Winning the Battle of the Mind

“You see the world as you are, not as it is…”

The statement above appears light, yet it is so profound. I can’t remember who said this but I’ve seen it play out in my own life recently.

Believe it or not, your frame of reference determines how you interpret people’s actions or inactions.

To a person dealing with lust, every conversation with the opposite sex (or same sex) “must” be tinged with sexual innuendos.

The person “must” be coming onto you because you only see people not as whole persons but as objects prepared to satisfy your sexual desire; a means to meeting your needs.

Many suffer from this problem, where humans are seen as things to be objectified and preyed on, as conquests, not real people deserving of love, respect and understanding.

This is the same with people who struggle with anger, bitterness and unforgiveness.

They see the world through the eyes of their hurt, so every person who approaches them you as a monster out to reenact their past experience. Their walls are up and they launch attacks even before a threat is launched, thereby hurting those around them.

“Hurting People Hurt People”

These are all but a few symptoms of an unsound mind.

If you are battling with hurt, pain, lust or any form of wavering of the mind stealing away God’s peace and calm from your soul, you have to let the love of Christ heal you, and then you have to renew your mind. The onus is on you, not on God, not your parents or friends or Pastor or lover. You must do the work of renewing your mind with the word of God.

I’m learning that the way to achieve wholeness in my soul (will and emotions) just as I have experienced in my spirit (through the salvation by Jesus Christ), is to let God’s love and word be the lens through which I see.

I’m letting my mind be renewed by His word, so I fully take on the mind of Christ that I’ve been given, to the end that He becomes my reality and I can truly see through the eyes of love.

So when I meet an incredible man, I’m thinking of him as a child of God, loved by Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, with a divine purpose here on earth and not as someone to warm my bed or project my insecurities on or give the impossible task of completing me

Perhaps the emotional healing God has been placing on my heart looks less like hands being placed on people to help them be delivered from some “demonic chains” of depression etc., and more like people (including me) being washed by the water of the word of God which leads to total transformation and renewal of thought processes.

Looking through the lens of self-control and discipline as the definition of sound mind has helped me also examine my behavior and whether I have a sound mind or not.

Am I being propelled by love or by lust, fear, pain and ultimately idolatry: self, self, self?

Be careful to protect your mind and above all, surrender all thoughts, struggles and feelings to the washing of God’s word. As ordinary as this might seem; the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. — Hebrew 4:12

Further reading:

Acts 8:23; 2 Corinthians 10:4–6; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1 John 4:18–19; Philippians 2:3–9; Acts 7:54–60; Galatians 5:22–23; Ephesians 5:1–21; Romans 8:1–15; Acts 4:31–35.

Written by Uchechukwu Ani

Uchechukwu Ani is a writer by day and a sleeper by night, making her way through life one laugh at a time. She loves God, food and movies, and will always be the first to take the dance floor. Oh, she’s also a Lawyer.