C. S. Lewis, in The Problem Of Pain said, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Right now in our world, chaos is loud, boisterous, and like a clanging cymbal. 

Our world is noisy. Jesus went apart from the crowd to be alone with the Father. He bids us to come apart to be with Him. It is One on one. We need to be still before Him so that we can clearly hear what He is speaking to our heart. Do you have a set quiet time? Susanna Wesley had 19 children. Her children quieted when they saw her kneel on the floor and put her apron over her head. They all knew that she was meeting with God.

When I was high school age I learned a definition for an excuse: a skin or reason wrapped around a lie. Song of Solomon 5:3 is a great example for us. Let’s look at this through the eyes of the Lord calling His child to Himself. Her Beloved had come. He called out for her to open the door for Him. Verse 3 were her excuses. It says, “I have taken off my robe; how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how can I defile them?”

Revelational insight is like an essence. Like a sweet oil dripped into our hearts, its fragrance fills our senses. It enlivens our whole being, as it illuminates our heart through its light. Every insight is given as an invitation to change. It is His strategic wisdom that gives us clear direction. When we receive it, apply it to our lives by putting it into practice, it brings inner transformation. 

Intimate communion is sans our own agenda. Picture your own agenda as noise. Being still is silence. We cannot hear the Lord’s whispered words with that background noise. The Lord always hears us, but do we always hear Him? Selective hearing is listening for what you want to hear, but disregarding things that call us to obedience.

God gives us instruction through His commandments. Our obedience is a demonstration of our love. John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…” 1 John 2:3 takes it deeper. It says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We increase in our knowledge of the Lord as we read His word and put it into practice. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 

1 John 2:6 is our standard. It says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” John was not talking about perfection, but transformation. John 14:21 continues, “…And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Manifest in the Strong’s means: to appear, come to view, reveal, exhibit, make visible, present oneself in the sight of another, and be conspicuous.

He makes Himself known through a revelation of Himself that He wants us to understand in our present situation of life. He is Always Present. He is not constrained by time. He works with our heart in our present. This is something about neuroplasticity. Every thought leads to a change in muscles. Intimate communion is filled with love, peace, joy, and rest. We are relaxed and still inside. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I think the essential ingredient of being a good listener is to have no agenda. This carries into our relationship with the Lord. It helps define ‘apart from Me you can do nothing’ more clearly. Nothing. When we come to dine in His Presence, we come with nothing. His banquet is complete. There is nothing we can add to it.

Our total involvement is with our heart only. Our sole purpose in being quiet is to enjoy being with Him. If we come with an agenda, we will not be able to hear every whispered word. Let’s consider our agenda an obstacle, or a block in our heart to Heart communication. Isaiah 55:2-3 says, “…Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in its abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live.” Living is predicated on hearing.

Part of our being still before the Lord involves rest. If I have an agenda, I feel a need to fulfill my ‘list’ before I can rest. Hebrews 4:10 needs to be our stance as we come to the Lord. He, as always, is our example. It says, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” The Lord was busy creating for six days. On the seventh day He rested, or ceased from creating.

Releasing

Everything

Simply

Trusting

We cannot trust when our heart is full of our list of anxieties. An anxiety is an agenda. Anything that involves self has an agenda. Have you ever thought about that before? I didn’t until just now as I was typing. In Matthew 6:25 Jesus said to not worry. Strong’s definition for worry is: a distraction, a preoccupation with things causing anxiety, stress, and pressure. In truth, we have nothing to worry about because He cares for us.

Psalm 23:2-3 says of our Good Shepherd, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…” Spending time in the Presence of the Lord feeds, strengthens, and restores our spirit. Song Of Solomon 5:1 is a lover speaking to the one he loves. I like to read it in the Amplified, and capitalize it as though the Lord is speaking to me. “…Drink, yes, drink abundantly of love, O precious one (for now I know you are Mine, irrevocably mine!…”

David loved the Lord. He wrote such heart reaching words. Psalm 63:8 in the Amplified is one of my favorites. It says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Here is a new song. Drink Deep. It expresses a heart set on the Lord. O take down the barriers of my heart so your love can fully enter in. I desire to desire You as You desire me. Let nothing block. Let nothing hinder as I gaze into Your eyes of love. I want Your love to penetrate every aspect of my life. O heal my heart with Your love.

