The Battle of the Mind (Part 2) – What Would Jesus Do?

Get to know the mind of Christ by asking “What would Jesus do?“

The outcome of daily battles that occur in your mind between the you want to be and your old self, pop culture and Satan is determined by what and how you think.  Knowing your enemies and the strategies and tactics they employ to keep you depressed, hold you back and create chaos in your life is the first step to winning these battles. Part 1 of this 2 part series examined this step.

The second step is having the right weapons to fight them.  Here’s what you need in your arsenal.  Surprisingly, you don’t need many, rather just two very powerful weapons.

1. Jesus as your role model.  Now, I know I risk losing some of you with that suggestion, but hear me out.  You don’t have to be a Christian or believe Jesus was who he said he was.  I am only saying if you examine his behavior and the example he set in living his life, it will tightly align with who you want to become.  A role model is simply someone whose behavior, example and success is worthy of emulation.  Jesus provides the framework to properly fight our daily battles.
2. Take captive every thought and make it obedient to that framework.  To do this, you need to understand what it means to take a thought captive.  It is comprised of awareness and ability.
   • To master awareness, you need to make a habit of calming and clearing your mind.  I’ve discussed this in prior blogs:
     • What’s Your Morning Ritual?
     • Take 2 “Gratefuls” and Call Me in the Morning
     • Friction. Choices, Choices?
     • Calm, Assertive Energy
   • To master ability, you need to make a habit of replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts, replacing the wrong with the right.  Practice the principle of replacement.  Don’t try to control your bad thoughts, rather allow them to enter your mind and then replace them with something good.  Whatever you want to change, don’t resist it; replace it.

I hope you will meditate on these two suggestions and use them to fight the enemies in the daily battles of your mind.

As a player-coach, I do not teach anything I do not practice myself.  This isn’t ivory tower theory.  It’s role-up-the-sleeves, knuckles-in-the-dirt, hand-to-hand combat.  I’m in the trenches with you always asking, “What would Jesus do?“