The Battle for Your Mind #08

Hosts Dan Wheeler, Terry Steen, and Brian Roland discuss The Power of Our Thoughts

 They will help you live your life with purpose, change someone’s life for the better and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Everyone starts the race... but only the Fearless Finish Strong!
 
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Transcript

Brian Roland: 0:02

And I'm sitting and I'm talking about praying and I want little living room is looking out over the ocean, I'm going God, can you hear me? I just felt nothing. And I said, you know something, I'm not leaving until I get this taken care of. And I just pray through that until I just felt the Spirit come over me, because he was there all the time. But I was bringing myself down in my own mind saying, because God isn't listening to me. And I know better than that. I've been on this earth for 70 years. I know better than that already. And yet, I still had a doubt there and it brought me down.

John Matarazzo: 0:31

Live your life with purpose, change someone's life for the better, and leave a lasting impact on those around you. Welcome to finish strong the podcast designed to help you discover your unique purpose and develop a plan to leave a powerful legacy. In this episode, Dan, Terry and Brian talk about the power of our thoughts and discuss how you can win the battle in your mind. Here's Dan to get started.

Dan Wheeler: 0:55

Keep your face always toward the sunshine. And the shadows will fall behind you. That was a quote by Walt Whitman. I love that quote. And I think it has a lot to do with what we're talking about today. winning the battle in your mind, keeping your mind going in positive areas. There is so much power in our thoughts. My name is Dan Wheeler, I'm joined by Terry Steen and Brian Rowland. Terry, there is a lot to the mind. And sometimes it is something that we have to reel in and keep going in the right direction.

Terry Steen: 1:33

Oh my goodness. Yes. And I don't know if I'll do very well on this one. When it comes to thoughts and things of the mind. I've always struggled with a little weakness there, but I'll try to I'll try to bring my a game. Okay.

Dan Wheeler: 1:47

Yeah. Brian, we did talk about whether we should include him. But we thought, you know,

Terry Steen: 1:52

hey,

Dan Wheeler: 1:53

You're part of the ministry,

Terry Steen: 1:54

you know, I can hear you, you know, I'm right here.

Dan Wheeler: 1:57

I forgot. Sorry. Our thoughts? How do our thoughts work? You know, sometimes, I really have to reel my mind. And I tend to hyper focus. And sometimes I hyper focus on the negatives, and the what ifs in life. And there are so many things that can influence our thoughts, you know, what's going on in the culture, news, movies, uncertainty, the opinion of others, guys lately? I've taken a break from the news because it was just pulling me down. How about you, Brian?

Brian Roland: 2:33

Absolutely, I had to do the same thing. Deb and I talked about this, because we just got, we were getting inundated with so much stuff that we didn't know what was right or wrong. And we said, you know, we just got to take a break. Because it's the people that influence you to that influences your thoughts. And when you start getting negativity coming in, and then you're getting something on the other side to say no, no, that's not right. It's like you get confused with it. And then your own mind starts to do battle with itself. And that's what we have to determine where we're going to get our influences at and what's influencing our thoughts and who we're listening to and who we're confiding in. And in my case, I'm confiding in you guys, I'm confiding in Deb, confiding with people that I know know what is happening, and not with hyperbole and stuff that people are just trying to give you information just because you think they think they know something which gets your mind wandering off the course of where it should be. And I have a tendency to start getting mind overload where I start working on things. And it's like, I start diving into 10 things at one time. And that really just gets confusing because then I can't sleep. I mean, my mind is going constantly, and that we have the battle. It's a battle for me. But that's who influences our thoughts has a lot to do with how our mind reacts to things and how we carry throughout the day.

Dan Wheeler: 3:47

Boy there's a couple of verses in James in the Bible talks about in verse six of chapter one, I'm in the new New International Version that says, when we ask we must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. And then it says down in verse eight, a double minded man is unstable, in all his ways. So we don't want to be double minded, Terry, we want to keep our minds in the right direction. And Brian talked about some of the influences. We have our friends, our family, you know, producers, authors, but we do have a choice, don't we in what we focus on?

