1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,180 Welcome to the Prospering Soul Podcast. 2 00:00:04,180 --> 00:00:09,000 This limited series is all about how to take care of your soul and how to make sure you 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,280 understand the ways to be healthy and balanced in life. 4 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:19,120 In this series, John Meadert, lead pastor of Cross City Church, sits down to explain 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:24,200 one of the most important secrets of his own spiritual growth and a detailed explanation 6 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:29,080 of how people change. 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:30,640 Welcome back to the Prospering Soul. 8 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,380 This is John Meadert, pastor at Cross City Church. 9 00:00:34,380 --> 00:00:37,520 We are focusing on how to have a prospering soul. 10 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:43,400 This is the ninth episode of Prospering Soul, which means that we have laid down a foundation 11 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:48,680 for what it means to have a soul that is your mind, will, and emotions that resides inside 12 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:54,040 of your body, that's influenced by your spirit, the Holy Spirit living inside of you if you're 13 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,160 a believer. 14 00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,680 Your soul has an entrance way, it's called the mind. 15 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:05,080 When thoughts begin to take place, then it begins to affect your will and your emotions, 16 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,760 the mind, will, and emotions is really the essence of what the soul is all about. 17 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:12,640 It's how you operate from day to day. 18 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:18,740 Today I want to talk to you about what I call my favorite weapon when it comes to dealing 19 00:01:18,740 --> 00:01:21,200 with this battle of the soul. 20 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:26,280 It's also a favorite weapon when it comes to knowing who to open the door to in my thought 21 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:32,040 life because the thought life influences so much of what we feel and what we do that you 22 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,160 really have to be a guard over the gate. 23 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:43,120 I remember teaching this subject some time ago and referring back to John Bunyan's book 24 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:46,680 called The War of Man Soul. 25 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:51,840 He combines the word man and the word soul into one and he uses an allegorical approach 26 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,040 to tell the story of the castle of Manso. 27 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,800 When the enemies come against the castle of Manso, they come against the eye gate, the 28 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:05,640 ear gate, the mouth gate, the nose gate, and the mind gate. 29 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:11,640 In other words, all of our senses beginning with the mind is how the enemy gains interest 30 00:02:11,640 --> 00:02:13,200 into the castle of Manso. 31 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,600 I've always remembered that and I believe it's true today and that's why we want to 32 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:24,080 focus on my favorite weapon that you happen to find in the Bible for knowing how to keep 33 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:33,120 that front door of your mind closed to lies and to statements and speculations and strongholds 34 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:38,040 that would keep you in bondage to responding in a poor way emotionally. 35 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:43,520 It would keep you in a poor mental health state if you don't guard your door. 36 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,080 So we're going to talk about this favorite weapon of mine. 37 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:52,080 I'll remind you that we have a couple of diagrams that we posted in the previous episode and 38 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,160 those diagrams are very, very helpful. 39 00:02:55,160 --> 00:03:00,600 You see them visually when you look at our podcast but also I verbalized those in our 40 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:02,480 last episode. 41 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:08,040 One of them has to do with a pendulum, that there is an acceptable range of movement with 42 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:14,560 any pendulum but if it's not grounded in the gravitational truth that God gives us, 43 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:20,440 the absolute truth that's non-negotiable, then whenever things affect us to the positive 44 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:26,680 or the negative emotionally, we can become out of balance and more extreme. 45 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,840 At the very extreme end of this is bipolar kind of responses where people are either 46 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:39,120 angry, hopeless, depressed, feeling worthless, terrified, suicidal, so forth or on the more 47 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:46,720 energetic side where they are reckless and fanatical and obsessive and abusing chemicals, 48 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:52,000 thrill-seeking, etc. outside the range of acceptable behavior. 49 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,320 The reason that happens to them is because they're not any longer gravitationally pulled 50 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:57,320 to the truth. 51 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:02,920 If the truth is the gravitational force that holds us in balance, then the lies are what 52 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:08,280 push us outward to more extreme behavior and at the end of that, it's a very complicated, 53 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:14,000 unhealthy way to live, it complicates relationships and it's pretty much the norm for today. 54 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,560 I really hate to say that but our world has moved from balanced to unbalanced. 