Battlefield of the Mind (8 page)

[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

JAMES 1:5-8

We have discovered that wondering and confusion are relatives. Wondering, rather than being definite in thought, can and does cause doubt and confusion.

James 1:5-8 are excellent Scriptures that help us understand how to overcome wondering, doubt and confusion and to receive what we need from God. To me, the "man of two minds" (the King James Version calls him "a double-minded man") is the picture of confusion as he constantly goes back and forth, back and forth, never deciding on anything. As soon as he thinks he has made a decision, here comes wondering, doubt and confusion to get him operating once again in two minds. He is uncertain about everything.

I lived much of my life like that, not realizing that the devil had declared war against me and that my mind was the battlefield. I was totally confused about everything, and didn't understand why.

REASONING LEADS TO CONFUSION

...O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves?.... Matthew 16:8 KJV

Thus far, we have talked about wondering and we will talk more about doubt in the next chapter. Right now I would like to elaborate a little more on confusion.

A large percentage of God's people are admittedly confused. Why? As we have seen, one reason is wondering. Another is reasoning. The dictionary partially defines the word
reason
in the noun form as an

"underlying fact or motive that provides logical sense for a premise or occurrence" and in the verb form as "to use the faculty of reason: think logically."1

A simple way to say it is, reasoning occurs when a person tries to figure out the "why" behind something. Reasoning causes the mind to revolve around and around a situation, issue or event attempting to understand all its intricate component parts. We are reasoning when we dissect a statement or teaching to see if it is logical, and disregard it if it is not.

Satan frequently steals the will of God from us due to reasoning. The Lord may direct us to do a certain thing, but if it does not make sense—if it is not logical—we may be tempted to disregard it. What God leads a person to do does not always make logical sense to his mind. His spirit may affirm it and His mind reject it, especially if it would be out of the ordinary or unpleasant or if it would require personal sacrifice or discomfort.

DON'T REASON IN THE MIND, JUST OBEY IN THE SPIRIT

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14 KJV

Here is a practical, personal illustration that I hope will help bring more understanding on this issue of reasoning in the mind versus obedience in the spirit.

One morning as I was getting dressed to minister in a weekly meeting that I conducted near my hometown, I started thinking about the woman who ran our ministry of helps there and how faithful she had been. A desire rose up in my heart to do something to bless her in some way.

"Father, Ruth Ann has been such a blessing to us all these years," I prayed, "what can I do to bless her?"

Immediately, my eyes fell on a new red dress that was hanging in my closet, and I knew in my heart the Lord was prompting me to give that dress to Ruth Ann. Although I'd bought it three months earlier, I had never worn it. As a matter of fact, it was still hanging under the plastic bag I'd brought it home in. I really liked it, but every time I thought about wearing it, for some reason I just had no desire to put it on.

Remember, I said that when my eyes fell on the red dress, I
knew
I should give it to Ruth Ann. However, I really did not
want
to give it up, so I immediately began to reason in my mind that God could not be telling me to give her the red dress because it was brand new, never worn, rather expensive—and I had even purchased red and silver earrings to match it!

Had I kept my carnal mind out of the situation and continued to be sensitive to God in my spirit, everything would have gone nicely, but we humans have an ability to deceive ourselves through reasoning when we really don't want to do what God is saying. Within a couple of minutes I had forgotten the whole thing and had gone on about my business. The bottom line was that I did not want to give the dress away because it was new and I liked it. My mind reasoned that the desire I felt could not be God, but that the devil was trying to take from me something I enjoyed.

Some weeks later I was getting ready for another meeting at the same location, just as before, when once again Ruth Ann's name came up in my heart. I began to pray for her. I repeated the whole scene again, saying,

"Father, Ruth Ann has been such a blessing to us, what can I do to bless her?" Immediately, I saw the red dress again and I got a sinking feeling in my flesh because I now remembered the other incident (which I had quickly and totally forgotten).

This time there was no squirming out of it; either I had to face the fact that God was showing me what to do and do it, or I simply had to say, "I know what You are showing me, Lord, but I am just not going to do it." I love the Lord too much to willfully, knowingly disobey Him, so I began to talk to Him about the red dress.

Within minutes I realized that on the previous occasion I had reasoned my way right out of the will of God, and it had taken only a moment to do it. I had thought that I couldn't be hearing from the Lord because the dress was new. Yet now I realized that the Bible says nothing about giving away only old things! It would be more of a sacrifice for me to give the dress away because it was new, but it would also be more of a blessing to Ruth Ann.

As I opened up my heart to God, He began to show me that I had purchased the dress for Ruth Ann to begin with; that was the reason I could never bring myself to wear it. The Lord had intended to use me as His agent to bless her all the time. But I'd had my own idea about the dress and, until I was willing to lay down my idea, I could not be led by the Spirit.

This particular incident taught me a lot. The realization of how easily we can be led by our heads and allow reasoning to keep us out of God's will provoked in me a "reverential" fear of reasoning.

Remember, according to 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural man does not understand the spiritual man. My carnal mind (my natural man) did not understand giving away a new dress I had never worn, but my spirit (my spiritual man) understood it well.

I hope this example will bring more understanding to you in this area and help you walk in the will of God more than ever before.