Terry Steen: 4:28

Yeah. And sometimes I just don't think we realize that but God always gives us a choice, just like he always gives us allows us to do our will. He doesn't force us into anything. I remember one night, a number of months ago, usually I sleep like a baby. And I could not get to sleep and I was reflecting on a conversation I had with someone that did not go well. And I was thinking of what I should have said and what I didn't say And what they said and the implications of that. And I was trying to put it out of my mind, and I couldn't and I was still up and I was still up. And then all of a sudden, I realized, and I almost I didn't say it audibly, but I might as well have. It was like, wait a minute, stop right now. I don't have to think about this. I can choose to think about something else. So I shifted gears and I started thinking about things of the Lord. I started praying, I started reciting some scriptures in my head. And within five to 10 minutes, my whole mindset shifted. I was able to go to sleep. But it was a choice. It's what you focus your thoughts on,

Brian Roland: 5:47

but now, was Karen able to go back to sleep? That's the thing?

Terry Steen: 5:50

Well, that's a big question that snoring may have kept her up all night. I don't know.

Dan Wheeler: 5:54

Well, we do need to choose our thoughts wisely. I was looking through a book the other day by Joyce Meyer, it's called the battlefield of the mind. And she said, we need to think about what we're thinking about. In other words, summary. Good. Yeah. It's good to kind of analyze what's been dominating your mind and your thoughts and kind of realign those thoughts as you did that night. Terry, I think it's so important to do because if you keep dwelling on the negative, like you said, You kept going over that conversation that hadn't gone well, that can really lead to a downward spiral, can it?

Terry Steen: 6:38

It really can, and it is so and Brian mentioned it earlier, it's so critical as to what you allow into your mind and into your thoughts. You know, the devil works. So hard planting thoughts. I remember sometimes when I feel like I've had a great prayer time, or I've even been in church, and I prayed with other people, and I'm sitting there in meditation and out of nowhere, a sexual lustful thought will come into my head. And I'm like, Where did that come from? That doesn't make any sense. And then I had to push it away and I realized the enemy comes at you at any opportunity and it comes from the devil it It comes from the wrong friends if we don't have the right friends, you know, negative emotions if we don't work hard to keep positive emotions in our life and are just even overreacting to circumstances we have circumstances that we make a choice as to how do we react and all those can be destructive downward spiral.

Dan Wheeler: 7:45

Brian, just as Terry was saying destructive thoughts can lead to a downward spiral constructive thoughts positive thoughts can lift us up?

Brian Roland: 7:53

Absolutely, then and it's true because just as destructive thoughts just bring you down constructive, just lifts you up. And, and I think a lot of things that that are a lot of times it happens to me, I'll wake up like Terry and I, I will just have things going through my head that just bring me down. But I noticed that just happened recently, I was down in San Clemente with my wife and I woke up in the middle of the night. And I just had so many things on my mind that was tearing me down. But the main thing that was being attacking me was saying, God's not listening to you anymore. And I'm sitting and I'm talking and I'm praying and I'm, the living room is looking out over the ocean, I'm going God, can you hear me? Because he just I just felt nothing. And I said, you know, something, I'm not leaving till I get this taken care of. And I just prayed through that until I just felt his Spirit come over me, because he was there all the time. But I was bringing myself down in my own mind saying, because God isn't listening to me. And I know better than that. I've been on this earth for 70 years. I know better than that already. I mean, he's touched me. He's talked to me, and he's led me. And yet, I still had a doubt there and it brought me down. But then I was able to look that up and just turn that around.

