Become the Gatekeeper of Your Mind

[beloved]

1. Peter 1: 13
Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

gird- to surround, to prepare (oneself) for action

loin- the lower part of the back between the hipbone and the ribs; the hips and the lower abdomen reguarded as the region of strength.

So we can see that to "gird up the loins of our mind" means to protect the strength of our beliefs in our mind and remain prepared for action. What action? What action must we prepare ourselves for?

1. Peter 5: 8
Be sober, be viligant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; Whom resist steadfast in the faith...

Oh, so we have an adversary that seeks to destroy us!? Destroy us how? Well, apparently in our faith; in what we believe. We must resist him through our faith which comes from God's Word. In order to get to our faith, Satan must get to our minds. The devil has become very good over thousands of years that mankind has been on the earth in deceiving them. He has no power to attack us or harm us, but he does have one weapon that he tries to use against us and that is his lies. His lies are always in opposition to God's Word.

Here again we see the warning to be sober. What does this word sober mean in context?

sober- serious, reasonable, sedate, etc.

So it can say, "Be viligantly serious and reasonable; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour."

We need to take seriously that we have an enemy who is looking for someone to attack. Notice it says that he walks around as a roaring lion. If you watch Animal Planet or the Discovery Chanel long enough, or if you talk to someone from Africa, you will learn that a lion that roars when seeking prey is actually a worn out, old, loosing his teeth and claws lion. A strong, healthy lion does not roar to catch it's prey. A healthy, strong POWERFUL lion sneaks close to, runs and catches his prey. A lion that roars has no POWER left, so they resort to roaring in order to frieghten their prey into submission. What happens is the weak hearted animals will be so afraid when the lion roars that they will literally be paralized with fear and so the lion does not have to use power to kill them but fear.

We can see how this happened in the story of David and Goliath. Goliath day and night came out to the army of Israel and taunted them. He paralized the whole army with fear. Fear is a product of doubt. Doubt is the opposite of faith.

So we can see how the devil comes against us. He uses thoughts against our minds to cause doubt which produces fear which then paralizes us. And while we are paralized he begins to eat us alive- just like a roaring lion.

We can thank Jesus that Satan no longer has any power over us, but we must guard our minds against him. Since he has no power, he comes at our minds through doubt and fear.

Colosians 2: 15
And having spoiled pricipalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

In the times of Jesus life here on earth, when a king conquered another king, the conquering king would strip the conquered king of his robes (which symbolized his power) and drag him around his old kingdom to show everyone that he had been stripped of his power and authority in that kingdom. Jesus stripped the devil of all of his power and authority here in this earthly kingdom; a kingdom that Satan had stolen from Adam by deceiving Eve.
So now, the devil is just a worn out old lion with nothing left but his roar to try to hurt mankind. But make no mistake, Satan keeps himself very busy roaming around trying to destroy lives through his lies. That is why we must be viligant in the reasonings of our minds.

Ephesians 6: 10- 14
Finally, my bretheren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Here we see it again- "your loins girt"- only this time we see more clearly what we are to girt our loins with the truth. Then it goes on to tell us what truth we are to girt our loins with to stand against the whiles of the devil:

- the truth of righteousness
- shield of faith
- helmet of salvation
- gospel shoes of peace
- sword of the Spirit

It has been taught that we put on the armour of God like a little child would pretend to put on armor they don't really have. But they are just using their imagination and pretending to put on armor that isn't really there. No, we put on the armor of God by renewing our mind to the basic truths or foundation of God's Word. God tells us what that foundation is here in Ephesians chapter 6. God's armor is truth. When Jesus comes back to the earth in Revelation and fights against the anti-christ he fights against him with the Sword of Truth (the sword of the spirit, the Word). Jesus fought against Satan in the desert with the Word.
In order to stand against the devil and his schemes, we must put on in our minds the foundational truth of righteousness, faith, salvation, the gospel and just the word in general.

What does all of this have to do with overcoming sin?
Because it is the devil (either dirrectly or indirectly through the world's system of beliefs) that deceives us that sin is desirable, pleasurable above not sinning, harmless, normal, etc. And then when we believe him and give into our temptations he becomes our accuser and attacks our identity in Christ (that is why we have a seperate section to remind us of our true identity).
He comes at us and tempt us again and again and again to do wrong. He deceives us into believing it's not so bad to do, or normal, or it won't hurt you for now, you can toy with fire and not get burned. Then we establish a pattern of this sin and keep believing the lies until it becomes a stronghold in our minds and we give ourselves over to this sin which makes it an addiction in our lives. IT ALL STARTS IN THE MIND. Those little arrows that the devil throws at our minds until he convinces us of a lie and then we act on that lie. We must learn to guard our mind from the enemy; from this world. We must put on the truth in our mind and not just once but over and over so that we are not found weak prey for the enemy.

I will talk about this more later. It is critical to get this in our battle with addictions of any kind.

