The Way Church Podcast

00:00:00
Reading out of the new international version of God's holy word, Second Corinthians 10, 3, 5. It's on the screen. 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.

00:00:32
Verse 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.

00:00:54
Every thought obedient to Christ. Family, I want to tag a title to this particular text this morning that simply says the War Within. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. The War Within.

00:01:19
We have been in a series called the Art of War, not just about battles in the natural, but warfare in the spirit. And there's one thing that we have been learning is that the enemy doesn't always come with swords and spears. Sometimes he shows up in whispers and worries. Sometimes the battlefield isn't a room, but rather a mindset. Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese general whose book inspired this series, he said, if you know the enemy, know yourself.

00:02:12
You need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know your enemy and know yourself, you don't need to be afraid of the results of a hundred battles and family. One of the most underestimated battles, battlegrounds in spiritual warfare is the mind. Some of the most intense spiritual battles you'll face won't happen at work. It won't happen in your finances and even in your relationships.

00:02:51
But they will happen in your mind. Because the enemy knows that your thoughts shape your decisions and your decisions shape your destiny. That's why he doesn't need to attack you in ancillary things if he can already torment your thought life. I want you to pay attention this morning because you don't need to be in chains to be bound. You don't need to be under attack to be losing ground.

00:03:27
Sometimes the most dangerous war is the one that you stop recognizing as a war. There are some battles that we can see coming. We can see the diagnosis coming. We can see the battle when there is a disaster. We can see the battle of disappointment.

00:03:46
But then there are the invisible ones, the wars that rage behind the religious jargon, beneath the responsibility and inside the very place that shapes our lives the most, that is our minds. The greatest battle many of us face isn't out there, but rather it's in here. I dare somebody to put your hands on your head and say, lord, help me win this war. Say it again say, lord, help me win this war.

00:04:26
Brothers and sisters, winning this war is paramount because if the enemy can gain control of your thoughts, then he can hijack your peace, he can influence your decisions, and ultimately he will sabotage your destiny. That's why the Bible doesn't just talk about honor and territory, but it talks about taking thoughts captive. Because you can be dressed up, smiled up, and prayed up and still be messed up all in your mind. Yeah, you're smiling on the outside and battling shame on the inside. You're showing up for others, but falling apart in your thoughts.

00:05:11
Why? Because the most consistent war that we will fight is the one that is in our minds. We don't always fight fight battles in hospital rooms and courtrooms, but some of the fiercest fights are happening in the back seats of our own mind. And you don't have to say nothing, but I know I'm pressing a button right here. And Paul gives us language of this when he says, we do not wage war like the world does.

00:05:42
In other words, we are not just dealing with stress, we are dealing with warfare. Some of us think that peace is the absence of problems, but peace is the presence of the right mindset. One person can go through something and they can have the right mindset and go through it like there's nothing going on. And the other person go through the same thing, and they go through it because their world is falling apart, all because of their mindset. And for many of us, the fight for peace isn't happening around us, but it is happening within us.

00:06:26
And today's message is not about an outer warfare, but it is about inner warfare and where we have been born to win this war and spiritually equipped to fight. Because mental peace is not just about emotional wellness. Mental peace is about spiritual warfare.

00:06:50
And I came this morning to do battle with the devil because we cannot allow the war to be won against our minds. There are a few lessons that Paul is trying to teach us in this particular verse so that we can become effective in winning the war within. And I want to give them to you very quickly, and I'll be out of the way. Lesson number one. He tells us that the mind is a battlefield, not a playground.

00:07:27
Look at somebody and say, the mind is a battlefield, not a playground. Second Corinthians 10, 3, 4. He said, though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with have divine power. Brothers and sisters, we often take our thoughts too lightly, but Paul reminds us that this battle is not physical, but it is a spiritual battle.

00:07:57
It is. It is warfare. And many of the emotional and relational and behavioral struggles that we face start out as mental strongholds. Even right now, every thought that you have is either building us or it's binding us. You don't have to tell me.
00:08:17
I know it's true. The mind is the command center for your life. And the enemy does not have to ruin your life if he can influence your thoughts. That's why Romans 8 and 6 tells us that the mind that is governed by the flesh is death. But the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.

