As a born again Christian, it’s not only important to renew your mind with the Word of God, but you should also guard your mind. Guarding your mind is essential, because when you renew your mind but don’t guard your mind, the renewing process won’t or will hardly take place. And although you have become a new creation, you will remain a spiritual baby. You will not grow up in the image of Christ and walk as a mature son of God. How do you guard your mind?
Your mind determines your speech and actions
Everything you say and do derives from your mind. The human mind is responsible for every action. Because your the thoughts of your mind determine what you say and determine your actions
When you were the old creation; the old man, you had a carnal mind and lived like the world. Your mind was developed and controlled by the knowledge and wisdom of the world. You believed everything the world said and you believed in the carnal knowledge and wisdom of the world.
Your mind was controlled by the world and determined your actions. The spirits of this world ruled and controlled your mind and life and ensured, that you kept walking after the flesh in sin
The old creation walks in the lusts and desires of the flesh and of the mind
And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others (Ephesians 2:1-3)
When you become born again in the spirit, your mind is still unrenewed. Therefore your mind is still carnal (worldly). You still speak and think like the world.
Although you have become a new creation in the spirit and you have been saved from the death, because you have been transferred from death into life, your mind is still the same.
Due to the fact, that your mind determines your actions, it’s important to renew your mind with the Word of God as soon as possible. So that your mind will line up with the Word of God and you will think the way God thinks and God’s thoughts become your thoughts (Read also: ‘Are God’s thoughts our thoughts?‘).
As long as you don’t have the mind of Christ you shall think like the world. And you know that as long as you think like the world, your actions will be the same as the world and you shall live like the world. You shall stay carnal and shall keep walking after the flesh in sin (Read also: ‘The old man‘).
Renewing your mind with the Word of God, implies first of all, that you consider all the words of God as the truth. Because when you consider His Word as the truth, you will take His words, believe His words and apply them to your life, so that you shall walk in the Word.
Turn off the tap of the world
The more time you spend in God’s Word and with Him, the faster you will get to know Him and His will and your mind will line up with His will and when you apply His words in your life, you will walk according to His will. The next step is crucial and that’s to guard your mind. You have to guard your mind so that your mind will not be defiled by the things of the world.
You can renew your mind with the Word of God, but if you don’t guard your mind and don’t close the tap of the world, then every word of God; every spiritual seed, that you plant into your spirit man, will take longer before it bears fruit or it will die.
You build your faith by believing the words of God, meditating on the words of God, and making them your own by applying the words of God to your life. When you apply the words of God to your life, you will walk according to the Word.
When you walk after the Word, you will walk in faith after the Spirit.
Faith is not tangible and is not a science. If something has been proven, then it’s no longer faith.
Faith is trusting in the Almighty God and believing His words and walking in His Word, in His commandments, which represent His will. You should know, that the will of God is also the will of Jesus (Read also: ‘The commandments of God and the commandments of Jesus).
The devil doesn’t want you to renew your mind with the Truth; the Word of God, and walk as a son of God. Because that means that you will become a danger to the devil and his kingdom. That’s why the devil will do everything he can to disrupt this process and destroy every seed; every word of God in your life. The devil will ensure that every seed will be destroyed so that you won’t bear any fruit.
What happens when you don’t guard your mind?
Guarding your mind is essential and a continuous process in your life. Guarding your mind will never stop! Every day, many dangers are lurking. Your job is to stay spiritually awake and guard your mind. So that your mind will not be defiled by the world. You have to guard your mind so that no thought will enter your mind, that goes against the Word of God, and becomes a stronghold of the devil in your mind.
The devil wants to possess your mind. Because the devil knows, that your mind determines your actions and controls your tongue.
He wants you to stay carnal, and keep living as the old creation with the Adamic evil nature, who walks after the flesh in sin, just like the world.
That’s why it’s so important to turn off the tap of the world and guard your senses and your mind. If you open the tap of the world then through your senses, your mind will be defiled by the wisdom, knowledge, and spirits of this world.
As a result of not guarding your mind, the words of God will be affected and destroyed in your mind. You shall stay the old man and be led and controlled by the spirits of this world.
You shall doubt certain things, which are written in the Bible; the Word of God and maybe consider them ridiculous and old fashion. That’s because the Word of God is a spiritual Book, which reveals God’s Kingdom and His will and exposes the lies of the devil.
The natural world may change, but God’s Kingdom will never change and will always remain the same. Godly knowledge and wisdom oppose worldly knowledge and wisdom. God’s wisdom will always strive against the world’s wisdom and vice versa. But it’s up to you, whom you will listen to and obey: the Word or the world?
It’s important to be careful what you look at, what you read, to whom you listen, and with whom you spend your time and how you spend your time.
The attacks of the devil on the human mind
The devil wants to keep you in his kingdom. The devil has great power in the media and entertainment industry and that’s why the devil uses these sources to enter the mind and through the mind enter the lives of many people. The devil enters the mind through television programs, series, documentaries, movies, commercials, music, games, newspapers, magazines, books, social media, and so on.
When you spend a lot of time watching television, and watching (comedy) series and programs, that contain living together, (premarital) sex, fornication, adultery, divorce, homosexuality, rebellion, lying, drugs, crime, combat sports, suicide, murder, cursing, sickness, disease, magic, witchcraft, sorcery, spirits, zombies, etc. then eventually you will consider all these things as normal.
The more you feed your flesh, the weaker your spirit becomes
The more you feed your mind with these things, the stronger your flesh will become and the weaker your spirit will be. The Word considers these things as sins; things that are against the will of God. But by watching these things, you shall become indifferent towards sin. You shall consider these sins as normal and eventually you shall tolerate and accept sin.