God Bless,
beloved

[beloved]

Become the Gatekeeper of Your Mind (part 2)


I wanted to go back and comment a little more about the story of David and Goliath.
The Israelite army was paralized with fear from the taunting of Goliath. Surely, there must have been some mighty warriors amoung all the Jews but yet they were afraid and a young, pubescent boy who wasn't even in the army wasn't. Why? What was it that David had that all the other men in the army didn't? It wasn't what he had that was different, but what he believed.

1. David knew who God was. He knew God's character, which is love.
2. David trusted in God's promises because he trusted in God's love for him.
3. David knew who he was in God's eyes.

David, in essence went to the Israelite army and asked them why they didn't trust in who they were and why they were allowing one man to scare them out of what God promised them. The answer must be that no one, including David's brothers, knew who they were or that they were highly favored of God and God was on their side. David said, "Don't you all know who you are? Why are you letting this uncircumsized Philistine scare the heck out of you? Don't you know God's on your side and your highly favored and don't have to depend on your strength and skill alone?

A lot of Christians struggle to have faith and can't figure out why. The reason is they don't understand what David understood. They don't believe what David believed. You cannot trust in anyone that you don't think has your best interest at heart. In every relationship in life you have to know that the other person has your best interest at heart and sees you with worth and value (in spite of your shortcomings) before you are going to trust them. You also must see that the other person has good character. If you don't believe that God is on your side, loves you unconditionally, has only your best interest at heart; if you don't believe that God is a good God, that He is love, you won't be able to trust Him. You or anyone else can try and try to convince you that God wants to help you prosper, heal you, protect you, etc., but if you aren't convinced that he loves you and has only your best interest at heart (ALWAYS IN SPITE OF YOUR BEHAVIOR), you will not be able to trust (have faith) in anything he says. Lets say for example that someone tells my kids that as long as they please me and do everything perfectly, I will clothe them, feed them, and love them but if they fail in just one area of pleasing me I will starve them, take away all their clothes, and no longer love them and be very wroth with them and try to do them harm. Do you think my kids are going to feel at peace in my home and trust me to always do them good? They will only trust me when they think they have got it all together and are pleasing to me. But if they mess up and don't have it all together what are they going to do? Probably try to hide their shortcomings from me so they don't have to endure my wrath. They might even try to run away because they think I'm going to harm them. Now all along I'm not intending them any harm but someone who doesn't understand me or who wants others to not trust me has convinced my kids that they can't trust me. So it doesn't matter what my intensions are, they react out of what they believe. So instead of having faith in my love for them and my value of them, they fear me. Not a respectful fear, but a terrified fear. Herein lies the problem with faith for many Christians. We've been lied to. God loves us with an everlasting love, his mercies are new every morning, he has only plans to prosper us and not to harm us. His blessings, love and promises are not conditional on our behavior but are anchored within his love toward us through the blood of Jesus. We must know God for who he really is, we must understand who we are to him to have faith. Faith works by love, but not by our works of love for others; it works because of our belief in His faithful love for us.

What did David dwell on all those long days and nights in the fields watching after the sheep?
Obviously, he dwelt on God's love, mercies, goodness, kindness. Just read the Psalms of David and you will come to understand what David believed about God, himself and others.

[beloved]

part 3

Ephesians 6: 16

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

The fiery darts are not actual darts but thoughts from the evil one. Any thought that is in opposition to the wisdom and counsel of God is inspired from the evil one.

We already saw in I. Peter 1: 13 that the battle we wage is in the mind. We saw that it is the devil who schemes against us so we need to put on the full armor of God in our minds.

What kind of fiery darts does the enemy throw at your mind? What lies are you believing? It is important that you zero in on those false beliefs and renew your mind to the truth in order to be free. Remember, we are what we believe and we behave based on our beliefs.

The Bible tells us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ if it exalts itself against God's wisdom and we are to meditate on what God says is the key to victory in our minds. Those specific truths that we will explore later are the armor of God.

continued later........

[beloved]

part 4

Ephesians 6: 14 ........having your loins girt about with truth...............


So we can see that the armor of God we must put on is truth. Then the chapter continues by telling us what truth to put on that will help us stand and be strong.

Ephesians 6: 14..........and having on the breastplate of righteousness...........

So what is it about righteousness that we need to understand to help us fight against the wiles of the devil? Do we need to understand our righteous works?

Matthew 5: 20
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisee, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Well, we can see from that verse that it must not be our righteousness that can be a breastplate to protect us from the attacks of the enemy on our minds. He will use our failures against us, so there must be another righteousness that is more stable for us to be free from the accusations of Satan:

Romans 3: 19- 24
Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manisfested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

The breastplate of righteousness that protects us from the accusations of the devil is HIS righteousness. His righteousness makes perfect armor because it is unshakable and completely stable.

continued later.....................

