Winning the Battle in My Mind

“I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what.” Psalm 119:112 (CEV)

The reason why most people are ineffective in life is that they’ve never learned how to fight the battle in their mind.

If I want to learn to manage my mind, I have to be free from destructive thoughts. That's not easy. God's Word says I have three enemies working against me to keep me from making lasting changes in life.

The first enemy is my old nature.
Paul says in Romans 7:23, “There is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me” (NLT).

I find myself doing things I don’t really want to do. That’s the battle in my mind between my old, sinful nature and my good intentions.

The second enemy is Satan.
Satan cannot force me to do anything, but he can make suggestions, and those suggestions are incredibly powerful. He can use other people, the media, or even just suggest negative thoughts directly into my mind.

The third enemy is the world’s value system.
Does anything in our society encourage self-discipline? Not much. Advertisements tell us, “You deserve a break today” and “Have it your way.”

The Bible says in 1 John 2:16, “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world” (NIV).

With enemies like that, no wonder we struggle with temptation, discouragement, despair, and failure!

So how do I fight and win this battle? Look at what 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says: “Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV).

I have a choice when it comes to what I think about—and my mind has to listen to me! Perhaps adopt this verse as a life motto: “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what” (Psalm 119:112 CEV).

In summary:

Psalm 119:112, “I have made up my mind to obey your laws forever, no matter what”, declares a firm commitment to follow God's ways, and this kind of resolve is essential because the greatest battles I face often happen in my mind. To live effectively and experience lasting change, I must overcome three powerful enemies: my old sinful nature, which constantly pulls me back into bad habits; Satan, who fills my mind with tempting and destructive suggestions; and the world’s value system, which promotes self-indulgence and discourages self-discipline. Winning this mental and spiritual battle requires intentionally choosing what I think about and using the spiritual weapons God gives me—truth, prayer, and obedience—to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. True transformation begins with deciding, like the psalmist, to obey God's Word no matter what.