We are chosen, adopted, and accepted. Ephesians 1:6 says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” When I think of being accepted, it takes me to the opposite word of rejected. Isaiah 53:3 says, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

Jesus was rejected so that we might be accepted. He was despised, to make the way for us to be cherished. He gave His life that we might live in His abundance. Let’s take a moment to consider His abounding, unconditional, and everlasting love for us. Nothing we do or don’t do alters the fullness of His love for us. His mercy is great and unending. His grace is amazing. We are wrapped and secured in His love, mercy, and grace.

We are brought into intimate communion with the Lord because we are accepted. Our relationship is based on being and not doing. His love requires nothing from us. He is the Initiator and we are the receptors. The word ‘accepted’ is a warm word that draws us close. Think of being embraced in His arms of love, cherished, nurtured, comforted, secured, and serene. He is tender, gentle, loving, and nourishing. 

How do we just be and not do? Psalm 46:10 says to be still and know that He is God. Psalm 131:2 says, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” Our quiet time is just being still in His Presence. We behold Him as He beholds us. Our hearts are unveiled. There is nothing that separates us from His gaze because we know that we are known. We don’t have to hide or pretend because we know that we are accepted as we are.

2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Being still before the Lord and drinking in His Presence, brings inner change that comes in no other way. He washes out the emotional debris with His whispered words of love. My deepest emotional healings have come through my intimate communion with the Lord. The rich insights that He gives me are the basis of my writings.

This is part of a new song: Womb Of The Morning. Be still now and quiet your heart before Me. I have so much to share to reveal the depths of My counsel. For in Me is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I have all and hold all. Through the power of My Word. In Me you will lack nothing. Your very sustenance comes through sweet communion. Through intimacy that cannot be broken. Nothing in this earth can compare with My beauty of holiness. In the womb of the morning.

One essential element of being adopted is being chosen. Ephesians 1:4 says that we were chosen before God ever created the world we live in. Verse 5 says, “Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

I want to go back to Abram. There are some amazing words used to describe his descendants. Genesis 13:6 says that the land could not hold Abram and Lot because they had so many possessions. Two men. When I have read this account before, it seemed that Lot was looking out only for himself to get the best. This time as I read, I saw Lot’s decision orchestrated by God. They separated. In verses 14-15 the Lord told Abram to look northward, southward, eastward, and westward. He said that all the land Abram could see He would give to his descendants. 

Verse 16 says, “And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.” We know from many passages that they could not be numbered. They were uncountable, innumerable, and countless. In Genesis 15:5 the Lord took Abram out to look at the stars. It says, “…count the stars if you are able to number them. And He said to him, So shall your descendants be.”

We are chosen and adopted because we are loved by our Creator. That love cannot be accounted for in human terms. In Psalm 139:17-18, David tried to associate God’s love with something natural. It says, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You.”

John 1:12 says that when we receive Jesus as our Savior, we become children of God. Verse 13 succinctly emphasizes that it is by God’s will. It says, “who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.” 1 John 3:1 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!…” Romans 8:15 says, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father.”

When God told Abram that He would give him descendants that would be more in number than the stars, Genesis 15:6 says, “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” We believers are the fruit of Abram’s trust in the Lord. I can imagine when we are all with the Lord at the end of all time. Countless, innumerable, and uncountable multitudes are standing together. The Lord says to Abram: look (and He sweeps His arm out over the crowd) because you believed these are your fruit that has glorified Me.

We still have time to add to this number. We are called to be evangelists. We have a wonderful, marvelous, inexhaustible heritage as adopted children of God. Yet He has room for countless more. His love is ready to reach out and embrace everyone who comes to Him. There is no limit or boundary to His love. Romans 10:14 says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

I love John 15:16 which says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” Here is part of a new song:

Love Sonnet 

Precious life. I chose you before the foundation of the world. You are Mine, irrevocably Mine. Don’t seek any other. You are Mine for eternity. I called you from the womb. Your name is always on My lips. You are My fragrance sweet. Like a flower bud opening. Enter in come enter into My love.

