You're listening to the Miracle Word Podcast. We believe that the Word of God gives you the power to experience never-ending increase in every area. If you're ready for revelation that will take you to the next level, you're in the right place. Here's your host, evangelist, author, and founder of Miracle Word University, 10 Shuttlesworth Jr.
This is going to be an important one. You're going to take this out of the fast. Everything's always, you know, when you're in the midst of, you know, the presence of God, victories, non-stop, you're fasting, you're praying, you're reading the Word, everything, you know, is just like flowing and going. You know, everybody's on cloud nine, but you have to remember, take these things with you, because the enemy attacks, and when the enemy attacks, one of the things that you have to remember is that we are anointed to respond to every attack of the devil.
And so tonight we're going to talk about that. Seven things you must do when the enemy attacks your mind, and that's normally how he goes about it. So good, look at that. Your testimony, have me praising God as loud as I could in my car.
My testimony from what no eye is seen as I was leading praise and worship. What's up, Trinity, good to see you. I'm glad you're on. Good to see everybody.
Please share the broadcast. We're going to jump right in. I've got these seven things to show you tonight. Hey, Hannah, yeah, we're going to go directly into the Word, but I want you to see this ahead of time that as you are moving through this year of 2025, remember something vitally important.
The enemy doesn't just sit back and is fine with you, cool with you, just taking what God has for you. I like how Bishop David O'odepo says it. There are giants in every man's promised land. There are giants in every woman's promised land.
The enemy does not want you to just take God's promises and run with it. So he tries with everything he's got to try to hinder you and keep you from walking in what God has for you, his best for your life, God's best for your life. And so I'm going to take you through the Word of God tonight and I'm going to give you seven things you must do. How do you respond when the devil attacks your mind?
What do you do when the enemy comes against your mind? And when I said a moment ago, that's his main operation in the life of a believer. It's because he can't come in and just, you know, he can't steal your salvation. He can't cancel your righteousness.
So he's got no ability to take your spirit out and you can live, most Christians, you can live in the freedom of God's word, even your body. You can live in total health and healing and strength. But many times where most people get hit is in their mind because the enemy will send thoughts, he'll try to discourage you. He'll try to hit you in a moment of weakness and get you to a place where you feel like throwing in the towel, where you feel like quitting and giving up.
And so I'm going to show you from the Word of God tonight, seven things that are your responses. When the enemy tries to attack and let me tell you, he tries to attack everybody. He doesn't care how long you've been a Christian. He doesn't care if you're a man or woman.
He doesn't care black or white. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how much money's in the bank. He doesn't care about any of that stuff.
What the enemy cares about is that you're a child of God and his purpose is to steal from you to kill you and to destroy you. But Jesus said, I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. And so God gave us God gave us a supernatural, anointing to respond to every attack and come out on the other side victorious. You're anointed to be victorious.
I want you to put that in the comments tonight. I'm anointed to be victorious. I'm anointed to be victorious. Start with that and know that you are.
There's nothing that can do to stop that. You're anointed to be victorious. Amen. Praise the Lord.
Look at this testimony. I love it. Karen said, because of your visit to our church, L. I see seeing Lancaster, my entire household serves the Lord.
We have all been baptized and are walking the best walk of our lives. Generational curses are broken and we're living our best lives. Freedom feels so good. Absolutely.
Praise God for that care. I'm so happy. I'm so happy to hear that testimony. That's powerful.
Household salvation. That's something we pray for often. Household salvation. Thank you, Jesus.
That made my night. You just made my whole night with one testimony. Hallelujah. Household salvation.
Look at that. Praise God. That's it. Keep writing into the comments tonight.
I'm anointed to be victorious. I'm anointed to be victorious. And you absolutely are. There's my friend Curtis Sergeant.
Good to see you in the comments. I love you. Love the whole family. And so let me break these down and in a way, these are going to be in order.
Um, as you're moving forward into your next victory, these are going to be in order. I remember you've heard me tell this story before. Um, there was a time when I was really, really, and I think really my uncle Tif got me into this, but I was really, really watching a lot of, uh, survival videos and, uh, you know, uh, wilderness videos and all that kind of stuff. Bushcraft videos.
And you hear these guys that are like way off the grid, like way off the grid where there's no, you're not walking a path. I mean, people have gone way out in the middle of nowhere. And, um, one of the things they talk about is what can happen when you get lost in the wilderness. What do you do?
