Last year I sent out a message that began with William Branham’s teaching on the mind and ended up with mine. I have realized more and more over the years that one of the primary strongholds in our lives has to do with how we think, and what we think about ourselves, others and our relationship with God. Proverbs says that as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. That is why Proverbs also says to guard your heart with all due diligence. The mind or thought life is the gateway or governor into the heart. If a thought can enter into the mind and get past the mind into the heart, it is there that it will turn into an ungodly mindset. An ungodly mindset is any thought that is rooted in the heart that does not agree with scripture. We all have them.

These ungodly mindsets are developed over time through our everyday life experiences. It is when we begin to believe our experiences more than we believe in His Word, that  a mindset is developed. If this is allowed to take root it will generally manifest in other different ways. Remember that an ungodly mindset is called sin and we all know the consequences of sin on our overall health, peace and well being. If you are not living in peace, or experiencing the abundant life that is available to you, you probably are believing a lie of an ungodly mindset about someone, yourself, or God.

For example, I talked to someone the other day, a Christian, who said that they did not believe that God wanted to heal everyone. This thought is pervasive in the modern church today. I asked her why she felt that way. She stated that she knew a pastor, a real man of God, a man of faith who was loved by all. He had an illness  and really believed that he would be healed. Many faith filled people were praying for him and right up to the end he believed he would be healed, but he died. How many of us here have had similar experiences? How many have had faith challenges and try as you may, you feel like you fell short or what you were believing for didn’t come to pass as you expected? I know I have.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous but God will deliver us from them all. By His stripes we are healed. These signs will follow those that believe: they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. If any among you are sick, call for the elders of the church, they will anoint you with oil and the prayer of faith will save or heal you. I am the Lord who heals you. I pray above all things that you prosper and be in good health as your soul prospers. On and on are the scriptures that release to us the promises of God. They are available to us and our God withholds no good thing from those that love Him. So why do we have such a struggle in believing these things? Why have we not experienced more of these promises in our lives? Because simply put, we do not consistently believe in them. Many say its hard to believe after experiencing such disappointments. I do understand that but we must not allow experiences and emotions to rule our lives and carry more power than His Word. As long as the enemy can keep you on the plane of emotions, he will always be able to control you. Jesus said His yoke was easy and His burden light. So even when we buy into how hard it is to live by faith, we have taken the bait.

So how do we get victory over our thought life? We learn to meditate, to think, on God’s truths. All of us meditate all the time. We are always thinking on something. I have found that a person who does not walk in peace is allowing their mind to go round and round like a broken record, thinking primarily about their circumstances in life and on negative things. It is not even on a conscious level. We have programmed ourselves that way. So what can we do to reprogram what we meditate on from one thought to another? I will show you some very simple, yet very powerful ways to do this. I want you to remember one thing from now on: (change your thought, change your life). This will be impossible for you to do if you attempt to do it in your own strength. We need the grace of God to receive this and to carry it out; and He gives grace to the humble. I tell you, brothers and sisters, if we will prayerfully read and study this book about the cross, learn to take a deep look into the cross, ourselves, and our problems, then all sickness, all sin, all self, will just fade away. Within the cross lies the answers to all of our issues, every single one of them. That is why we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on the problems.

• Submit to God. James 4:7
• Resist the devil. James 4:7
• Cast down every vain imagination. 2nd Corinthians 10:5
• Replace imagination with truth. Philippians 4:6-9

Let us ask God for the grace to receive the revelation of what it really means to submit to Him. In order to submit to God we must know what that means. Picking up your cross daily, laying down your life daily, is when your will meets God’s will. Many times we skip past step one and attempt to resist the devil on our own soulish strength. That is a recipe for disaster. Father, give each one of us the grace to submit our thoughts to you. When any thought enters in that is evil, contrary, or does not line up with Your Word, please show it to us clearly, and grace us with the ability to first submit that thought to You.

Father, after we have submitted our minds totally over to Your will, submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we ask You to give us Your strength, Your anointing, Your power by Holy Spirit, to resist the devil on every front. Help us to be like Jesus in Luke 4:1-14 who did not entertain any thought that the devil threw at Him, did not try to argue or defend, but only declared, it is written, it is written, it is written, and Satan left (fled).

Father help us to recognize whenever a vain imagination, (an ungodly thought, reasoning, theory, argument), attempts to take root in our heart, and grace us with Your power to defeat it. Help us to instantly recognize this deception and to cast it down to the pit immediately. 2nd Corinthians 10:6. Help us, Father, to refute all arguments, theories and reasonings and every other proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. Grace us to be able to take those thoughts captive, to capture them and to cast them into the fiery pit, making them submit and be obedient to Christ.

Father, help us to think and to meditate (chew on) You. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and to think on these things: (whatever is true, tranquil, holy, worthy, honorable, just, seemly, pure, lovely and lovable). Father grace us with the ability to not fret or have anxiety about anything, but to first come to You with everything, in true humility, in true prayer and petition, and especially thanksgiving, which helps us to enter into Your courts of praise, into Your presence. Father we ask for that peace, that peace that surpasses all understanding, that surpasses our circumstances, our pain, our anxiety, our life. Thank you Father for this peace that you offer us today. Philippians 4:6-9. Thank you for helping us to replace these vain thoughts with Your Word and Your God thoughts. Thank you today for victory and grace us to be able to focus on the cross, in true victory and peace today, in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen and amen.