The battleground of the Mind A wounded Spirit

A Wounded Spirit

A wounded spirit is always so protected with strongholds that it literally affects every area of our lives.  The wounded spirit is what leads us to make wrong decision after another thus re-injuring again and again.

Proverbs 18:14.  “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?”

A wounded spirit can come at any time of our life, as infants, toddlers, childhood, adolescence and as an adult.  The longer or earlier it starts the stronger the stronghold around it will be. We put up walls to protect ourselves.  So defeating a wounded spirit is about tearing down walls one at a time and flooding our soul and spirit with positive scriptures about protection, healing restoration and what God says your value is.

A wounded spirit is going to tell you how you need to feel and thus believe you are safe. This is crucial because our brain tells our body to release hormones and chemicals that will make us feel protected that actually show themselves in depression, Bi-Polar Disorder, Schizophrenia and many other "mental illnesses".

During a  trauma or extreme hurt our wound our brain sends out signals to all parts of our bodies to help us feel safe.  For a short time these things benefit us but we need to quickly run back to who is really our Refuge our Strong tower and our place of safety.

The most important thing, to begin with, is to know there is a safe place that can protect you even during the tearing down of the strongholds or walls you built to protect yourself from further hurt

I suggest anyone that has a wounded spirit Start with Reading and meditating on Psalms 91.

  

Psalms 91 Just 1 verse at a time)

Self Talk

Good, Truthful Biblical self-talk is so important because the things we speak affects what we believe which tells our brain how to act.

1. Given up a Negative mind-set for

a Positive Mindset.

Romans 8:28 New Living Translation (NLT)

²⁸ And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

In this Scripture, we see that no matter what happens no matter what wounds us God has a plan to turn it around for our benefit.   The person with a wounded spirit is focused on past injuries. He views incidents in life in the worst light. After a person is wounded he is continually on guard for the bad the next hurt. His mind is filled with woes, suspicion, and the assumption of evil. Many times a person with a wounded spirit can only remember the hurts and bad times and never anything that was good. We need to fix the wound, heal the wound with the oil (The Holy Spirit) and the Wine (The Holy Spirit). 

Galatians 5:22-23 New King James Version (NKJV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.

The fruits of the spirit actually heal the wounds in our spirit. Love we know from 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Short and simple The Holy Spirit helps us forgive the ones that have hurt us.  How do we get the fruits of the Spirit? We get them by spending time with Him. Reading our Bible, Praying, Meditating on God's word, worshiping and most of all Listening to Him. Inviting the Holy Spirit to heal your wound. That is how we can feel safe again.

Isaiah 61:3

³ To all who mourn in Israel,
    he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
    festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
    that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

God wants our wounds healed so we can be strong and bring him glory. 

2. Losing the Victim reasoning, for God's plan and purpose

Jeremiah 29:11  ¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

A wounded spirit, in a person, views itself as a sufferer, bearing a great wound. Many times the thought of not having the wound can be uncomfortable, all the person sees is the problems the wound has and is causing. He can turn even kind actions of others into additional grievances, into added pain in his life. He is pleased when others notice his misery and hurt when they do not.

3. Grievance mannerisms. Out of a wounded spirit come sighs, groans, and exclamations that draw attention to the hurt. There is body language such as shaking the head, throwing dark looks, facial misery and slumped shoulders.

4. Blame tactics. A person with a wounded spirit holds other people responsible for the misery in his life. In truth, others may have done him wrong, but those wrongs become the means of blaming others. The wounded spirit is able to cough up old injuries no matter what the present subject. The stories that are told put others in the worst light. In addition to direct blame, there are ways of insinuating–giving details in such a way that worse is implied.

Is it any wonder the proverb exclaims, “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear? 

 Proverbs 18:14

Out of the wound oozes the stench of self-pity, bitterness, and accusation.

I realize being a person who has been wounded hurts deeply and can be very painful. It does take some time and friends with gracious spirits to help us out of the depths of the wounded spirit life.

That is why Jesus (an amazing gracious friend) was “wounded for our transgressions and he was bruised for our iniquities.” Isaiah 53:5

Fear of failure

Spirit of fear

Fear of failure

Please read this whole story to the end because if you understand this you will start the tearing down of the stronghold you have put up called the fear of failure.

