Book Review: Battlefield of the Mind (3 ways to win the battle)

Love the Lord your God … with all your mind.

Matthew 22:37

Most of us, at one time or another have felt frustration over a certain area of our life that we just cannot seem to master. We’ve talked about Freedom from Food, but the truth is we battle for freedom in dozens of areas virtually every day of our lives. These battles are with besetting sins, areas where we seek to obey God’s best, and yet we struggle and stumble, flail and fail. We are beset, or troubled persistently by these same things again and again. And when we find ourselves facing the same foe again and again, chances are there’s a battle.

A battle of the mind.

All sin is a personal affront on the goodness of God.

All sin, in essence, looks God in the face and says, “You are not enough.”  I still need to have the final word with my husband, I still need to hate this person in my heart because she doesn’t treat me like I want, I still need to be harsh with my children, I still need to stay up late and overindulge in food or media.

So if the essence of sin is believing that God is not sufficient for our needs, the place to begin is by changing the way that we think.  We cannot change the way we feel but we can change the way we think. So how do we begin?

Joyce Meyer’s book, The Battlefield of the Mind, is a great place to start. I’ve never read her work, and kept arm’s length because of some of her word-faith associations and borderline health-wealth theology. So while I’m not espousing her entire ministry, necessarily (simply because I do not know enough either way), the book is a great eye-opener to all that God’s Word says about the necessity of winning the thought-battle we face each day. It’s a bit all over the place, so I can’t completely summarize but here are a few things stood out to me:

• Be careful how you speak of a situation.

I had to do some repenting of how I had labeled my dear and precious son. Yes, he is the child who requires more of my energy, but I think perhaps I’ve labeled him right into a corner clearly marked “Great Challenge” when I should have lifted him right up and placed on his head the honorable crown marked, “Great Potential.” Because truly he does. The boy already has a God-consciousness and an uncanny ability to care less about the opinions of others. It can frustrate me because he is not motivated by praise, at all. (He is motivated by treats laced with sugar.) But the gist of it is that how I think about Dutch will greatly impact how I invest in him, treat him, and train him.  I truly believe that Dutch is the coolest cat in the world and want to spend myself in training that strong-willed soul into a mighty warrior for God. (Can you remind me of that when I’m weak? Thanks!)

• Tenaciously believe that God is for you. I was struck by one thing about Joyce Meyer: confidence. She is just so stinkin’ confident! She basically figures, “I’m seeking God, trusting God, asking God, praying to God, He loves me and will keep me from doing anything stupid.” Simple, yes? But simply true!  Yes, things may “fall apart” temporarily if God wants to mold our character, but He’s not out to get us. For me, this translated into our house situation and London trip (I read the book before we went to London). I was feeling so anxious (Will God sell our house? What if He doesn’t? What if we go to London and it all flops?), but this simple step brought my mind back to peace. God loves me. He led us to read the books and hear the stories and see the world in such a way that we want to downsize our life to give to His kingdom.  He orchestrated the London trip, all of it! So of course He is for us! Of course He will work out a beautiful plan. But we have to tenaciously believe this simple thing — God loves me and is for me.

• Determine wrong thinking and begin a new thought-pattern. It was clear as I read that there was one particular thought-pattern that was tripping me up. If we slow down and pay attention we’ll begin to see that we probably do the same thing over and over again. It might not be a horrible way of thinking, but if it’s less than God’s best then over time it will slowly lead us off course. We have to slow down, pay attention, and ask God to show us where our thought-habits are skewed. Then, the hard part: Over and over (and over and over) begin practicing God’s way of thinking instead. This is where reading/ studying/ memorizing God’s word is critical. We really must brainwash (wash and clean our minds!) with the truth of God’s Word. Where to start? Get in God’s Word every day.

What ways have you waged war in the battlefield of the mind? What worked, what didn’t work, and what have been your “aha!” moments along the way? I pray the mind of Christ for us all today. Thanks for reading.