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Episode #49 "It's A Mind Thing "
Transcript
Satan knows that as a born-again believer you are God’s precious child. That is exactly why he’s unloading his arsenal upon you. Satan hates God more than anyone in the universe. Satan wants to hurt God more than anyone. Satan knows that God loves you more than anything. His surest way to hurt God is to attack the love of God’s heart—you.
Satan’s primary strategy in his war against God is to attack your mind. He knows that if he can impress your thinking, he can impact your living!
Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. I’m your host, Steve Etner, Author, National Speaker, and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry. Welcome to episode #49 as we continue our mini-series on How to live FOR Christ. Today’s episode is entitled “It’s a Mind Thing!”
Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT)
What a glorious promise! When your mind is totally focused on God, you are in a place of complete safety. In that place you’re able to experience the quiet contentment and soundness of mind that is true, genuine peace. You can have complete confidence in God, no matter what may be happening around you, all because your mind is fixed on your Heavenly Father!
- Want peace in your marriage? Focus on God.
- Want peace in your finances? Focus on God.
- Want peace in the midst of your trials and testing? Focus on God!
- Want peace in the midst of all the confusion of life? Focus on God!
When your mind is “steadfast” — when it is leaning entirely upon God for everything you need — God promises to keep you in the place of peace. And not just any peace — perfect peace.
Does that mean that you won’t have any conflict, trouble, or trials? No. Paul describes this peace as a “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” It’s a peace that “will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
No matter what may be happening around you, no matter what the situation, the conflict, the trial, or test — no matter what — when your mind is fixed on the Father, His peace will guard your heart and mind. You will not be sucked under by the powerful pull of the enemy.
When you fully trust in the Lord, when your utmost confidence is placed in the Savior of your soul, you “will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
Did you catch that? The trials of temptation will come. You will experience the heat of drought. But when your trust and confidence is firmly placed on God, even in the midst of the temptation and the trials - you will bear fruit!
Criminologists have learned that whatever their specialty — burglary, theft, arson, etc. — professional criminals have an “M.O.” (modus operandi—Latin for “operating method”). Each criminal has a particular way of operating and will tend to adhere to that way whenever perpetrating a crime.
Did you know Satan has an M.O. as well? Paul says of Satan, “We are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) In other words, we already know his operating method. That means you don’t have to go into battle against your spiritual foe ignorant of the tactics he’s going to use against you.
Consider this: Satan attacks your mind with lies to turn you against God’s will.
God’s will is revealed in God’s Word – 2 Timothy 2:15 calls it “the word of truth.” Don’t miss the significance of that statement. God’s Word is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – absolute truth absolutely.
James warns us that when you choose to just listen to God’s Word and do nothing about it, you are being deceived. That is exactly what Satan wants—he wants you to be deceived. In fact, he is a master at deception. Jesus said that Satan does “not (hold) to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:43-44) Revelation 12:9 tells us that Satan is “that ancient serpent ... who leads the whole world astray.” The Devil is a master deceiver.
With that background on Satan, let’s look at Genesis 3:1-7
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” (Genesis 3:1-7)
Remember, Satan hates God. So what we are seeing here in Genesis 3 is that Satan wanted to attack God. He chose to do so by attacking the one part of God’s creation that meant the most to Him. Interestingly, Satan didn’t go for a direct, frontal assault. Nor did he use some form of excruciating torture. He simply started an outwardly innocent conversation focused around one simple goal: to change the way Eve thought about God.
Remember, if he can impress your thinking, he will impact your living.
Here is a critical point: Satan attacked Eve’s mind. The Apostle Paul declared “I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3 NIV)
Satan uses that same method on us as well. Why? Because “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) What you think will eventually become what you do. When your thoughts are focused on King Me, your choices and actions will be for King Me. That’s why we are commanded (in 2 Corinthians 10:5) to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” That’s why we are to think only on the things that are “true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8)
Satan wants to draw you away from the Almighty God of the Universe. He hates God, and he is going to try to use you to wound Him. So, if we are not ignorant of his devises, if we are going to prepare our minds for the action of protecting ourselves from his deceitful lies – what must we do?
In the next couple of episodes, we are going to take a brief but powerful look at the steps Satan took to get Eve to sin and discover that he still uses those same 3 steps today to lead you into sin.
Before I wrap up today’s episode, I have a personal request of you.
As I look around me at the events that are rapidly unfolding, I am becoming more and more convinced that our time here on earth is running out. Very soon God’s trumpet is going to sound, and our Heavenly Father is going to call His children home.
I must confess to you that I feel the irresistible urge, the undeniable draw to make these last days ones that are completely and unreservedly focused on glorifying God in every aspect of my life.
I can so relate to Acts 20:22, 24 where the Apostle Paul says “I am bound by the Spirit ... I don’t know what awaits me, But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
For me, I am bound by the Spirit to the task of pointing men and women toward the power of Christ and the impact that God’s Word can have in their everyday lives. I am compelled to show them from Scripture how to live in victory and freedom ... specifically, from the lure of lust, the pull of porn and the magnet of masturbation.
I don’t know how many more years God is going to give me – but I am committed to dedicating every one of those years to this ministry ... and I’m asking for your help.
If you share our desire to see men walk in integrity and live in purity – I am personally inviting you to join our team of ministry partners! We have set the goal of raising $46,000 to cover our cost of operating this ministry for 2022.
Through your financial gifts – The Pure Man Ministry is able to pour into the hearts of both men and women (literally across the globe), investing in their lives, their marriages, their homes and even their churches - training them from God's Word how they can live free from addiction to porn, lust and masturbation ... all to the glory of God. Your support makes this possible.
Without compromise The Pure Man Ministry shows men and women how to have a continuous relationship with Jesus that is real and personal. To that end we are asking for your financial assistance to partner with us in providing hope and helping men win their personal battles. Help us raise $46,000.
Your gifts to this ministry are deeply appreciated - and are tax deductible!
If God is moving in your heart to become a financial partner with us, you can visit our website at www.thepuritycoach.com and click on the “Donate” button in the upper right corner to give your tax-deductible donation today. Please help us reach our goal so we can reach the world with the message of hope, healing and restoration. THANK YOU!
And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!
So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.