Battle of the mind.

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Hallz

Hallz

New member
#1
Feb 1, 2021
11
22
3
#1
I was reading some interesting articles on the mind. From a Christian man. It was encouraging to say the least. I don't know about you but I personally struggle with guilt and bad thoughts on a daily basis. It has always controlled how much peace I obtain in my life. But I didn't realize how much our thoughts have power over us. A single lie we believe can birth sin in our lives. If the enemy can just make us agree with that one single thought he put in our mind. Then he has his foot in the door to Minipulate and tempt us further. Now this is only my thoughts. But I can even relate it to my own mind. Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why? I am beginning to believe I am believing a lie. The enemy tells me that "oh wow want Believe you would think or do that. When in reality all sin is sin in God's eyes. But where there is repentance there is forgiveness. But I think if we really begin to understand our thoughts and how they attack and condemn us. We can start understanding how the enemy works to set us up for further failure. (Yup can't sleep. You get stuck in my head a little bit.)
 
Bingo

Bingo

Well-known member
#3
Feb 9, 2019
9,219
4,755
113
#3
"Let us be reminded, it is easy to get caught up in too many 'worldly' things, often causing
the mind to become confused and unmanageable in constructive thinking. When something
of value is learned from 'mistakes', hopefully we learn of a better quality of living our life, and
to adjust our attitude and behavior accordingly. I learned long ago, too often my selfish ways
often caused bad decisions. Thank God, since I turned my life over to God's care, and strive to
live by God's 'principles' of life, my life has become much more orderly and manageable. It is
important to focus on what is really important in our life, such as family and a peace and well being."

- Copy - Copy - Copy (11) - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Copy - Cop...jpg :)
 
J

jb

Senior Member
#4
Feb 27, 2010
4,940
591
113
#4
Hallz said:
I was reading some interesting articles on the mind. From a Christian man. It was encouraging to say the least. I don't know about you but I personally struggle with guilt and bad thoughts on a daily basis. It has always controlled how much peace I obtain in my life. But I didn't realize how much our thoughts have power over us. A single lie we believe can birth sin in our lives. If the enemy can just make us agree with that one single thought he put in our mind. Then he has his foot in the door to Minipulate and tempt us further. Now this is only my thoughts. But I can even relate it to my own mind. Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why? I am beginning to believe I am believing a lie. The enemy tells me that "oh wow want Believe you would think or do that. When in reality all sin is sin in God's eyes. But where there is repentance there is forgiveness. But I think if we really begin to understand our thoughts and how they attack and condemn us. We can start understanding how the enemy works to set us up for further failure. (Yup can't sleep. You get stuck in my head a little bit.)
Click to expand...
You should find This short study helpful...
 
B

Blackpowderduelist

Guest
#5
#5
Welcome aboard, sadly you won't find much help here. You will only find a bunch of arguement.
Yes, your mind is the battle ground, and there is many things that we can do to fortify our minds.
One major thing you can do is read and pray the psalms.
Another is you can look to the sacraments. Yes your baptism, and the supper, and confession and absolution.
So let's look at the words of Jesus.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 16:16 ESV
It's clear you believe and are indeed baptized so you will as Jesus says here be saved. Which means also sins forgiven.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
John 6:53‭-‬58 ESV

Here you have another promise from Jesus about partaking in his supper, that when you take his body and blood into you body, in the form of the bread and wine, that you will live forever, that you abide in him and he in you, which also means sins are forgiven.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
John 20:22‭-‬23 ESV

Here you have Jesus turning over the earthly ministry to his disciples, and giving them the ability to in his name pronounce forgiveness of sin.

I hope this helps.
Trying to understand all the tactics and wiles of the devil is an exercise in futility, what you need is the tools God gave us to combat those attacks.
God gave us real tools in the real world.
 
Hallz

Hallz

New member
#7
Feb 1, 2021
11
22
3
#7
Bingo said:
"Let us be reminded, it is easy to get caught up in too many 'worldly' things, often causing
the mind to become confused and unmanageable in constructive thinking. When something
of value is learned from 'mistakes', hopefully we learn of a better quality of living our life, and
to adjust our attitude and behavior accordingly. I learned long ago, too often my selfish ways
often caused bad decisions. Thank God, since I turned my life over to God's care, and strive to
live by God's 'principles' of life, my life has become much more orderly and manageable. It is
important to focus on what is really important in our life, such as family and a peace and well being."

View attachment 225200 :)
Click to expand...
I love that. Thank you for sharing.
 
