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Spiritualizing Your Mind for Victory
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Are you glad that Jesus is alive? One of the distinguishing things between Christianity and every other professed faith is that in Christ, his grave is empty. There is proof that Jesus is alive.
Three days they wept—Friday to Sunday they wept. But on Sunday the weeping turned to joy. Everybody has a Friday. Everybody has a time of weeping, tears, pain, questions, challenges, affronts, diagnosis. There are people in this room that were told, "You may not live till the next week." But the same God that raised Jesus from the dead on the third day will without fail give everybody under the sound of my voice and everybody watching online your own Sunday has come as well.
David said in Psalm 3, "How they have increased that trouble me. Many are those that have risen up against me. Many are they who say of me, there is no help for him in God." You may never have been there where people look at you and say with all your church and all your faith there's no help. Even God cannot help you. You're not the first one. David was in the same place.
But you, oh God, are a shield for me, my glory and the lifter of my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice and he heard me.
In 1 Samuel 17:47, David said, "The Lord does not save with sword or with spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into my hands." David knew it. He was convinced of it, persuaded of it. He had a conviction in his heart that as intimidating as Goliath was, he was going to win.
No matter how rough or tough the battle is, understand child of God, you will win. You will win. You will win. The whole definition of Christianity is victory in battle. It doesn't deny battle. It pronounces victory in the face of battle. Medical battles, mental battles, marital battles, financial battles, circumstantial battles, legal battles—whatever the battle you are in today or have been in the past, God has already given you the victory.
There are certain things you must do to win. I want to share with you some practical steps for victory. These things are validated in the scriptures.
You must understand if you haven't won internally, you will never win externally. Please hear me child of God. In Psalm 42:1, the Bible says, "As the dear pants for the waters in the brook, so pants my soul." Circle the word soul. He says, "My soul," he engaged his soul in this journey, longs after you.
Your soul is your mind, your thinking, your thoughts. David was going through a difficult time, an emotional time, a time of tears, a time of difficulty. And yet he said, "Despite my difficulty, my mind is tied unto God. My soul longs after God."
You must get your mind, child of God, off the problem, unto the promisekeeper. You must take your mind off the tears, unto the testimony giver. You must take your mind off the things that weigh you down and fixate your mind on the things that lift you up. If you can prepare your mind for victory, your victory is guaranteed.
David said, "My tears are like food to me." While they continually say to me, "Where is your God?" David was in a place of mockery where people were questioning the validity of his God. But he begins to address not even the problem, not the devil, not the enemy, not the sickness. He addresses his own soul and says, "Why are you disquieted within me? Hope thou in God."
If you lose your inner hope, you lose your capacity to win. You've got to hope in God when there's no longer any hope. You've got to hope in God when there is no way. You've got to hope in God when the doctors give up. You've got to trust in God of whom it is written, "Nothing is too hard for him."
Examine the state of your mind. When you're alone, in the room, in the bus, in the car, when you are disquieted within you, what do you tell yourself? Examine the space of your soul. Examine the content of your thought. Examine the value of your thinking. You must win internally. You must win mentally. You must win emotionally. You must win psychologically.
You must walk into church with nothing in your pocket but believe that you are the next one to build the auditorium for Glory House. You must believe even though you have a scar running down the side of your face, you are the next one to get married. You must believe even though the doctor said you have six months to live, you will not die but declare the glory of God in the land of the living. When every university says no, you must believe your place will be opened up to you. When you cannot get a job, you must become an employer of people.
Reject any mental picture of failure. I had a teacher in secondary school who told me, "You are very good in social sciences, geography, economics, history." I used to come first, second, third in those subjects in my entire year. When it came to biology, chemistry, physics, I would pass. Not that I failed, but I don't even remember my grade. The teacher laughed and said, "Don't waste your time. Go and do what you will do well in."
But it wasn't the medicine that made me study medicine. It was what my teacher said—that I couldn't do it. From a very young age, I thought, "How can you possibly say I cannot do it?" The parable to learn here is: nobody can stop you except you. I believe in myself. I don't need you to believe in me. I believe in myself. It's not my looks, it's my God. It's not my IQ, it's God's IQ. It's not my ability, it's his grace.
If God be for you, who can be against you? I'm not intimidated by your gift. I celebrate your gift, but your gift is not a denunciation of my own gift. I know who I am. I know where I am going. I know the God that's backing me—the Lord that cannot fail. So I believe in myself.
You must maintain your position. When you are on your own, maintain that position. When you are in the den of lions, maintain that position. When you are confronted with the Red Sea, maintain that position. When people laugh at you, celebrate you. When people tell you you cannot do it, tell yourself you have already done it.
Abram was told his nephew Lot has been arrested. He did not question it. He immediately summoned soldiers he had trained in his own house and did not ask how strong the army was. He went for them and pulled back the people that were taken. That is the mentality of the father of faith. You and I are children of faith.
Listen to what Paul said in Romans 8:5-6. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. There are two kinds of living here. If you live a natural life, it means your thinking is natural.
But those who live according to the Spirit, capital S. To be carnally minded—the way your mind thinks—is death. To be spiritually minded is life. The word death there is decline, decay, darkness, diabolical. To be carnally minded produces death. Your mind must be spiritualized.
The governance of your mind is the management of your life. Whatever structure, whatever disciplines, whatever virtues you put to your mind is the government of your life. Your life will follow the management of your mind.
Jacob did not die until he was ready. He kept on telling people, "I'm not ready to go yet. I'm not ready to go yet." It was when he told them "I'm ready" that's when he went. He blessed his people, called his sons, blessed them one by one, then laid down in bed and his mind released him. He had absorbed into his mind a spirituality of thinking that meant that his spirit could not depart his body until his mind allowed it.
