Protect Your Mind!

“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing,” George Orwell wrote in his seminal novel 1984. In the book, the government is working to gain complete control over the citizenry. It knew it would never achieve its goal unless it controlled everyone’s thoughts and feelings.

While this novel is political satire, the dystopian reality it paints is terrifying to consider.

Mind control on the national level is far from fiction. Think of Germany in the 1930s when enough citizens gave themselves over to the thinking of Adolph Hitler—and the resulting 17 million dead in the Holocaust. There was also the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution in the late 1950s to mid-1970s when the Chinese bought into the ideology of Mao Zedong. That time left an estimated 53 million dead.

Brainwashing can also happen on smaller levels. There are lone-wolf terror attacks by individuals who opened their minds to the credo of militant organizations. A recent court case about a sex cult, involving a prominent television actress, is another example.

Human minds can be warped and twisted by outside influences—and there is little philosophers, counselors, politicians, religious leaders and teachers can do about it. They have all failed to bring effective mechanisms to protect minds.

At best, they can only offer alternate human-devised ideologies to combat what are considered wrong ideologies. Why?

Isaiah 55:8 has the answer: “For My [God’s] thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.” No manmade ideology can solve mankind’s issues because the underlying causes of all human woes are not human. They are spiritual. For any solution to work, it must come from God.

A reason man’s thoughts are not naturally in sync with God’s is because there is another influence: Satan the devil. Ephesians 2:2 calls him “the prince of the power of the air” and his spiritual influence “works in the children of disobedience.”

As with television and radio signals, Satan spiritually broadcasts his thoughts and attitudes across the globe—influencing human nature. This is the greatest form of mind control of all time!

Yet Christians are not supposed to be of this world (John 17:14). We are to repent, which Strong’s Dictionary defines as “to think differently.”

So there are two competing influences for anyone striving to live God’s Way—the Holy Spirit and the spirit of disobedience.

How about you? Do you know how to discern your carnal thoughts from God’s? When faced with a problem, it is critical to know how to guard yourself from leaning on your own human understanding (Prov. 3:5). Relying on yourself always leads to bad ideas on how to solve the issues you face.

A simple instruction in the apostle Peter’s first epistle shows the place to start: “Gird up the loins of your mind” (I Pet. 1:13).

Ancient Tunic Girding

The term “gird up your loins” is foreign in the modern world. “Gird” may make us think of wearing a belt to keep up a pair of pants—or girdles worn by women as undergarments to shape and support their figures.

Yet this is not what Peter meant. In the first century people wore tunics, usually a shorter inner tunic and longer outer one. Having cloth hanging down by your ankles would inhibit you from doing labor—or make it nearly impossible to properly defend yourself from an attack. (Ladies, it is easier for you to imagine this from wearing longer dresses and skirts.)

In Bible times, outer tunics were girded when necessary by hoisting up the fabric above the knees, pushing the excess between the legs, then tying it around the waist. Once this was done, a person could better run, move and fight.

Notice that the Israelites were to gird up their loins when eating the first Passover: “…thus shall you eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’ s Passover” (Ex. 12:11).

After they ate the Passover meal, the Israelites were to be ready to leave Egypt hastily.

Notice what God commanded the prophet Jeremiah to do as God sent him to call out Israel’s wickedness: “You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command you: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them” (Jer. 1:17).

The prophet was to be ready for violent resistance: “For, behold, I have made you this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you” (vs. 18-19).

Vulnerable Mind

The mind is a precious yet easily impressionable possession. King Solomon instructed in Proverbs 4: “Keep your heart [mind] with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (vs. 23).

Three fascinating points emerge from this passage. Working our way back from the end of the verse, take note that all of life’s issues come from the mind. That means every possible issue that has ever plagued mankind stems from there. So says the God who “tries the hearts and reins [minds]” (Psa. 7:9). This lines up with James 1:14, which shows how sinful thoughts germinate in one’s own mind. Also notice Jeremiah 17:9, which states that the mind is “deceitful above all things.”

Second, from Proverbs 4:23, we are to keep our minds “with all diligence.” The Hebrew word translated diligence means “place of confinement, prison, guard, jail, guard post, watch, observance…act of guarding,” according to The Outline of Biblical Usage.

Third, the verse starts with “keep.” The Hebrew term here can mean “to watch, guard, keep; to preserve, guard from dangers; to keep, observe, guard with fidelity; to guard, keep secret; to be kept close, be blockaded; watchman.”

Connect the dots here. Just as the ancients girded up their loins to be ready to work and fight, we are to gird up the loins of our minds to guard them from negative mental influences. Girded should be our constant mental state—ready and receptive to God’s positive inspiration—armed to fend off wrong thoughts from “the prince of the power of the air.”

Part of God’s Armor

Does the Bible specify what are we supposed to gird our minds with to protect them?

The apostle Paul completes the spiritual analogy in Ephesians 6:14. He wrote: “stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth.”

There it is! We must gird our minds with God’s truth.

Without the truth, one is left as mentally vulnerable as Adam and Eve when Satan tempted them. Revelation 12:9 states that he “deceives the whole world.” Again, this is the ultimate mind control!

We must study the Bible—the Word of truth—every day of our lives to be reminded of these things. Ephesians 6 also shows that the truth is not just a spiritual girdle, but it is the very first part of crucial spiritual armor that makes us “able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (vs. 11).

