The Battleground of the Mind

Pastor Jon opened his message by explaining the fact that Thanksgiving is a mindset, offering encouragement from Bill Johnson that you can't afford to have a thought about yourself that God doesn't think about you. This quote references Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Pastor Jon also explained that there is a war that is constantly waging in our minds. The battlefield in our minds begins with our thoughts, and to overcome this it's important to fill our minds with thoughts that God thinks of us. Often, the antithesis of positive thoughts is fear. As we consume fear, it can overwhelm us both spiritually and emotionally. In terms of Thanksgiving, our prayers have the ability to change the atmosphere that we live in (Pastor Jon used the thermostat versus thermometer analogy in his message). He also referenced 2 Corinthians 10-:3-5 and summarized it by emphasizing that even though we walk in the flesh, we don't war according to the flesh. In other words, don't use things that are happening in this world to justify our perspective or our world view; we should see things on earth as God sees them (also referenced in Ephesians 6:12). The conclusion of the message focused heavily on Ephesians 6:11-20, where Paul speaks to the people of Ephesus, saying that we should put on the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, feet fitted with the readiness of an understanding of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.