This is Satan’s most effective tool against people being free from the bondage of the sin.  

We guard our minds with Salvation but if we can’t believe what Christ did on the Cross is enough for us, then we will have no hope and no faith, our minds will become a stronghold against Christ.

Deuteronomy 4:31

(For the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

In Order to help you understand what Christ did for you we need to understand Blood Covenant.  
 I am going to share a sermon I heard decades ago by 

Pastor Heather Mullen. 

The story of Fibby

(Mephibosheth)

The story starts in the Book of

1 Samuel 15- 20

This will be a Kim Paraphrased version of the story please read it yourself.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2012-20&version=NKJV

Most people will know the story of David and Goliath.  Killing of the Giant made David special to King Saul. He gave David his daughter Michal to marry, he put him over the armies and the people began to love David more then King Saul.

It was King Saul’s son Jonathan that loved David greatly, their friendship grew and grew until eventually cause them to make a blood covenant together.

However before this in  1 Samuel 12 The Children of Israel rebelled against Jehovah as their King and told God that Saul was to be named king. So God gave them a king Saul was anointed king by the Prophet Samuel. 

When King Saul was disobedient to the the law of Moses and gave a sacrifice to God that was against the instructions God had given laid out for sacrifices in the law of Moses.

1 Samuel 13:13-14
 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

Then in the Next chapter Saul tries again to please God or bribe God with His own greatness (This again is similar to the Balaam spirit we talk about last month.).  Saul because he was king thought that he was so important that God was subject to him.  So Saul made this rash oath.

1 Samuel 14:24  “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.”

This is the beginning of the end for Saul because Jonathan who had not heard the oath his father had made and finding honey ate it. 
When he heard of his father's oath he said my father has caused trouble in the land,look how bright I look for being well fed off the honey, if the people had eaten of they would be able to serve the kingdom better.

In the end Saul asked the people if Jonathan should die and they said “no” and He saved Jonathan.  Breaking an oath to the Lord.  Jonathan was Saul’s first born son and was heir to the throne if Saul died.   

Here is when things get worse.

 1 Samuel 15
Saul again disobeyed God when he spared King Agag when God has told him  ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
²⁰ And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹ But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
Here again is that Balaam spirit that they can please God by doing their own thing rather then Obey God and His law.
²² So Samuel said:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king.

God here tells Samuel to go to the House of Jesse to anoint a new King. After going through all the other brothers of Jesse and God saying NO, NO,NO, to all the big strong handsome sons Samuel asked if he had any other son?  They reply "only the youngest boy he is tending to the sheep"when they bring Him to Samuel he anoints David as king. 

Saul would not have found this a threat because, The law required the heir to the throne be the first born son of the King; However, the relationship between Jonathan (Saul's first born son) and David was something Saul had not counted on.  David and Jonathan made a blood covenant because they were like brothers.

Here is how 

a Blood covenant works.  

 There are three parts to a Blood covenant.
1. Blood a sacrifice must be made
  They take an ox and sacrifice it by cutting it down the middle laying it out then both of them walk through the center of the bull back and forth.
2. While doing this they made a covenant a unbreakable promise or a vow that said what is mine is yours what is yours is mine. I will forever be at your service and I will love and care for your family forever as I would my own life this is for now and future generations. Blood covenant was the strongest vow a person could make and it was forever.
3. A symbol of that Covenant would be given in this case Jonathan give David His royal robe, and his armor.

 
So when Saul set out to kill David, It was because of this covenant.  He was Angry that Samuel had anointed David and now it actually was legal because of the covenant. 

Although David had countless opportunities to kill Saul, David would not kill Saul, first because he knew it was unlawful to raise a hand against God's anointed and because He had made this blood covenant with Jonathan.  When the people started to praise David above both King Saul and Jonathan, Saul set His mind to destroy David. Jonathan in Chapter 20 is greatly torn because of the Kings determination to destroy David.  and makes an agreement to a strategy to tell David if it was safe to stay or not, it was not and so David left and went into the Caves and hid and the distressed , the depressed and the poor men join him. 