00:08:39
In other words, a weapon. Weapon that you do not use becomes a wound that you live with. Somebody ought to tell somebody that. Your thoughts don't just respond to life. Your thoughts don't just respond to life.

00:08:54
They shape your life. And most of us don't lose because of our circumstances. We lose because of our perspectives. The devil doesn't need to steal your bank account when he can bankrupt your peace. He's not going after those things he's trying to get in your head.

00:09:17
Cannot live with peace if you keep entertaining poison. Satan doesn't need a weapon if he can use your thoughts. That's why we are told in Proverbs chapter number four, verse 23, he says, Guard your heart, your mind, above all else, for it determines the course of your life. He says, guard your heart with all diligence above all else. In other words, if you don't do nothing else, you better protect your mind, you better protect your thinking, you better guard your heart.

00:09:56
Colossians tells us in Colossians 3 and 2, he says, set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. In other words, the mind must be directed and not allowed to drift freely. Because if you allow your mind to drift feet. Has anybody ever heard some weird thoughts and you say, well, where did that thought come from? Anybody ever gone?

00:10:19
Okay, I'm going to make sure I'm in the right church and it's not just me. We must regularly and consistently take a thought inventory and ask ourselves what reoccurring thoughts are showing up in our lives. When you are tired, when you are stressed, when you are lonely, what are those thoughts? Don't just go along for the ride, but find out what is leading my thoughts today. Is this faith or is this fear?

00:10:52
You gotta pray. Psalm 139: 23-24. Daily like the season salts season. Saints used to say, search me, God, and know my heart. See if there's anything afraid offensive in me.

00:11:06
Start asking God to expose unhealthy mental patterns with your saved self, with your holy self, with your going to Sunday meeting self. We all have times where our stinking thinking can get in the way. But we gotta ask God to replace the mental clutter and put his word in our hearts because. Listen to me. Don't miss this.

00:11:34
If you do not lead your thoughts, your thoughts will mislead you. I'm going to say that again. If you don't lead your thoughts, your thoughts are going to mislead you. Your thoughts will have you thinking all kinds of things, will have you going off on all kinds of tangents, will have you upset with people that don't know nothing about you being upset with them. Your thoughts will have you going off on people because you thought a thing.

00:12:04
That's not even true. But because you thought a thing. If you don't lead your thoughts, your thoughts will mislead you.

00:12:16
He says lesson one. The mind is a battlefield, not a playground. Lesson number two. Strongholds are internal, not external. He says the weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world.

00:12:38
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Somebody say strongholds. Say it again. Say strongholds. Now listen.

00:12:50
Pay attention. A stronghold is a pattern of thinking that holds you hostage. It is a lie from the enemy that has taken up permanent residence in your mind and it now influences the way that you live. Did you hear me? Strongholds are not just bad habits, they are fortified lies.

00:13:21
They may sound and feel like the truth because we've lived, allowed them to live in our head for so long, but in reality, this is what is keeping us stuck. And when Satan builds mental bunkers in our head in our belief system, he hides behind them. And the stronghold will become that lie that you lived with long enough to that you now start living by the lie because you've lived with it so long. In other words, it's not just what you think, but it's what's thinking for you.

00:14:07
It's not just what you think, but it's what's thinking for you. Ask the person next to you what's thinking for you? What's thinking for you. Watch me. A stronghold isn't always loud.

00:14:20
It sounds like this. I'll never. I always. I can't. I don't have.

00:14:28
I'll never get past this. I'll always mess things up. This is who I am. God hears their prayers, but he doesn't hear my prayers. And what I'm trying to get you to understand is that a stronghold are strategic, subtle lies that we live with for so long, we stop questioning the lie.

00:14:53
It's more than a bad thought. It's a repeated lie that becomes a reality in our decision making. This is the enemy's attempt to build mental prisons in our lives.

00:15:12
And it's often rooted in childhood experiences. It's often rooted in unresolved trauma. It's often rooted in repeated failure or long term discouragement. But listen to me. God does not want you to cope with strongholds.

00:15:33
God has sent me here to tell you it's time for you to confront the strongholds that are trying to hold you in prison in your life. God's peace is not passive. God's peace guards like a military force. In other words, his word is a wrecking ball in the enemy's construction.

