The Battle To Guard Your Mind By: Dr. Pete Norris

So when I've learned to guard my mind, I guard my mind based upon this word that I've been planted into my head and into my heart. And now my heart speaks what I've poured into me over and over and over and over. And the more I pour it into me, what's gonna happen? The different my thinking process is gonna line up. And then I'm gonna experience some things. I'm gonna hear some things. I'm gonna have a conversation with him. I'm gonna learn how his voice is. I'm gonna learn to steal a small voice inside. I'm gonna learn to have the intimate with him. (upbeat music) - Welcome to Power in the Word. How's your thought life? Is your thought life leading you to destructive things or good things? Well, today Dr. Narshow just in the Word of God, that it's a battle to control your mind. But by applying the Word of God, you can have victory. It's a powerful message that we all need. So you stay tuned and be encouraged. They were gonna talk about the battle to guard your mind. How do I guard my mind and keep my mind line with what it's supposed to be doing? How many of you sometimes thoughts that come in your mind and you don't like those thoughts and you don't even know where they came from? But they came from your subconscious.

You gotta understand something very purely now. And I want you to understand this because when God then begin to deal with this to me, I begin to understand that you have a subconscious and a conscious. The subconscious is a feminine side of you and the conscious is a masculine side of you. And those are the two things you're dealing with. Member, when he created Adam and Eve, Adam, Eve was in Adam, right? And then he put him asleep and took her out. So we understand that you and I have a subconscious that makes decisions on a daily basis based on past experiences that you and I've done. How many of you have to get up and pray about brushing your teeth in the morning? Seriously, you've done it so long as I also created habit. You make decisions because you've made the same decision over and over and you make the same decision over and over even though it's wrong. Okay? Now you need to listen to me. I make a comment and some people have a problem with this comment. And the comment is if you make a decision on something, you shouldn't have to make it again. Okay? But the reality to that is if you've made the wrong decision, then you need to make it again because you made the wrong decision. You can only make a decision based on the experiences you have.

You got to understand when Jesus come to earth, his decisions were made a little bit different 'cause he didn't have a sinful nature. You and I were born with a sinful nature. So we got to come out from under that sinful nature and begin to change the way we're thinking because we were giving the way that we were thinking based on how we were raised. How you raised is gonna affect everything about your life. Most people can never get away from it. And so they live in bondage to it. So what I'm trying to get you to understand is that if you make a decision as to right decision, you shouldn't have to make it again. If you make a decision as to wrong decision, you need to learn how to make it again. Because you can only make a decision based on the experiences you have, okay? So we want to divide the guard, that mind of where our mind makes the right decision. Because wherever your mind goes, you're going with it. Your most dominant thoughts gonna take you in the direction. Your thoughts are gonna create who you're gonna be. You're gonna behave based upon what you think. Seriously, you're gonna behave based on what you think. The most important thing in your life and to church don't understand it is your imagination. If you can dream it, you can have it.

If you can't dream it, you won't ever have it, okay? So let me ask you something. The Bible says in Proverbs 23, 7, and what's the other man thinking then it's hard. That's what that man is, who are you? Now I asked 90% of you tell me your name. That's really not who you are. Who you are is what's on the inside of you, not what I see. So if I'm gonna talk about you, I need to talk about the inside of you and not the external part of you. Because the part I see is not who really you are, okay? So we gotta understand that I'm a spiritual man first. I possess a soul and then I live in a body. My soul is made up of my mind, will and emotions, but my spiritual part of who I am is the recreated being that looks like Christ and acts like Christ and resembles Christ and does what Christ does. But who I am externally is not who I am. That's who I believe I am and that's the way I act, the way I act, okay? Are you good or are we cool? Okay, let's go to our second Corinthians chapter five and we're gonna get going. Therefore, if any person is engrafted in the Christ, the Messiah, he is a new creation, a new creature altogether. So say, look at somebody say, I'm a new creature altogether. The old previous moral spiritual condition