Can you imagine being so far out? You've got no idea where you're at. You better hope you can follow a topographical map. You better hope you've got battery and maybe a solar pack for your GPS to get back to civilization.
But I've heard some of these stories of these guys being way off grid, like way off grid and getting lost and sitting and thinking to themselves, I don't know. I don't know how many of you ever going to get back. I heard a guy telling a story one time, which I don't know why anybody would ever want to do this, but these guys go spelunking in these caves. Some of them go way, way underground in these caves and some of it, you watch the GoPro footage and they're like, they're squeezing through passages that like they literally have to squeeze and inhale and squeeze their bodies through to get through to the other side.
And people get lost, you know, in these caves and stuff. And I heard one guy telling a story about getting lost, but he remembered his training and he remembered the advice of his previous instructor when he got lost. He said, one of the things that they tell you and teach you is when you find yourself in that position, when you find yourself in that place, the number one thing that you have to remember is don't panic. Don't panic.
And that's what I'm going to start with tonight because that is actually a biblical principle, a biblical principle. I want you to put it in the comments. Number one, when the enemy comes to attack your mind, seven things you must do. Number one, don't panic.
Don't panic because the Bible says in 2 Timothy chapter one and verse number seven, God has not given us a spirit of fear at 2 Timothy chapter one, verse seven, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. There it is. For God gave us a spirit, not of fear, not of fear. That doesn't come from God, but of power and love and self control.
You can control yourself in every one of these situations, power and love and self control. That's what God gave us power. He gave us love. He gave us self control or a sound mind.
So number one, don't panic. Spirit of fear is not from God and it's not our portion. It's not our portion. And so number one, don't panic.
Don't allow yourself to receive an attack from the enemy and then immediately go into panic mode. And that's what he wants. And I'll tell you, I'll tell you what happens to a lot of people is they go into panic mode and then they start making decisions in panic mode. They start making and their important decisions.
They'll make important decisions in panic mode. Big mistake. Don't do that. Don't panic and definitely don't make decisions for your life in panic mode.
If you've ever heard me tell the story, I heard a guy who was like a, what, what would be like a warden or almost like a park ranger, but not in a park, just like, you know, the guys that working, working out in the woods in Maine, they said a lot of times throughout the summer, they have it all the time, every year, people get lost hiking out in the thick woods. And then they turn around. They look at the tree covers so thick and they don't know where they are. And they start panicking and they start running through the woods running, trying to get back to someplace that they recognize, you know, running and then their clothes start getting torn, then the mosquitoes start eating them up.
And they're like, they find them. And they said, I've already, I heard one of the guys say, we find people and they're only like, maybe 50 yards from a road and they don't even know it. 50 yards from a trail. They don't even know it.
They panicked. They ran. They're all torn up. They're like, you know, I can remember, let me tell you, I remember a time I was in panic mode.
I was a youth pastor in, in, in my uncle's church in Virginia Beach. And we took our youth group out in deep into the woods. We found a camp that was way deep in the woods. And I got out there and one night I said, you know what, it'd be a great idea.
I said, I know the kids would think it was kind of cool and kind of spooky, creepy, whatever. Let's take a walk through the dark woods through the dark woods at night. And so we got the whole youth group and I had people that were young, you know, somewhere 12, 13. And so I was like, we're going to go through the woods.
We're going to take a walk out in the woods. And I thought, oh, this will be fun. And this will be kind of cool. And we get out there and I've got my youth group walking through the woods.
And we're going on this trail and I'm kind of laughing with them all. And it's really dark. You know, we got no flashlights, just walking. And, you know, I got the overhead lights from the camper, whatever.
And then I start to turn around and look and I realize I don't see the lights from the camp anymore. And so we all start throwing our cell phone lights on, you know, put our cell phone lights on and we're trying to peek around and no sign of anything. It's like, we can't see anything. And I'm starting to feel it.
You know, I'm like, Oh man, I got all these kids out here, all these students, some of them very young. I have no, because we walk for a while. I was like, I have no idea where this camp is. It's the middle of the night.
There's no light. The moonlights barely coming through the trees. The cell phone lights, not enough. And I can't see which way we're supposed to go back towards the camp.
We were all turned around and so I was free. I was like, Oh man. And I actually was starting to think thoughts like we might just have to like spend the night out here in the woods, like it's Blair, which project three and then find our way back in the morning. And I'm like looking around, I'm starting to feel that rise up and somebody's cell phone light hit a tree.
