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Everyone of us have a battle to fight against Satan. The Devil knows that he will one day be cast into a lake of fire to burn forever in eternity. But his consuming passion is to take as many of God's precious creation, humanity with him.

It is not a physical fight with swords and spears, but a "spiritual fight." You probably will never see a visible demon in your life, but that does not mean that spiritual warfare isn't real. Most people do not even realize spiritual warfare when it happens to them. The fight is in your mind -- between your two ears. That is where spiritual warfare is fought. The devil never needs sleep or rest and so we must learn to depend upon God to help us through spiritual warfare. We can and will win, but only through the divine help of God! Our weapons are mighty but only mighty "through God!" Too many Christians do not win in the fight with the devil because they do not recognize the battle. The battle of spiritual warfare is not with other people or God. It's the battle for control of your thought processes. It's the battle for your mind. Everything in living for God --whether victory or defeat -- begins in the mind. Both the devil and God know the importance of what a man allows into his mind. Tonight I want to talk about the three basic areas that we need to learn to fight the spiritual battle within our mind!

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The first area in which we must be victorious in our spiritual life is in sin and temptation. The scriptures in Proverbs teach us to be wary who we fellowship with because they can have a negative influence on our thought processes:

"As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." The way you think determines your actions. God views a man by the thoughts and desires that he allows to stay in his mind. What you focus upon and spend hours thinking about: that is the real you. What you allow yourselves to dream about. Today's thoughts will be tomorrow's actions. No one really just "sins" because every action begins with a thought process or a way of thinking. The battle for everything in the Spirit of God begins in the mind. Whether or not you win the victory over temptation and sin will depend upon how you train yourself to think. And who you fellowship with is who you will become! You need fellowship and contact throughout the week with Christian brothers and sisters, because it affects our thoughts and our thoughts are very important! What we allow ourselves to dwell upon and what thoughts and concepts that we embrace and allow ourselves to believe today will affect our actions tomorrow.

When Eve took of the fruit, it was not the first time that she had stood beside it and looked up at it wonderingly. It was not the first time that she had contemplated the consequences of eating that fruit. No one called for them to come to the tree, they were already there! And it was beside the tree that they could hear the sweet compromising of Satan in disguise. Satan did not appear as an angel, but as one of God's creation. He did not want them to realize that they were conducting spiritual warfare!

Satan did not proposition them by asking them to break God's commandments. He propositioned them by finding out if they really knew for themselves what God had said! He said: "hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" When Eve answered she did not quite get the commandment of God correct. Adam was with her and he could not exactly remember what was said either because he made no effort to correct her! Satan knew that he was about to win because he had won the battle of the mind. They had not meditated or thought about the commandments of God enough to really have them indelibly imprinted upon their heart!

We need to continually feed ourselves the Word of God! We need to pray everyday! We need to make God's Word our meditations and our daily thoughts! God help us to meditate upon His Word so much that we can instantly recognize when the devil places a thought in our mind that goes against God's law! When you do not continually meditate upon the things of the Lord and His Word and continually partake of it, you are setting yourself up to sin because the devil is winning the battle for your mind! A person does not backslide overnight. How do they go from on fire for God to open rebellion? It begins with the battle of the mind! By neglecting to put God's Word in every day, they are easy targets for Satan's ploys.

In our text, we read all of sin's temptations summed up beautifully by the Apostle John:

John was talking about the importance of the mind and our thoughts! John was warning that a Christian will never make it long trying to serve God and loving the ways of the world, because their thoughts will eventually become actions! In labeling the three things that we are not to love, John summed up all of sin in the world into three categories:

1. the lust of the flesh

2. the lust of the eyes

3. the pride of life

When Jesus got ready for His ministry to begin, the scriptures say that He prepared Himself for His public ministry by being baptized and going into the wilderness for a 40 day fast. Keep in mind that the devil knew before everybody else, except maybe John the Baptist, who Jesus Christ was! But the devil could not figure out why Jesus Christ had come to earth! The devil did not realize that God had become flesh to shed blood so that you and I could be freed from the awful price of sin! The scriptures say "if he would have known, then he would not have crucified the Lord." The devil was fully aware that this "Jesus Christ" was God walking around in flesh.

Even though he could not figure out why God was here walking around in a human body, the devil knew what he wanted to happen: he wanted God to sin! If he could just get Jesus to sin, then he would have won the ultimate battle. And so the devil waited until Jesus was the weakest physically that He had ever been after a 40 day fast in the wilderness and then he brought his three top temptations to Jesus. I want you to realize that if the devil ever wanted someone to sin it was the man Christ Jesus! The temptations that the devil brought to Jesus were not experimental. They were the three temptations with which the devil had been the most successful over the centuries! The Bible says that "all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God" except of course for Jesus, so that means that Satan tempted Jesus with the three things of which one of them always worked!