Hallz

Hallz

New member
#8
Feb 1, 2021
11
22
3
#8
Blackpowderduelist said:
Welcome aboard, sadly you won't find much help here. You will only find a bunch of arguement.
Yes, your mind is the battle ground, and there is many things that we can do to fortify our minds.
One major thing you can do is read and pray the psalms.
Another is you can look to the sacraments. Yes your baptism, and the supper, and confession and absolution.
So let's look at the words of Jesus.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Mark 16:16 ESV
It's clear you believe and are indeed baptized so you will as Jesus says here be saved. Which means also sins forgiven.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
John 6:53‭-‬58 ESV

Here you have another promise from Jesus about partaking in his supper, that when you take his body and blood into you body, in the form of the bread and wine, that you will live forever, that you abide in him and he in you, which also means sins are forgiven.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”
John 20:22‭-‬23 ESV

Here you have Jesus turning over the earthly ministry to his disciples, and giving them the ability to in his name pronounce forgiveness of sin.

I hope this helps.
Trying to understand all the tactics and wiles of the devil is an exercise in futility, what you need is the tools God gave us to combat those attacks.
God gave us real tools in the real world.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I appreciate your comment.
 
B

Blackpowderduelist

Guest
#9
#9
Hallz said:
Thank you. I appreciate your comment.
Click to expand...
If you ever want to talk, feel free to ask anything.
I remember when I felt so condemned and doubted if I were saved, and struggled so much with sin.
 
K

KingdomBrat

Banned
#10
Oct 19, 2020
723
161
43
#10
Hallz said:
I was reading some interesting articles on the mind. From a Christian man. It was encouraging to say the least. I don't know about you but I personally struggle with guilt and bad thoughts on a daily basis. It has always controlled how much peace I obtain in my life. But I didn't realize how much our thoughts have power over us. A single lie we believe can birth sin in our lives. If the enemy can just make us agree with that one single thought he put in our mind. Then he has his foot in the door to Minipulate and tempt us further. Now this is only my thoughts. But I can even relate it to my own mind. Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why? I am beginning to believe I am believing a lie. The enemy tells me that "oh wow want Believe you would think or do that. When in reality all sin is sin in God's eyes. But where there is repentance there is forgiveness. But I think if we really begin to understand our thoughts and how they attack and condemn us. We can start understanding how the enemy works to set us up for further failure. (Yup can't sleep. You get stuck in my head a little bit.)
Click to expand...


It's true what you read, listen to, watch will fill your mind. But controlling the mind is impossible. Thoughts just pop in and out and if we try to revert our thoughts they can become even more sinful. What we can [control] is our tongue. Meaning, we can have a billion thoughts good, bad, evil, very sinful, just randomly popping in and out and our job is to ignore them.
 
Dino246

Dino246

Senior Member
#11
Jun 30, 2015
25,481
13,785
113
#11
Hallz said:
... Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why? ... When in reality all sin is sin in God's eyes. But where there is repentance there is forgiveness.
Click to expand...
Welcome to CC, Hallz...

I’d like to address just this one thing you mentioned.

God knows about all your sin, but He also knows what is best for you. You would be overwhelmed if He dealt with all your sinful patterns in one session. He is working on one thing right now. When that’s sorted, He’ll work on the next thing. Don’t beat yourself up just because only one thing bothers you at a time. Trust God to sort it all according to His timetable. :)
 
K

KingdomBrat

Banned
#12
Oct 19, 2020
723
161
43
#12
Hallz said:
Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why?
Click to expand...


I know these sins. They are emphasis sins people make seem are worse than other sins. From parents, friends, churches, spouses, we can pick up unnecessary baggage and eventually apply it to ourselves. And when it comes to why we choose 1 sin over the others, it's because we enjoy that 1 sin. You don't do things habitually that bring no benefit.
 
CS1

CS1

Well-known member
#13
May 23, 2012
13,059
4,346
113
#13
Hallz said:
I was reading some interesting articles on the mind. From a Christian man. It was encouraging to say the least. I don't know about you but I personally struggle with guilt and bad thoughts on a daily basis. It has always controlled how much peace I obtain in my life. But I didn't realize how much our thoughts have power over us. A single lie we believe can birth sin in our lives. If the enemy can just make us agree with that one single thought he put in our mind. Then he has his foot in the door to Minipulate and tempt us further. Now this is only my thoughts. But I can even relate it to my own mind. Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why? I am beginning to believe I am believing a lie. The enemy tells me that "oh wow want Believe you would think or do that. When in reality all sin is sin in God's eyes. But where there is repentance there is forgiveness. But I think if we really begin to understand our thoughts and how they attack and condemn us. We can start understanding how the enemy works to set us up for further failure. (Yup can't sleep. You get stuck in my head a little bit.)
Click to expand...
yes, very good point. For the Christian, the mind must be renewed by the word of God. We are to have the mind of Christ. many suffer attacks of the mind and always will because the brain is made of flesh. We must rethink in the light of Gods word.

