This week's Bible Study - February 28, 2010
How Can You Keep from Losing Your Mind?
 Background Scripture:
2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 6:10-17
Quote of the Week:
“Has two brains; one is lost and the other is out looking for it”
-- Source Unknown
As you read through this lesson, you may notice something that is a little odd. For a few days, I've thought about doing this, and I think it may be a good application. You may or may not pick up on it before finishing, but I will share before I'm done in this lesson.
'You've lost your mind!' You've probably heard that phrase or perhaps you've said it to someone else. It usually comes up when somebody says or does something that is very uncharacteristic of them. It would seem that they have a normal pattern of living, but when they do something that does not align, it would seem that they had lost their mind. I believe that there are times in every Christian's life where they find themselves thinking something that they know they shouldn't be thinking or during an activity that they know they should be avoiding. They often know better, but they still find themselves acting in a manner that is not consistent with what they believe to be true.
Sometimes, it just may be that we forget. If you can remember back to when you were in school and were taking tests, you may recall a time that you felt as if you knew material but you couldn't recall it when you were tested. Over several years, I have picked up bits and pieces of several different languages. Currently, I'm trying to study Chinese and though I may practice often and work on memorization and understanding, I often find that I simply forget words in conversations, or I start thinking of how to say certain words in Spanish or Russian. Could it be that I lost my mind, at least temporarily?
Amnesia is defined as a loss of a large block of interrelated memories: complete or partial loss of memory caused by brain injury, shock, etc. Certainly there are some people that have medical conditions that have caused partial (or more) loss of mind. This lesson is not talking about ways that you can keep from having physical amnesia, but it can help us to keep from having spiritual amnesia.
Paul begins by making a key point. We are world citizens, but we are not to act as other citizens of our world. Specifically, waging of war as believers is much different than how war is waged by world forces. It becomes clear from this passage that we are in a war, but we cannot fight with weapons used by world armies. Certainly, over past generations, technologies have advanced in many types of war, but it should be clear that these technologies are useless in battles we face as believers.
Our weapons are spiritual in nature and therefore have divine power to demolish strongholds of our enemy. We are engaged in battles against arguments and other pretension that has been set up against God. We may not realize that there are those who openly oppose God, but they are indeed out in our world. A few months ago, I attended a debate between a Christian and an Atheist. It was obvious that much debate existed based upon spiritual matters. It required more than just knowing answers to Bible Trivia, but being able to counter open opposition to God.
Most of us will never enter a debate with an avowed Atheist. However, we face many types of battles throughout our lives. There are open attacks on our faith and upon our minds. Paul tells us that every thought must be taken captive to make it obedient to Christ. Do you take each of your thoughts captive? Are you concerned about where you allow your mind to go? If you simply try and live your life based on your outward actions, engaging in good behavior and avoiding bad behavior, your life will eventually be doomed. Our enemy wants to attack our minds and our thinking. Once thoughts have infiltrated our minds, we are battling against an enemy that attacks from within. We must be vigilant to protect our minds.
In this passage, Paul tells us that our source of strength is crucial. Many people will invest a lot of time to increase their strength. There are many different programs that exist now that will build strength over a period of three or four months. While these may be good programs to help in our health and well being, these do little in battles that we face each day as believers. We must be strong based on God's strength and strength of His might. Many realize that they are facing spiritual battles, but they find it easier to get strength from Christian books or counselors or their own selves. If our strength is misplaced, we are no match in battle against our foe.
We must wear armor - God's armor. It doesn't help to dress like a Middle Age knight. It doesn't help to arm ourselves with anything else that we can provide ourselves or even purchase. Our adversary, Satan, stands in direct opposition to our lives. In our own power, we cannot stand against this opponent, and we are called to stand firm. It takes more than what we can provide on our own.