55 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,960 Behavior in relationships have moved from balanced to unbalanced and marriages from 56 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,200 balanced to unbalanced. 57 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:31,480 It's no longer unusual for people to have psychotic behavior sometimes and it's kind 58 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:33,760 of a normal course of culture. 59 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:38,760 And obviously, look at your world that you live in, there are all kinds of ways of thinking 60 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:45,320 about gender or sexuality or political movements, whatever they may be, race, you just go on 61 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:48,720 and on and on that are clearly not in balance. 62 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:54,600 And without specifying all those things, let me just stay focused on balanced living and 63 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,400 the pendulum effect. 64 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:02,720 So my favorite weapon is a passage of scripture in 2 Corinthians and it's chapter 10 verses 65 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,400 3, 4 and 5 and I'm just going to read this passage but really the essence of what I'm 66 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:12,720 going to say to you today comes out of that passage of scripture. 67 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,000 And if you're looking at the diagram that I talked to you about, then the lies that 68 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:23,720 I refer to that get us out of balance are four phrases that this verse mentions. 69 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:30,320 It's no surprise to me that God wrote his scripture at least 2000 years ago and addresses 70 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:32,640 current day problems. 71 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:38,480 If God is God, if he is the ground of all truth, if he's a loving God, then he has provided 72 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:43,880 answers for us if we would just look and I find the answers to my balance or lack of 73 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:46,560 balance in the scriptures. 74 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,800 So here's what the Apostle Paul says about this kind of a mind gate that I've shared 75 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:52,080 with you in the battle of the mind. 76 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,760 I'm going to read the passage to you. 77 00:05:54,760 --> 00:06:01,200 It says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 78 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:05,480 So you know it's about a battle and basically Paul starts by saying, even though we're here 79 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:12,400 in our fleshly bodies, it's really not a hand to hand combat that we are dealing with here. 80 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:18,280 It's really not physical but spiritual and he goes on and says, for the weapons of our 81 00:06:18,280 --> 00:06:23,920 warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 82 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,600 So right away, Paul says you're in a battle. 83 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,320 It's not merely a battle of flesh and blood. 84 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:35,480 It's also a battle that has to do with ideas and thoughts and in the spiritual realm, those 85 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:42,560 things take place and we've been given weapons by which we can fight this battle, this war 86 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:43,560 and win. 87 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:48,440 Aren't you glad God gives us the battlefield implements we need to win the game? 88 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:54,680 He gives us the armor of God but he also gives us the offensive weapons to repel ideas and 89 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:56,800 thoughts that keep us in imbalance. 90 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,800 I said we're going to name those in this verse. 91 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:01,520 There are four of them. 92 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:07,400 It says, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, and count with me here, 93 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:12,180 but divinely powerful for the destruction of number one, fortresses. 94 00:07:12,180 --> 00:07:14,640 Number two, we are destroying speculations. 95 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:16,840 That's the second one. 96 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:21,160 And the third one, and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. 97 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:22,160 That's number three. 98 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:27,080 And then the last one is, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of 99 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:28,080 Christ. 100 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:32,160 So I know it's hard for you to remember all those things when you're listening to a podcast 101 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,920 but I'm going to boil them down into four very, very simple terms and those terms are 102 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:42,120 on our diagram that I referred to that we dropped in the eighth episode. 103 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:45,080 And I simply call these lies that damage us. 104 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,560 If truth grounds us, lies damage us. 105 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:54,840 And these four items are my wording of the four elements that are in that verse I just 106 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:55,840 read. 107 00:07:55,840 --> 00:08:02,480 And the first one is strongholds and the second one is speculations and the third one is wrong 108 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,600 views of God. 109 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:06,720 And the fourth one is uncaptivated thoughts. 110 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:11,080 So we're going to talk through those here over these next few moments. 