has passed away and behold fresh and new has come. So listen to me very carefully. If you go to church every Sunday and you hear, talking about who you were, you're never gonna live in who you are. Most people were born again under condemnation. So the only time they think God is dealing with them is when they're beat up and destroyed. And so that's the only time they feel the presence of God. So we're never told who we are, so how are we ever gonna walk in it? The church is walking and eating. Think in their mind. Okay. You're in a spiritual battle, but your battles in your head The struggle that's inside of you that you and I called the first Corinthians two and 16 have the mind of Christ Where do we have the mind of Christ in our spirit in our recreated new man? And I'm going too deep for you You got to understand who you are If you don't understand who you're everybody's gonna tell you who you ain't you're not and you're gonna answer to it If you'd call me Bobby, I'm not going to answer because it's not my name But they call you center and everybody in the church raises their hand And I hate them bumblestickers. I'm a center saved by God's marvelous grace. No, I'm not a center anymore I'm bracing some guy. I'm a new creation old things have passed away. I'll not even talk about that old dude. Get old dude died Right, I'm a new dude Look at somebody say I'm a new dude Look at verse 18 But all things are from God who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to himself received us into favor brought us into harmony with himself and gave to us the what Ministry of reconciliation that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with him Now we're not gonna bring other people in harmony with him and tell them how terrible they are and they're going to hell How many have ever told you going to hell? They told me a bunch

Bunch every time I went to church. I was going to hell. I Knew that tell me something I don't know And the reason that didn't really terrify me because I didn't really believe it was true then either If this loving compassionate God is so merciful and so gracious and when I begin to read and he reconciled me to himself My part was out of the way It was not based on me at all. It was based on what he'd done for me How many of you know that God was in Christ reconciling me and you to himself? Did he do it? I said did he do it? Then why do you talk about who you used to be? That's not who you are anymore, but you're gonna live in who you believe you are We've all missed the mark correct But once we discover what that we've become a new creation the mark is no longer missable. I Don't know if that's a word So if we understand who we are, we're not gonna miss the mark because the more it's not missable Because I'm a new creation and I can't sin Hmm church is not ready for that Because the reality is if you've been born again and born of God you cannot sin because the seed remains in you It's his seed he puts in you that made you whole and reconciled you to himself So you're just like Christ Right and look at verse 19 It was God personally present in Christ Reconciling and restoring the world to favor with himself who was restoring the favor the world the world to favor with himself Not counting up and holding against men these trespasses, but counseling them and committing to us the ministry of reconciliation of The restoration of favor in other words. What did he do? He wiped our slate clean guys is as if you never sinned So why do you talk about? We Talk about what we believe Adily abundance of the heart the math speaks to Bible says So what comes out of our mouth is gonna be what we believe in our heart You ever seen somebody hit their finger with a hammer and say oh the praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus. Hallelujah What do you say?

We ain't gonna say it here. Are we? Why but that was in your heart to begin with But think about it. I mean I don't it bundles of our heart But the Bible says we need to learn to guard our hearts How do I guard what comes out of my mouth? How many of you ever said anything you wish you when you said it you knew it was gonna be bad But as soon as you said it you wish you could take it back What is that thing sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt. That's a lie Because words hurt right now watch this go to verse 20 So we are Christ ambassadors God making us appeal as it were through us We as Christ's personal representatives beg you for his sake to lay hold of divine favor now Offer to you and being reconciled to God in other words. He said I've reconciled you to myself. It's fixed with me He's actually said I beg you to believe it That I've given you favor Why do we think negative? Why do we think bad thoughts? Why do we why do we marry bad people? Why do we do it over and over and over and over and over? Because we think subconsciously that's what we deserve Listen to me very carefully ready for this. This is gonna be very powerful young ladies that have daddy that's gonna have wife problems. Because all you're gonna do is put a different face on that person the next person that comes into your life. If you don't get healed from the first relationship you're gonna move that right into the second one. That same thing happens in the old creation to the new creation because we don't understand and we have not been told the righteous of how righteous we are, how perfect we are, how authority we are, how complete we've been made and so we follow what we've been trained to believe and subconsciously what we were taught was wrong. Who Christ made us is perfect and we're perfect human beings. Look at somebody say I'm perfect human beings because of the blood of Jesus and because of the cross. Aim in in the resurrection. So because of that me and you're not just trying to get by we're highly favored and deeply loved. Look at somebody say I'm some kind of something. So we've got