It is crucial that you understand your opponent and his battle techniques. We see this in any endeavor that we face. For example, you may get in shape and practice with others for weeks in an effort to build a strong team to compete. However, if you have been training in a sport such as basketball, what happens when you find out you are really going to be playing baseball? Some skills transfer, but your training would mostly be in vain. You would have wasted a lot of time, in concentrating on something other than techniques you needed to master.
Your spiritual opponent is not another person that you can outsmart. If you were facing another individual, you may find that you can use your own skills to stand firm. However, you are not at war against another person, but against rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. You are no match on your own to face these opponents. You must stand in God's strength, and in doing so, stand firm.
Given that we understand our enemy, we once again need to stand firm and consider our opponent. God's full armor is available to us, if we will only accept it and use it. When we take it up, we can resist and stand firm. In this passage, it says that having done everything, we can stand firm. In Christianity, everything is what God can do. We can not add more to that, but we can let ourselves be used as God desires.
There are several pieces of armor that are mentioned. There is truth that girds our loins. Is your life based on truthfulness, or are you living a lie in areas of your life? We are to have righteousness as our breastplate. Are you living a righteous life, or are there areas of your life that you would consider to be far from righteous? Truth and righteousness are key components of God's armor.
Our feet are to be shod with preparation of gospel of peace. Are you sharing Christ's gospel with you as you go? Are you sharing it where you go? We have a hope that many other people need. Part of our armor is to be able to share with others. Who needs to hear around you? Faith is to be our shield. Flaming missiles will be sent from Satan that will make you question your faith. You will find missiles that try and convince you that your faith in a sham. Your faith is used to extinguish each of those flaming missiles.
Salvation is to be our helmet. It is imperative for you to realize that you are beyond a shadow of doubt a child of God. When you begin to question your salvation, you are giving a foothold to your spiritual opponent. Our helmet is to keep our head covered and to keep our minds intact. When we question our status with our Father, we will begin to question all that we believe. Lastly, our only weapon of offense is God's word. It is our sword. When Jesus was tempted, he countered with Scripture. Scripture in our lives allows us to combat many situations that we face. What words of God have you cherished and committed to memory.
A soldier will not go to war without everything that he or she needs, A soldier will realize that each piece serves a specific purpose and they all are needed. Is your set of armor full? Do you have in your arsenal truth, righteousness, Christ's gospel of peace, faith, salvation and God's word? If you try and live your life without these key ingredients, you are setting yourself up for failure.
Closing
You are in a war. I am in a war. Some of us are fighting similar battles, but all of us have some sort of spiritual warfare going on. For some, it may be fighting an addiction that they have seen place barriers between them and God. For some, it involves decisions that need to be made which will not only impact their lives, but the lives of many others. For some, it is to do what is right, even though pressures may be making them lean towards wrong. I don't know what your spiritual war is, but I can guarantee you that you are in one. We all are.
You must prepare for that war or you will be defeated. A key part of preparation is how you protect your mind. Your enemy looks for opportunities to trip you up. If you are trying to do battle on your own, apart from God's help, you are setting yourself up for disaster. Are you prepared with your armor?
Maybe you figured it out earlier, but there is a specific word that is missing in this lesson, at least until this point. It may seem like a small, insignificant word that is used inconsequential. Without it, many phrases just do not make sense. It is this word - 'the'. I tried to avoid using it and sometimes I could make sense, but in other cases, I just removed the word. At times, I could negotiate around a thought by using other words, but in other cases, I just had to drop it. 'The' is a key part of English grammar. Without it, some things just don't make a lot of sense.
Trying to speak or write in English without 'the' can be somewhat of a hindrance in your communication, but you can still communicate. However, trying to live your life without God requires much more work and is much more limiting. While you may seem to be able to handle parts of life on your own, you can't really make sense of life without God. In Matthew 13, we read that if we have the kingdom of God in our life, even in small measure (as a mustard seed), it can have a huge impact. It is much more difficult and awkward to live your life without God than it is for me to write or you to read a lesson with the word 'the'. Use 'the' and live your life with God in all areas.
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