Ephesians 1:4 says, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.”

God chose Noah. He saved Noah, his family, and some animals, but destroyed every living thing. Out of Noah’s three son’s He chose Shem. Out of Shem’s sons He chose Terah. Out of Terah’s three sons He chose Abram. Out of all mankind, He chose you. Not only that, but He has placed you in this time of history, in the country of His choice, and with the family He placed you in. Stop and think about it.

Acts 17:26 says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”

God called Abram out of where he was, to go to where he had never been before. He took him out of his comfort zone. Genesis 12:1 says, “…Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. Verse 2 says, “…and you shall be a blessing.” Abram obeyed and we are part of his fruit. You and I are part of Abram’s blessing. 

Romans 4:1 says, “When then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?” Verse 3 says that when Abram believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness. Where do we get our righteousness? When we believe. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Let’s go back to John 15:16. God chose you to bear fruit for His glory. What does that look like? Verse 5 in the Amplified says, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me) you can do nothing.”

What is the Lord asking you to leave behind that is hindering your fruit? What is usurping your quiet time of abiding in Him? Our strength comes from being not doing.

What is character? It is who we are and what we do behind closed doors. It is the manifestation of what we believe about ourselves and others. It is like an inward identity, the hidden part of our heart. Our thoughts are clothed with intentions that come from what we believe in our heart. Our thoughts become actions, which display an inner attitude.

I love Hebrews 4:12 which says that God’s word, “…is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Lord knows everything. He knows our thoughts before we think them. We certainly don’t know or understand our thoughts, when hidden pain or sin seeps into our thought process. That is beyond us.

Integrity is a great character quality. Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.” Integrity is words and actions that are the same. There is no pretense or self-deception. Integrity is an expression of a pure heart. Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Luke 4:4 Amplified says, “…Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone but by every word and expression of God.”

God expresses His character through Who He is and what He does. 2 Peter 1:4 says, “By which have been give to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be PARTAKERS of the divine nature…” We come to know and experience God’s way for us as being a partaker of His nature through our trials.

He reveals His character to us in the crucible. When He entered the blazing fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, He displayed His invincible, indestructible, and unconquerable nature. Here is His promise to us. Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.”

He also uses our trials to develop our character. Hidden dross contaminates it. Pressure, hardship, and impossible circumstances are some of God’s exacting means to bring it to the surface. Here is the progression. Romans 5:3-4 says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character, and character hope.” Without trials we would not grow in character. We would remain stunted and unfruitful.

I would encourage you to think about what you believe and do when you are facing with a new trial. Your behavior reveals your character. We are called with a holy calling. We are chosen to bear fruit that will glorify the Lord. We are equipped through His word to endure. We are transformed as we behold Him. We partake of His nature through our thoughts. It always goes back to our thoughts.

Thoughts Drive Behavior

Discernment is essential in making righteous decisions. Are you impulsive? That might be an area you want to correct through thoughts anchored in God’s truths that will set you free. We are able to make righteous decisions by discerning between good and evil. I want to take it a step further than where we ended yesterday. Hiding God’s word in our heart will help us discern between good and best.

Paul and his team are a great example. Acts 16:6-10 is a very interesting narrative. Verse 6 says that they were going to preach the word in Asia. Yet the Holy Spirit forbid them. Then they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit did not permit them. These were good decisions. As we read further we see that they were not God’s best. Verse 9 says that a vision came to Paul. He saw a man from Macadonia pleading with them to help them.

Verse 10 says, “Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonina, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” I encourage you to read the rest of the chapter. God is our orchestrator. Sometimes He leads us through resistance. I love Revelation 3:7. I use it as prayer frequently. It says, “…He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.”

Yesterday I listened to a neuroscientist explaining neuroplasticity. Our brains are plastic, in the sense that they are flexible. Everything is reversible. Our genes are not our destiny. Science has discovered what God has written in His word. Our thoughts drive our behavior. Proverbs 23:7 says that we are as we think.