Jesus was told, "Your friend Lazarus is dead." He said, "He's asleep." Look at the spirituality of the mind. They said, "No, no, no. He's been dead three days." He took his time, took a shower, dressed up, then strolled there. When he said, "Roll away the stone," the sister of the dead man said, "By now he is decaying." He said, "If you believe you will see the glory of God."
The move of the spirit, the power of God, the grace of God, the anointing of God, the miracle-working power of God—it follows the spirituality of your mind. When the devil wants to attack you, he goes for your thinking. When the devil wants to kill you, he tells you this plane will crash. He tells you everybody in your family died at this age. It's your turn. He tells you that sickness you're fighting kills people in three weeks.
But the spiritualizing of your mind gives you life and peace.
To spiritualize your mind means to connect with God. God is a spirit. Jesus said, "The words that I speak are spirit and life." When you want to spiritualize your mind, you connect with God. How do you connect with God? Through the word.
My mind is connected with God. I will not die before my time. There is no failure in God. There's no failure in me. I will live to declare the glory of God in the land of the living. No witch, no wizard, no hex, no curse can come near my dwelling place. My children will serve the Lord in their generation.
One of the five cardinal ways to spiritualize your mind is to connect with the scriptures. Joshua 1:8 says, "This book of the law shall not depart from out of your mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein. Then you shall make your own ways successful. Then you shall have good success."
You'll make your ways prosper because you connected. You spiritualized your mind. One of the biggest fights you can have in life is the capacity to maintain a straight course in your mind. The winds of life will try and blow you. Your marriage depends on it. Your business depends on it. Your ministry depends on it. Circumstances can make you secondguess yourself.
Before you open up your mouth, put a gate on it and ask yourself: what am I thinking? Is it correct? I didn't say ask yourself, is it factual? It may be factual, but in the new covenant it is not correct. It may be factual, but it doesn't mean it's correct.
I want to share a testimony with you. My friend studied electronics and electrical engineering at a premier university in Nigeria. He got to the exam room for his final year and they asked him five questions. Answer any three. Three hours. He didn't know any of them. None of them could he even attempt.
So the man sat down and started speaking in tongues in the exam room and then started writing in tongues. He wrote in tongues for three hours and submitted the paper and came out and told everybody, "I did well." Everybody was asking, "What did you write for question one?" He said, "It doesn't matter," and refused to say what he had no business saying.
When the results came out, he went to the board and checked. His name was on the top of the class. He passed with stellar results. He went back to the faculty office to ask what happened because he knew what he wrote. You know what he was told? The departmental head of that exam had a row and got into a fight with certain people. So they decided that the man's marking was unreliable. The dean of the faculty said, "We will not use the exam papers; we will use previous assessment."
God arranged confusion for his elevation. It's better you shut up than you shut down what God has for you. Spiritualize your mind. Never stop saying things you have no business saying.
The best thing that can happen to you is to be born again. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Heaven and earth will pass away, but His word will not.
I'd like you to put your hand on your chest. From the depth of your heart, whether you are born again, backslidden, or not born again, say with me: Jesus, I celebrate you. You are the Son of God. You died on the cross of Calvary and rose on the third day. This Easter Sunday, I open the door of my heart and receive you. Wash me. Cleanse me. Turn my heart of stone to a heart of flesh. I declare from my heart today: I am a child of God. Devil, I do not belong to you. Jesus is my Lord and my Savior.
In Acts 10:30-31, Cornelius said, "Four days ago, I was fasting. And at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house. And behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing—an angel. He appeared to this man who is not born again. And he said to Cornelius, 'Your prayers have been heard, and your giving has been remembered in the sight of God.'"
There are five reasons why you and I should give:
Your giving makes angels take steps. Cornelius gave and angels started moving. When you give, angels go on behalf. It may not be you; it may be your children, may be your business.
Your giving releases divine helpers. Because of Cornelius's giving, God met Peter and gave Peter a vision. Your giving provokes divine helpers—lecturers, business contacts, friends.
Your giving attracts the attention of God. The angel said to Cornelius, "Your giving is recorded and remembered in heaven."
Your giving meets needs—even needs you don't know you have. Cornelius didn't know anything about salvation or the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But his giving released a need he didn't know he had. Your giving makes God do for you what you didn't even ask for.
Your giving wins souls to the kingdom. The Bible says that everybody in Cornelius's house was born again. Your giving brings salvation to your house.
This morning, as you give on Easter Sunday, give with meaning. Give with faith. Give as directed by the Holy Spirit. Your amen is weak. Say amen even louder.
Whatever is troubling your body, whatever is troubling your mind, whatever is troubling your home, whatever is troubling your business, whatever is troubling your children, I cast it to the root in the name of Jesus. I command that you have grace to spiritualize your mind.
Whatsoever things are good, whatever things are pure, whatever things are powerful, whatever things are of a good report—those are the things you will keep your mind on. I rebuke the devil. Every satanic whisper, the spirit of discouragement, the spirit of defeat, the spirit of giving up—I curse it in the name of Jesus. You are loosed from today in the name of Jesus.
The grace to spiritualize your mind—to dance in the midst of a fiery furnace, to pray when locked in a dungeon, to know in your mind that when the enemy says no, God has already said yes. Receive it in the name of Jesus.
Next week Sunday we will pick up from where we are: Spiritualizing your mind for victory. Please invite your friends and your enemies, your colleagues at work. This is Glory House, the church of excellence. Excellence will find expression in your life. I decree in the next six months your family and friends will find you unrecognizable. I decree in the next six months all of those that mocked you will gather to celebrate you. What was impossible will become your testimony. Whatever diabolical attack on you is permanently overturned.
Jehovah has the final say. No matter what the doctors are saying, Jehovah has the final say.