to learn to guard our minds. We've got to learn to guard our minds and our hearts because if we guard our hearts and our minds then things will shoot out of our mouth. You say well I'm old I can walk to say that. You know it ain't the reason you say it. You said because it's in you. Think about it a minute. What comes out of this? 90% of the time it's your frustrations, it's your pains, it's your discussions and it's your hurts that you hide that nobody ever knows. And the reality is if you knew that you were healed, if you knew that you were whole, that you knew that you were complete, if you knew you were delivered then you wouldn't respond that way because that no longer would have you. So we've got to learn the battle to guard our minds against what's coming up toward us. Now do I believe in spiritual battles? Absolutely. Do I believe in demonic powers? Absolutely. But I believe that 90% of the battles that you and I face are right here by the way we think and the way we carry ourselves, the way we look after ourselves, the things we see, the things we hear, the things we talk about, the things that's important to us. And our subconsciously continuous subconscious continues, makes decisions based on our feelings. Colossians 1 and 22. Yet now has Christ the Messiah reconciled you to God in the body of His flesh through death in order to present you holy, faultless, irreproachable in His Father's presence. So you're holy, you're faithless and you're irreproachable. There's no reproach against you guys. You're faultless, you're holy. He presented you that way by reconciling you into the Father. Do you really believe that your faultless? You respond and you act based on what your physical does. That's not who you are. Now that doesn't mean you're not gonna have to live with the consequences that you make in this flesh. If you drive a hundred miles an hour through town you probably gonna get a ticket, okay? Because you're driving a hundred and a thirty-five. But the reality is that doesn't make you a sinner. Are you understanding my mindset here? You're holy, you're faultless and you're irreproachable. In other words, there's no reproach held against you because God is presented you to the Father's absolutely holy period upright. Do you see yourself holy and blameless and upright? You ever heard this? Well, God ain't coming

back yet because the church ain't cleaned up. You ever heard that? To the church gets holy and people gets holy but he won't ever come. Because if Jesus didn't make us holy, we ain't getting holy. If He didn't make us blameless, we ain't getting blameless. If He didn't make us above reproach, we ain't getting above reproach. He did it all. He did it all. See, your feelings will carry you places at your hand and your heart won't let you stay. Oh, somebody chat with me. Think about it. Your feelings are destructible and their destruction. You've got to learn to listen to that six cents your spirit on the inside of you that tells you who you are. It never says the Holy Spirit's not gonna tell you who you're not. It's gonna tell you all the things have been freely given to you. It's gonna guide you into all truth. It's gonna teach you all things and show you all things that are yours. It's not gonna tear you up and rip you up and rebuke you and destroy you. That's the devil and that's your head. He's gonna tell you how wonderful you are because that's the way Jesus made you through Christ. Think about it. So when I've learned to guard my mind, I guard my mind based upon this word that I've implanted into my head and into my heart. And now my heart speaks what I poured into me over and over and over and over. And the more I pour it into me, what's gonna happen? The different my thinking process is gonna line up and then I'm gonna experience some things. I'm gonna hear some things. I'm gonna have a conversation with him. I'm gonna learn how his voice is. I'm gonna learn to steal a small voice inside. I'm gonna learn to have the intimate with him. See, it's one thing to go to heaven. That's a great thing. I'm all for that. But here's what I want for you every day is to have an intimate relationship. going to hell over 13 seconds, you're not going to have a relationship with somebody that you're scared of. You're never going to respect anybody you're scared of. You're going to keep your distance from somebody you're scared of. If you think God made you sick, it's going to be hard for you to pray for him to heal you. And his will is that you be whole, not just be healed, but every part of your life be whole. That's his purpose for your life. But you've got to change the way

you think. He's not going to come down here and change you. He gave you everything that you need to walk in power, walk in authority, walk above situations, walk above crisis and no vote for them to get you is going to prosper. And everything that comes against you you're going to rise above it. Because as he is, so are we in this world right now, not when we get to heaven. You ain't going to need nothing when you get to heaven. Guys, come on, we got to understand what he's done for us. Look at somebody say, I'm seeing it. You say, Pastor, you have self help. No, I'm not self help. But I am saying if you'll change the way you think, you'll change everything about your life. And if you don't change your mind, your thinking process, you'll change nothing about your life. And you're going with the same struggles year after year after year after year and you'll beg God to take them and he won't take them because he didn't give them to you to start with. What's he going to do with them? Her kin taken say one time, this lady came to the altar and she's smoked and she said, I'm going to give these a cigarette to Jesus. He said, he don't smoke, sweetie. He don't need them. Think about it a minute. How many times have you been and you've told the Lord, I'm giving you this and you walk out and you do good for two or three days and all of a sudden bam, you fall off the boat again. You know why? Because condemnation always leads you back. There's a scripture in there that talks about it. A dog always go back to his vomit. And if you always are walking around condemned, you're always going to go back to that condemnation and you're going to go right back to that sin. But the next time you're in the middle of that sin, just raise your hand and say I'm the righteous of God. I'm blessed and highly favored. I'm deeply loved. I'm the righteous of God. I look just like Jesus right now right in the middle of