Besides that, you should not forget, that you will also be a partaker of these sins, by watching these people committing them. And that’s not all! The spirits behind these sins will enter your life and will cause a lot of trouble and misery in your life. Even if it wasn’t your intention, you have watched and therefore you have partaken. That’s why it’s so important to guard your mind!
Be careful about what you listen to
Music is also a powerful weapon the devil uses to enter the mind of people. Through all kinds of music, inspired by the kingdom of the devil, he misleads and deceives many people and occupies their minds. Once he has entered the mind of people, he will execute his destruction plan, through depressive and negative feelings, that will cause rebellion.
By using repetitive sounds and melodies that delight the mind, pleasant feelings are unleashed and people get into a trance. But these pleasant feelings won’t last long.
The melodies and lyrics do their work in the mind of the people and bring them into an unhappy state. They will be overwhelmed with dark depressive negative unclean thoughts, which they can’t control. They feel unhappy, and unloved, and will drown themselves in self-pity.
The only way to get rid of these negative feelings and thoughts is by listening to music again so that the pleasant feelings will return. And so they’ll become addicted to music and can’t live without music. Yes, they constantly need music in their lives.
Even Christian music can have a negative influence on the mind of people. Music works and manipulates the soul and not the spirit. You can sing spiritual songs out of your heart and out of your spirit, to the Lord, but that goes from the inside out and not from the outside in.
Guard your mind for books
There are many people, who can spend hours reading their favorite books. They read one book after the other, while they can hardly read the Bible for 10 minutes. They feed their mind with every word they read, and transfer these words into images and store them in their mind. There’s hardly any book, that doesn’t contain fantasies, misery, mistreatment, depression, sexual content, adultery, fornication, divorce, drugs, crime, witchcraft, magic, sickness, mental problems, etc. The mind of the people, who read (fictional) books with this content, will be possessed by the world. They’ll get a twisted mind, which doesn’t correspond with reality.
Books can be very dangerous. For example, when someone loves reading romantic novels, and spend hours a day reading one novel after the other, then this person shall consider the content and the romantic storylines as reality. The person shall create an unreal image of love, marriage, and family life. Because of this false interception, the person can experience problems in life, because the reality and the truth, don’t correspond with the perfect fictional image that the person has created by reading all these books.
If the person wants to lead a normal and happy life, then the person shall have to destroy all these strongholds; all these lies with the truth. This can only be done with the Word of God. The person needs to renew the mind with what the Word of God says about love, marriage, and family life.
Guard your mind against false doctrines
But the devil not only works through the media and entertainment industry, to keep people in bondage. The devil also uses preachers and leaders of churches, who still love the world, and can’t let go of the world and live a carnal life. They mix the Word of God with the wisdom and knowledge of the world and preach another gospel.
Most of them are charismatic speakers, who are talented in their speech. It all seems very promising and hopeful. Until storms will come and enter the lives of Christians and they are overwhelmed and can hardly stand. The reason why they can hardly stand against these storms is that they haven’t been spiritually prepared. They have listened to messages that only promise prosperity instead of hardships. They haven’t been taught, how to deal with storms in life.
Therefore believers, be careful and guard your mind against false doctrines. Don’t just take and accept any doctrine that is preached, but always check if the doctrine lines up with the Word (Read also: ‘Many pastors lead the sheep into the abyss‘ and ‘The wolves in sheep’s clothing who wreak havoc‘).
Don’t live like the world, but live like the Word
Through all these sources the devil tries to make the believers and followers of Jesus Christ lukewarm. He tries to keep them away from the Word of God and prayer. As soon as the devil has entered the mind of a believer, the devil will ensure that the person becomes lukewarm, and indifferent towards sin and cause the believer to live like the world.
The devil makes sure, that Christians fall asleep spiritually, and become passive in spiritual warfare. So that the devil can continue his work of destruction
But the Word says that we shouldn’t be conformed to this world and live like the world. But that we should renew our minds with the Word of God so that we will become like the Word, and live like the Word; Jesus Christ.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2)
If you feed the flesh you will bear the fruit of the flesh
When you feed your mind with the things of the world, you will feed your flesh. Because you can’t feed your spirit with the things of this world, that’s impossible.
When you don’t guard your mind and feed your mind with worldly things and set your mind on the things of this world, then your thoughts, feelings, and emotions shall direct your life. You shall be tossed to and fro. You shall be controlled by the flesh, instead of the Spirit. You shall not be happy and shall experience emptiness in your life.
The things that are missing in your life shall become your point of focus. The more you focus on your lack, the more miserable you will become. This can lead to depression or even suicide. How many Christians are not happy and walk around with suicidal thoughts and sometimes even commit suicide?
Stay in the Word and experience the peace of God
But if you renew your mind with the Word of God and guard your mind, you shall stay in the Word. As long as you stay in the Word, you shall first of all experience a peace that passes all understanding. You shall not only experience peace, but you shall be happy, joyful, and satisfied. Because your life is in Him. You trust in the Lord and keep your mind on Him. You know that He wants the best for your life.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3)
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7)
When you are not happy and don’t experience any peace in your mind or if you are constantly being tortured and overwhelmed by fearful thoughts and anxieties then it’s important to examine where you spend your time at. To what things do you dedicate your time?
Do you spend your time in the Word? Or do you spend your time in the world and the things of the world? Do you feed your mind with the Word of God or do you feed your mind with television, movies, games, books, magazines, social media, etc.?
You are responsible for the fruit in your life
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1-2).
The Word says, that if you are risen with Christ, you should seek those things which are above, where Jesus Christ is seated.
But you also have a choice to seek those things, which are upon this earth, and which are of the world.
You are responsible for the choices you make in your life, and no one else. You decide what fruit you will bear in your life.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