And I saw when that light hit the tree, there was a white spray painted arrow on that tree. And I was like, thank you, Lord. They were smart enough to give us directions because some other dummy had gotten lost out here in the dark previously to me. And so we found the white arrows and they led us back to camp.
But you know, you know what it feels like. If you've ever been in that situation of any kind where you feel panic hit and then when you feel panic hit, there's like that urgency. I got to do something right now. We need to run back to camp.
We need to and this is the word for you when the devil attacks your mind refuse to panic. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. The Bible says God's not giving us a spirit of fear.
Fear is not our portion. Fear is not our portion. The Bible says, what's up, Bill? The Bible says that we have a spirit of faith.
We have the same spirit of faith. As it is written, we believe, therefore we speak, we also believe, therefore we also speak. So we speak faith. We have faith.
Fear is not who we are. You do not have fear. You've got faith. So step one, when the devil tries to attack, when he comes, the adrenaline starts to pump through your blood.
Don't panic. Fear is not your portion. Fear is not your portion. In fact, the Bible says in Philippians, chapter four, this is a command that many people miss.
Don't be anxious about anything. Don't be anxious about anything. Don't be anxious about anything. Philippians, chapter four, verses six through eight, don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
There it is. Go back one, one, Mattie to the beginning of that. Look at that. That's a, that's an apostolic command to the believer.
Don't be anxious about anything. I refuse it. I want you to put it in the comments. I refuse fear.
Just right. I refuse fear. I'll leave you here. I refuse it in Jesus name.
Fear is not my portion. Anxiety is not my portion. Panic is not my portion. I refuse fear in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen, brother Jeff. I refuse it. Speak the word only. Amen.
Glory to God. Yeah, we added that, Mary Beth. I like it too. I had those lower third scriptures.
They did a great job. Number two, what's the second thing you should do when the devil attacks your mind? Number two, take stock of what you have. That's one of the things that will even tell you in those courses.
You know, if you're panicking, if you feel like, Oh, I'm, I'm, I'm lost. I don't want to take stock, take your backpack off, go through the backpack, do an inventory. What do I have? I got a knife.
I've got, you know, some rations or whatever you might have, a little camp stove. I've got, I've got some freeze drive meals, whatever you got, just to start. I got, I got flint and steel or, you know, go through your inventory. What do you have?
Take stock of what you have. And when I was looking at that, I was like, yeah, that's interesting because it's important when the enemy is lying to you, lying to your mind, take stock of what you have, look at second Peter chapter one, versus three and four, the Bible says his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. You got that one? Yeah.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. You got that one? Yeah. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
Now, let's give verse four, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them, through what? Through the promises, you may become partakers of the divine nature. Hallelujah. I love that.
Having escaped from the corruption that's in the world because of sinful desire. So you see that? Leave that up for a second. If you will go back to verse, the beginning of verse four, look what it says.
It says that he has granted to us precious and very great promises. Begin to thank God. Go through those promises. Know who God is to you.
First of all, I refuse to panic, but number two, I'm going to start going through my promises. I'm going to start rehearsing my promises. What's in my covenant? Forget your backpack.
What's in your covenant? What's in your covenant? What are these things that are in your covenant? The Bible says with joy, you shall draw water from the wells of your salvation.
That means that your salvation is filled with wells. Your salvation is filled with wells. Your salvation is filled with wells and joys the bucket that allows you to pull the water out of the wells of salvation. That's why the devil fights against your joy.
He's taking the bucket. He wants to own the bucket that allows you to withdraw blessings from the wells of your salvation. That's why he does it. What's in my covenant?
What promises are mine? What blessings are mine? What prophecies are mine? I've got precious and very great promises available to me.
So number one, I'm not gonna panic, but number two, I'm gonna take stock of what I have right now. What do I have available to me? And then I'm gonna look at those precious and very great promises, prophecies, blessings that are afforded to me and afforded to you. It's part of our inheritance.
Hallelujah. You know, it's wild, Lois, I don't think a lot of people have gone through that verse of scripture and really meditated on that, that with joy, you'll draw water from the wells of your salvation. There are truly wells. Truly, there are wells in your salvation.
I wanna jump back real quick to Isaiah chapter 12. Maddy, Isaiah chapter 12 and verse three. Put that up for everybody, because this is one to meditate on. For the rest of your life, what's in my covenant?
With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation. There is literally, God has put wells. That's why it's not just about you ending up in heaven at the end. That's the ultimate blessing.