King Saul was determined to destroy David now because he learned of the Blood Covenant basically allowing David to have the throne in Jonathan's place if he died. After quite a long battle between David's motley crew and Saul's armies. Saul realizes that he is defeated.  It takes up all the chapters between 1 Samuel 20-31 and then Saul and Him Son's die.  The battle was over and King Saul  said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.”
But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. ⁵ And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.
The armorbearer would not kill them because it was not according to the law which said you will not lay a hand against God's anointed. So Saul and his sons killed themselves.  A man came and fell before David and lied, saying he had happened upon King Saul and Sons and they had asked him to kill them so he did. Again here is that Balaam spirit we talked about before, the man thought David would reward him for Killing The king and all of his sons. But that is not what happened.
David said to him, “Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed.’” The man was put to death. 
Then David was appointed King over Israel.

 2 Samuel 3:3
Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
Every time a member of Saul's family was killed David mourned over them for the sake of the covenant that Jonathan had made with him. When David had gotten the Kingdom in order his thoughts went back to The Blood Covenant.
David asked if there was any of Jonathan's household still alive and  in 2 Samuel 9 they tell Him about FIBBY (Mephibosheth)
a son of Jonathan that was crippled trying to flee and was put in hiding. You have to realize that Fibby was terrified when the soldiers came to get him and take him to the King he thought his life was over but here is what David did:

⁶ Now when Mephibosheth(Fibby) the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?”
And he answered, “Here is your servant!”
⁷ So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
⁸ Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”
⁹ And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. ¹⁰ You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
¹¹ Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.”
“As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.” ¹² Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Micha. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants of Mephibosheth. ¹³ So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.
 Fibby became greatly blessed and his honor became great he was saved by the blood covenant.  There are many covenants between God and His people, the the greatest was the Death of Christ shedding His blood to cover our sin's making what is His mine and what is mine His. Even His household for generations were restored all that had belonged to their grandfather and the servants too were blessed.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT 

This is The Blood By Carmen I suggest you by it on 
I tunes if you like it!
Because of the Blood Covenant that God made with us with His own son's life actually His own life he made a covenant, an oath a vow that whoever would be covered by the blood would be saved and have eternal life and this was for

 all future generations.

It is so important that you understand this because it will be the most important reason and weapon you can use against the battle of your mind Just what Jesus did for you.  That God has made an unbreakable promise to you that your sin is forgiven  you have His mercy and no judgement will be upon you, if you just remain covered with this Blood Covenant.  You are free from the law.  As you soak this up till next week think about the Roman's road the last post 

and see how this has really freed you from failure. The put up your hand again and tell those lies in your head talk to the Hand cause the head ain't listening.

Battleground of the mind Courage and Love vs Spirit of Fear

Courage, Boldness and Love 

vs 

The Spirit of Fear

Just for your info there is no way to talk about this subject in a single post. It will take several posts to fully cover it but we will start here!

When I think of Courage I always think of the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz.

 All though he thought he was a coward he broke into the witches castle regardless of his fear and save Dorothy.  for those of you that haven't seen the movie sorry great story.  It really is what God expects from us it's not to say you don't feel fear  it is about not letting fear control your life.  That means being courageous.
 The book of 1 John possibly could be the Courage book in the Bible it is all about Love.  I am going to put the whole chapter here but we are going to dissect it throughout this post. 

We need to discern the spirits are they true or false?

1 John 4:1-21 New King James Version

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,  and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.  We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
First this scripture talks about discerning the spirit, false prophets, and then that we are little children and if we believe Jesus came in the flesh we will overcome those spirits.  I think that this is important because to conquer your fear you first have to believe it is possible.

Knowing God Through Love

 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.   
Then God tells us just why we can overcome fear. Because God loved us so much that he sent Jesus.  If you go back to the story of the cowardly lion what motivated him to be courageous? It was the love he had for Dorothy.  That's what God goes on in this scripture we ought to love others because He loved us.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.  Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Others can see that we believe in God because we love one another, and why is that important let's look below....

The Consummation of Love

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. 
But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

 The reason because fear involves torment. Anyone and everyone that is plagued with the spirit of Fear will tell you it torments them, it stops them from sleeping, working, making relationships and much more.  Every Angelic visitation starts "fear not"  Actually "fear not" is in the Bible hundreds of times.  

 

So the minute you become saved you will immediately love everyone and totally delete fear. That's a lie the world would like you to believe but God brings change in us as we spend more time with Him.  The Holy spirits in us bears fruit as we spend more time with Him. One of those fruits is "LOVE". 

