The Battlefield - Week 4

On Tuesdays I am doing a Bible study of the book "The Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer. It's a great book, and I encourage anyone to read it!

Last week I wrote about how I was going to try to have a positive outlook on my life, and to work on praying and reciting scripture aloud to fight away mind-binding spirits.

Well this past week has been a doozy, I guess you could say :-) I was extremely stressed out about some things having to do with the beginning of the school year. I had to fight some very worrisome thoughts. I always struggle with this, but this week it was much worse than usual, even. But I did try to pray aloud and recite scripture aloud, and it helped! The verse that I proclaimed as my own this week was Psalm 28:7 -

"The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy, and I will give thanks to him in song."

I inevitably faced the things that were causing me so much stress on opening day at work. Everything turned out fine, as I knew it would. But once the worry was gone, I had to face something else this weekend and today!

I've been having trouble sleeping lately, school is starting, I've been sick, and getting up at 5:50 in the morning is not helping. I have been fighting this horrible mood for about three days now! I feel so bad for Luke. I have had to keep myself distanced from him because I keep blowing up at him for really stupid things. I feel really bad for him! I'm pretty much Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde over here. These crazy mood swings are something I haven't dealt with in a long time, and I am not dealing well! I've been trying to fight the negative thoughts and the complaining, but it is so hard! I'm working on it, though. I'm chalking it up to being a little stressed out and overly tired, and I'm trying to focus on the things that I'm thankful for to ward off the anger. Funny that the week I read about staying positive is the week when I'm feeling sooo negative. It's good practice, I guess :-)

Okay, now onto this week. Chapters 7 & 8.

Chapter 7: Think about what You're Thinking about

This chapter sounds simple enough: We need to really think about what we are thinking about. I have sort of been doing this since I started reading the book a few weeks ago (because I knew this chapter was coming up. Ha! Remember, I read it a year ago, too). I've found that I think about things that worry me a lot, and I dwell on problems or negative things a lot too. I also struggle with envious thoughts.

This chapter talks about how important it is for us to meditate on God's word. The more we meditate and delve deeply into the word, the more wisdom we will have, and the more likely we will be to dwell on Good things, i.e. The Word, instead of the bad things.

One thing that really stuck out to me in the chapter was when Joyce pointed out that when we're upset, we usually blame it on things that are going on AROUND us. But really, we are probably upset because of things that are going on WITHIN us. This is so true! This is a really good thing to keep in mind.

Chapter 8: When is my Mind Normal?

In this chapter, Joyce speaks about how our "normal" mind should be. "Normal" meaning, how God wants it to be without all the lies and bad thoughts from the enemy.

Basically, the "normal" mind should be calm. At peace. No crazy, wandering thoughts or panic, worry, confusion, etc. Because if our mind is calm, we can hear the "still, small voice" of the Holy Spirit. If our minds are not at peace, more often than not, we will miss what the Lord is trying to tell us.

Application:

I will work on MEDITATING on the word this week instead of just reading it. I will reflect on what I've read and pray that God brings a deeper understanding and more wisdom to me.

I will also pay attention, again, to the kinds of thoughts I am having. And I will try to keep my mind calm, avoiding panic and worry. Basically this will just be more of what I did all week last week!