That's the ultimate blessing. That's the climax of your salvation, but that's not all there is. There's healing, there's deliverance, there's blessing, there's freedom, all these different things, there's joy, there's peace. And all of these things are in the wells that God gave you in your salvation.
And joy, with joy, you will draw water. Hallelujah, doesn't say with sadness, doesn't say with anxiety, doesn't say with desperation, it says with joy, joy is the tool, joy is the bucket. That's why I refuse to relinquish my joy. I will not relinquish my joy.
In Jesus name, I refuse to relinquish my joy. With joy, I will draw water from the wells of my salvation. In the name of Jesus Christ, pulls it out. So begin to think of all the things God's given you, all that he's done.
This is your last year. I'm bringing you to an end. No, you won't devil, you can't stop me. You know, it's a great thing to say when the devil lies to you like that?
Devil, you can't stop me because you didn't start me. Jesus is the author and the finisher of my faith. How can the devil finish you? You're finished.
How are you gonna finish me? You didn't start me. Hallelujah, that word came to me once and that's encouraging right there. The devil says, you're finished.
I'm gonna finish you this your final year. You're going down. This is it for you. How are you gonna finish me?
You didn't start me. Jesus is the author and the finisher of my faith. He's the author and the finisher of my faith. So I'll never relinquish my joy.
And I believe Brother Glenn's talking about curse, but the fast has so kicked in on Brother Glenn on Facebook. He said, you can't cheese what God has blessed. Throw the comments up. Everybody needs to see that one, Brother Glenn.
Come on, you can't cheese what God has blessed. I'm gonna preach that. There it is. He made a correction.
But you know, I like the original Brother Glenn. You can't cheese what God has blessed. I'm a maker. We need a shirt.
We need to have a shirt made Brother Glenn. You can't cheese what God has blessed. We'll have curse written, but then it'll be crossed out in a piece of tape over that. It says marker, cheese.
You cannot cheese what God has blessed. I feel the Holy Ghost on that. I'll add ham. You can't ham and cheese what God has blessed.
Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. Yeah, that's it. So good. Rose said that that's what she did when her husband, well, she lost her husband.
That's what she would do. She took stock in what she had spiritually and she'd receive peace. Super natural peace. That's right.
That's what she did. She didn't start you. He didn't start you. Glory to God.
I feel the anointing on that tonight. He didn't start you. And don't forget, you can't cheese what God has blessed. Amen.
That's gonna be, that's gonna be for a while. We're gonna have that one. Number three, when those thoughts are coming, when those attacks are coming, when the devil's lying, you know, sometimes people think about it. Well, this is just reality.
I'm just being a realist. No, consider the source. Recognize the source. That's number three.
Recognize the source. Recognize the source. First of all, faith doesn't even think like that. Faith doesn't even think like that.
Faith doesn't expect the worst. Faith doesn't expect to fail. Faith doesn't expect to be destroyed. No, faith expects to go higher.
Faith expects to increase. Faith expects to expand the path of the righteous. Glory to God. The path of the righteous.
It's like the first gleam of dawn. Shines ever brighter until the perfect day. Recognize the source. What does the Bible tell us in the book of James, chapter one and verse 17?
James one, 17. It's a scripture that every Christian should memorize. It's the easiest theology lesson you'll ever take in your life. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
Coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no, the King James says, variableness but this says variation or shadow due to change. Amen. There's no variation. God does not change.
He doesn't vary in how he treats you. He's not going to love you one day. Hate you the next. Bless you one day.
Curse you the next. No. Every good gift. Pop back to the beginning.
Every good gift. Every perfect gift is from above. Coming down from the Father of lights. God doesn't send you things like that.
God doesn't want you to expect things like that. God doesn't want you living like that. And so if it's good, it's from God. If it's bad, it's from the devil.
What an easy theology lesson. If it's good, it's from God. If it's bad, it's from the devil. If it's good, it's from God.
If it's bad, it's from the devil. That's right. Theology 101, God is good. The devil is bad.
God is good. The devil is bad. And so number three, recognize the source. Recognize.
It's not just being a realist. It's not just about, well, this is something I was like, no, no, no, it's an attack against your mind. I recognize the source. I know where this is coming from.
Cause I don't even think like this. I don't even operate like this. I don't even, I don't even have these kinds of expectations for my life. So I know where it's coming from.