If you want to be like Jesus you must be able to identify and overcome these same three temptations. As I go through them, you need to identify them in your life. Chances are every week, you face the same three temptations in different packaging, customized to your personality. Now realize that having the thought enter into your mind is not sin. The temptation is not sin, because Jesus was tempted in all ways like we are but never sinned. The sin comes when you allow yourself to dwell upon the idea until it affects your walk with God. The number 1 reason why people dwell upon temptation is that they do not recognize it as a spiritual attack. If you would like to follow along, the temptations are found in Matthew chapter 4.

The first temptation was fleshly gratification. It was the fulfillment of what John called in our text, the lust of the flesh. The first thing that the devil always tries to get Christians with is with giving in to fleshly desires. It may be as obvious as pornography, alcohol, or lustful thoughts about your neighbor's wife. Or it may be more subtle as not feeling like praying or not fasting. Even Jesus' body did not like prayer! Even His flesh did not want to submit to the cross! He prayed great drops of blood in the Garden while his disciples gave in to the urge to sleep on that important night! You can recognize this temptation from Satan when your flesh wants something that you know is questionable according to God's Word or when your flesh does not want to do something that you know that you need to do! The thought, the temptation, is not sin by itself. Just because you wake up on Sunday morning and you feel like sleeping in doesn't make you a sinner. Just because a lustful thought plays across your mind as a scantily-clad girl walks by doesn't mean that you are lost. But if you give in to the temptation, it becomes sin! If you do not make your flesh get up and go to church, or you allow yourself to fantasize and dwell upon that lustful thought, then it has become sin!

We need to realize that it is spiritual warfare when our flesh does not feel like doing something! When you kneel to pray and you are having trouble getting your mind focused on God because it is racing -- that is no accident -- it's spiritual warfare! When you come to church and you are a little tired and you really do not feel like praising God, that is spiritual warfare! The devil is trying to keep you from preparing yourself to receive something from God! But do not let him win the battle of the mind! Do not give in to the lust of the flesh! Jesus answered by quoting scripture that man shall not live by bread alone (a man made process) but by the Word of God! You must make up your mind to live by what the Word of God says no matter what man or your flesh tells you to do! You must make up in your mind to obey the Word of God no matter what you feel like!

The next temptation corresponds to John's "pride of life." The devil took Jesus to a pinnacle of the temple and told him to "cast yourself down, God will catch you and help you!" You see, in that temple below them was the Word of God and the precepts that God had established for man to follow if he was to please God. But Satan took Jesus to a place "above" the Word of God and told him "cast yourself down." In other words, "if you fall, God will catch you."

I know that God is a merciful God and will catch the righteous when the fall, but too many people still fall for the trap of the "pride of life" even today. It is pride because they begin to exalt their opinion as being above the Word and plan of God. They are trusting in themselves to always do the right thing. It may start with an area of their life that they do not want to change and so they will begin by saying: "well, I do not think the Word of God is really saying that..." What they are really saying is "the Word of God contradicts my personal opinion so rather than change my life to match the Word of God, I'm going to stick with my pride and exalt myself above the plan and word of God and if I fall, I'll catch myself or God will catch me!" The pride of life! Our personal opinion does not matter in the light of eternity! When it comes to the Word of God, you cannot allow your pride to exalt yourself above the things of God and say "well if I fall and was wrong, then God will catch me!" Because you should not tempt God! How many people get the Holy Ghost and begin to try to overcome some of their fleshly desires only to eventually find it easier to justify their sin and ignore certain scriptures than to obey them!?! When you feel that way and get to the place where there are certain things that you do not think are sin, no matter what scriptures say, then you are falling for this trap! A sure sign of someone falling for this temptation is when they cannot be taught principles from the Word of God. When they only believe something if it is in black or white print. But the Bible is a Word of principles designed to fit every culture and every nation! We must be careful not to fall into the trap of pridefully exalting ourselves above the temple and plan and Word of God!

The devil then tried for the "lust of the eyes" and took Jesus upon a very high mountain and showed Him all of the kingdoms of the world! Satan said "I'll give these things to you if you will fall down and worship me!"

Many people do not understand this temptation because they do not understand that the devil really had the authority to give the entire world to Jesus. The devil was the ruler of the world. True authority is never assumed and always given. When God created the universe, it all belonged to Him! But He created humanity, and gave the first man Adam the authority to rule over the entire earth! God designed man to be the ruler of the earth! But when Adam gave into the temptation of Satan and sinned, he lost his right and ability to rule the world, and that authority was given to Satan! And God respects authority even if it is evil! God would have never come down and just yanked the authority of the world back from Satan because He does not want you rebelling against authority over you just because you do not agree with whatever they say or do! You may not like the person over you, but you must respect and obey the position! So the world was Satan's to give.

