Creflo Dollar - The Battle Of The Mind, Part 4
So, are you willing to discipline yourself in your thinking? Discipline yourself in renewing your mind to think in line with God's Word. How to win the battle of the mind. You see the battle. How do you win it? I just said it: by renewing your mind. How do you win the battle of the mind? Well, let me give it out to you in seven points. Number one, let's go to St. John 8:44 and 45. How do you win the battle of the mind? Number one, realize that Satan is a liar. You have to understand something. Satan is a liar. That's all he will ever be is a liar.
So, if you're not hearing from God, you're hearing from Satan, who's a liar, which means that whatever he's telling you is a lie. That's his nature, to lie. God's not a liar. God can't lie, because whatever he says will come to pass. He doesn't even have the ability to lie. If your dog goes outside by the trash can, and God says it's a goat, it's a goat. It's gonna change to a goat 'cause he said it. He cannot lie. God, who cannot lie. But look what he says here. He says, "You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of lies". And you listen to every word he says.
Your life, ladies and gentlemen, may be a sum total of lies. Think of that. Think of getting into the spirit world after you die, and everything comes very visible, and you realize your whole life was made up of a bunch of lies. Oh, now, that is tormenting, that is tormenting. I mean, even before you talk about hell's fire, that's tormenting, realizing that you kept bumping into the truth, but you chose darkness over light. You kept choosing a lie over the truth. And what makes you so sure that you're not living a lie? What makes you sure? You know, you think, well, by submitting to your perversion, that's your truth. No, you just submitted to a lie. Your resistance was your truth. Your resistance was your truth, but you can't resist and win without God.
So, you keep talking about, you know, you went from the truth of God's Word to my truth, or your truth. Do you see how perverted this stuff has gotten? It's just messed up. And how do you know? Are you sure that your life is not a sum total of a bunch of lies? 'Cause you're gonna find out one day. Unfortunately, when you find out, if you refuse to hear gospel, if you refuse the truth of God's gospel, then the only way you're gonna find out is when you die. When you find out you've been living by a lie, it's too late. You can't do nothing about it. 'Cause once you die, that's it. I mean, once you realize after you've died, I mean, that's it. And it's like, wow. People don't wanna hear that. And so what happens, rather than hearing this truth, it pains them so much, and the reality of the conviction that comes over them, they just say, "I'm running away from God".
You know, some of them might've just logged off right now. "I don't want to hear no more of this, 'cause it's making me feel guilty". I'm not here to try to make you feel guilty. That is not my job. My job is to love you, and my job is to teach the truth to you. My job is to speak the truth in love to you. That's what my job is. But at the same time, ladies and gentlemen, how do you know that you're not living a lie? Now, you can ask me the same question. "Well, how do you know you're not living a lie"? Because I have too much evidence of the Word of God working in my life, too much, too much. I mean, all the way down to, you know, trusting God for my dog to come home when he ran away. And God does it. I mean, too much. I've got almost 40 years of too many testimonies. This thing's working over and over and over and over and over again for 40 years.
Are you kidding me? I know there's a God. I know his Word is real. I am qualified to preach the truth of his Word, because it's like, all right, let's say for example, you know, we take a recipe, two recipes, and they're recipes for chocolate cake. And the only way to find out who has the true recipe, the only way to find out, you know what I'm gonna say, is go in the kitchen and cook it. You've gotta go in the kitchen and cook it. And if you go in the kitchen and cook it, then you'll prove who has the true recipe. I'm telling you, I've gone in the kitchen, and I've cooked this Word. It's the true recipe. But I've also gone in the kitchen, and I cooked Satan's lies, and it didn't work, and it didn't work, and it didn't do nothing like the truth did. And the truth will make you free from all of Satan's lies. But that's how you do it. That's how you do it. But if you're not gonna be spending enough time to find out what the recipe is, if you're just gonna be half-cocked in the recipe, "Well, I tried it. It didn't work". You don't even know enough to talk about you tried something. "I tried it. It didn't work. I used to go to church, but it didn't work. I used to".
No, no, no, no, no. You've gotta understand. Being a Christian, it's about a personal relationship with God. Don't blame it on the church, church hurt, and church this, and church that. No, this is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not what happened at church. It's about what happened when you left the church. It's about what happened when you were at home, when you went to bed, when you got up in the morning. It was about how did you apply the Scriptures to your everyday life? I know I'm living the truth. It's too much evidence, too much evidence, could've died too many times, could've lost everything too many times. Too many times, didn't know where millions of dollars was gonna come from to keep this ministry going. Too many times, he rescued me. Oh, too many times, he picked me up out of a ditch. Too many times, he encouraged me. Too many times, he changed my mind when I didn't even want to be here no more. Too many times. Too many times.