I recognize the source. If it's not good, if it's stealing my peace, is that good? No. If it's stealing my joy, is that good?
No. So if it's not good, it's not from God. If it's not good, it's not from God. If the enemy, it's the enemy.
And I refuse to align my mind with the enemy's thoughts. And you better believe I'm not giving my tongue, my mouth over to those types of confessions. And to literally align my words and my confession with the devil's thoughts. That ain't happening.
That's when the woman in the Old Testament, she had actual things going on. Son died. What she said, it is well with my soul. It is well.
How you doing today? It's well. How's your family? It is well.
You know why? Cause I refuse to align my mouth with the devil's thoughts. I refuse to align my mouth with the devil's thoughts. That's a recipe for destruction right there.
Start saying everything the devil puts in your mind. That's a recipe for destruction. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. They that love it will eat the fruit thereof.
I refuse to align my mouth with the devil's thoughts. It's not happening. You got to get adamant about these things. You got to get adamant.
You got to set a watch at your mouth. Set a watch. Guard those lips. Don't just say what everybody else is saying.
Don't just say whatever pops into your mind. Recognize the source. And here's the nice thing. Once you recognize it, then you move to number four.
Once you recognize it, take every foreign thought captive. I'm surprised that many Christians can quote this. Very few Christians do this. Take every thought captive and make it.
Obey Jesus Christ. Take it captive. Make those thoughts prisoners. Glory to God.
Make those thoughts prisoners. That's number four. Take thoughts captive. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5.
I'm turning there now. 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5. Very well known verse. But it has to be something that's done.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. And take every thought captive to obey Christ. There it is. I take every thought captive to obey Christ.
Hmm. I want to back up a little bit. The third verse here. He said, for though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. Our weapons have divine power to destroy strongholds. And we destroy. Look at that.
Verse five. Every argument. So look at that. He's saying that, do you catch this?
Well, what Paul's saying here? He's saying that all these thoughts, all of these things that try to come against your mind, all of these things that attack your mind, they are strongholds. Get that. And some people never get free from the strongholds.
So they remain in that for the rest of their life. But remember something, the weapons of your warfare are not carnal. They're not of the flesh, but they are mighty to pulling down of strongholds. And so we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion.
So every thought and every argument and every opinion raised against the knowledge of God is a stronghold to be broken. This is spiritual warfare. This is spiritual warfare. I'm going to take every thought captive.
I'm taking prisoners in this war. I'm taking prisoners. Every thought is going to be taken captive in Jesus. Wonderful name.
You got to take those thoughts captive. That's number four. You have to do it. If you don't, now, if you've never heard this said before, let me say it.
If you don't take thoughts captive, they will take you captive. Put it in the comments, put it in your notes. If you don't take thoughts captive, they will take you captive. Try to remember which serial killer it was.
I was watching a documentary and later, it might have been Ted Bundy. Or in jail, you'd have to look it up. It was Ted Bundy, the one that later in jail received Jesus and became a Christian while he was in prison. One of the killers, one of the serial killers became a Christian after he was in prison.
And I watched the documentary and I think it was him, but I may be wrong. And he said, you know, how did I get this way? He said, from a young person, I would have all these thoughts. And he said, I would just continually meditate on him, meditate on him, meditate on him.
I was always thinking about it. What would I do if there was a hitchhiker? And what would I do if I took the hitchhiker, you know, pick them up in my vehicle and then where would I take them and then what would I do to them? And he said, I just thought about it, thought about it, thought about it.
And one thing you'll find out is if you constantly give place to those thoughts, it was Son of Sam that got saved, Jeffrey Dahmer got saved. I can't remember who got some. There's a lot of names going up. Berkowitz was Berkowitz, Son of Sam.
But one of them got saved. That was the documentary I was watching, became a Christian. And said, I just constantly thought about it, thought about it, thought about it. And he said, and then what happened is it one night it happened, one night there was.
But then he didn't have to wonder, he'd already been meditating on it for so long. He had already planned out in his mind exactly what he was going to do. And so I thought, man, that is so interesting that he said that because that's exactly how the devil works. That's exactly how the devil works because I heard a preacher say it this way one time.
He said, if you think the devil's thoughts long enough sooner or later, he'll give you an opportunity to act them out. Think about that. He said, if you think the devil's thoughts long enough, he will give you an opportunity to act them out. If you think the devil's thoughts long enough, the devil will give you the opportunity to act out those thoughts, to manifest them, put them in real life.
