And the Scriptures also tell of a bonus for Christians: The Bible presents the battle as one not fought just with flesh and blood but with evil and darkness. Scripture portrays the battle in the mind just as intensely. These thoughts invade our peace and bring condemnation. Just as frightening are the thoughts that counter every good moral reason, thoughts that are violent, explicit, dark, or deceitful. I should quit,” are terrorizing and shockingly commonplace. On any given day, we can try to silence such thoughts as, “I am unworthy and will likely fail,” or, “If anyone knew who I really was, they would reject me quickly.” Sometimes this mental battle is frightening and seems to scream at us in surround sound.Įven suicidal thoughts like, “It would be better if I wasn’t here,” or, “Life is too hard. Most of us can relate to the battle we fight internally in our minds. Psychology continues to describe this battle as “cognitive dissonance,” which is the war between “what one knows” and “what one feels.” This struggle exists when conflicting and inconsistent thoughts are in a tug-of-war with one another. Negative self-talk can be crippling, and it can often lead to changes in behavior, attitude, and overall belief systems. When the grandson asks, “Which one will win?” the grandfather replies: The grandfather in the story tells his grandson that two wolves are within us all.

Īn old Native American story describes the internal battle in the mind that rages within us.

For more on this topic, read her book First Freedoms: Drawing Near to God by Cultivating a Wholehearted Prayer Life. Jennifer Barnett describes how Christians can take every thought captive and achieve victory in the spiritual battle of the mind.

The battlefield of the mind