111 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:16,280 As we start into this, let me just say never underestimate the power of your thoughts. 112 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,760 It's so incredibly important. 113 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,080 And never underestimate the enemy. 114 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:30,640 Now if you like history, nobody can forget December 7th, 1941. 115 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:37,800 The USA underestimated Japan, who flew a series of bomber sorties over Pearl Harbor, it's 116 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:44,320 become famous of course, from 7.55 a.m. to 9.45 a.m. the planes rained death down on 117 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:46,360 the US forces. 118 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:51,640 3,435 people were killed and the USA just simply watched and believed. 119 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:57,160 Our soldiers were there, the blocks, the ships were in the harbor, but they were attacked 120 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,320 where and when least expected. 121 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:04,920 And that invasion nearly destroyed the US fleet of ships in the Pacific. 122 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:09,160 And it's really quite incredible what took place. 123 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:14,480 And all of that because we underestimated the power of the enemy and at the time Japan was 124 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:21,040 an enemy of the United States of America as evidenced by their attack on America. 125 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:26,200 So I say all that to say never underestimate the power of your thoughts. 126 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:27,200 So that's what Paul's doing. 127 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:32,960 He's defending the mind against thoughts and specifically Paul is defending his apostleship 128 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:40,160 against accusers that claim that he's fleshly and so he's dealing with this by talking about 129 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:43,520 the weapons of war that help him weather it. 130 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:48,920 So we're in a spiritual battle with spiritual weapons and those weapons are what I named 131 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:50,400 a few moments ago. 132 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:55,760 I just want you to envision for just a moment something that you might be familiar with. 133 00:09:55,760 --> 00:10:00,240 I remember an old television show I used to watch called The Wild Wild West and one of 134 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:05,840 the really interesting pieces of that was that the key characters of The Wild Wild West 135 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,280 had a hidden doorway that opened to a vast array of weaponry. 136 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:15,080 I mean you know the movies today that they push a button and you open up a vast array 137 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:22,160 of pistols and knives and rifles and hand grenades and everything else. 138 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:27,040 And the idea is this is a well equipped person and don't mess with him. 139 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:34,360 So what Paul does for Christians is he gives them that drawer full of weapons and the weapons 140 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:39,080 of course are the word of God and the truth of the word of God but he also identifies 141 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:40,080 the enemy. 142 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:46,840 So let's look at that fourfold enemy, that fourfold battle that we face when we fight 143 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:48,280 for our thoughts. 144 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:52,320 First of all he says they're mighty through God, the weapons are mighty through God for 145 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:54,400 the destruction of fortresses. 146 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,440 I call these strongholds. 147 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:02,440 Now the Greek word for stronghold literally means a castle or a wall. 148 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,120 It refers to a fortress itself. 149 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:10,460 It's anything on which one relies and most of the time when this word is used it's used 150 00:11:10,460 --> 00:11:17,960 to denote something that has been walled out or something that's walled in. 151 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:23,040 And these are often used to describe strong points or argument in which one trusts but 152 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,360 in this case it's in the negative. 153 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:31,400 In other words the weapons of our warfare tear down the walls that keep us from balanced 154 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:33,160 living. 155 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,760 The walls that keep us from balanced living. 156 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:39,360 In other words we've built up walls in our life that need to be torn down and those walls 157 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:45,880 keep us thinking a certain thing when in fact those things aren't true and those things 158 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:47,820 are destructive. 159 00:11:47,820 --> 00:11:53,720 So imagine with me for just a few moments a lie that is destructive to your life that's 160 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:59,040 been walled up and you're inside that wall and you need to be breaking loose, breaking 161 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:00,160 free. 162 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,080 I often refer to my own struggle with anger. 163 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:09,440 Many refer to their struggle with lust where they know that there is a right way to think 164 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:11,700 and a wrong way to think. 