this thing because this is not who I am. I'm the righteous of God. And here's what happened. That thing will start falling off your life and you'll begin to walk in some victory and you'll stop doing the things that you're doing because now you realize that it ain't you that's doing it. It's to what's trying to tempt you to do it. It's your fleshly part of you that's not who you really are. See, I'm getting heavy on you because you got to understand you're a spirit and that spiritual man is what's going to operate the kingdom. That's what's going to operate the kingdom. That's how you're going to walk in victory. That's how you're going to walk in power. That's how you're going to walk in authority knowing who you are. Right. Look at somebody. How many I just want. I want our children to know who they are. Do we really? Do we really? You know, we'll send our children to the greatest schools to get them a greatest education. We'll send all kinds of camps. They're going to be great athletes. Nothing wrong with any of that. We'll go buy them the fancy of stuff, the nice of stuff, but how much time is spent on their spirit? Because the most important thing is the spirit of a man. The spirit of a man is what's going to carry you through life. Listen to me. Listen to me. People that don't even know you can tell something that's different about you. They can be around you just a few seconds and know there's something different about you. I'm seeing it in my life right now with people that's calling me and talking to me. People that are, I'm not going to tell you who they are. But it's amazing to me that God's favor is on our lives. And here's the thing. Why? Because our spirit is a reflection of something they're desiring. You're going to hang around people that you want to be like. And if

that's not who you're hanging around with, you're never going to grow and be who you and develop into who you need to be. If you're hanging around people just like you, then you ain't going anywhere. Amen? When I got born again, all the people I hung around with, I knew I couldn't stay with them. It won't go to work. They won't go anywhere and I was going fast with them. Most of those people divorced. Some of them was dead. Some of them in jail. Some of them in prison. Why? They weren't going nowhere. They were looking one day at the time. And I'm not saying we ought to not look one day at the time. But listen to me, man. We ought to be going somewhere. And you know what? If you got people around you that ain't lifting you up and ain't encouraging you and ain't helping you get to your destiny, cut them babies loose. And I don't mean that ugly, but cut them loose if they ain't going nowhere. Why in the world would you woman marry a man that ain't going to work? That's your first son. You don't need that scandal. If he ain't got a job, don't you marry him? First Timothy 6 and 12. Go to first Timothy. Now, how do I win the battle against my mind? How do I overcome the battle that's in my mind? Here's what we're doing, guys. We fight a good fight for the true faith. Now, how many of you know a good fight, so fight that you win? A bad fight, so fight that you don't win. This is a good fight. So we know Paul said, "I fought the good fight and I finished the course, and now it's the late of the crown of righteousness for me." So we understand that we're fighting a fight. What's the fight? The fight is not against you in the devil. The fight is against you and your head.

It's the feminine part of you and the masculine part of you that's in a constant struggle of who you're gonna be. And so the struggle inside of you is the marimos, which is Hebrews 4 and 12, which is dividing a sunder in the actual grape. It means marimos. It means a separation of your soulish man from your spiritual man. You got to learn to which one's listening. Feelings, listen to me. God never speaks to you through feelings. He only speaks to the spirit of a man as the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly, Proverbs 20 and 27. So if he's gonna talk to you, he's gonna talk to you through your spirit. And his spirit is this word. God is the spirit and those that worship him most, worship him in spirit and truth, John 4 and 24. So we gotta understand that it's the spirit of the Lord on the inside of us that's gonna bring us to who we really are. All he's trying to do is to get you to understand that you're just like him. So we're fighting the good fight of faith. Hold tightly to eternal life to which God has called you. That's not talking about hold fast to go into heaven. That's hold fast to eternity that you're in living in right now. Eternity starts right now. John 17 and three said eternity is the ability to know God. In other words, to know the truth, living God.

That's all eternal life is. You're already there. Look at somebody say I'm already eternal. The Bible said, the Bible said in the first Corinthians 4 and 18 that everything that you see is temporary and everything you don't see is eternal. You're an eternal being now because you're born again. Come on, guys, you understand you're gonna live forever? Guys, do you understand that you're gonna live forever? You just gonna transition out of this place into a greater dimension than where revelation is gonna come flying to you that you can understand and have victory. You're not intended to be defeated on this earth. You're intended to walk in victory. I want you to understand that you're in a fight. And the fights, not the battle with the devil that he's at. See, some people just fight in devils all the time. That's not God's intentions for you. God's intentions for you is you decide and win the war that's going on internally with you. There's a battle raging against your soul, not against your spirit. Totally different thing. We got to understand that if I'm gonna guard my mind, I'm gonna have to keep my mind in line with the word of God. So I've got to speak that word over my mind. The Bible said the memory of the righteous will be blessed. You need to quote that over yourself. The memory of the righteous will be blessed. The memory of the righteous will be blessed. The memory of the righteous will be blessed.