Incidentally we find this principle of God recognizing that Satan had the right to rule the world even in the Mosaic law. On the Day of Atonement, there were two goats or lambs brought: one to be a blood sacrifice to pardon man's sins and appease God, and the other was the "scapegoat" and scripture says God said that is was led into the wilderness bearing man's sins where it would die! That was to take care of man's sin with the god of the world, Satan. It was no accident that Jesus Christ went out into the wilderness! Because He fulfilled ALL of the law! And Satan came to devour Jesus just as he had all the other scapegoats! But this lamb was different, because He was the lamb of God that had come to buy back the world that was captive to sin and Satan! God said, "if I have to die myself upon Calvary, to purchase back humanity then I will do it!" "I will not let humanity end and the world burn up before buying back my precious creation!" And that is why God had to become flesh and went to Calvary and shed His blood! He was not willing for you to have to live in the clutches of the devil forever! He was willing to come and "ransom" or purchase back the world from Satan and it took paying the price for all of man's sins: death!

So Satan's last and greatest temptation was to show Jesus Christ everything that He had came to earth to get back, and then to provide a compromising shortcut to the true plan of God. It was a shortcut that bypassed pain and suffering! It bypassed sacrifice and a cross! Satan said, "if you want the world back, then I'll just give it to you without you having to do anything except, worship me!" But Jesus said, "no I will not go the easy way out, but I will take on the cross!"

You see, the third level of temptation is to take a spiritual shortcut around the divine plan of God that avoids persecution, a cross, and a sacrificial lifestyle. The devil whispers "you want a ministry? come over here, I'll give you a ministry but you do not have to study all of that Apostolic stuff or be persecuted for believing in only 'one God' or that Jesus' name baptism stuff." Just compromise a little and I'll give you exactly what you want without the sacrifice or effort." The devil might say "you want to go to a church where you feel good and can worship, then come over here, I know this church doesn't believe everything that the Bible says, but they are sincere and they clap their hands and they even shout sometimes and look at all of the people... you can worship like you want to but don't have to go to church as often and don't have to listen to that preaching about sin or repentance stuff, you're a believer, here's an easy way out!" Or the devil might say "See, your family is making fun of the way that you live and trying to be different so why don't you just go to church with them? You can believe what you believe and let them believe what they believe and go to heave together! Don't witness to them, just leave them alone. You can justify their lifestyle, after all, they're good people!" Oh but Jesus said "Except a man be born again..." and "He did not come to bring together Father and Son and Mother and daughter, but to divide." and Jesus said "If any man come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me." "All that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution!" Don't you settle for a substitute of what God has for your life or an easier way, because there is no easy way! Either ALL of scripture is true or NONE! Either we must obey ALL of it, or NONE of it! We do not have the right to pick and choose! Don't let the devil sell you a shortcut! Don't listen to his voice when he says "but you just don't have that personality to dance around like that." "Your style of prayer is not to be bold or fervent." Or "you haven't been raised in this so God can't use that way!" To give in to any of that cheap substitution is to bow down to the will of Satan!

But I will only serve the Almighty God named Jesus who created me, filled me with His Spirit, and is no respecter of persons! I do not want man's tradition, I want the Word of God! If I have to endure persecution, if I have pray and fast until I get this flesh under control, if I have to stop doing some things that I like doing because it offends, God or even hints at it in His Word, then I will! Because I will not settle for anything than genuine Apostolic Revival in my life!

The scriptures say that when Jesus had rebuffed all of these temptations, angels came and ministered to Him and strengthened Him! But the best verse of this whole chapter is found in verse 17:

Immediately after overcoming these temptations, Jesus began His powerful ministry! We must not give in to these temptations, because just on the other side of overcoming them, is the Apostolic anointing and power that we so desire! Do not fall for the trick of the devil! Jesus' awesome ministry began with a victory in His mind over the tricks of Satan! If you want Apostolic ministry, you can have it, but it begins in the mind!

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The second area of our life that we need to recognize is spiritual warfare and to be victorious within I will quickly mention. It is in the area of the joy of living for God. God never intended for living for God to be a drag! Their are three main reasons why some people think that living for God is boring or not fun: 1. They do not have the Holy Ghost. 2. They are living in willful sin. 3. They do not recognize the attacks of Satan when he comes in to steal their joy! I have already talked about sin so I will focus on the devil coming to steal our joy! The battle for your joy is important, because the devil knows that if he can get you unhappy or down, then you will stop growing in God and eventually fall.