Dan Wheeler: 9:02

We really have to pray for God's protection around our mind. Because when you think about it, that's where Satan has always attacked in the Garden of Eden. The first thing he did to Eve was he put the seeds of doubt in her mind and it said, Did God really say that you would die, you know, and he was trying to create doubt. And that's where we have to cut that thought off. I find that you know, Terry, you mentioned you have a lustful thought, Man when those things are just even begin to get in there. Boom. I gotta shut it. That's right. Oh, yeah. Military. You can't let it take root can ya?

Terry Steen: 9:41

No, no, you can't. And it's a it's a battle, but we have to know it. We have to know we're in a battle.

Dan Wheeler: 9:48

Ephesians talks about it. In the New International Version. Ephesians chapter four. I'm going to read about six verses starting in verse 18. It says they are darkened in their understanding and separately From the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts, having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality, so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him, and we're taught in him, in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, you were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which has been corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self created to be like God and true righteousness, and holiness. Doesn't that say at all? The new attitude? Yeah, of the minds. That's where we can turn things around, we can change the course of our thoughts, we can turn them immediately toward Jesus. And if you want to know what you should be thinking about, look in Philippians chapter four, what Brian wants you to go ahead was six and seven, because it's very appropriate.

Brian Roland: 11:08

Yeah. It just tells us be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And that was exactly what I was just talking about before, too. I had to just pray through this. And I had to make my requests known to him because I wasn't hearing. But yet when as long as I stayed focused on that, he came to me and he spoke to me, and he that lifted,

Dan Wheeler: 11:39

yeah, verse eight, says, finally brothers, 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. Yeah, so important. And when you start doing that, will start lifting you right up, so we can win the battle. And winning the battle involves taking control of our thoughts. And one of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Romans 12, two, and it says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We have to renew our mind every day. And you see, prayer helps us to guide our mind when those thoughts start spiraling downward or their thoughts we know we shouldn't have, we need the crowd to Jesus, we need to say, Lord, help me, God, I need your help. And then as Philippians, four, six and seven said Don't be anxious for everything. So Terry, it's definitely a spiritual battle, the battle in our mind,

Terry Steen: 12:47

Oh, no question, no question. And I think it's so important that we acknowledge that it is a battle, and that it's spiritual in Ephesians 612, it tells us for we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. If we're wrestling, we're fighting. This is a battle. But it's against rulers, it's against authorities, it's against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, it's against spiritual forces of evil. So it is so much a spiritual battle. And it goes on and verse 13, is to say, put on the full armor of God, we have to do the fight. And the whole thing is, is we have to know who our enemy is. If we're going into war, any sports team, if you're trying to win a game, you work on your part of the team, but you have to study and understand who your enemy is in war in sports and everything. And so that's something that we have to be able to strategize, we have to know when to be on the offense when to be on the defense. But we have to understand how the enemy attacks us. So we can create the best defense for it. And God gives it to us by telling us to put on that full armor of God for sure.

Dan Wheeler: 14:08

And a lot of these thoughts can attack us when we're alone. And that's why Psalm 101 verse three well, verses, the second half of verse two actually says, I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes No vile thing. We just can't go there. Right? Yeah,

Brian Roland: 14:28

yeah. And over in Proverbs 4:25. He just tells us, let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Keep your eyes on the prize.

Dan Wheeler: 14:38

I think a lot of people are discouraged today, with what's happening in our country. There's a lot of fear out there. I know I've struggled with it. And as I said before, sometimes I can hyper focus and just go down that road that just spirals you down. But we have to realize that God has not given us the spirit of fear. He's given us a spirit of love, and of a sound mind. And there are just so many great verses. There's one in Colossians, three to set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. That's pretty simple. It's pretty straightforward. As a matter of fact, as to what we need to do right Terry?

Terry Steen: 15:23

Simple, just straightforward, right?

Dan Wheeler: 15:25

That's true. That's true. Not always simple. You're right.

Terry Steen: 15:28

It's too easy to look down. It's too easy to look at the things around us that are natural. I can see, isn't it?