I know he's real, I know he's real, and now I know he's real because he lives in me, and I talk to him, and he talks back to me, and he gives me instructions, and he shows me what to do, and he shows me where to go. And when I get there, nobody but God could've taken me there. Nobody but God could've shown me that. Nobody but God could've delivered me. Nobody but God could've healed me. There are people who are dead of the same things I had. I tell you how I know he's real. 'Cause he lives in me. He walks with me, he talks with me. And the lying devil tries to imitate the same thing, but it doesn't come out the same way, because his end is always destruction, panic, fear, condemnation, shame, guilt, worry. That's not God. That's not God. That's not God.
I believe he's calling you to him today. I believe all over this world, he's calling you to him today. And I know, I know you can allow your intellect to come up, and you can be intellectual about the philosophy that you're presently in, but it's not God's Word. Honey, just be a little smart to recognize, if there's no proof in the pudding, then it's probably not pudding, and you need to wake up and smell the coffee. God wants to be good to everybody, like he's been to me and Taffi and other people who know God, who won't let him go, and that even when things were lost in our life, and there were weird things that happened in our life, you know what? We still didn't leave him, and he got us through, because I've come to know him as a vindicator. I've come to understand that when you do things out of the sincerity of your heart, you don't need anybody's validation, because you do it because of your heart to do it. I've come to know him as a comforter. I've come to know him as a restorer. Glory be to God, that God is good, God is too good, God is so good, God is so good.
And see, he's so good to me, I can't even understand why he's so good, but I trust him, and I'm never, ever going to not trust him, and I'm not leaving him, and there's no philosophy here in this world that can take me away from him. And when my last day comes, and I see it for the last time, the excitement that I have, which is different from somebody who doesn't know the truth... death, for a believer, is one of the most exciting things ever. Oh my gosh. But death for somebody who was living a lie, and deep down inside their spirit they knew it was a lie, it's a whole different thing, it's a whole different thing. You can come out, if you want to, if you're willing to shut down the lies of the devil. He is a liar. And you win by recognizing, number one, that he's a liar.
Number two, Romans chapter 12, verses 2 in the King James and then the Amplified. Romans 12, let's look at 1, 2, and 3 in the King James and the Amplified. So, you realize he's a liar, and then, number two, you immediately get yourself in a lifestyle of renewing your mind. Renewing the mind is exchanging your thoughts for God's thoughts. The renewing the mind is exchanging your opinions from what God has to say. Renewing the mind is I check my thinking when I lay it on top of God's Word. What does he think about this, okay? Well, he says here in verse 1 through 3, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service".
So, he's asking for dedication of your whole self, including your body. You know how people used to say, "Well, I wasn't there at church tonight, but I was there in spirit"? No, he don't want you there in spirit. He wants your body there, your spirit and your soul, okay? He's talking about worship. He's talking about a commitment and a dedication to worship him. Since he has released and given you all this mercy and grace, your reasonable service, worship him for this greatness that he's done. Verse 2, he says, "And be not conformed to this world". Be not conformed to this world.
If you're still addicted to some kind of substance, if you're still depressed, if you're still oppressed, if you're still guilty and full of shame, you're conforming with the world. That's life of people who are not in Christ and who have not renewed their mind. You're still conformed to the world. You know, you can be a Christian and still be conformed to the world. What is it that a person gets born again and the same sinful, addictive, lustful life, it never goes away? Because you've never started renewing your mind. A number of Christians that get born again, and they come to church, and they suffer the same situation before, because they didn't renew their mind. And so they remain conformed because they don't do what's necessary to not be conformed with the world. He says, "But be ye transformed". So, you can change. That word "transformed" means change. He said, "Be ye transformed," then he tells you how: by renewing your mind.
See, you get born again, the part of you that got born again was your spirit. Your soul didn't get born again. Your body didn't get born again. Your spirit gets born again, your mind's got to be renewed, and your body will follow suit. And he says that change won't take place until you renew your mind. No wonder we've got so many baby Christians in the body of Christ, immature Christians. What do you mean, immature Christians? Christians that will dissociate with you because of your political party platform. That's immature. Are you kidding me? You're gonna break up with somebody that's been your friend for 10 years because they have a different party platform than you do. That's immature Christianity. You're immature. You're immature. And I have had enough of that.
Get in ought and get in strife with somebody because they don't agree with you, and you don't know how to disagree agreeably. There's nowhere in the Bible, nowhere in the Bible that gives you the right to be in strife with somebody and to be division, have division between you and somebody else because y'all difference politically. It ain't in the Bible! And you need to grow up. You need to change. But the reason why you do that, you just told on yourself, you're not renewing your mind. You're acting like that, you just told on yourself. You're immature because you've not been renewing your mind. You're conformed with the world. You're conforming with society. That's how that operates. But he says you can change. Be transformed. How? By renewing your mind, by renewing your mind. Be changed, how? By renewing your mind.