Adequate Bible study gives us the protection we need against this threat. If we feel bombarded with wrong thoughts, we need to examine how much and what we are studying.

Resist!

Only when we gird ourselves with truth every day can we resist. James 4:7 states: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Bible study is a form of submission because we come before God to hear what He wants us to know in His Word. This is tied to humility, which we are also to clothe ourselves with spiritually (I Pet. 5:5).

The word resist in James means “to stand against, that is, oppose…resist, withstand” (Strong’s). Allow your mind to make the connection with all that has been explained so far. Anciently, a soldier would not have dared show up to a battle without girding his loins first.

Likewise, we must be filled with truth before we stand any chance against the third-most powerful being in the universe, Satan.

Not studying our Bibles leaves us exposed and vulnerable in our softest spiritual spots. You know what loins are, brethren. Make this connection spiritually!

The world lacks God’s truth. Is it any wonder why demonic vexation is so prevalent today? Most people in this age are not just lacking truth but are also bombarded with the wrong kinds of mental influences. Much of this can be summarized as “The Mindless Ms”: media, movies, music and materialism.

These things are not evil in and of themselves. We need some material things to get around. We can listen to good music, watch a decent movie and view other acceptable forms of media such as the news. The wrong kinds of these Ms open the door to wrong spiritual influences.

A Christian is one who has his or her “senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14) versions of the Ms. Yet a Christian is not exempt from being tempted. Understand. Being tempted is part of being a Christian and is not sin.

Not resisting the temptation, which begins with not being girded with truth to resist in the first place, will—every time—result in sin.

The way to properly resist is to be girded with truth daily and then reject wrong thoughts. We must choose to resist always by not allowing ourselves to entertain wrong thoughts even for a split second.

Make no mistake, the more one entertains wrong spiritual thoughts, the more one opens the door to the wrong spirit. The more you do it, the more exercised and stronger you become at it. If you feel unable to overcome the pulls of a certain sin, you should counsel with your minister.

Other Mind Traps

There are also some physical things you can do to help you spiritually resist. You should strive to get a good night’s sleep as often as possible. You should exercise, eat a healthy diet and avoid excess alcohol. All these are part of keeping our bodies undefiled as the “temple of God” (I Cor. 3:17).

Not being careful with these physical measures could result in spiritual “mind traps.”

Also, beware that any past exposure to certain movies, books and music may have built spiritual bridges that must still be torn down.

This includes YouTube videos from people who attack God’s true Church. You may think, This is silly stuff. I’m just curious. It will never harm me! Yet the spirit behind the people producing those videos or materials is the spirit of error, which often uses “silly” devices to tempt us. In viewing those, you could be tempting God assuming you “stand” (I Cor. 10:12).

Notice II Corinthians 10: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (vs. 5).

“Imaginations” here is the Greek word logismos, from which comes “logic.” It means “computation…reasoning…conscience, conceit…thought.” We are to cast down every wrong form of thinking—and, yes, Satan will make it seem logical.

The second half of this verse states to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

It is imperative that we be diligent at this. Recall that some of the meanings of “with all diligence” in the Proverbs included “jail, prison, guard-house.” We must scrutinize our mind and lock out any wrong thought that may have lodged inside our minds over the years.

Achieving this may require other Christian growth tools such as fasting as necessary, as well as plenty of meditation.

A point about meditation. There is a popular movement called “mindfulness” that is based on principles from Eastern religions and focuses on “meditation.” This is far from the biblical form of meditation we should practice. To learn more about the proper way to meditate, read “Meditation – The Misunderstood Tool”.

Note: Keep in mind that resisting and casting down imaginations happens in the mind. True Christians should not walk around trying to audibly “rebuke the devil” as some religious fanatics would do, shouting “Get thee hence, Satan!” to a mop that falls inside a closet.

However, you should be ready to think that to yourself, between your ears, if a wrong thought tries to enter.

Stay Girded

The world recognizes to some extent the need to guard the mind. Yet Christians are to transcend into the spiritual aspect of that—filling our minds with truth must be a daily habit. The same goes for avoiding and resisting the sources of wrong thoughts. This will build and strengthen the walls around our minds (Prov. 25:28).

God’s Word—His truth!—reveals a lot more about your mind. Here are several passages to consider.

• Be of a “willing mind” to serve God (I Chron. 28:9; Matt. 22:37)
• Have “a mind to work” (Neh. 4:6)
• Receive God’s Word with “all readiness of mind” (Acts 17:11)
• Serve God with “all humility of mind” (Acts 20:19)
• Mind “the things of the Spirit” (Rom. 8:5)
• “Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things…Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom. 12:16). Also, “be perfectly joined together in the same mind” (I Cor. 1:10)
• Have God’s laws written into your mind (Heb. 8:10)
• Be filled with the Spirit “of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Tim. 1:7)

You have seen how much is contained in Peter’s simple instruction to “gird up the loins of your mind.” He wrote this at the beginning of his general epistle, which applies to Christians of all time. Pay careful attention to how he finishes the same letter: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith…” (I Pet. 5:8-9).

Now you better understand how essential daily Bible study—keeping the loins of your mind girded with truth—is in achieving just that.