There is now NO condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. We are to submit to God, then we can resist the devil and he will flee from us.
 
K

KingdomBrat

Banned
#14
Oct 19, 2020
723
161
43
#14
We all sin daily. It's impossible to go 24 hours without committing a sin or having a bad thought towards others. I realize I am a [sinner]. It's how my consciousness understands the difference between why I sin and don't beat myself up because what the Blood of Christ purpose means to my sins. He knows i am going sin many times today. And His Blood that covers me will purify each sin because in "reality" I don't want to sin (in my [Saved] walk in God), but my true nature desires to sin. His Blood protects me from my own natural desires.
 
S

Scribe

Guest
#15
#15
Self Loathing is a sign of coming into the light.

We all will go through a period of self loathing when we see Christ in his Holiness.

We must not focus on it, since our righteousness is found in Christ. Being shocked at our sins is a healthy reaction. It means your conscience and your sensitivity to being pleasing to God is being worked on by the Holy Spirit so that you take sin serious as you should.

Too many today have taught themselves to ignore the pleadings of their conscience to flee from youthful lusts and have taught themselves that they are still saved so why make such a big deal about their sins and feel so bad about them.

There is a journey of self loathing that we go through as we learn to deny ourselves and cease from sin and resist temptation. There is no righteousness earned by the self loathing but there is no condemnation in it either.
 
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#16
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#16
Hallz said:
I was reading some interesting articles on the mind. From a Christian man. It was encouraging to say the least. I don't know about you but I personally struggle with guilt and bad thoughts on a daily basis. It has always controlled how much peace I obtain in my life. But I didn't realize how much our thoughts have power over us. A single lie we believe can birth sin in our lives. If the enemy can just make us agree with that one single thought he put in our mind. Then he has his foot in the door to Minipulate and tempt us further. Now this is only my thoughts. But I can even relate it to my own mind. Like I sin as a Christian and I make mistakes but why would I beat myself over one sin and not all of them.?? Why only the one i feel most guilt for??? Why? I am beginning to believe I am believing a lie. The enemy tells me that "oh wow want Believe you would think or do that. When in reality all sin is sin in God's eyes. But where there is repentance there is forgiveness. But I think if we really begin to understand our thoughts and how they attack and condemn us. We can start understanding how the enemy works to set us up for further failure. (Yup can't sleep. You get stuck in my head a little bit.)
Click to expand...
interesting
Have you read Battlefield of the Mind?
well anyway God renews our mind when we focus on Him, and then those bad thoughts dont get a look in. Reading the Bible everyday helps, just get into the habit of it, like a devotional.

The other thing is to bring every thought captive to Christ. Its like having a goalie in your mind catching all those bad thoughts and prevent them from entering and lodging in your brain. He only lets good thoughts in, to keep... those that are obedient to Him.

after doing that regularly, our sleep is sweet. I know cos I used to struggle with way too many thoughts. Enemy had a field day with me but now its like enemy your days are over! . I belong to Jesus now.
 
Rosemaryx

Rosemaryx

Senior Member
#19
May 3, 2017
3,757
4,120
113
63
#19
Dino246 said:
Welcome to CC, Hallz...

I’d like to address just this one thing you mentioned.

God knows about all your sin, but He also knows what is best for you. You would be overwhelmed if He dealt with all your sinful patterns in one session. He is working on one thing right now. When that’s sorted, He’ll work on the next thing. Don’t beat yourself up just because only one thing bothers you at a time. Trust God to sort it all according to His timetable. :)
Click to expand...
This is sooooo encouraging @Dino246 ...
I needed to hear this today...
...xox...
 
p_rehbein

p_rehbein

Senior Member
#20
Sep 4, 2013
30,703
6,889
113
#20
Hallz said:
But where there is repentance there is forgiveness. But I think if we really begin to understand our thoughts and how they attack and condemn us. We can start understanding how the enemy works to set us up for further failure. (Yup can't sleep. You get stuck in my head a little bit.)
Click to expand...
Yes. Jesus taught us to pray........and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us......every time we pray.

the deceiver ALWAYS reminds us of what we were/did! that is his favorite tool to attack us with, and it works far more often than it EVER should IMO. We NEED to accept that we are "saved by grace through faith...." and know that the blood of Jesus covers ALL sins!

We are no longer sinners living apart from God, we are His children, yet we are still in our earthly bodies which are imperfect, so we will be imperfect until the "imperfect puts on perfection"

Never let the deceiver convince you that you are not a child of God, and an heir to the Promise.
 
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