They're no longer here. They're now in your real life because you've given place to the devil by thinking his thoughts and meditating on things that you should have never meditated on. Oh, yes. If you think the devil's thoughts long enough, he'll give you an opportunity to act on those thoughts.
And so that's why you take thoughts captive. If you don't take thoughts captive, then they will take you captive. Amen. Make them prisoners.
Take those types of thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, against the word of God, against your covenant, against what God promised you. Take them captive. Make them prisoners in Jesus name. That's number four.
Take thoughts captive. Say, how do I do that? How do I practically take a thought captive? In fact, it's like somebody said to me one time, you know, Brother Ted, I can't control the thoughts that pop into my mind.
And the answer was of mind to them was, yeah, that is true. You can't control every thought that pops into your mind, but you can control whether or not you dwell on it. There it is. I can't control every thought that pops into my mind, but I can control whether or not I dwell on it.
And so when a thought pops into your mind, the enemy will try to pop thoughts in your mind. He's done it since the beginning. He came to Eve in the garden. Did God really say, now he's putting thoughts in her mind of doubt and unbelief.
Did God really say that you can't eat from any of the trees in this garden? That's not what God said. He didn't say that at all. But that's what he's trying to convince Eve of.
Did God really tell you that you can't eat from any of the trees in this garden? No. He said, just don't eat from this one tree. He said, the rest are for you to enjoy as much as you want.
Just don't touch this one. Just don't touch one of them. But see how the devil does? Starts putting things in your mind that are untrue and trying to get you to believe them like they were your thoughts to begin with.
God really say that. No, he didn't. You liar. You're a liar and the father of lies.
And so no, God didn't say those things, but the devil will try to twist, twist what God said. So people say, well, how do you actually then take thoughts captive like that? How do you, how do you, how do you take thoughts like that to the, I like that Jessica put it in the comments, just Burton said, you're not responsible for your first thought, but you are responsible for your second thought and third thought and fourth thought and fifth thought. You can either stop meditating on it.
And this is number five. How do you practically take a thought captive? The Bible tells us how set your mind on things above Colossians chapter three and verse two. Let's go there.
Colossians three, two, set your mind on things above. Hmm. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. So keep that up because that's a very interesting verse of scripture.
It's a command as well, by the way, apostle Paul's commanding this to the church. Set your minds. That means that the mind isn't some random thing that can't be controlled. This is number five.
Now, how do you practically take every thought captive? Number five, set your mind. Set your mind. You know, when I was, I'm referencing these because I was always trying to help the young people deal with the mental attacks that would come.
I had a lot of young people that were in public school, high school, public high school, just constantly being inundated with things from the culture, things from, you know, just wicked things all the time, things that try to keep coming against you, pull you out of your righteousness, you know, all of that. And so I would try to help the young people. I said, here's what you need to remember. And I would teach on the mind and the thoughts and how to guard your thoughts and guard your mind.
This is one of the things that I told the young people when I was a youth pastor, I said, here's what you got to recognize. There are two ways that you can set your mind. Two ways that you can set your mind. Number one, and back then it was a big deal if somebody had a DVR.
Something I remember DVR. I can't believe that's old technology now. DVR. I remember it was like so amazing.
I have a VHS to record my shows. I can literally just digitally set the DVR and record my shows. And I said, you can set your mind like a DVR. Number one, to record the thoughts of God.
Set your mind like a DVR. You go ahead, you'd scroll ahead on the guide and then you'd find your show that's coming in the future and you would select it and hit record. I'm selecting, I'm recording what I want to see later. I'd say, number one, set your mind like a DVR and record the thoughts of God.
But then I'd say, number two, set your mind like a thermostat. The whole room is one temperature. You want it to be another temperature. Just go change the number on the thermostat.
You're setting it to control the whole environment. I would hang my hat there because I would let them see. That's how your life is. This is where the temperature of your school is.
This is where the temperature of your friends. This is the temperature of the culture, but you're looking for a different temperature. So just change the thermostat and let it bring the whole atmosphere down to that number. Let it bring the whole atmosphere down to that number because you changed it.
When you set your mind, you can change the entire atmosphere of your life by setting your mind on things above, not on things of this world. There are people, they'll watch things and those things bother their spirit, bother my, but it's just such a good show. I got to keep watching it to see what happens. But man, I have the worst dreams after I what?
Stop watching it. Stop watching it. Stop watching it. Yeah, but it's so good.
