Part 1 (1/2)

Battlefield of the Mind Devotional.

Joyce Meyer.

1.

The Invitation.

What I have forgiven . . . has been for your sakes . . . to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.

-2 CORINTHIANS 2:10-11.

Suppose we receive a package from an overnight carrier. After we open it, we stare at a beautiful, oversized envelope, with our name written on it in exquisite calligraphy. Inside, the invitation starts with these words: You are invited to enjoy a life filled with misery, worry, and confusion.

Which one of us would say yes to such an outrageous invitation? Don't we seek the kind of life that keeps us free from such pain and distractions? Yet many of us choose such a life. Not that we blatantly make that choice, but we sometimes surrender-even temporarily-to Satan's invitation. His attack is ongoing and relentless-the devil is persistent! Our enemy bombards our minds with every weapon at his disposal every day of our lives.

We are engaged in a warfare-a warfare that rages and never stops. We can put on the whole armor of G.o.d, halt the evil one's advances, and stand fast on the Word of G.o.d, but we won't put a complete end to the war. As long as we are alive, our minds remain Satan's battlefield. Most of our problems are rooted in thinking patterns that produce the problems we experience. This is where Satan triumphs-he offers wrong thinking to all of us. This isn't a new trick devised for our generation; he began his deceptive ways in the Garden of Eden. The serpent asked the woman, ”Can it really be that G.o.d has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1a). That was the first attack on the human mind. Eve could have rebuked the tempter; instead, she told him G.o.d would let them eat from the trees, but not from one particular tree. They couldn't even touch that tree, because if they did, they would die.

”But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For G.o.d knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like G.o.d, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity” (vs. 4-5).

This was the first attack, and it resulted in Satan's first victory. What we often miss about temptation and the battle our enemy levels against us is that it comes to us deceptively. Suppose he had said to the woman, ”Eat of the fruit. You'll bring misery, anger, hatred, bloodshed, poverty, and injustice into the world.”

Eve would have recoiled and run away. He tricked her because he lied and told her what would appeal to her.

Satan promised, ”You will be like G.o.d. You'll know good and evil.” What a marvelous appeal to the woman. He wasn't tempting Eve to do something bad-or at least he phrased it in such a way that what she heard sounded good.

That's always the appeal of sin or satanic enticement. The temptation is not to do evil or to cause harm or bring injustice. The lure is that we will gain something.

Satan's temptation worked on Eve. ”And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate” (3:6).

Eve lost the first battle for the mind, and we have continued to fight for it since that time. But because we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can win-and we can keep on winning.

Victorious G.o.d, help me resist the onslaughts of Satan, who attacks my mind and makes evil seem good. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

2.

Well-Laid Plans.

For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

-EPHESIANS 6:12.

”How could you?” Helen screamed. ”How could you ever do such a thing?”

Tom stared helplessly at his wife. He had committed adultery, faced his sinful actions, and asked his wife to forgive him.

”But you knew it was wrong,” she said. ”You knew that was the ultimate betrayal of our marriage.”

”I never planned for an affair to happen,” Tom said with tears in his eyes.

Tom wasn't lying. He knew he was making a few bad choices, but he hadn't looked ahead at the consequences of his actions. After almost an hour of pleading, he said something that helped Helen begin to understand and eventually to forgive.

”I was unfaithful to you in hundreds of ways before I ever committed adultery.” He spoke of their being too busy to spend quality time together, his critical att.i.tude, her occasional lack of emotional response, her not listening to him when he talked about problems at the office. ”Just little things, always little things,” he said. ”At least in the beginning they seemed that way.”

That's exactly how Satan works in human lives. He begins by bombarding our minds with cleverly devised patterns of irritation, dissatisfaction, nagging thoughts, doubts, fears, and reasonings. He moves slowly and cautiously (after all, well-laid plans take time).

Tom said he began to doubt that Helen truly loved him. She didn't listen, and she didn't always respond to his amorous moods. He dwelt on those thoughts. Whenever she did anything he didn't like, he kept track. He kept track by remembering and adding that to his list of dissatisfactions.

One of his coworkers listened, and she offered him sympathy. One time she said, ”Helen doesn't deserve a warm, caring man like you.” (Satan also worked in her.) Each time Tom took a tiny step off the right path, he justified his actions in his mind: If Helen won't listen to me, there are people who will. Although he said the word people to himself, he really meant the woman in the next cubicle.

The coworker listened. Weeks later, he hugged her and as he did so, he wished he could feel that caring response from his wife. It was a harmless embrace-or so it seemed. Tom didn't grasp that Satan is never in a hurry. He takes time to work out his plans. He doesn't immediately overwhelm people with powerful desires. Instead, the enemy of our minds starts with little things-little dissatisfactions, small desires-and builds from there.

Tom's story sounds much like that of a forty-two-year-old bookkeeper who was indicted for stealing nearly three million dollars from her organization. She said, ”The first time I took only twelve dollars. I needed that much to pay the minimum amount on my credit card. I planned to pay it back.” No one caught her, and two months later, she ”borrowed” again.

By the time they caught her, the company teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. ”I never meant to hurt anybody or do anything wrong,” she said. She never intended to do anything big-just to take small amounts. The prosecutor said she had been stealing from the company for almost twenty years.

That's how Satan works-slowly, diligently, and in small ways. Rarely does he approach us through direct a.s.sault or frontal attacks. All Satan needs is an opening-an opportunity to inject unholy, self-centered thoughts into our heads. If we don't kick them back out, they stay inside. And he can continue his evil, destructive plan.

We don't have to allow those wrong thoughts to take up residence in our heads. The apostle Paul wrote, ”For the weapons of our warfare are . . . mighty before G.o.d. . . . [We] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of G.o.d; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Lord Jesus, in Your name, I cry out for victory. Enable me to bring every thought into obedience. Help me not to allow Satan's words to stay in my mind and steal my victory. Amen.

3.

Satan's Strongholds.

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before G.o.d for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds.

-2 CORINTHIANS 10:4.

A stronghold is an area in which we are held in bondage-any part of our lives in which Satan imprisons us. He does this by causing us to think a certain way-a way that is based on lies we have been told. As long as we believe things that are not true, we will remain imprisoned by those strongholds. To enjoy freedom, we must learn to use G.o.d's mighty weapons.

In my book Battlefield of the Mind, I referred to Mary, who had been mistreated and brainwashed by her father, and by the time she was a teen, she didn't trust men. It's no wonder that she and her husband faced many conflicts in their marriage. For years, Satan had lied to her and she believed the lies.