Dan Wheeler: 15:35

Yeah,

Brian Roland: 15:36

that's the truth. You don't over Second Corinthians 10. three through five says to, for though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war, according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, right. So it just tells us right there. So good.

Dan Wheeler: 16:04

I'm going to ask you guys to look up Psalm 139 23, and 24. While I read proverbs three, five, and six, just to keep things moving here, our time always goes by so quickly. But this is such an important topic, winning the battle in your minds, maybe you've been struggling with something you don't know how to get those thoughts out of your head, you need to turn it over to the Lord, you need to trust in Him. And proverbs three, five and six says Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding it See, if you try to do it in your own understanding for your own power, you can lose that battle. So we have to do it in God's power. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, go to God, first I got are these thoughts of view. When you have a plan when you maybe have a new job you're considering, or a new path you're thinking of taking, always take it to the Lord and ask for wisdom. Because it says when you acknowledge him in all your ways, he will make your paths.

Brian Roland: 17:08

So you're talking about Psalm 139:23, through 24, down, which really follows that up, search me O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. And that's when we can say that prayer, and just mean that in our heart and in our minds, God is leading us and will.

Dan Wheeler: 17:33

You know, Terry, you were talking about sports and, and, and warfare and everything and really In sports, the power of positive thinking people athletes spend a lot of time on that they they picture themselves hitting that jump shot. Yeah, or making the perfect swing. But when you watch golfers I know you like to golf, Terry, and you're quite mediocre at it. You're above me because I'm less than mediocre. But you see these guys take a swing and then they're just staring down the fairway. They literally see the shot

Terry Steen: 18:11

they do I always look toward the woods.

Brian Roland: 18:16

I stare to going we're getting going and I notice is right in front of me. I talk on my backswing as Dan knows.

Terry Steen: 18:26

Yeah,

Dan Wheeler: 18:28

He does. He does

Terry Steen: 18:29

That's really bad.

Dan Wheeler: 18:31

Brian doesn't worry about other people talk. He's talking to himself

Terry Steen: 18:34

He trash talks himself.

Dan Wheeler: 18:39

You know, but But again, the game of golf, you know, it's so counter intuitive. And you can overthink it. Yeah. But you have to and they say if you make a bad shot, you immediately Forget it. And you focus on the next one. And I think that's true in life, don't you?

Terry Steen: 18:55

I do. And I still come back to that verse you read in Romans 12, to to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It has to be a daily thing that we're working on. It's so easy for our mind to stagnate or to become lukewarm or get comfortable or lazy. And that's not going to renew our minds. And then if we don't do that, as you look at the rest of the verse, we're not able to discern what the will of God is. He wants us to discern his will and know what's good and acceptable and perfect. So when we try to transform and renew our mind that's leading us to his perfect will for our lives.

Dan Wheeler: 19:35

Yeah. John Matarazzo bring you into the conversation. Is anything we're saying here connecting with you the Battle of the mind? Have you ever struggled with those negative thoughts that can take you to a dark place?

John Matarazzo: 19:48

Oh, my goodness. Yes. You know, you're talking about proverbs three, five and six. And that was actually my my verse for last year. And I had a conversation with a retired Major General and He told me something about that verse that has stuck with me. He His name is Bob DS, but he said that you follow the way that you lean. And so if you're leaning on your own understanding, whenever your understanding gets pulled out from under you, you're gonna fall flat to the ground. But if you're leaning on the Lord, and something, you know, shakes you, you're gonna fall on him. And so it's, I've always thought, like, Okay, I'm just gonna try to not lean on my own understanding. But he's basically saying, actively lean on God. And that kind of changed my perspective of how I deal with, with some of those especially anxious thoughts,

