How Do I Get Control Of My Mind

If you have trouble with your thoughts running wild, or with overwhelming thoughts of fear, anxiety, overwhelm, lust, or any number of dominating thoughts, you may have the question, “How do I control my mind?”  Well, I have a simple answer, but probably not the one you want to hear: We don’t control our minds.  We don’t have the ability!  It’s impossible!  The only thing you can do is yield control to the Holy Spirit. 

Think on These Things

The Bible says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”  

Brick By Brick

Imagine your mind is like a brick house.  The way you build a house is one brick at a time – brick by brick by brick.  In the same way, we build our thought life one brick at a time.  Similarly, demonic strongholds in our thinking are built one brick at a time. If we think repeated thoughts of fear, anxiety, or thoughts that our future is doomed or that we are unloved, we are building bricks in our thought life.  We have tens of thousands of thoughts a day, and they’re mainly on repeat. As we lay these bricks, we build strongholds. 

Two Types of Strongholds

There are two types of strongholds.  There’s a demonic stronghold, but then there’s also a stronghold of righteousness, which is a refuge. You run to a stronghold for safety.  So you can build up righteous strongholds in your mind. In other words, you can build your mind up to understand the things of God.  

Your Mind Can Be A Safe Place

Your mind can be a safe place.  All could be chaos around you, but if you’ve filled your mind with the word of God, you can run to that retreat and stronghold, and you’ll be safe in your own mind.  Your mind should not be a place you’re trying to escape!  Your mind should be a stronghold you can run into that is redeemed and righteous.

Flex Your Mind

When people work out, they like to show their bodies off.  They share pics of their six-pack abs, their pecs, or their biceps.  What if we showed off the work we did on our mind – “flexed our mind?” What if we testified at how filled with worry, doubt, anxiety, fear, and apprehension we were, but that we pulled down the demonic strongholds and built it back up?  What a mind flex!

How to Tear Down Strongholds

Here’s how you tear down demonic strongholds in your thinking.  Learn to repeatedly say the word of God, and then think and meditate on the word of God. The more that you do that, His thoughts become your thoughts. Shakespeare said, “Your eyes are like windows to your soul,” and I firmly believe that.  That’s why when I’m in seasons of intense pulling down of strongholds, I put scripture everywhere (and I suggest you do too)!  You can put it on your walls, your mirrors, your car on post-it notes, your desk, your refrigerator, your phone’s lock screen, your computer’s screen saver  – anywhere your eyes will frequently land throughout the day.   

Sabotage The Tactics

Satan loves phones because he can get things into your mind through your eyes.  He will always try to get you to look at something you shouldn’t.  So we can sabotage the enemy’s plan by putting the Word everywhere we look.  There were seasons in my life when I placed scriptures all over my bedroom, bathroom, car, and everywhere else because I needed to hijack my mind.  It was as if I was saying, “This mind is cursed and full of demonic strongholds and torment, and I’ve got to sabotage the enemy’s tactics in a righteous way!” 

God Speaking Vs My Thoughts

People ask me how they can tell the difference between God speaking and their thoughts.  I always tell them if they rehearse the scriptures enough then they won’t know the difference between their thoughts and God’s thoughts because they’re the same thoughts.  The goal is that you don’t know the difference between your thoughts and His thoughts! We want to be so submitted and conformed to Him, thinking what He wants us to think and rehearsing what He wants us to rehearse, meditating on what He wants us to meditate on, that we can hardly tell the difference.   

When A Word Contradicts God’s Word

If your mind is conformed to the Word and not the world, it should scare you if you get a word from someone saying it’s God that is so different than what you think.  When you read the Bible, Genesis through Revelation, you begin to get in touch with the character of God. You start to know what He’s like; how He acts; His personality.  Then, when He tells you to do something in the spirit prophetically, you can say, “Oh yeah, that’s God’s character.  That’s definitely God. That’s what He is like.”  

Spiritually Needy

But if you don’t know His word, you won’t know His character. And if you don’t know His character, you can’t get confirmation. And if you can’t get confirmation, you’re gonna seek prophecy through other people. The more you seek prophecy through other people, you become spiritually needy and will seek out continual affirmation, confirmation, and words from prophetic people.  You will almost treat it like people do psychics or mediums, which results in witchcraft.  

If you want to gain victory in your thought life, you must yield control to the Holy Spirit and begin to tear down strongholds brick by brick.  Begin by going back to the Word and asking, “What does the Word say about this lie that I’ve believed? What does the Word say about this thought pattern that I have given into?”  And whatever the Word says, determine to say that, think that, and breathe that.