To fight against the devil stealing your joy, you must be willing to fight the battle of the mind. There are three things that you must do (I almost named this sermon "Just three things" but didn't):

First we must cast down imaginations! There are areas of your life that imagination is good to have, but when it comes to your problems and worries, your imagination will kill you! We get into a spat with someone, and we try to make things right, and then the next month, they do not respond as we think that they should! We go home and begin to imagine all that possibly could be wrong between us and them! We imagine things even before we know that the situation exists! And it steals our joy! And we cannot hardly pray or praise for thinking about it. And usually it is just imaginations! Why do we automatically believe the worst about a situation? Cast down that imagination! Not God but you! God will not do it for you! You have to make a concerted effort to not worry! Do not let your mind worry over things that you cannot control or the actions of others! And stop imagining every possible scenario that could possibly be wrong. Handle it according to the scriptures and cast them down! Believe the best and think the best and usually the best will happen, because as you think, so are you!

Second, we must cast down everything that "exalteth itself against the knowledge of God." That means that God's Word is the chief source of our lifestyle! Any tradition, custom, previous experience, or opinion that contradicts the Word of God must be cast down! If you do not cast it down and change your thoughts, then you will eventually lose your joy! But their is a joy in obeying God's Word and knowing that you are right in His sight!

Lastly, we must bring "into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" Just because you have the thought does not mean that you have sinned, but we must immediately bring that thought into captivity to Christ. If I have a lustful thought, that is not sin unless I allow it to stay. If I suddenly desire to do something that goes against God's Word, that is not sin in itself, but will quickly become so unless I bring it into "captivity." How do you bring it into captivity? By following Jesus' example: scripture! This is why hearing preaching and reading and studying the Word of God is so important! If I think a lustful thought, I immediately think of two things: Jesus' commandment concerning such thoughts, and the awful price that Jesus paid on Calvary to give me victory over such sins! After that, it is easy to transfer my mind so that I do not dwell upon the thought. I have "brought the thought into captivity." Learn to do it! Quote scripture to your temptation and then think about Calvary! You will keep your joy!

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The last area of our life that we must learn to fight is in the area of what we can imagine that God can do with us! I have told you about how that I once had a poster on my office wall that said "Don't dream: it only limits God." There is actually scripture for such a saying:

Don't limit yourself because of your background, culture, talents or lack thereof, personality, or social position. Whatever you can dream, God can do greater things through you! Unfortunately too many people believe the lies of Satan that they cannot be effective in the kingdom of God! God specializes in taking broken pieces of lives and making vessels of honor out of them! Don't believe anybody or even yourself about your limitations in the kingdom of God! Whatever you can dream, God can do exceeding abundantly above it! Too many Christians never see the miraculous, supernatural, or the great anointing of God moving through them simply because they do not believe that it is possible for God to use them in such a way!

God wants to use far above what you can even imagine, but you must believe that He can! It all begins in your mind!

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I would like to close with this: At this last youth worker's seminar, someone presented to us a youth video with the following information on it. I wish that I could show you the presentation but I will quote it. It really stirred my spirit. It's called 40,000,000 minutes.

The Average person ...

... lives 77 years, that's 28,000 days, 670,000 hours; 40,000,000 minutes.

... spends 40 minutes each day on the telephone, that's 20 hours per month, 10 days per year; 2 years in a lifetime.

... spends 1 hour in the bathroom each day, that's 30 hours per month, 15 days per year, 3 years in a lifetime.

... spends 26 minutes each day getting dressed, that's 13 hours per month, 7 days per year, 1 year in a lifetime.

... watches 3 hours of television each day, that's 90 hours each month, 45 days per year, 9 years in a lifetime.

The Average Christian ...

... spends less than 10 minutes each day, with the God of the universe, the truest friend, the savior of the world, the creator of time.

That's less than 6 hours per month, less than 3 days per year, and less than 7 months in a lifetime.

You do the Math.

What's most important in your 40,000,000 minutes of your life? Is there any wonder that the world has problems staying focused upon the things of God? Silently do the math on your personal prayer time versus other things. Is there any wonder that we face the spiritual struggles that we face? Realize that there is a battle for your mind and thoughts, because what you think upon in your heart, is what you will become. Do you want to be like Jesus? Then the first step is taking dominion over what you think about. The most prevailing factor in what you think about is what you have placed within your mind!? We think about what we feed ourselves! If we want to be like Jesus, then we must feed our minds with Godly things and the Word of God and prayer and testimonies and church and Christian fellowship!

Revival and God's blessings and Spirit flowing through us also begins in our minds! When we trust in ourselves, we will fall, but if we put our trust and dreams in Jesus, then we cannot fail! When your thoughts are stayed on Him, you cannot help but have a move of God! It all begins in the mind!