(By the way, I know you're probably wondering if I ever gave Ruth Ann the red dress. Yes, I did, and now she works in our office full time and still wears the red dress to work occasionally.)

BE A DOER OF THE WORD!

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely
listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning
contrary to the Truth]. James 1:22

Any time we see what the Word says and refuse to do it, reasoning has somehow gotten involved and deceived us into believing something other than the truth. We cannot spend excessive time trying to understand (mentally) everything the Word says. If we bear witness in the spirit, we can move ahead and do it.

I have found out that God wants me to obey Him, whether or not I feel like it, want to or think it is a good idea.

When God speaks, through His Word or in our inner man, we are not to reason, debate or ask ourselves if what He has said is logical.

When God speaks, we are to mobilize - not rationalize.

TRUST GOD. NOT HUMAN REASON

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart
and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. Proverbs 3:5

In other words, do not rely on reasoning. Reasoning opens the door for deception and brings much confusion.

I once asked the Lord why so many people are confused and He said to me, "Tell them to stop trying to figure everything out, and they will stop being confused." I have found it to be absolutely true. Reasoning and confusion go together.

You and I can ponder a thing in our heart, we can hold it before the Lord and see if He desires to give us understanding, but the minute we start feeling confused, we have gone too far.

Reasoning is dangerous for many reasons, but one of them is this: we can reason and figure something out that seems to make sense to us. But what we have reasoned to be correct may still be incorrect.

The human mind likes logic and order and reason. It likes to deal with what it understands. Therefore, we have a tendency to put things into neat little bins in the compartments of our mind, thinking, "This must be the way it is because it fits so nicely here." We can find something our minds are comfortable with and still be totally wrong.

The Apostle Paul said in Romans 9:1, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying; my conscience [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me. Paul knew he was doing the right thing, not because his reasoning said it was right, but because it bore witness in his spirit.

As we have seen, the mind does, at times, aid the spirit. The mind and the spirit do work together, but the spirit is the more noble organ and should always be honored above the mind.

If we know in our spirit that a thing is wrong, we should not allow reasoning to talk us into doing it. Also, if we know something is right, we must not allow reasoning to talk us out of doing it.

God gives us understanding on many issues, but we do not have to understand everything to walk with the Lord and in obedience to His will. There are times when God leaves huge question marks as tools in our lives to stretch our faith. Unanswered questions crucify the flesh life.

It is difficult for human beings to give up reasoning and simply trust God, but once the process is accomplished, the mind enters into a place of rest.

Reasoning is one of the "busy activities" in which the mind engages that prevents discernment and revelation knowledge. There is a big difference in head knowledge and revelation knowledge.

I don't know about you, but I want God to reveal things to me in such a way that I
know
in my spirit that what has been revealed to my mind is correct. I don't want to reason, to figure and to be logical, rotating my mind around and around an issue until I am worn out and confused. I want to experience the peace of mind and heart that comes from trusting in God, not in my own human insight and understanding.

You and I must grow to the place where we are satisfied to know the One Who knows, even if we ourselves do not know.

RESOLVE TO KNOW NOTHING BUT CHRIST

As for myself, brethren, when I came to you, I did not come
proclaiming to you the testimony and evidence or mystery and secret
of God [concerning what He has done through Christ for the salvation
of men] in lofty words of eloquence or human philosophy and
wisdom;

For I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to
make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of
nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him
crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:1,2

This was Paul's approach to knowledge and reasoning, and I have come to understand and appreciate it. It took a long time, but I finally realized that in many instances, the less I know the happier I am.

Sometimes we find out so much it makes us quite miserable.

I was always a very curious, inquisitive person. I had to have everything figured out in order to be satisfied. God began to show me that my constant reasoning was the basis of my confusion and that it was preventing me from receiving what He wanted to give me. He said, "Joyce, you must lay aside carnal reasoning if you ever expect to have discernment."

I realize now that I felt more secure if I had things figured out. I did not want any loose ends in my life. I wanted to be in control—and when I did not understand things, I felt out of control—frightened. But I was lacking something. I had no peace of mind and was physically worn out from reasoning.

This type of continual wrong mental activity will even make your physical body tired. It can leave you exhausted!

God required me to give it up, and I strongly suggest the same thing for anyone who is addicted to reasoning. Yes, I said addicted to reasoning. We can become addicted to wrong mental activity just as someone else can get addicted to drugs or alcohol or nicotine. I was
addicted
to reasoning and when I gave it up I had withdrawal symptoms. I felt lost and frightened because I did not know what was going on. I even felt bored.

I had spent so much of my mental time reasoning that when I gave it up, I had to become accustomed to my mind being so peaceful. For a while it seemed boring, but now I love it. While I used to run my mind all the time on everything, now I can't tolerate the pain and labor of reasoning.

Reasoning is not the normal condition in which God wants our mind to reside.

Be aware that when the mind is filled with reasoning, it is not normal.

At least not for the Christian who intends to be victorious—the believer who intends to win the war that is fought on the battlefield of the mind.

Chapter 11

A Doubtful and Unbelieving Mind

...O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

MATTHEW 14:31

And He marveled because of their unbelief...

MARK 6:6

We usually talk about doubt and unbelief together as if they are one and the same. Actually although they can be connected, the two are very different things.