165 00:12:11,700 --> 00:12:14,800 Individuals know that there's a pure way of thinking and there's an impure way of thinking 166 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:22,800 but because over the lifetime of their maturity or their adulthood they have been allowed 167 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,440 to think in a way of lust or think in a way of anger or you can substitute any of this 168 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:32,800 unbalanced thinking into this statement and this is just the way they respond. 169 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,960 It's such a stronghold that they feel walled in. 170 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:40,040 They feel that there's no real alternative to thinking any other way. 171 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:45,520 I've used another illustration to describe this and I call it ruts in the road. 172 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:50,480 When I was raising my family in Oklahoma years ago we had some property outside of town and 173 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,440 there were clay roads that had been leveled leading to that property. 174 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:58,520 They weren't paved, they didn't have gravel and over a period of time everyone that used 175 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,280 those roads created ruts and those ruts would be about 6 to 10 inches deep and when it was 176 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:09,700 rainy and slick the clay would turn almost into icy like slickness. 177 00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:13,340 When you turned your car in the direction of that road you knew you were going to slide 178 00:13:13,340 --> 00:13:16,080 into the ruts no matter what you tried to do. 179 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:20,040 Four wheel drive, two wheel drive you slid into the ruts because they were deeper than 180 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,320 the rest of the road and everything was slanted that way. 181 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,800 And I used to use this illustration to talk about habitual thinking. 182 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:31,520 In other words thinking that is so common that we just fall into that. 183 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:36,360 It could be anger, it could be lust, it could be fear, it could be anxiety, it could be 184 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:42,840 almost anything but when we habitually think that we're walled in and we tend to go with 185 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:46,000 that flow because we don't know how to break out of it. 186 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:52,080 But Paul says in this verse that the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God for 187 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:57,120 tearing down those walls of habitual thinking. 188 00:13:57,120 --> 00:14:04,800 In other words we're given the ability to tear down walls of destructive habitual thought 189 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:11,600 patterns and emotion patterns that would otherwise keep us in bondage with God's Word. 190 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:14,200 Now you know my story by now. 191 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:21,300 My anger as a young man was eradicated because I would put into my mind what the Bible says 192 00:14:21,300 --> 00:14:24,200 about anger and I would memorize that. 193 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:28,800 You'll have those verses memorized that I committed to mind and heart back when I was 194 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:34,200 19 years of age and every time anger began to roll in into my mind, every time I realized 195 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:39,760 it was coming I would pause, I would wait and think what am I thinking and I would instead 196 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,960 of thinking about the anger and all the reasons I had to be angry I would think about the 197 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:45,400 truth of God's Word. 198 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:52,160 I would hold that thought, captivate that thought and then I broke free from that habitual 199 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:53,160 pattern of anger. 200 00:14:53,160 --> 00:15:00,840 The same thing can happen with lust or anxiety and fear but that's the number one enemy 201 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:05,720 if you will that we have to fight the battle for and against and that is the destruction 202 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:07,840 of fortresses. 203 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:12,160 Then the second word is speculations. 204 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:18,080 I just left that word literal on my graph and the diagram I talked about and I really 205 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:19,560 like the way this word is used. 206 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:24,760 It's a word in the Greek logismos and it means to reckon or to reason and it's the thinking 207 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:26,800 behind the behavior. 208 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:35,480 So basically when we respond to a lie, we respond to something that we think might happen 209 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:42,760 or we think could happen but may in fact never happen and it drags us away from balanced 210 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:49,280 thinking into defensive thinking or retaliatory thinking or bitter thinking or impulsive thinking. 211 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,560 We run instead of facing the music. 212 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,640 So the Bible says we don't have to do that, that we can destroy speculations. 213 00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:01,400 The best way I know to illustrate this is to say that speculations are the what ifs 214 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:02,400 of life. 215 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,120 The what ifs of life. 216 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:09,720 So let's just say for instance you're at work and you receive a memo that says one 217 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:14,680 tenth of the staff will be laid off in the month ahead and immediately you go into the 218 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,680 what ifs, the speculations. 