Romans 12:2 says, “…renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Psalm 18:32 says, “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. Psalm 138:8 says, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever…” Mercy is not getting what we deserve.

There is hope! It is never too late to change. Your life may have started out rough with childhood traumas. You may have made unrighteous decisions that you are still reaping. You may have walked away from the Lord, and been on a diet of swine husks. There are many factors of defeat. Ephesians 2:1-3 was written to set the stage of our hopelessness. Verse 4 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.”

Let me remind you of a few truths that you can lean back on. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” This is one of my anchor verses that fortifies my faith. No matter what, He is faithful. The children of Israel’s bones dried up. Listen to their words. Ezekiel 37:11 says, “…Our bones are dry, our hope is lost…” Hopelessness, because of your negative thought process regarding your circumstances, affects your health. Hopelessness is the fruit. Note the contrast in Proverbs 17:22. It says, “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”

Isaiah 59:1-2 says, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you.” We are the obstructors. The Lord is ready to save. Nothing in your life has been in vain because the Lord redeems it all. He uses our adversity for our good. He makes a way when there is no way. We can trust Him to bring all the changes needed in our lives so that we will bear fruit for His glory.

It is essential to remember that fleshly thoughts come UP from our heart. Another’s fleshly behavior does not make us react in our flesh. All actions are first thoughts. If someone is blocking our goals, our reaction is first a thought that comes UP from our heart. Evil thoughts proceed from our heart which affect our behavior. Here is an example: someone is driving really slow and you are rushing to get to an appointment on time. What is your first thought? That thought proceeds a fleshly reaction, or a righteous response.

Can we discern between good and evil thoughts? Yes. The more we observe to do by applying God’s truths to our hearts, the more we will discern the difference when an evil thought comes to the surface. Hebrews 5:14 says, “But solid food…” Let’s stop there. What is solid food? It is doctrine that rules our thoughts and actions. It is foundational Scripture that brings correction and changes our thoughts, purpose, and actions. The verse continues, “…belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Good and evil are like water and oil. They don’t mix. You either have a good thought or an evil thought. You can’t have good and evil one at the same time. It is the same as to whether we follow our flesh or the Holy Spirit. One or the other. God is good, and there is no evil in Him. However, satan is evil, and there is no good in him. Right now, stop and think. God is Master over all, and satan is subject to Him. Who do you want to serve through your thoughts?

Romans 12:2 in the J. B. Phillips says, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within…” There is a lot of world-flak right now in our country and worldwide. Romans 6:12 says, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” What are you ‘letting’ in through your eyes and ears? Who are you associating with that influences you? Let us be those who overcome evil with good.

Proverbs 2:1-8 states that wisdom sharpens our discernment. I encourage you to reread them. When their truths are in place, verse 9 says, “Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.” Understanding, wisdom, knowledge, and discretion preserve us in the time of temptation. It is God’s wisdom that comes from above. Here is wisdom derived from evil. James 3:14-15 says, “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.”

Lying, self-seeking, and bitter envy come from evil thoughts. They were planted through fiery darts which we received. They seeded deep to do their deceptive work. These three are just a sampling. Paul’s letters are full of truths that counteract each of these and far more. Ephesians 4:25 says to put away lying. Verse 26 says to not let the sun go down on your anger. Verse 29 says to not let any corrupt word come out of your mouth. Verse 31 says to put away fleshly things, or in other words to cast them away. Verse 32 says that we are to forgive as we have been forgiven.

Those verses are a template for righteousness. Righteousness is conforming our thoughts (by washing our hearts with God’s word) purposes (intentions), and actions (the fruit of our thoughts) to God’s will. Spiritual disciplines are essential. However they won’t bring inner change. We have to renew our mind through truth that will set us free and keep us free. That is what it means to overcome evil with good. Hidden lies deceive. Hidden truth pushes the lies to the surface. This is effective warfare. We discern the lie, confess it as sin, renounce it, and affirm the truth. Then we hide additional Scriptures in our heart that will be like sentinels to alert us to future oncoming fiery darts. 

