DECEPTION THE MIND GAME/WAR

is your garden kept well? or is it weedy?

The biggest, the hardest and by far the longest battle we all face in this life, will be fought in the space between our 2 ears , our minds, and our thoughts! The Spirit of the adversary's only weapon is Deception, and lies, that is it, but it is a doosey of a weapon because it will trip you up every time if we are not constantly alert to his tactics.

How many times does this happen to you, you are in a good spot right now, nothing is going on in your life that you can't handle, you feel good, your relationships are good, and oh boy the sun is shinning , it is a beautiful day..............but. Without warning you begin to feel saddened, you begin to have these thoughts that are down right depressing, you go about your day, but your thoughts do not match your circumstances. Now if you are a discerning Child of God, you will begin to realize that the spirit of heaviness has invaded you mind space!!!!What do we do when we realize the enemy has gotten in? Here is a suggestion from the Scriptures in various translations for Isaiah 61:3 which says in the NLT translation"the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" and in the (New International Version)3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor."

Now in the (Amplified Bible)
3To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion--to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit--that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Now in the (Contemporary English Version)3especially in Jerusalem. He sent me to give them flowers in place of their sorrow, olive oil in place of tears, and joyous praise in place of broken hearts.They will be called "Trees of Justice," planted by the LORD to honor his name.

So here we have a remedy for the spirit of heaviness,despair,heavy burdens,failing spirit,and broken hearts! So we see that there is a 'spirit' that can cause all these things to spring up like weeds into the gardens of our minds!! How do we pull out these pesky weeds from our fertile gardens of our minds? PRAISE!

As a child of the Most High we have been given the AUTHORITY to rule our kingdoms our garden which is our minds and we can choose what goes in and what stays in there, although we may not have full control as to what goes into our minds, we do have the means to keep alot of these thoughts out by what we choose to put in there, by what we read, watch and where we choose to go, but many times weeds ,the spirits of discontent, and depression, an hopelessness sometimes finds a way in. We can take control of our thinking by standing against the enemy of our souls by taking every thought captive 2Cor.10:5. We do not have to entertain these thoughts if we do not want to, who really wants these kinds of thoughts anyway, they can wreck havoc in our lives, although like a few weeds in our gardens, if not pulled out before long these thoughts can go to seed, and then all we have are weeds in our gardens! The best remedy for a beautifully tended garden and mind is to start taking control and pulling the dang weeds of despair, and heaviness, and doubts, etc. as they come up!!!

If we are tormented by certain negative thoughts that keep playing over and over in our minds , please know that this is not of God, and He is not giving you that revelation for your life!!!!It is the enemy of your souls, using the only weapon he's got to take control of your mind!!!

One of the best tactics of our enemy is to try to steal the Word of God from you, how does he do that? By getting us to question God's Word just as he did in the Garden of Eden. When these questioning doubts sprang up , know that you are being set up.........if it does not ring true from the perspective of the Bible then you can trust that it is not true.

We are told to in Philippians 2:5 (Amplified Bible)
"5Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:]"

Every 'sin' begins from a thought, in Mark 7:21,22
Amplified Bible (AMP)
"21For from within, [that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery"

Our God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, when we fill our minds with the word about the WORD, we will not leave room for the enemy of our souls to come in and make himself at home in our minds.

Think on things that are pure, good, loving, positive, do not dwell on the negative , to habitually dwell on the negative and the untrue, we give place and honor to the enemy! We do not have to go with the crowd, we can rise above all the negativity and false hood, in Ephesians 4:17
TNIV it tells us " So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. "

The most powerful weapon of all time is not the bomb! it is the word of the Living God, and we as faithful believers in our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah has given US you and I the authority over the Adversary!

Learn the word, memorize the scripture promises that speak of the area you have need of help in. The Word of God is extremely powerful and knowing it makes your prayers more effective. Listen to what the Lord says: "So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11) God honors his word. He wants us to remind him of his promises and call on him to perform what he has declared.