219 00:16:17,680 --> 00:16:22,920 And while it's wise to be able to think through the scenarios, maybe you're pulverized by 220 00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:28,600 fear, maybe you become extremely anxious or extremely angry because you're going into 221 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:33,400 the what ifs and you're thinking this is already there when in fact it's not. 222 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:38,720 In fact most of the time when people become unbalanced in their speculation, the thing 223 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,640 they're fearful about never happens. 224 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:48,520 So instead the wisdom that I give is to wait, the wisdom God's word gives is to wait, ask 225 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:54,680 yourself what are you thinking and instead of saying what if, you say I'm going to face 226 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,840 this with God's help, whatever it is. 227 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:01,920 And if it happens it happens, if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen, but either way God 228 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,760 has my back and God is going to help me through this. 229 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:09,800 It's wise to respond that way because it's true, God does have your back, God will help 230 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,840 you and what you're worried about may never ever happen. 231 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:21,000 Years ago a women's Bible teacher named Jan Silvius used to make this statement. 232 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:27,160 She would say what if is not reality, don't go there. 233 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,360 What if is not reality, don't go there. 234 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:33,720 Now when you think of all the unbalanced way people can think, when you think of all the 235 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:40,600 swings, the wild swings of the pendulum, way over to the right or way over to the left 236 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:46,320 to bring us away from the ground of truth, most of it is going to a place that's not 237 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,040 reality, a place that's not real. 238 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:54,840 I used to have this horrible game that I would play in my mind of worst case scenario. 239 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,920 Now I wasn't trying to play that game, but whenever I had a thought about one of my children 240 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,320 or some incident that happened or something that was threatening us in some way, my mind 241 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:09,520 would immediately go to worst case scenarios and I was actually feeling in that moment 242 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:13,800 those worst case scenarios when in actuality I wasn't there. 243 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:19,120 In fact almost never did those worst case scenarios ever happen. 244 00:18:19,120 --> 00:18:22,160 But a thought would come into my mind, I would expand on that thought and just let it keep 245 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,160 moving until I was responding in an unbalanced way. 246 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:32,720 It wasn't until I learned that it was the key to being able to feel healthy and act 247 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:39,720 in a healthy way was to think in a healthy way based on facts, being grounded by the 248 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:45,120 solid facts of truth instead of the what ifs, the speculations. 249 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:51,120 Then there is a third area of conflict and that would be, in the scripture it says every 250 00:18:51,120 --> 00:18:53,640 lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. 251 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,360 I call this the wrong view of God. 252 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:01,520 Literally in the Greek it means an elevated thought or idea, something you hold up higher 253 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,520 than everything else. 254 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,960 It's in the present tense of the Greek and that simply means that this idea is holding 255 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:12,160 itself up, it's lifting up above everything else and it's against the knowledge of God 256 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:14,800 and that means basically the general knowledge of God. 257 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,460 I deal with this all the time when people come to me and say God can never forgive me 258 00:19:18,460 --> 00:19:24,560 because I've done so many bad things and therefore they're really in an emotional basket that's 259 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:28,160 moving in the wrong direction, they're sinking quick. 260 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,560 And then I give them the truth about God's character and the truth about God's character 261 00:19:32,560 --> 00:19:38,320 is that God does forgive and that there's no sin that you can commit that God is not 262 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,360 able to forgive. 263 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:46,300 And what it does is it tears down that lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. 264 00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:50,840 And we do the same thing on the other side of this picture whenever we walk into temptation 265 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:56,480 and say you know God will never know or God will never deal with me about this sin or 266 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:01,560 this act I'm about to commit and that is also raised up against the knowledge of God. 267 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:08,960 Did you know that this lofty speculation took place in the Garden of Eden when Satan, the 268 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:14,640 serpent, came to Eve and said God surely will not let you die. 269 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:15,640 He surely will not. 270 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:20,760 In other words, God told Eve if you sin, if you do what I've told you not to do, death 271 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:22,160 will enter in. 272 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:26,560 And of course immediately, even armed with that truth, the serpent said something completely 273 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:27,560 different. 