I’ve continued to meditate on good and evil. It is hard for me to fathom what it was like for Adam and Eve. No sin. There was no conscious awareness of good and evil…until they sinned. In Genesis 3:5 the serpent set the bait. It says, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Adam and Eve were created beings. They had no past. They enjoyed a full and open relationship with the Lord. Why did they hide after they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? For the first time in their lives they knew the difference between right and wrong. They passed it onto their children.

Cain knew he had done wrong, and that is why he hid his sin. You and I are born with the knowledge of right and wrong. Romans 12:21 Amplified says, “Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good.” What did God say to Cain? Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you shall rule over it.” The Amplified says, “…but you must master it.”

How do we master the temptation to sin that is crouching at our door, ready to spring out and capture us? The key is ‘do not let’ because it is up to us. No one can stop us except ourselves. Have you ever tried to convince someone not to sin? I have. I’ve plead to no avail. 1 Peter 2:1 says, “Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking.” Where do these five things come from?

Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” For years I read this verse and let it roll off my me like water rolls off a ducks back. Why? I didn’t think that they applied to me. Yet, they perfectly define inner defilement.

Evil thoughts are anything that opposes God. Negative dialogue against yourself, others, or your circumstances fall into that category. Hidden sin taints our thoughts. Verse 20 says, “These are the things which defile a man…” Our heart is the seed bed. What we sow into our heart will be reaped through out thoughts which become actions.

What are good thoughts? Any thought that glorifies the Lord. They are thoughts that please Him. David wrote several Psalms that pertain to this truth. Psalm 19:14 is a good one to inculcate. It says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Our thoughts are totally open before the Lord. With that in mind, wouldn’t we want to please Him with our thoughts? Hidden sin is a total and absolute deception, we being the ones deceived.

It is important to remember that when we are saved, our minds are not instantly transformed. We had thought patterns that were of the world. We may have consequences to our sins that still affect us. Since all things are worked by God for our good, what is His good in consequences? I want to give you an example from my own life.

February 1977 I received a phone call early in the morning. The contents of that conversation triggered angry thoughts that were buried from my past. I took off walking at 6:15 AM. I walked a long way. Knowing how I was back then, I was probably negatively dialoguing. The snow had been melting the day before and I was walking in mud. I got bogged down. When I came to the 6′ ravine I stopped and looked down, wondering how I was going to do it. That is all I remembered for 3 1/2 years. I suffered a severe brain injury that stopped me in my tracks.

Note: no one made me angry. That was my choice. I sinned against God and the one I was angry toward. Since nothing is in vain, the Lord used my consequences as a vehicle for His goodness to shine through. I could not work for 6 1/2 years. Most of that time I was bedridden. The Lord used that time to woo me. He brought me into an intimate communion with Him that has not been rivaled to this day. Our communion is my life-strength.

Though I accepted Jesus as my Savior in 1958, many heart-lies remained in place and hidden until 1993. When I learned that not all of my thoughts are of my own origin, that opened doors for tremendous inner healing. Our Heart Surgeon is always at work. I asked the Holy Spirit to reveal the hidden lies. Then as each lie surfaced, I confessed it as sin, renounced it, and then affirmed His truth to replace it. You see, His purpose in our trials is to conform us to His image. Hidden sin keeps us from exemplifying Him.

Let me use Paul as an example. His was the most radical conversion I know. He wrote Romans 6:1-2 that says, “…Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!…” He also wrote Romans 7:20 to help his readers understand an important truth. It says, “Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” The end of verse 25 says, “…So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” As long as we are in this body we will battle fleshly thoughts.

Paul wrote another key for us. Ephesians 4:23 says, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” Our minds are the battleground between our flesh and our spirit. If we believe one of satan’s lies, it will control our life and rule our thoughts. Truth from God’s word, is like flood waters that uproot massive trees. The truth exposes the long established root-lies by lifting them, roots and all, out of darkness into His light. We then can see them for what they are, confess them as sin, and gain victory!