00:15:58
Hebrews 4:12 tells us that it cuts between the soul and the spirit. It breaks the lie and builds the truth, because the antidote to a lie is the truth. And that's why Jesus said in John 17 he says, Your word is truth. In John chapter 8 he says, Then you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. He calls.

00:16:25
Ephesians 6, Paul calls the word the sword of the spirit.

00:16:33
Tell the person next to you, you don't need louder feelings, you need sharper truth. Yeah. All your life you might have grown up hearing and feeling and thinking that you'd never be good enough. You may have gone through all kinds of trauma, all kinds of discouragement, all kinds of things. So much so that now you believe that every mistake proves just how worthless you are.

00:16:59
And you may be smiling on the outside and you may know how to speak Christianese and you may know how to buck and how to shout, but secretly you are battling rejection and shame every single night. But here's the truth that I found out. Here's the truth what I found out, why people stay captive by strongholds longer than they have to. You want to know it? Here it is.

00:17:27
We are either too afraid or too lazy to open our mouths.

00:17:35
The Bible says death and life is in the power of the tongue.

00:17:41
But we let fear and apathy and pressure and obligations and checklists to cloud our minds. So much so that we become mute in our mouths.

00:17:58
Sometimes we're even too spaced out to witness to the truth.

00:18:03
So we may come into the house of God and we may be spaced out. But Psalm 33 and 1 says praise is calmly for the upright. In other words, it should be fitting and common and becoming and appropriate to say Amen when the truth is coming, to say thank You, Jesus, to say, lord, I thank you. But when you open your mouth, here's what I want you to do. Count to 10 silently in your head.

00:18:30
Say, hallelujah. What happened to the counting? It stopped. Because when you open your mouth, the spiritual warfare has to stop. When you begin to open your mouth and begin to declare the word of God, all the mental chatter has to stop on your head.

00:18:48
The Bible says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. In other words, you got to open your mouth and begin to declare, I'm not going to let the devil wreak havoc in my head because I still have power in my mouth.

00:19:04
Somebody shout, you got to open your mouth.

00:19:10
Begin to call out the lie. That is not my identity. I'm chosen. I'm called, and I'm covered by God. First Peter 2 and 9 says, I'm called and I'm covered and I'm chosen.

00:19:26
And some of us need to go back home and start identifying the mental strongholds that keep showing up in your emotions and in your choices and in your relationships and find the scripture that contradicts what the enemy is trying to put in your head.

00:19:46
And every time the lie resurfaces, say it out loud. That's a lie. I walk by the truth. The warfare may say, I have to do it all by myself. That's a lie.

00:19:59
I'm walking by the truth. God tells me in Psalm 46 and 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. I'm not by myself. God is with me.

00:20:11
Your warfare may say, nothing ever changes for me. That's a lie. I'm walking by the truth. He said in Isaiah 43, See, I'm doing a new thing. It's going to spring up.

00:20:23
God's doing a new thing in my life. Tell two people God's doing a new thing in my life. I don't know about anybody else, but he's doing a new thing in my life.

00:20:36
Your warfare may try to tell you that your past disqualifies you, but you got to be strong enough and bold enough to say, that's a lie. I'm a new creation in Christ. My path does not cancel my purpose. Brothers and sisters, what I'm trying to get you to understand, this is how you walk out. Philippians, chapter number four, verse six and seven, where he says, do not be anxious about anything.

00:21:11
You see some people, they can walk and go through storms and go through tests and go through trials, and it looks like they are unbothered. Why? Because they have learned how to master speaking back to the enemy when the enemy comes to him. You remember when Jesus was walking with his disciples and the Bible says that he wanted figs and the tree that he went to did not have any figs on it. What he wanted was not there.

00:21:43
And if you read the Bible. Not just read the Bible, the Bible says he answereth and say and curse the tree. Now, I don't know about anybody else, but when is the last time you were walking and you started talking to a tree?

00:22:04
What Jesus was trying to get us to see is when there are situation and circumstances in our lives that don't line up with what he has promised us, we gotta be bold enough to answer it back and say, the devil is a liar. I will not be sick unto death. God has already healed my body. I'm already wealthy. I'm already prosperous.