See, we try to change through self-effort and self-discipline, and that doesn't work. It doesn't work. You can say, "I ain't gonna cuss no more," and do it successfully for three weeks. But boy, just let something happen that fourth week. Bam, you done went back. No, it's renewing the mind. Change won't come God's way until you renew your mind with the Word of God. Look what he says. "He says, 'Be transformed by the renewing of your mind'". Why should I renew my mind? Now, you can prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You wanna prove, you wanna prove the will of God? You wanna prove that good part, that acceptable part? You wanna prove that perfect part, the perfect will of God for your life? He says you've gotta renew your mind.
See, as Christian people, been born again, but we don't renew our minds, you know, we're thinking, we'll, we're gonna prove the good and the acceptable and the perfect will of God, it won't happen until your thought life lines up with the Word of God. It will not happen, it will not happen. And that's one thing for a Christian. But think about the sinner who has none of God's thoughts in his mind, except the little he got when his grandma was alive. Think about that guy, think about that guy who's not born again. Think about that guy, who Jesus died for, a murderer, Jesus died to save him from his sins, and he won't even accept it. He won't even accept it. And so when he dies and goes to hell for rejecting Jesus, he later on finds out then, all you had to do is accept Jesus.
Oh, wow, that's torment by itself. Well, that's what happens when you don't renew your mind. People are destroyed because of lack of knowledge. They are destroyed because of what they don't know, and they want church to be simple, and cool, and meet their satisfaction. And that's not how this works. Our objective is not to have a relationship with God only when it pleases us. Our objective is to have a relationship with God to please him. So, are you in it for self-pleasure? Are you in it so that you can be pleased? Or are you in it to please the Lord?
Like I said, I don't have to fight anybody over all this stuff 'cause we're all going to die one day. I don't have to do that. I won't do that. I will love you, and all that kind of stuff, but I'm not gonna fight you for your deliverance. I'm not gonna fight you for your deliverance. And neither am I gonna lose my peace because you decide, "I don't want to do it that way". And I'm not trying to be mean or any of those kind of things. Ooh, sometimes the truth can come a little, you know, edgy. And boy, I tell you, renewing the mind, this is what you've gotta do. You have got to renew your mind.
Now, let's go to number three. How do I win the battle in the mind? Become aware of how we really think and believe. I mentioned that earlier a little bit. Become aware of how we really think and believe. How do you really think? What do you really believe? And if you believe right, you'll live right. But if you think right, you'll believe right. So, become aware of that. Look at yourself in the mirror, I mean a mirror of truth.
Number four, become aware of how God wants us to think. Are you aware of how God wants you to think? Have you opened this up so that you can become aware of how God wants you to think? Wow.
Number five, focus our thoughts on God's thoughts. Focus our thoughts on God's thoughts or God's words. What am I thinking about? Is it in line with God's Word?
Number six, practice the thoughts of God until they become your own thoughts. Practice the thoughts of God until his thoughts become your thoughts. And then finally, live the thoughts of God in your everyday life. Live the thoughts of God in your everyday life. And as you begin to do this, you begin to see some amazing things in your life. Let me close with this Scripture in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 through 5 in the New King James Bible, please, and the Amplified, New King James Bible and the Amplified. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 through 5. Renewing the mind is a lifestyle. It's not an event, and it's not an experience. It's something you're committing to do for your life.
Look at this. He says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal," or fleshy, "but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds". Strongholds exist in the mind. They're fortified thoughts in your mind. He says, "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God". So, he tells us right there, if there's some kind of thought in your mind that tries to exalt itself against the Word of God, you need to cast that thought down. He said, "bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ". So, he's telling you how to be a good-maintenance person over your mind. He's telling you how to check out your thought life.
Now watch this. "For the weapons of our warfare are not physical (weapons of flesh and blood)". So, we're not talking about that. He says, "but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds". So, the Word of God will attack and overthrow the strongholds in your mind, those strongholds that are behind addictive behavior and lasciviousness. Lasciviousness means having no restraints. You're trying to find a break, but you just can't seem to find it. Go ahead.
"[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)", come on, "Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete".
So, you know what he's saying basically? Learn how to be a good custodian over your thought life. How do you do that? You've gotta understand the Word and use the Word to bring down those negative thoughts. I did this Wednesday, I'll do it again. Say, count, let's count from one to ten in your mind. Don't say it with your mouth. Ready? Go. Now say your name. What happened to the counting? You had to stop 'cause your mouth opened and interrupted the thing that was going on in your mind. That's what happens when the negative thoughts in your mind and the devil's talking to you in your mind, open your mouth up and speak the Word of God and pull that thought down. That's how you bring the thoughts into captivity.