There are people who ought not go into their own minds unescorted, who go in and come out battered and wounded and broken—even more than they went in. And the scariest part? The mind is so tricky and wicked that the person believes, really believes that the machinations of the mind are right.

*raises hand here*

I have been this person.

The mind is designed to agree with itself, to lend proof to itself. Every shadow becomes evidence that the lie is true and every cloud, raindrop, and raised eyebrow a glimpse into the alternate reality that is the right one. The real one. The one that they are trying to hide from you so that you can’t reach enlightenment. The human mind has a dangerous way of turning dissenting information into suspicious hearsay, demanding more and more evidence to prove the truth while only needing smoke to affirm and confirm the lies that have become the sandy, slippery foundation of life.

The mind can be a special kind of hell if you don’t give it over to Jesus Christ.

Paul talks about this war, this battle that we all battle—not against the devil but against our own minds. These thoughts are seeded by the enemy but tended and grown by our own minds. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Paul says this:

“For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man. The weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood]. Our weapons are divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,” (2 Corinthians‬ ‭10:3-5‬ ‭AMP‬‬).

Those fortresses (the KJV says strongholds) are the bricks we build up around the false systems of belief that we have been exposed to or have experienced: the traumatic, the troubling, the unreasonable, the irrational, the awful, the ugly, the scary, the scarring, the joyful, the jarring, the happy, the hopeful… whatever we see, whatever we feel, whatever touches us? We create a belief—then go about the work of looking for evidence to uphold what we have built—to protect it and ourselves from certain calamity. And when we don’t have evidence? What satan doesn’t supply our minds will, going so far as to establish patterns of behavior that (like the casino) guarantee that the house wins and we lose by finding false evidence to further fortify the lie. We literally look for the lie, search it out and surround ourselves with opportunities for false evidence to appear real.

But praise be unto God who causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge through us everywhere! (2 Corinthians 2:14).

It is the knowledge of Christ that demolishes the bricks of your fortified mind. As you read His word and understand THE TRUTH, you have an opportunity to choose: The Spirit of Truth or the lies built up to appear that way.

This is the process of the renewing of the mind-the commitment to submission of your mind to the MIND OF CHRIST.

The more you read the word, the more the fortresses of your mind fall. If you never expose your mind to God’s Word, you will never know which bricks need to be pulled down and destroyed there. And so the enemy of your destiny keeps you from reading and receiving and revelating and revering the word of God and the presence of God, giving your mind time to fortify itself all the more.

Lemme tell you something. If you expose your mind to the light of the LIVING WORD? The word MUST do what it was sent to do. What was it sent to do? Well. Paul told you in the verses above: capturing those thoughts and purposes and forcing them into obedience to Christ. It literally has no choice. Nothing that comes into contact with Christ, the Living Word, can stand.

I started to say, “Now. If you are warring with your own mind because you refuse to submit? Be brave enough not to drag everybody else down with you.” But how can you be brave when fear is sure to live where a sound mind does not? How can you manage collateral damage that you do not see because you are blind to your own folly? Uncertainty of mind leads to impetuous decisions and actions that harm EVERYBODY around you because the power that comes from a sound mind is lacking. So you’re a walking danger to yourself and others, constantly seeking happiness from the outside in bad relationships, spending money you don’t have, jumping on bandwagons, aggressively distrusting those sent to help your destiny, fearful of the future, lonely in rooms full of people and the Holy Ghost… All because you never settled the thing in yourself to submit your mind to Christ. How great is the darkness that you trying to call light!

I know you prolly didn’t think this would be about submission, but what else can I tell you? Every problem you face is easily fixed in giving your life to the One who gifted it to you to begin with—Cuz then it’s no longer your business. You live the doúlos life, a bond-slave, doing what you’re told with the foundation that God is holy, and immutable in His love, having planned out your life to perfecting and for the edifying of the ecclesia while glorifying God through Christ Jesus.