The Battle for My Brain

In James 4:1 I read, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (NIV)

Every second of life, there’s a battle in my brain. There’s a mental battle going on right now! It could be between right and wrong, between what’s easy and what’s hard, or what’s healthy and what’s unhealthy. 

All my negative emotions—stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, fear, jealousy—are a mental struggle. All of my internal and external conflicts start in my mind. 

James 4:1 says, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (NIV) This battle goes on even when I sleep, in the form of restlessness and or bad dreams. It’s a battle 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

This battle is constant and intense because my mind is my greatest asset. I am my thoughts, will, emotions, and soul. Without my brain, I’m not me.

The Bible says in Romans 7:22-23, “I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me . . . that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin” (TLB).

However, because I follow Jesus, God’s Spirit is in me. It’s part of my new nature. That means that Satan can’t control my mind, but he can make suggestions.

The only influence Satan has in the life of a Christian is that he can put thoughts in my mind. He can get my attention—and that’s a pretty big deal, because whatever gets my attention gets me. Once he puts a thought in my mind, I have to decide if I’m going to accept or reject his suggestion.

Needless to say, there’s a lot going on in my mind and all of it will eventually show up in my attitude and my actions.

I can ask God’s help for me to choose right over wrong, healthy over destructive, and his truth over Satan’s lies. The good news is that God is ready to give me the power I need through the Holy Spirit!