00:22:26
I'm already abundant. Oh, yes, some of y' all ain't getting it. I'm already full of peace and abundance. I have everything that I need. Because when you learn how to do this, you won't be anxious about anything.

00:22:44
The peace of God will guard your heart and your mind. And this is where you will start to write down your past victories. So when the enemy comes up against you, you created a testimony list that will silence the internal accusations of the devil. And you will start walking around with the kind of peace that says, if unbothered was a person. Why am I unbothered?

00:23:12
Because if he did it before, he's going to do it again. If he healed me over here, he gonna heal me over there. If he. He provided for me this week, he gonna provide for me next week. If he gave me peace in this storm, he knows how to give me peace in this storm.

00:23:28
Somebody shout I'm unbothered. Shout it again. I'm unbothered.

00:23:36
You gotta learn how to live unbothered. But watch it. This will only happen if you learn how to control the war your mind. Are you getting this? Let's go to lesson number three.

00:23:54
Lesson number three. Every thought needs a checkpoint. Every thought needs a checkpoint. Verse 5. He says this.

00:24:09
He says, and we take captive. Somebody say captive. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Notice Paul did not say ignore the thought. He said, take it captive.

00:24:28
In other words, this is active language.

00:24:33
If you don't take it captive, your thought will take you.

00:24:41
Every thought is either giving you life or it's draining your life. And too many believers are spiritually fatigued. Not because you don't love Jesus. But because they don't challenge their thoughts. Taking your thought captive means arresting it before it's settles into your spirit.

00:25:09
Just like you wouldn't allow a thief to roam in your house freely, you can't allow rogue thoughts to roam in your mind freely. You do not get peace by accident. You get peace by arresting every intruder that does not belong in your life. Somebody say, I hear you. If it enters without permission, then it should not stay without you evaluating the thoughts.

00:25:49
God's given us authority to challenge and correct our thinking. And take every thought captive means that I stop it, I examine it and I replace it with the truth. When it doesn't line up with God's word, I stop the thought, I examine the thoughts and then I have to replace it with the truth if the thought does not line up with God's word. Philippians chapter number four, verse eight is your mental TSA. If it's not true, if it's not noble, if it's not pure, if it's not praiseworthy, it gets denied.

00:26:41
I do not have mental calories to spend on the nonsense that the enemy brings to my head.

00:26:51
I'm not wasting my time. I'm going to examine it and I'm going to replace it with the truth. You think just because I'm up here that the enemy does not bring thoughts to my head? Every single day of my life I have to go through this same process. And Romans 12 and 2 reminds us that transformation begins with the renewing of the mind, not the pretending of renewing the mind.

00:27:22
Because a lot of people pretend to renew their mind, but they don't want to do the work to actually renew their mind. This takes daily discipline. You don't have to let every thought live in your mind.

00:27:39
You have the authority and the power to interrogate and evict every thought that doesn't line up with God's truth. And watch it. Spiritual maturity is not just being reactive, but proactive with your thought life. Because if you're not proactive with your thought life, then you'll be like the man that James Talk talks about in James where he says a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Meaning when I get around certain people, I will act like everything is good and act like I'm on top and act like I got it all together.

00:28:24
And I know how to speak Christianese and I know how to shout and I know how to feel good. But when I get by myself or when I get by the people that really know me, I will still talk the same Things that the. The Bible tells me that I should not talk, and the doubt and unbelief. But when you have no duplicity in your thought, that means you're not lying to yourself and you're not having hypocrisy lying to others. You will say what you mean and mean what you say.

00:28:58
When I say it here, I'm gonna say it out there. When I say it here, I'm gonna say it on my job.

00:29:07
Are we getting this?

00:29:11
Use your thought checkpoint card that asks vital questions. Is this thought true?

00:29:23
Does this thought bring peace? Does this line up with God's word?

00:29:33
Examine it. You see a post on social media, somebody else getting promoted instantly. We live in a social age. You, you, you can have thoughts easily of inadequacy and comparison.