Dan Wheeler: 20:36

That reminds me of a quote, I read by Jimmy Dean, remember Jimmy Dean, sausage, Jimmy Dean sausage, the actor, he said, I can't change the direction of the wind. But I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. So part of winning the battle of your mind is being able to adapt, and to change to different situations, but always looking on the bright side, always looking at things from a positive point of view. And we've all known some of those people, you know, Zig Ziglar, was Mr. Potter, and always staying on the bright side, which of course, you know, they say that when you come at things with an attitude of gratitude, thankfulness and being positive, you actually come at things from a higher place intellectually. So that's what this conversation is really about today, keeping your mind above the fray, not letting yourself get dragged down into it, and you definitely grow stronger. By winning the battle in your mind, Brian, as we kind of wrap things up our personal takeaways, I'm sure that you've found that that one victory can lead to another can lead to another and lately I've I've been experiencing those victories of when, when a negative or a bad thought or a thought that I know doesn't belong there, that would not please God pops into my head, I'm able to stop right away. And it's such a feeling of, of strength and and really God's power.

Brian Roland: 22:12

It's true. And the thing is, is that in my case, I find that when I get bogged down like that, and you're saying you got to find God's power, I'm able to reverse that just by singing peace, peace, wonderful peace. You know, when I started singing, that it just kind of flows down over me. And I and I just keep repeating it until it just you wrap that into your mind and into your life. And it does is that flow of peace comes through because God gives you that peace when you ask him for that. And I need that to settle me down. When I started getting all the feelings of doubt when I start getting anxious when I start getting afraid of what I don't even know what I'm afraid of. I mean, I've had those feelings. It's like what is happening here, but peace, peace, wonderful. Peace is guaranteed. God will take care of you.

Dan Wheeler: 22:56

I remember you telling me that story. One time when you were in a an occupation that was very stressful. And you were spent a lot of time up in the middle of the night. That you would just remember that song. Peace, peace. That's right.

Brian Roland: 23:11

Did I just sing it in my mind just over and over?

Terry Steen: 23:13

What a great song. We've known that since we were kids.

Brian Roland: 23:16

Yeah.

Dan Wheeler: 23:18

Yeah, you know, and I think that's such a blessing. I do that too. I think there's certain songs that come to mind. And, and that's why it's important to memorize the Bible. You can recall those scriptures and some of the great songs we grew up with Terry.

Terry Steen: 23:32

Yeah, exactly. And I guess if I were to share my takeaway on this, to grow stronger in my thoughts, it would be to come back to acknowledge that we do have a choice and that we know that the devil is attacking and we have to understand and learn what he's trying to do, and then be able to defend it with the playbook. Just like if you use the sports analogy, our playbooks the Bible, just like you say, Dan, there's so many scriptures, there's so many songs we can come back to, that will turn that tide, create that positive approach, refocus our thinking, and allow us to make the right choice.

Dan Wheeler: 24:10

Yeah, we need to remember who our enemy is. He's Satan, and he wants to take as many people down as he can, and he'll attack you in your mind. He's not changed his strategy. He'll try to put doubts in your mind he'll try to put fear and anxiety. But God says renew your mind every day. be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that he may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Well, my time flies when you're having fun guys, what a great conversation today. I hope that it touched you, john, people, if they rate our podcast that kind of helps us out doesn't it?

John Matarazzo: 24:53

It absolutely helps everybody out because if you rate fearless faiths finished, strong podcast. Helps more people see that whenever they're looking for a new podcast to listen to so by you liking this podcast and giving us five stars and writing a review that helps more people discover that you can also go to F faith.org. And you can see all of the episodes there as well as everything that these guys have to offer. It's all good and you're gonna be encouraged to finish strong

Dan Wheeler: 25:23

Finish strong with fearless faith. That's what this is all about. And you can do that by winning the battle in your mind, taking control of your thoughts, and laying them at the cross of Jesus. Thanks for joining us again. We'll talk to you next time God bless.

John Matarazzo: 25:41

Thank you for listening to finish strong. For more information about finish strong and fearless faith. Check out their website FFaith.org make sure that you rate and review this podcast to help more people accomplish their God given purpose so that together we can finish strong