now the reason why
most people
are ineffective in life
and actually fail at life
and actually don't enjoy life
is because they've never learned how to
fight the battle of the mind
the power of your mind the power of your
thoughts has tremendous ability to shape
your life for good or for bad
and if you accept the thought if growing
up somebody said to you you're worthless
you're no good you don't matter you're
ugly you're uncoordinated if you
accepted that fact whether it was right
or wrong
it shaped your life
and it doesn't even have to be true if
you believe it it's going to shape your
life
and a lot of you were taught things as a
kid about you that just weren't true
and years later you're still acting on
false information
be transformed by changing the way you
think because my thoughts control my
life do not be conformed to the pattern
of this world
but let god transform you
into a new person
by changing the way you think
god is far more interested in changing
your mind than in changing your
circumstances
we want god to change our circumstances
we want him to take away all the
problems all the pain all the sorrow all
the suffering all the sickness all the
sadness
and god says yeah yeah i know that's
important but really more important than
that is what's happening in you
and i'm far more interested in changing
your mind before we change your
circumstance
because nothing happens in your life
until you get the renewing of your mind
no transformation takes place no change
takes place in your mind
or in your life
until your thoughts begin to change
what i've discovered is that the mind
is a battlefield
and most of life's battles are won or
lost in your minds
the more i've studied scripture and the
more i've even looked at what
neuroscience would say
most of life's battles are won or lost
in the minds
that the life we have so often is a
reflection of the thoughts that we think
what we think determines who we become
in other words if you tend to think i
can't do something i'll never be able to
do something i don't have what it takes
if you think you can't
you probably won't if you think you can
by the grace of god you probably will
if you dwell on your problems the world
is bad and it's getting worse your
problems are going to overwhelm you but
instead if you look for some
solutions if you believe you can have
faith you'll find some solutions and
you'll see faith arise
you might think over and over again i
i'm not good enough
or
my past is too bad for god to use me or
i can't trust the people around me or
i'm always going to battle with my
weight or i'm never going to be good
with money or i can never be close to
god
if you believe a lie for long enough you
start to be impacted as if that lie were
true you get stuck in a rut
what we think about matters more than
you can imagine
what comes into your mind comes out in
your life no matter what you do
or what you have or who you know or what
you buy or where you live or where you
travel you cannot have a positive life
when you have a negative mind why
because your life is always moving in
the direction of your your strongest
thoughts
the question i want you to ask yourself
is this
if your life is always moving in the
direction of your strongest thoughts
are you excited about the direction your
thoughts are taking you
through christ you can
move into a place of victory in your
life and the way it's going to happen is
when you learn how to win
the battle of your mind
so we're not talking about victory and
some accomplishment or victory and a
sporting endeavor we're talking about
victory in life we're talking about
victory over our thoughts victory in our
attitudes victory in our emotions we're
talking about mental stability and
health and moving into purpose and
living the life that god has designed us
to live
and god wants you to know if you don't
get anything else out of this message
tonight that you can live in victory
because he already is in a story of
victory and he's inviting you
into that story it doesn't matter what
your circumstances are victory is not
circumstantial
it doesn't matter what the situation is
around you doesn't matter about your
family your past your genetics what's
been done to you what's been spoken to
you what you've done what you haven't
done
victory isn't about what's happening
around you victory is about the state of
your
mind and the enemy knows this and so his
attack his main focus in your life right
this moment is to attack your thought
life
and if he can win the battle of your
mind then he has won the battle of
your life
victory tonight
can be yours starting
right now you don't need circumstances
to change
you don't need the situation to improve
you can
step into victory tonight
by changing
the way
that you think
what thought right now
is in your mind planted there
by the serpent
who is craftier than
all the creatures
is it a thought that says i can't
and already the enemy has planted a seed
of doubt in your mind if you have a
spirit of negativity who planted that
there did he plant a critical spirit in
your mind has he planted a thought in
your mind that says that you are
defeated that you're not worth much that
no one loves you that you're all you've
got that it's up to you that no one
believes in you
that you'll always be
this way
as he planted a thought in your mind
that's occupying your mind right now
incubating in your mind right now that
says you will feel better if you sin
as he planted a thought in your mind
that says what if this whole god thing
is a hoax
what if you planted a seed in your mind
that said you're entitled to getting
what you want
you deserve to be bitter
you deserve to be greedy you deserve to
be selfish you deserve to be angry
thought maybe that says you are your
failure
you are your
addiction
or maybe on the flip side
you planted a thought in your mind that
said you deserve
all your success
it's all yours
