By Carol Doyel
Our church women’s group is doing a study on Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. The book and study guide is intended to help people recognize the battle that goes on in our minds due to a cunning enemy who is the father of lies, and who is constantly lying to us. One of the main scriptures in the study is 2 Corinthians 10:5 that encourages believers to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” by replacing ungodly thoughts with the truth of God’s Word.
The key is to recognize those thoughts, or lies, and anything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. To do so, we must know the Word of God – well, so we can cast down thoughts that do not line up with the Word of God. Without the Word in us, we are unable to identify false teachings, and subtle lies from the enemy that often have an element of truth, as is often the case with new ageism.
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The enemy’s main focus is to get us to forget who we are in Christ and what God’s Word says about us. If he can manage to do that, he can disempower us and keep us from pursing and doing God’s will.
But it takes time for our minds to be renewed. When I committed my life to the Lord, I did not instantly receive the mind of Christ nor was I given immediate divine understanding and wisdom. It has taken years. It has been a process, one that I hope will continue for the rest of my life. However, when we seek God and put him first he is faithful to reveal His will and heart to us. We also have a great helper, the Holy Spirit, who can reveal unsearchable things (the knowledge of God that can only be revealed to us by the Spirit) and even things yet to come as John 16:13 refers to.
The sad thing is, many people who are saved have not experienced God’s transforming power. And we have an enemy who prowls around seeking who he may devour. Just today, a good friend of mine told me she has noticed that the battle with the enemy has intensified over the past year or so, in her life as well as in general. I don’t know if that is true statistically, in the body of Christ as a whole, but based on my friend’s experience and my own and what I see happening in our nation and the world around us, it seems we are facing increasing attacks of the enemy and persecution.
BUT – we know Jesus came to save the world. If we want to see God move and heal our land, as Chronicles 7:14 tells us, we must humble ourselves, pray, seek God, and turn from our wicked ways, and God will hear from heaven and heal us.
The problem however lies in our mind – the enemy’s first line of attack. If we believe something in our mind, our words and actions will follow. But the Bible says that who the son sets FREE should be free indeed and, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. So why are so many people walking around in prison, physically and mentally, in “mental incarceration”?
According to Save.org that tracks suicide and depression statistics for the United States, suicide is the 4th leading cause of death for adults ages 18-65; and the second leading cause of death for 15 – 24 year olds. Depression is a primary factor in suicide and a condition that affects many people; most of us either know someone or have ourselves struggled with depression. Depression affects 20-25% of Americans ages 18+ in a given year – That is one-quarter of all Americans over age 18!
The answer the world gives us is drugs – as evidenced by the increase in prescription drug use for mental health symptoms, such as anxiety, stress, as well as more serious conditions. According to an article titled, America’s Use of Psychotropic Medications on the Rise, “the number of children receiving atypical antipsychotics doubled from 2001 to 2010, a phenomenon Dr. Muzina said should raise a red flag.”
We need to wake up! The answers or solutions the world offers are obviously not working.
According to National Institute on Drug Abuse found at NIH, The United States has 5% of the world’s population and consumes 75% of the world’s prescription drugs.[i]
I believe the problem is we have strayed away from Biblical truth and from God. We have become a godless nation and the curses we are experiencing is a direct result of our sin and our rejection of God, just as we are warned about in Romans 1:18-25 NKJV:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
If you read further down in Romans 1, verse 28 states, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…” or a reprobate mind.
It is in the mind that we retain the knowledge of God or “exchange the truth for a lie.” That is why it is CRITICAL that our minds are transformed.
Sadly, many people are prisoners of their own mind. As born again Christians, with the power of the Holy Spirit and the anointing of God, we should be preaching good tidings, speaking truth and sharing the gospel and the message of hope to heal the brokenhearted (the emotionally sick, broken and hurting) and proclaiming liberty to the captives (sharing the anchor of hope that can set them free) as referred to in Isaiah 61:1.
If we want to experience the abundant life that Jesus promised us we have to be set free from “mental incarceration” a term used in the video below, featuring a woman I know – Cheryl Pullins who gave a compelling TEDx talk at Muncy State Prison titled “Living confined, thinking free.”
Carol Doyel is Editor-in-Chief and Founder of LivingBetter50.com. She is a graduate of The Full Gospel Bible Institute and has a passion for women’s ministries, issues and lives. She and her husband of 26+ years have three grown kids and four grandchildren. They currently reside in southern CA. Her desire is to inspire women to live better physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually.
[i] Source: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/WDR2011/World_Drug_Report_2011_ebook.pdf (PDF, 10MB)External link, please review our disclaimer. OLD: Yachter, David (2009). Born a Champion: The Master Strategy for Maximum Health and Lasting Success. Outskirts Press.
1 thought on “Mental Incarceration”
This is so powerful and the message so necessary. My perspective is that we are dying from shame. Shame the enemy heaps on us, shame we heap on ourselves and each other…shame the church imposes because it drives us into a system of rules where we are now again bound by the law, rather than a community where we flourish under a mantle of grace and holy power. As Christian women, we can make the difference when we embrace for ourselves our identity as redeemed daughters who reach out to the hurting with compassion, kindness and an invitation to know the One who can heal us and give us hope.