The memory of the righteous. Don't talk negative. Look what he said. To which God had called you. He's called you to that eternal place, not to talk about heaven, guys, into eternal life, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. Now, I want you to go with me. The spiritual world's real, more real than the physical world. How many of you know that? Now, I don't know how you feel about the spiritual world, but the spiritual world's real. Whether you believe it or whether you don't believe it. That's irrelevant. I heard a guy say sometimes, well, you know, the Holy Ghost ain't real because I ain't never got it. Well, have you got a million dollars? He said, none. That was my remark to him. I said, is it real? He said, well, yeah. I said, well, then how that might be real too. You just may not have it. Think about it. There's a whole real world waiting for you to open it up. And it's all for your benefit. It's not to destroy. It's to bless you and enlighten you, enhance you, encourage you, exalt you, lift you up. That's what the Holy Spirit's for.

He's not sitting there pinpointing you tearing you down every minute like people say, oh, the Holy Spirit weren't realized. No, he didn't wear you out last night. All he's going to tell you is how righteous you are. Because here's the thing. If you're not righteous, then his work didn't work. So that means Jesus is not righteous. I'm going to stick a drink just for an 18. Since we consider looking onto the things that are seen, but the things which are unseen, for the things which are visible are temporary. And how many of you know the word temporary there means subject to change? Brief and they're fleeting, but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. Now watch this guys. I'm ready for this. I talked about it Wednesday night a little bit. I'm going to elaborate right now. How many of you have death this live? Because if death won't live, it couldn't be real. But death is not life for me and you, because we've stepped into life more abundantly than death. Because death has been swallowed up by life, but that doesn't mean death doesn't exist. Death exists on the back side of life. But to get life, you got to go through death. So death has been overtaken by life.

So you and I now invisible and are deathless and everlasting. So what happens is the spiritual realm opens up a mindset in the concept of where death is on the back side of that. And then you've passed through death. Colossians 3 and 3 said, "If you be dead, then your life is hidden with Christ and God." So you and I have already passed. up by life." And where is your sting of death? Where is your sting of death? But the sting of death strengthens sin. But you and I have passed through sin because we've died to sin and sin exists no more because we've stepped through. Death is only a result of sin. And when you eliminate the sin, there's no death for the believer. Right? So you and I have no death now because we're invisible in the deathless and the everlasting place. Are you with me? So life is bigger than what you physically see. It's only a temporary visual thing that you're able to, it's brief and it's fleeting. Life is like a vapor and it's moving fastly. What does a vapor mean? It's a vape of time that mean you step through to step into that place of a dimension that's way past this one. See, that's who we are. Your spirit making go places. Your physical man can't ever take you. Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And that doesn't mean that's not talking about heaven because we know the kingdom of God's inside of me and you. So how do I win the battle for my mind when I learn to think like God thinks, set your mind on heavenly things and not on earthly things, things that are eternal, not on physical things, the temporary things that you can see, things that are temporary are going to pass away, but that which is in us is never going to pass away. Think about heaven and earth are going to pass away, but my word will never pass away. We are born of an incorruptible seed, a seed that cannot die. Me and you're born from that seed that keeps us out of sin. Because why? The seed remains in us according to 1 John 4 verse 7 and 8. You and I are living in a dimension that very few people live in. We have an opportunity. See, church is not what you're looking for. The depth of what you're looking for is internal. And what's on the inside of you is going to carry you through any situation that arrives. I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring you, but I know who's got tomorrow when you get there. And that's what's important. See, we worry about things that don't really matter.

If we really breed the word, we wouldn't worry about death. We'd know we'd overcome it. Let's go to this same scripture in the NLT. I want you to see it. So we don't look at the troubles that we can see now. Rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things which we see will soon be gone, but the things which cannot be seen will last forever. Now think about it just a minute. When you go on through a problem in your life, how big is that problem? The more you gaze on the problem, the bigger the problem gets. The less you give honor that problem, the smaller that problem is. But the more you focus on that thing, that's why he told them, "When the serpent bid them, they put the serpent upon the pole." And he said, "Gaze it and everybody gets gotten bitten. Gaze this is going to be him." Gaze is the word that means to fix your focus on, like bored old faith. Don't let go. See, if you look and you focus on your trouble over and over and over, your trouble is going to magnify. Listen to me, everything that's negative, you give power to it by thinking about it. Thank you so much for joining us today at Power and the Word. All of us here at Harvest Fellowship Church want you to know that God is not mad with you, but he loves you so very much. And he has a plan for your life. Please feel free to contact us here at Harvest Fellowship Church at our website, harvestfellowshipchurch.net. So until next week, please remember there's power in the Word. [BLANK_AUDIO]