In our spiritual warfare we are not struggling with flesh and blood. Paul explains to the Ephesians in Chapter six beginning at verse 12. He says that our battle is with “…the cosmic powers of this present darkness…against the spiritual forces of evil.” Although Satan has an arsenal of weapons, the primary target of his attacks is the mind! When Peter spoke to Jesus about not going to Jerusalem to accomplish His purpose, Jesus replied, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man,” (Matthew 16:23). 2 Corinthians 4:4 clearly says that Satan, “…the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers…” Satan distracts believers from God’s purposes and his wiles deceive unbelievers with lies.

He knows that to control our thoughts is to control us! We are all in a battle for the mind! Paul explains this battle in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. He writes in verses 4 and 5, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Strongholds refers to positions held that are contrary to God’s Word. Arguments are mental exchanges. Pretensions are false views that contradict our need to Know God’s Word. Taking captive our thoughts is only managed through study of God’s Word. Paul often refers to what he calls “sound doctrine.” See 1 Timothy 1:10, 2 Timothy 4:3, Titus 1:9 and 2:1. The Greek word which is translated as “sound” is hugiaino, which literally in this context means to be “healthy” in mind. Robert Morey says, “When the great truths of the Bible are taught to the people in any church, they will generally become spiritually, mentally, and physically healthy. Their families will be healthy. The church will be healthy.”

We offer many Bible Study opportunities for members of our Church. We do that, not just because that’s what Churches do, but because we understand that life issues are truly related to thinking correctly about God, ourselves, the world around us, others, and the spiritual forces that have arrayed themselves against us. It truly is not enough to attend a worship service for one hour a week! Since that’s what most Christians settle for, the knowledge of Biblical truth is declining. An article in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society said this, “Gallup polls have tracked this descent to a current ‘record low.’ Not even able to get started with the canon in either Testament, most Americans now cannot name the first book of the Bible and half cannot name even one of the four Gospels. Stephen Prothero, professor of religion, Boston University, highlighted this in a 2007 article in the Los Angeles Times, which was bluntly entitled ‘We live in the land of biblical idiots.’ Please, “think” carefully about” what James says; “But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God’s perfect law that makes people free, and they continue to study it” (James 1:25 NCV). Get in a Bible Study today!