In order to pray the Word you have to know what's in there so you'll need to be reading the Bible and meditating on His word every day. And more than just read it, you need to slow down and really think about what you are reading,contemplate it, chew on it over and over until it fills your soul with gladness and ask the Lord to bring it alive for you. As you learn more of it you can begin praying it.I have found that once I have read the word and meditated on it, that later on down the road of life, the Holy Spirit is able to bring the word back up into my remembrance when I have a need for its promise in my life! There is no circumstance you will ever be in where the Word of God will not have something to say and to pray for you. Begin today to pray God's Word and see your prayer life flourish like a perennial flower garden that grows lusher year by year.

Jesus our Messiah paid the complete price for your freedom and for your victory over sin and for restoration of fellowship with your heavenly Father. But you have to appropriate or assign everything he did for you. Throughout your life Satan will be fighting tooth and nail to prevent you from taking possession of your spiritual inheritance. Don't worry; you win. It's a lifelong battle but don't be discouraged by that; be excited and be prepared.God wants us to win every single skirmish and he has provided all the equipment we need to do so.

Hey no one wants to live in a continual battle, we all hate to be at war all the time, but you know, that is just the way it is, this life is a battle ground, like it or not, and the war wages in our minds 24/7 , we may not like it, but we must accept it because even if you don't want to do battle, Satan does, we are forced into this conflict and we must contend for the faith.Can you accept that this battle is inevitable and lifelong? Then if you have been whining and complaining and having a pity party over the hard places in your life, stop right now and do something constructive instead. By the way, I confess I can't even count the number of times I've done those things; that's why I can tell you plainly it is a waste of time as far as strategy for winning any battle you are in. So folks we are in battle, so lets get the right weapons and strategy to win the battle and this blasted war!

Prayer is Your Assault Weapon in Spiritual Warfare so lets put on the full armor of God."be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." (vs. 10) Nothing can correct your battle attitude better than remembering this critical truth. You are to fight in God's strength and power, not your own. Your weakness is actually to your advantage. Elsewhere in scripture God says; "My strength is made perfect in weakness." (I Corinthians 12:9) Many people unnecessarily give up because they see that the attack is too much for them. Come to the conclusion sooner rather than later that it is too much for you so that God's strength can take over.

In spiritual battle you must operate with both a good defense AND a good offense. Ephesians 6 . First, truth will be your belt. It's what holds you up so let the truth of God encircle everything in your life.
Next is the breastplate of righteousness. It covers your heart which should be clean from any sin. If you have received Jesus into your heart you have his righteousness to rely on. Just make sure all sin is confessed and dealt with before entering into spiritual warfare. On your feet you will wear shoes of peace so that everywhere you walk you can spread the good news of God's peace and of his kingdom. Satan's kingdom is chaotic, warlike, treacherous and menacing and the peace you carry will be a great contrast, easy for people to see and feel.
Now pick up in your hand the shield of faith; be ready to turn it in any direction to "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Some of those fiery darts are doubts, unbelief, discouragement, and hopelessness. With your shield of faith you can prevent them from reaching the innermost parts of your soul. Next is the helmet of salvation. A helmet is covering for your head where all the mind games are going on. Which is our major battle ground, so remember it well, You are in Christ, and it is His Righteousness that has cleansed you of all wrong doing, so when your mind is covered in salvation winning the battle is all but inevitable.
Much of this armor is protecting you from assault but the last item is your offensive weapon: Here is your power weapon! it is the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Remember that Jesus used the word of God to counter the temptations of Satan before he started his public ministry. He kept saying to Satan; "It is written…" and then resisted the devil's invitation to sin with scripture. (See Matthew Chapter 4) The better you know the word of God the better equipped you are to wield it like a sword. Therefore you should be reading and studying scripture every day. When Satan comes with a lie, you counter with the truth.
Do not be surprised or shaken by the intensity of the battle that will present itself at times in your life. You and I were destined to be great warriors in God's kingdom. Every war has an objective; each side is fighting over something. The greater the value of the prize to each side; the harder they fight. In spiritual warfare, we are battling over eternal things. The devil is trying desperately to hold on to every inch of ground, both in your life and on the earth. It is our job as God's warriors to make him give up everything he is holding illegally and establish the kingdom of God everywhere in our life and all over the earth. Join the battle. Pray smart. Don't pray naked.