the physical realm, but the spiritual realm, and they are so much more powerful than any weapon fashioned by human hands. When God spoke to me about the enemy’s attempts to distract the Bible school students and me through accusing thoughts, I was grieved in my spirit. I went to class the next day and took authority over the enemy on their behalf and for myself. I stood up in front of the class and corporately commanded accusation to go in the name of Jesus, and just like that, it lifted. It really is that simple, because in the name of Jesus we can make demons leave (see Mark 16:17). As James promised us: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
We can tell accusing and distracting thoughts from the enemy to be silent in the name of Jesus, and they must obey. To silence the enemy’s lies, we also must speak the truth of God’s Word aloud in order to cast down deceiving thoughts and imaginations. I find that every time God gives me a new assignment or I go into a new level of influence, I experience an increase in warfare. For example, two weeks before the launch of our first Kingdom Intercessors United (KIU), I experienced very intense warfare. I could sense the enemy, but I did not allow him to overtake me. Every morning when I woke up, the first thoughts that would come to my mind were, What are you doing? Who do you think you are? Don’t expect God to be with you in this meeting. In response, I would momentarily pull the covers up over my head, but then I would throw them off and declare, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! It’s not my vision; it’s God’s vision!” I would speak the Word to the enemy, purposefully deciding not to allow the warfare to stop the prayer movement. I knew the warfare would pass as soon as KIU had successfully launched.
As this story shows, we must provide the truth to counter the enemy’s lies. Jesus did this when the devil tempted Him in the wilderness (see Luke 4:1‐13). No matter what the devil said to Him, Jesus always referred back to the truth of God’s Word, saying “It is written.” In this way, He defeated the enemy. Paul also emphasized the power of the Word of God as a spiritual weapon against the noise of the enemy:
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:11‐17).
The Word of God, which testifies to the truth about Jesus, is the only offensive weapon on the list above. The armor protects us, while the Word of God enables us to advance against and gain victory over the lies of the enemy. This is so important to understand. Many believers are not strong in their knowledge of the Bible, and as a result, when they hear distracting and accusing thoughts, they do not know how to combat them with the truth.