I got to say read the Wikipedia thing to figure it out. Just stop watching it, dumping things into your spirit. And then you're like, on edge, can't go to sleep, have in bad dreams. It's like people do stuff and it's like they're not obeying what the Bible says.
Set your mind on things above. But look at Proverbs 4, 23. Proverbs 4, 23. Look what the Bible says here.
Very, very powerful. Keep your heart with all vigilance for from it, flow the springs of life. Keep your heart. Pause your heart above all else.
That's that. Do you have the new living, Maddie? Put the new living translation props to Maddie in the back, a shout out doing all the things directing, editing, putting up graphics, putting up scriptures, 14 years old, killing it. Look at that.
Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. Look at that. That's powerful. Interesting to me that the book of Proverbs, which is written to bring wisdom and there's plenty of things that it commands us to do.
But I find it interesting that it tells us above all else. Above every other thing that the book of Proverbs would even say, and it's the wisdom book of the Bible. But above every other thing that the book of Proverbs tells us to do and suggest as wisdom, it says above all else. There's nothing else according to this.
Nothing else that you should do more than this. Guard your heart above all else for it determines what does your heart does. What did Jesus say? Out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak.
Out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak. Guard your heart because out of that heart flows the issues of life or determines the course of your life. That's right, Glenn. Hallelujah.
For from your heart, it will determine the course of your life. So what are we talking about here? I'm guarding my heart. Be careful, little eyes what you see.
Be careful, little eyes what you see. For the father up above looking down in tender love. So be careful, little eyes what you see. Be careful, little ears what you hear.
Be careful, little ears what you hear. For the father up above looking down in tender love. So be careful, little ears what you hear. Children's church song with this thought in mind above all else.
Guard your heart for from it flow the issues of life. It determines the course of your life. Amen. Guard your ears.
Guard your eyes. That's why I don't even want to get around people that are constantly trash and other people. I'm excuse myself. I'm out.
I'm not letting you deposit those thoughts about somebody else in my heart. I don't know brother Hagan said he used to excuse himself from the table and go back to his hotel room. People get around start talking about other preachers talking about other ministers talking about church people and running people up one side down the other. He said, you all have to excuse me.
I got to go. I have somewhere to be. And they said, where are you going? You leave.
Yep. I got to go. Can't sit around while people are trash and other people. Why?
I'm not going to let you deposit those thoughts about other people that are my brothers and sisters in Christ into my heart. Think about that. 2 Corinthians 10 5 John. 2 Corinthians 10 5.
And then that was Proverbs 4 23. Be careful, little eyes what you see. Be careful, little ears what you hear. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ.
I want God to bless them. I don't have time to trash them. I don't have time to trash people. I love people.
I want to see God use them and increase them and bless them. Amen. Guard your heart. So how do you take God's captive?
Number five, you set your mind. Set your mind. Now go back real quick to Philippians 4 8, Matty. Philippians 4 and verse number eight.
Praise God. It tells us what types of things to think about. What types of things should we think about? Dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Fix your thoughts. Some people need to have their thoughts fixed. Some people simply need to have their thoughts fixed. Fix your thoughts.
I mean set your thoughts on what is true. Stop right there. What is true? Only the word of God.
Only the word of God is true. It is pure, unadulterated truth. So I'm setting my thoughts on what's true. That means I'm setting my thoughts on God's word.
Well, I don't know the doctor just gave me this diagnosis. He's a specialist. I mean he's a specialist and gave me this diagnosis. Yeah, but understand that's just a fact.
It's not the truth. It's just a fact. Facts change. Truth remains the same.
So set your mind or fix your thoughts on what's true. On what's honorable. On what is right. On what is pure.
Going to the next one. On what is lovely. What is admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Hallelujah. Those are the things to think about. That's how you not only take thoughts captive, but then set your mind on things above. These are the types of things.
Is what you're thinking about worthy of praise? Is it excellent? Is it admirable? Is it lovely?
Is it true? Is it pure? Right? Is it a good report?
If not, don't fix your thoughts on it. Don't fix your thoughts on it. Fix your mind and fix your thoughts on something else that's worthy of praise. That's pure.
Lovely. I love it. Admirable. Good report.
If there be any praise, if there be any virtue, think on these things. So I'm setting a very specific thought process, very specific. That's how you take your thoughts captive. Number six, the sixth thing you need to do when the devil attacks your mind, no question about this one, pray in tongues.