How to Win the Mental Battle

How to Win the Mental Battle

By Drenda Keesee

Your thoughts are powerful. What you spend your time thinking about will grow! That’s why it is so important to be aware of what you allow yourself to focus on.

Your thoughts are incredibly influential on the direction your life will take. If you spend time thinking about the things of God and being focused on Him and His plan, then you will be headed in the direction He has for you. That’s why it is so important for you to learn how to control your thoughts and keep them in check. Monitor what you are thinking about, and if it’s not of God, then refocus your mind to be on things that will glorify Him!

The Bible tells us to think about godly things. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

But what happens when we don’t focus on these things? 

When our focus shifts from the things of God, we become…

…focused on ourselves. We look to please ourselves to fill the God-shaped void in our lives—and let me tell you, the results are destructive!

We can end up going into debt, desperate to find something to give us identity, or jumping into toxic relationships, pushing away the people who love us, or even turning to addictions.

It all starts with a thought. One lie. It doesn’t matter how much you are praying, how perfect your life may appear, or how many truths you are believing. If Satan can just get you to believe one lie and dwell on it, he can get you to divert from God’s plan for your life!

If Satan can get us to believe just one lie, he can gain territory in our minds. He just needs one lie to sink in, and then he will let it grow. It doesn’t matter how many truths you’ve put in; if you spend all your time focused on that one lie, it will eventually grow and take root.

Once we let a lie take root, we trade in our faith for fear! Fear tries to prevent us from stepping out, from following our dreams, from living in freedom.

Think about it: If you had no fear in life, would you live differently? What would your life look like?

Many of us would not recognize our lives without fear. Fear is what holds us back from pursuing our dreams and stepping out of our comfort zones!

After fear has taken root, it can lead to stress and anxiety. If you have a fear of the future and you are constantly focusing on it instead of taking steps to build a better life for yourself, you will likely end up overwhelmed and stressed. People respond to stress in different ways, but common ways are to avoid the problem at hand or to shut down completely.

I know I’ve just described a slippery slope. But how do you stop yourself from going down it?

You have to take control of your thoughts!

It may sound silly, but think about what you are thinking about. It will change your life!

You may think you have “harmless thoughts,” but they will grow and you will have to deal with their consequences Take control now, before you fall down that slippery slope of fear and anxiety. Trust me, there is nothing Satan wants more than to have control of your mind. If he has that, then he can hold you captive and keep you from believing what God says about you.

So what do you do if you’ve already fallen for a lie? If it has taken root and you are currently stuck believing it?

Remind yourself of what God says about you.

Do so by spending time in His Word. Surround yourself with other believers who will build you up and remind you of what God says and the plan He has for you. Be open and vulnerable with other believers that you can trust.

Oftentimes, Satan will have us believing crazy lies that are so far from the truth, and all it takes is sharing them with another person to see how unrealistic those lies really are.

Remind yourself each day of who you are in Christ. God sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for our sins.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God loves you so much and wants what is best for you. His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23). God is not expecting you to be perfect when you follow Him. When you mess up, walk in His grace and forgiveness, and remind yourself that He loves you despite all of your mistakes.

Another tip is to start focusing on others.

Quit dwelling on all your problems and what you don’t like about your life, and start focusing on what is good and what you can do to help others. Giving back is a great way to bring joy and gratitude in your life. Even if it is once a month, find something to get involved in where you can help others and give back.

Knowing what God says about you in His Word is key to overcoming the lies of the enemy. If you find yourself believing a lie of the enemy today, get into the Word of God and remind yourself of what God says about you!

Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.

A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.

Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.

Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage, and family. Tune in for their weekly messages here. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide, and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary, and Drenda.

Through their own life experiences, the Keesees have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.

That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.

She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.