or maybe you planted a thought in your
mind that just said you're not
enough
you see the enemy knows
that the battle isn't going to be
external it's going to be internal
and he knows if he can lodge a thought
in your thinking that settles in your
heart and it goes unchecked that it
ultimately will take root and as the
proverb writer said as a man thinks in
his heart so is he ultimately if you
harbor that thought
and you let it take up residence in your
heart
in time maybe in a day could be a week
could be a month he doesn't mind waiting
you out a lifetime
you will in time act on that thought
and maybe now you're saying well it's
just a thought it just went through my
mind it's just a scenario that i'm
playing out in my mind i'm telling you
all the thoughts that we let stay around
in our minds ultimately become reflected
in our behavior
because as a man thinks in his heart
so
he is
what has the enemy
planted
in your mind
it's probably circling around five words
fear
worry
temptation
temptation to do something
stupid say something stupid
think something stupid
but most of the people in the building
tonight probably have a seed been
planted somewhere in your mind to do
something dumb
say something dung think something dumb
temptation fear worry temptation
lack of worth or value is the fourth
thing that's planted in so many hearts
in this room right now
i don't matter i don't measure up i'm
not good enough i'm not lovely enough
god would never love me
and fifth that seed of uncertainty
i think those five seeds probably covers
everybody in the building uncertainty i
don't know what to do i'm paralyzed i
can't make a decision i'm not sure i'm
gonna do the right thing i don't know
what the plan is i don't know if there's
going to be a plan i'm just totally like
a ship out here without a sail just
floating along in the current and i have
all this uncertainty in my life i want
to tell you something your father
doesn't put uncertainty in your life
your father doesn't put that you're not
valuable in your life
your father doesn't tempt you the bible
says he can't be tempted with sin and he
doesn't tempt you with sin
your father does not want you to worry
and your father is trying to free you
from fear so if there is fear on your
battlefield to worry on your battlefield
temptation on your battlefield i'm not
good enough on your battlefield or
uncertainty on your battlefield guess
what the enemy has showed up and planted
a seed on the battlefield of your mind
and it may have been sitting there a day
a week a month or for some of you have
been sitting there as long as you can
remember
and you can see
where you want to be
you just don't know
if you can get there if you're thinking
that
the deceiver
is on the battlefield of your mind
and he wants to destroy you
and he'll wait you out by planting seeds
and most people the average christian
does not know what to do with the seed
that the enemy plants in their mind so
we read
in first corinthians 15
57 but thanks be to god
he gives us
the victory
through our lord jesus christ do you
understand
that you have the capacity in christ
to win the battle of your mind
jesus
storms the gates of hell
breaks through the barriers and does
something amazing for you and me
he puts a flag in the ground
called victory
he's not in a process
of putting a flag in the ground
he's already put the flag in the ground
he's not on his way
to conquering sin and death
he's done
conquering sin and death
he didn't say on the cross i'm i'm
getting close to doing what i came to do
he said on the cross it is finished god
wants you to do something great
you better get ready to be tested
greatly
so that you can be trusted greatly
and in the the great testing
what happened
the enemy
comes with torpedoes
at the weakest moment
you want victory you're gonna have to
fight if you're not ready to fight you
are not going to win and if you don't
want to fight then you are going to lose
the battle of your mind and once you
lose the battle of your mind you are
done
but you can start winning the battle of
your mind
sitting in the chair right
now you don't even have to wait until
tomorrow morning
you can start winning the battle of your
mind sitting there right
now
change the narrative
change what you're thinking about
man i'm stuck in this thing i'm stuck in
this deal i'm stuck in this fear i'm
stuck in this worry i'm stuck in this
temptation i'm stuck in these feelings
about how i'm not good enough i'm stuck
in all this uncertainty in cloud and and
fogginess in my life well then change
what you're thinking about
and if i can just be so bold tonight
nobody else is going to do it for you
nobody else is going to come into your
life and say man let me get up in your
thought life and take captive all the
things that are coming against you
in your mind this is the time for you to
step up and go christ already
established a beach head i got to wake
up and i've got to clue into what's
going on and i've got to take
responsibility for my destiny in my
future i've got to take authority over
what goes on in my mind and in my heart
in christ i have been given the
opportunity to stand on a beachhead
called victory why am i living in defeat
and the only reason the only answer is
because
you're allowing yourself to live in
defeat
no it is not because of your mother it
is not because of your dad or your
stepdad or your grandparents or where
you came from or what you can do or
can't do or this condition or that
condition that is not why you're losing
the battle of your mind you are losing
the battle of your mind because you're
not willing to step up and say there is
a fight to be fought and i'm going to
fight it and i'm going to win the battle
of my mind because i have the power of
the finished work of jesus i am standing
on
victory
and i'm going to
move from that victory
and i'm gonna change the story
i am changing
the story
of the battle
of my mind