274 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:32,260 It was a lofty idea raised up against the knowledge of God that God gave her and she 275 00:20:32,260 --> 00:20:33,880 bought into it. 276 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:39,160 So every lofty thing that raises itself up against the knowledge of God. 277 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:44,480 There's a lot of unbiblical theology and a lot of unbiblical thinking but usually it's 278 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,040 the wrong view of God. 279 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:52,240 There are thoughts planted from the evil one in the minds of people who do not know God 280 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:53,240 well. 281 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:59,760 This is why I urge you to run to the Bible in order to know God, who He is, how He speaks, 282 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:00,760 how He will act. 283 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,960 He's given us the insights into all of those things. 284 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:08,840 So that is the third thing, destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the 285 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:10,420 knowledge of God. 286 00:21:10,420 --> 00:21:13,520 And then the last one is probably the most applicable. 287 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:14,600 Don't miss this one. 288 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,440 We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 289 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:19,760 Now let me give you the word picture here. 290 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,560 It's just such a beautiful thing in the original language and I know I've talked about the 291 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,960 Greek a lot today but it really is revealing. 292 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:31,560 I often say that the Greek language is like the 4K TV versus the black and white version 293 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:32,640 of many years ago. 294 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:38,120 It's got clarity, it's got color, it's got explanations and illustrations and that single 295 00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:47,160 long word that we translate, take every thought captive, is a word that means to be able to 296 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:51,560 capture its spear point. 297 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:58,000 The idea is that thoughts are trying to infiltrate your mind and you keep those thoughts outside 298 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:04,680 the door of your mind by putting the point of the sword on them when they attempt to 299 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:05,680 get in. 300 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:11,680 Let's just say that I have a large knife in my hands and the thief that wants to get inside 301 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,680 of my house, physically wants to get inside, is outside the door. 302 00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:17,960 And I don't know this until I open the door and there he is trying to get in. 303 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:23,280 And all I need to do is hold up that large knife, place it in the middle of his chest 304 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,720 and I'm going to captivate him before he gets in. 305 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:28,880 Now obviously I'm going to repel him before he gets in. 306 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,920 He's not expecting that. 307 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:37,160 So Paul says this in a way that helps us kind of see how it happens physically and then 308 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,960 apply how it happens spiritually. 309 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,040 So let's put it this way. 310 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:47,480 Well I'm well acquainted enough with biblical truth and some thought comes to my mind that's 311 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:54,060 not biblical truth, I captivate that at the point of that spear or the sword of the word 312 00:22:54,060 --> 00:22:55,360 of God. 313 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,300 That's what the Bible calls the Bible, the scriptures. 314 00:22:58,300 --> 00:23:03,560 It is in spiritual warfare it is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. 315 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:10,160 So mainly what this passage says is arming yourself with what you know truth is and with 316 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:16,160 what you know God says about you, about him, about circumstances, you can take every thought 317 00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:17,160 captive. 318 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:22,520 And not only that, you can tear down the walls of behavior and feeling, you can destroy the 319 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:28,840 speculations and every lofty idea about who God is and you can take every thought captive 320 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,040 to the obedience of Christ. 321 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:35,000 Now that in a nutshell is why that's one of my favorite passages of scripture and it's 322 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,760 my favorite weapon in dealing with all kinds of problems in life. 323 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:47,680 Let me just say there's a level of aggression, aggression that you utilize this weapon. 