 

Obedience by Faith

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can^[c] he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
So in the battlefield of our mind this is one we have to grow in daily.  The reason satan wants you to believe that you are not perfect in love you are not perfect because you still have fear. When we first become born again by accepting Christ we are like babies.  Isaiah talks about this
Isaiah 28:

⁹ “Whom will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
¹⁰ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”

Trying to teach people things before that are mature enough in the Lord to understand them, will rob them of rest and refreshing.

 

¹¹ For with stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
¹² To whom He said, “This is the rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.
¹³ But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”

Trying to teach people things before that are mature enough in the Lord to understand them, will rob them of rest and refreshing. One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is Zechariah 8, because God is telling them all about the possessions that He has for the remnant of the People that stood firm with Him.    . 

Zechariah 8:13

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹³ And it shall come to pass
That just as you were a curse among the nations,
O house of Judah and house of Israel,
So I will save you, and you shall be a blessing.
Do not fear,
Let your hands be strong.’

Do not fear let your hand be strong is said over and over in the Bible.  

So let's start with How is it possible to defeat fear?  Perfect love cast out love we read in I John 4:18. So it is in need of a multi-layered solution.  First you need  to Understand exactly what God did for you, and who He is and Just how far He went to love you.
People that do not accurately portray what Christ did on the Cross actually build fear in people.  Jesus forgives ALL sin He is the only one that Has paid or redeemed you from the wage of sin.  The wage of sin was death, but the Gift of God is eternal life.  Satan stands day and night before the throne of God and accuses you of everything. He also has some little slimy demon doing the same thing in your mind. Jesus stand before the same Throne and intercedes for you night and day. The way we guard our mind is with the Helmet of Salvation. 
The first thing he wants you to believe is that you will lose your salvation if you confess your weaknesses to another. That is a huge lie that most people believe over and over. The fear of failure, fear of wounds, fear of others they are all about fearing people more then God and because you still don't understand just what He did for You. So for tonight I would like to suggest you check out this link https://sites.google.com/site/christianbasics1/study-6-christ-s-death-and-resurrection

Check out the scriptures read them 

or

Better yet turn to the Book of Romans and follow the Roman's road.  

I would like you to read it so that you will know that I am not telling you anything that is not in the Bible. Tomorrow I will talk a bit about the Fear of Failure.

Romans Road of Salvation

1. Everyone needs salvation because we have all sinned.
   
   Romans 3:10-12, and 23
   As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” ... For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (NLT)
2. The price (or consequence) of sin is death.
   
   Romans 6:23
   For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)
3. Jesus Christ died for our sins. He paid the price for our death.
   
   Romans 5:8
   But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (NLT)
4. We receive salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
   
   Romans 10:9-10, and 13
   If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved ... For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (NLT)
5. Salvation through Jesus Christ brings us into a relationship of peace with God.
   
   Romans 5:1
   Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. (NLT)
   
   Romans 8:1
   So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. (NLT)
   
   Romans 8:38-39
   And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

Responding to Romans Road

If you believe Romans Road leads to the path of truth, you can respond by receiving God's free gift of salvation today. Here's how to take a personal journey down Romans Road:

1. Admit you are a sinner.
2. Understand that as a sinner, you deserve death.
3. Believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from sin and death.
4. Repent by turning from your old life of sin to a new life in Christ.
5. Receive, through faith in Jesus Christ, his free gift of salvation.

MY PRAYER FOR YOU TONIGHT

Holy Spirit help each person that reads this blog discover more of who you are and what You have done for them.  Show them how you see them as Your dear precious Children.  Let the rightly discern every Spirit and may they learn to know your Voice and I just loose the lying spirits that would try to torment any of them and Bind the truth to them.  I love these people because You love these people wash them clean and over the next while help them to be able to be totally free from fear. In the Name of Jesus.
P.S. I sure did enjoy spending the day with you Holy Spirit and hope that all the people that read this spent the day with you also. Tonight I look forward to listening to you as I go to sleep and know that you are protecting me and also these people. I love You.

                     
Please if you like the songs I share purchase them on iTunes or at your Christian bookstore we need to support the artist for their work.  
This song is Whom Shall I fear by Chris Tomlin I love all of His music.