[beloved]

part 5

There are two kinds of righteousness the bible teaches us:

1. our righteousness
2. God's righteousness

Our righteousness is as filthy rags before God according to Isaiah 64: 6
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities like the wind, have taken us away."

God's righteousness has now become our righteousness through the blood of Jesus that we have believed on for our salvation. See Romans 3: 19- 24 above and Isaiah 54: 14- 17 below:
"In righteousness will you be established: you will be far from opression; for you will not fear: and from terror; for it will not come near you. Behold, they will surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever will gather together against you will fall for your sake. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that will rise against you in judgement you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servents of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, says the Lord."

Our righteousness is of the Lord and it comes to us by faith in Jesus:

Romans 4: 5- 6
But to him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also decribes the blessedness of the man, without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Our righteousness is counted to us because of our trust in Jesus' finished work- death, burial and ressurection. Our own good works of trying to keep the law cannot and will not save us. Jesus blood saves us and His righteousness is counted to us:

Romans 4: 13
For the promise, that He should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.


Righteousness is a gift:

Romans 5: 17-18
For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Romans 8: 3-4
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likenes of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.


Not even the Israelites could/can keep the law and if you break just one law, you are not righteous before God without your faith in the blood of Jesus:

Romans 9: 30- 31
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore: Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense: and whosoeer believes on him will not be ashamed.

Oh, but we've been taught that we are saved through grace but now we must work to keep our salvation. This is wrong doctrine because our righteousness is completely by faith in the finished work of Christ. Christ put an end to the law for righteousness before God; not that anyone ever kept the law besides Jesus:

Romans 10: 3- 4; 10
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish thier own righteousness, have not sumitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes..... For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Because of our faith we are now as righteous as we will ever be before God:

II. Corinthians 5: 21
For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

We are the righteousness of God now. He has made us that in our spirits where we are new creature. Our spirit man now never sins. Our spirit man is indwelled by God himself in the form of the Holy Spirit; whom we've been sealed with until the day of redemption. Now we must get our minds to line up with who we are inside. We still have that unrenewed fleshly mind that needs to be filled with the truth of who we are in Christ so we will begin to act like who we are. "As a man believes in his heart (mind) so is he." (mind added by me since that is the translation in Strongs Con.)

continued later...................

[beloved]

part 6

The next part of our God given armor is found in:

Ephesians 6: 15
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

How is that armor? A good defense in this world I would say is getting others saved through the gospel. What better way to change this world than to get it saved?

Jesus has given us all the ministry of reconciliation which is preaching the gospel to all the world. Pack or pay. Go or send those who go. As the Bible says, " How can they call on whom they have not believed, and how they believe in whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher, and how can they preach unless they be sent?"

Jesus said for all believers to preach the good news of his life, death, burial and ressurection.
God's passion is to see unbelievers trust on Jesus as their Savior. It's His will that none should perish.

[beloved]

Part 7

Ephesians 6: 16
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Our faith comes by hearing God's Word. Faith is just another word for belief, trust. It is what we believe that helps us quench the fiery darts of the wicked just as it was what Jesus believed from growing in the Word that enabled Him to defeat temptation from the devil in the wilderness.

The Bible puts so much emphasis on what we believe. In fact it says to guard our hearts above all else.......... and here it says it again in Ephesians 6: 16 Above all.......

It is so important what we put our faith in. And it is also so important that we put faith in Gods ability on our behalf.

[beloved]

Part 8

Ephesians 6: 17
And take the helmet of salvation..............

To put on the helmet of salvation means to put on in your mind the finality of your salvation through Jesus. This is a part of the armor of God that can help render Satan's devices harmless against us. One of the devil's biggest schemes against us is to try to confuse our identity, and make us doubt our salvation.

Mental institutions are full of born again Christians whom the devil has paralized with terror of judgement and doubt of their salvation. He could only have done this to them if they didn't understand and comprehend God's grace, love, and the settled fact of their salvation. This often occurs from false doctrines (referred to in the New Testement over and over again as anti- christ. Anything that says: Jesus plus you saves you, is anti- christ.) These false doctrines have been created by people who do not understand:

- the difference between the old covenant and new
- don't have knowledge of the difference between our righteousness and God's
- Don't understand God's character and/or purpose toward mankind (often because they don't understand why God did the things he did under the Old Covenant)
- don't understand that we are new creatures in our born again spirits but still have the sin nature in our flesh until the redemption of our bodies (usually don't know or understand the difference between their own spirit, soul, and body.)
- don't understand God's purpose in giving the Law to Moses and the Israelites. (See Romans and Galatians)

What the devil accomplishes in doing this is he keeps believers unstable and unable to witness to the lost. Its very common and very sad. Most people who are mentally insane are Christians that the devil is lying to about their salvation and worth. So, we can see why God says to, "put on the helmet of salvation" to combat the enemy. If he can strip us of our confidence in that, he can strip us of everything.

[beloved]

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