324 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,460 Let me try to describe it to you. 325 00:23:50,460 --> 00:23:57,200 You need to have the level of aggression and intensity that comes from knowing that a lie 326 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,880 can get you so far off balance it will complicate your future, complicate your present, it will 327 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,320 complicate your relationships and your walk with God. 328 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:11,480 Everything can happen as a result of that thought entering into your mind that doesn't 329 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:13,800 need to be in your mind. 330 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:18,360 So when I think of it that way I think okay this is a war. 331 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:21,920 I am well armed with the scripture, the word of God. 332 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:27,440 I can take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and even more I can destroy speculations, 333 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:32,480 I can destroy every lofty thing raised up against my understanding of who God is as 334 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:38,080 revealed in scripture and I can tear down walls, strongholds that keep me in behavior 335 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:39,800 and feeling patterns. 336 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:44,480 So I know there's a lot of scripture here that I've just described today, many many 337 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:49,160 more verses allude to this and at some point in another series altogether we'll talk about 338 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:55,400 the armor of God and how all that works with you but for now the prospering soul and the 339 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:02,200 idea of using this passage as one of your favorite weapons, one of your favorite go-tos 340 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:04,200 is a very very good habit to have. 341 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,400 Now here's my advice to you. 342 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:10,960 Think for a moment about the unhealthy patterns that you may have in your life whatever they 343 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:12,300 are. 344 00:25:12,300 --> 00:25:17,200 And in our chart we have named so many of them, let me just name some of those unhealthy 345 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,240 emotional patterns. 346 00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:26,080 Someone who's angry, suicidal, terrified, hopeless, destructive, depressed, worthless, 347 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:31,520 retaliatory, bitter, defensive, withdrawn, in denial. 348 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:32,520 That's on the negative side. 349 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:38,200 On the positive side in the sense of energy instead of anything else on the far extreme 350 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:46,200 is being inattentive, sexually promiscuous, reckless, fanatical, chemically abusive, impulsive, 351 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,640 agitated, obsessed, undisciplined, preoccupied, lustful. 352 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:57,240 All those are on the extreme side of that pendulum swing that puts us in really unhealthy 353 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:01,800 mindsets and emotional states and complicated relationships. 354 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:07,920 Whenever you see any of those named about yourself, please realize there is a passage 355 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:14,680 of scripture, there is a sword, there is a spear point in the Bible about that particular 356 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:19,840 thing in your life that will equip you to do battle against it. 357 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,280 It's very important as you hear this. 358 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:26,560 Get to the truth that grounds you and it grounds me. 359 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:31,200 If we have these wide pendulum swings in our life it's because we're not grounded with 360 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,920 the gravitational force of the truth of the word of God. 361 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,600 We're creating all kinds of complications for our lives and for those that we're in 362 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:45,400 relationships with, our children, our spouse, our friends, people at work, whatever it might 363 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:47,280 be. 364 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:53,160 Only you can do something about that situation, that condition, but God gives you all the 365 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,000 help you need. 366 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:59,640 The weapons of our warfare are divinely powerful, is what the scripture says. 367 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,560 God will encourage you today, even though the battle is really tough and even though 368 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:08,600 the stakes are really, really high, God has given you everything you need to fight this 369 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,160 war and to have a prospering soul. 370 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:18,080 A prospering soul would end up helping you have a balanced range of emotions because 371 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:22,700 you're grounded by the truth and the facts of God's word and the facts that you face 372 00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:23,700 each day. 373 00:27:23,700 --> 00:27:30,000 You're not blown off course by all these lies, these strongholds, these speculations, 374 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:36,600 these lofty things raised up against God's knowledge or these uncaptivated thoughts. 375 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,920 You can stay in a position of balance. 376 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:44,000 I want to encourage you today to take a look at those diagrams, stick with us. 377 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:51,800 I'm going to give you in this next podcast episode the keys to success, people who succeed 378 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:57,960 in having a healthy, prosperous soul and who continue to live in that health, have certain 379 00:27:57,960 --> 00:27:58,960 habits that they do. 380 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,680 I'm going to tell you what those habits are in this next podcast. 381 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:07,160 Until then, thanks for joining me, John Medder and the prospering soul on our podcast. 382 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:22,600 Hope you tune in for the next one.