00:29:51
Comparison. Like you're behind and you're, you're, you're, you're missing the mark and you'll never measure up. You got to take those types of thoughts captive.

00:30:02
Learn how to open your mouth and say, that's not my race. What God has for me is for me. God's got my blessing with my name on it. I'm gonna stay in my lane until my lane opens up because I understand Psalm 31, that my timing is in God's hand. I don't have to compete with anybody.

00:30:24
I don't have to compete compare with anybody. I don't have to hate on anybody because my times are in God's. Is there anybody that knows that your time is in God's hands?

00:30:40
And here's how, here's how you turn comparison into celebration. You step on the neck of the devil instead of comparing. Now I'm gonna celebrate. I'm gonna pray a special blessing on you when you win, because I know when I bless you, somebody else gonna bless me. When I celebrate you.

00:31:04
I'm not gonna sit on you. I'm not gonna hate on you. I'm not gonna not post on your accomplishments. I'm gonna celebrate you. Because I know whatever I sow, that's what's coming back to me.

00:31:20
Whenever fear and insecurity and temptation rises up, you gotta stop and declare, this thought is not in charge. I'm in charge.

00:31:39
Your mental gate must be guarded like your front door. I don't know everybody in here, but I can almost imagine that none of us left our front doors unlocked and open last night.

00:31:55
If I'm wrong, wave your hand so I can apologize.

00:32:02
Why is it that we lock our front door but we don't guard our thoughts?

00:32:10
The Holy Spirit is our Internal alarm that lets us know when our thoughts are off.

00:32:19
He is the umpire of our soul. That checkpoint. Anybody ever had that witness on the inside of you? You know, well, I talk about me because I know me. So sometimes me and.
00:32:32
Me and God have a relationship. And so. So I hear my spirit. Jamie, you tripping. You got to change your thinking.

00:32:39
Change your thinking, because I can be going down some roads and my mind, but I have to arrest that thought and bring it into the obedience of Christ.

00:32:55
You do not have to be a victim of your mind. You can take authority over it.

00:33:05
Isaiah 26, and 3. Excuse me, says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind are steadfast because they trust in you.

00:33:20
The war is real. The weapons are real. But guess what? So is the power that God has given you to destroy the works of the devil. You don't have to be afraid of the devil.

00:33:39
When you have the authority to defeat the devil, you are not too far gone. You are not too weak. You are not unqualified for peace. But hear me, peace is protected by practice.

00:34:00
You gotta practice peace in order to be able to receive what it is that God has for you. Don't wait until life settles down to reclaim your thoughts. God's already giving you the weapons to win. Are y' all getting this? Peace is secured through your spiritual discipline, and it's activated when you take your mind seriously.

00:34:32
You won't win spiritual battles by accident. It will not happen. But you will win them with intention when you become intentional. And that is what I have been endeavoring to teach during this series, that you have to win them by intention. Romans does not say that we are transformed.

00:34:56
We are transformed not by effort, but he says, by the renewing of our mind. That is where change begins.

00:35:10
God's not just called us to peace, but he's empowered you to protect it. Somebody declared, I'm taking back the territory of my thoughts. Say it again. I'm taking back the territory of my thoughts.

00:35:26
Listen. Listen. God never promised a life without war. He never promised it. But he did promise you weapons to win the war.

00:35:38
Yeah, that's a good place to clap. That's a good place to clap.

00:35:47
The war within doesn't have to take anybody out.

00:35:52
They have a saying now in the culture of people crashing out.

00:35:57
The war within doesn't have to make you spiral or crash out. You can win this war. You have the authority. You have the strategy. But now it's time for you to fight.

00:36:15
Look at the person next to you and say, it's time to fight. It's time to fight. You have to do your part and watch God do his part. Stand with me everywhere.

00:36:30
Stand with me.

00:36:35
Lift your hands all over this building. Say it out loud. I reject every lie that does not line with God's truth. I will not be ruled by fear, tormented by shame, or trapped by insecurity. I take back the territory of my mind.

00:36:58
I reclaim my peace. I restore my joy. My thoughts are submitted to Christ. My mind is a weapon for the kingdom. I filter my thinking through faith.

00:37:15
I fight with divine power and I win the war within by the power of God that lives in me.