For every ten men in the church, ten are struggling to balance work and family, nine will have children who leave the church, seven will look at pornography, and four will get divorced. Only one has a biblical worldview...those are the statistics I read recently.

The war is on! There's a war going on right now for our souls. When we are born again, we experience a spiritual change instantly. According to Romans 10:9-10, anyone who confesses that Jesus is Lord of their life and believes that God raised Him from the dead will be saved. We are new creatures in Christ and we pass from death to life in that moment.

However, there are two areas of our lives that do not change immediately when we are born again. These two areas become battlegrounds for the remainder of our lives.

The first battle is waged in our minds—24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The second battle is in our flesh. Our bodies just naturally desire to fulfill the lusts of the flesh and to lust after the things of the world.

Romans 7 says:

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord...
(vv. 22-25)

Hallelujah—Jesus is our Deliverer! Paul goes on to tell us that God has given us a strategy in His Word to win this battle for the control of our souls and our flesh.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
(2 Cor. 10:4-5)

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection...
(1 Cor.  9:27)

The Key To Change
Ephesians 4:23-24 tells us we are to "...be renewed in the spirit of our mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

Colossians 3:9-10 says, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."

I heard Creflo Dollar give an illustration a few years ago. I can't improve upon it, so I'm borrowing it. Those of you who have had children know that when your little baby dirties his diaper, you have to change it.

But, you have to remove the old before putting on the new. What you do not want to do is to leave that old dirty diaper on, take a new one and put it on top of the dirty one. Why?

Because, eventually, the smell is going to seep through the new one too. You haven't taken care of the mess; you've only covered it over.

Likewise, as Christians, we can't take our old man with his stinky mess and just put the new man on top of it. We can't expect to live this life without eventually having the stench of the old man seeping through the new and overwhelming it. We must renew our minds.

Satan bombards our minds through every possible means: radio, television, magazines, newspapers, the Internet, billboards, signs, telephone, bumper stickers, past memories, etc. But, you decide what you will believe and exalt in your life.

As God's children, you and I are admonished to not be conformed to this world. We are not to think like the world thinks—we are not to live like the world lives. We are not to hold to the world's ideas!

There is a tremendous pull on those who choose to serve God. That means that even though we are Christians, we obviously have opportunities to not be Christ-like. And to not be Christ-like means we are conformed (have become adapted and similar) to this world.

Exalt the Word of God! As Christians, we must learn to cast down imaginations (all thoughts) that exalt themselves above or against the Word of God (2 Cor. 10:5).

Imaginations left unchecked will build strongholds (mindsets) that will lead you away from God. An unchecked mind and heart will take you down to the level of the world quickly. You cannot afford that.

Whatever you are constantly hearing, you are building faith for—either negative or positive!

A "Word War"
We are in the midst of a word war every day. You and I must defend ourselves. In fact, we need to go forward and get on the offensive in this war!

The "word war" I am talking about goes on in your mind every moment. Every thought is to be your prisoner until you analyze it in light of the Word of God. What is its origin? What is its purpose and motive?

The Bible says:

For the word of God is quick, (alive) and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul (mind, will emotions) and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, (flesh and body) and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
(Heb. 4:12)

Learn to analyze your thoughts with the Word of God. Capture those thoughts, examine them, then either reject them or protect them.

The decision to renew your mind is one that you must make. It's a step that only you can take, and it is a life-long process! God does not want a people with a divided heart. He wants our whole heart.

God wants us to know Him and love Him. James 4:4 says, "...whosoever therefore will be a friend to the world is the enemy of God. We must hunger after God and after the things of God more than we hunger after anything else."

Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." We choose every day whom we will serve and love. We must choose God and all the life and blessing that flow from that choice.

Jerry Savelle Ministries International
All rights reserved. Used by permission.