The Key to Staying Free From Your Mind Battle
Learning to let your spirit take the higher place over your mind, will, and emotions is truly a journey, not a destination.
If you are counting on merely having the information and being free, I have to tell you that it doesn’t work that way. Remember, it’s not what you know; it’s what you do that counts. That is still as true as ever!
It works if you do the steps. It won’t be easy, and it will take some effort on your part, but if you stay with the process, you will be free!
One of the greatest things you can do for yourself as you work through this process is to stay hooked up in your walk with Jesus.
Can it really be that simple? Yes! The enemy tries to complicate everything, but the things of God are very simple and straightforward. It is true that when you isolate yourself, it is a lot easier to lose control. But when you keep yourself around likeminded believers, you will find much strength, and that helps you very much.
I want to show you how to not give up, lose heart, or faint in your walk to gain control of your soul. Let’s take a look again at one of the letters the apostle Paul wrote. I want you to see from the Word of God that you are not alone!
Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1, AMP
Who are these witnesses spoken of in this verse? They are those who have gone on before who are interested in your life, that’s who. And there are a lot of them!
There is a minister named Dr. Gary Wood. He has written a book called A Place Called Heaven about his experience in Heaven. He died in a car accident when he was a teenager and was dead for over 45 minutes. It is all documented. The medical team stopped working on him. He was cold. That was it. They gave up on him. He was gone. He tells about it with more detail in his book .
Dr. Wood saw many things when he visited Heaven. At one point, he was taken to a place that was like an arena. Out in the middle of the arena where a playing field would normally be, there was instead something like a portal that looked down onto the earth. People would go to the arena, and they would hang over the side. From there, they could see different loved ones and various people whom God had put on their hearts, and they were cheering them on from above. He heard them saying things like: “You can do it! You can do it, dude! Come on! Run! Run! Run! You can do it! You can do it!”
These people in Heaven who were viewing events on earth didn’t know little everyday things like what you had for lunch, but they were able to see big spiritual advancements or retreats. They knew if you weren’t doing what you needed to do, and they knew when you were advancing too. He said they knew of big things like weddings and big life events, and they would lean over the banisters in that arena and yell, “You can do it! Kylie, come on! Run! Run, Kylie, run!” They were cheering; this huge cloud of witnesses were all cheering for someone on the earth!
Guess what. This might sound pretty wild to you, but we just read it in the Word of God! Every one of us has somebody on the other side cheering for us. You have people there cheering for you. Whether or not you are family to them, God has placed a cloud of witnesses, a cheering section for you, saying, “You can overcome this soul stuff! You can do it! You can make it! You can be victorious! Come on! Run, baby, run! Open your mouth! Do what you need to do! Put it all together! You can do it! You can do it! You can do it!”
Aren’t you glad you’re not here by yourself? Aren’t you glad that for every moment of every day in heaven, someone is cheering for you? Somebody is cheering just for you! The struggle might have been real, but someone is cheering for you saying, “You can do this! You can overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of your testimony! You love your life not to the death! You can do it! You don’t have to live like that anymore!”
Since we have this cheering section in Heaven, God says we should strip off and throw aside every encumbrance and sin. That’s interesting. Notice that not every encumbrance is a sin, but it can still be a weight to us. What we’re dealing with can be a sin that’s been tripping us up, or it can just be a weight to us. We won’t fully gain control of our souls if we don’t take an honest look at our lives. Start looking at everything and determine if it is a weight and if it is a sin that has tried to keep you from running the way you need to run in your life.
I had to place upon the altar of God, the sexual immorality of my life. It was a sin that was causing me to mess up. It was keeping me from running the race that I needed to run. I had to choose to take off that sin, just like this verse says.
Today, with your cheering section rooting for you, take an honest look at yourself and ask, “What weight is holding me back?” Another word for encumbrance is distraction, so you could ask what distraction is holding you back. Who is a distraction to you? What person in your life is not lifting you up, but is instead jacking you up?
My husband is so smart! He says you should never be the smartest person in the room. You should always surround yourself with people who can pull you up. If you look at a room filled with people you’re having to lift up because they’re not living right or they’re not doing right, I would say you need to sever some relationships because you need to be around people who are lifting you up. There were friendships I had to sever. It was painful, but I knew that the ones going with me to the bar right after I got off work were not the ones who were going to carry me to victory. My relationships with them weren’t necessarily a sin, but they were a distraction, a weight to me.
You have to take an honest account of your life. Some people around you are dealing with soul issues themselves, and if you’re dealing with soul issues, you can’t be around those people. You need somebody who has a better handle on how to control these areas of his soul. This is not a cute or popular part of this message, but it is extremely needful. Amen? Unhealthy relationships are unnecessary weights that will keep you from gaining the freedom you desire.
In Hebrews 12:1 above, circle the words “throw aside.“ In the Greek, those words carry the idea of throwing aside with the intensity of a bullet coming out of a gun. That’s pretty fast! It‘s not a matter of, “Well, let me think about it for a while. Let me think about Susie. You know, she‘s been a friend for 20 years. I can’t just get rid of her, you know.” The truth is, Susie’s not doing anything for you. There has to come a point where you want to be free so badly, that you say, “No hard feelings, Susie. If you get right, praise the Lord. I’m praying for you, but I have to run my race. I have to do what God has called me to do. And with the intensity and power of a bullet coming out of a gun, I’m laying down this extra weight and I’m running.”
What does it mean to run with patient endurance? It means you might not see 100 percent victory and total freedom by tonight, but you’re going to keep running. Endurance is to keep on trucking, to be steady and keep on trucking. Don’t stop.
My husband ran marathons before we got married, then he had a foot injury, so he stopped. After I had our baby, I wanted to lose weight, so he said, “Alright. I signed us up for this 5K.” I was thinking, Uh, what? Now you must know that in school, I was the kid in class who thought of every possible way to not run during Phys-Ed. Now here was my husband saying, “Okay, I’ve signed us up for a 5K.”
I said, “Um, okay baby, that’s great.” And he said, “We’re going to go shopping, and we‘re going to practice, and we’re going to work your way up. But first, we‘re definitely going shopping.” Well, you know I’m not ever going to complain about going shopping! But then I asked him why we were going shopping. He answered, “Because I don’t want you to look like a novice.” He went on to explain to me that there’s a very distinct difference between the person who comes to win the race and the one who comes to just experience the race.
The first thing he said we had to change was my socks. That seemed kind of silly to me. “Yes, we have to change your socks because if you’re really going to run, you don’t want blisters.
You can’t have socks with a lot of cotton in them. Cotton causes blisters.”(See, I’m teaching you something here today!) I did not know that about cotton socks.
We got synthetic socks, and we got a certain kind of shoes so my knees wouldn’t hurt. We also bought a certain kind of pants and shirt. And then we practiced. A lot. I showed up at the race that day thinking I probably wasn’t going to run the whole 5K, but I was going to run the majority of it, and I knew I was going to be all right.
When I got there, I looked around, and it was just exactly the way Jimmy said it would be. I saw two very distinctly different groups of people. The one group was dressed in the best running gear they could find. They had on their special watches, and they were getting ready to set them. They were jogging before the race even started — you know those people are crazy! They were totally into it and prepared for it.
And then there was the second group. They were wearing their race t-shirt, a pair of basketball shorts, and some basketball trainers — you know what I’m talking about. Those people were there for the fun of it, but they were not there to win.
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The biggest difference between these two groups was this: the runners in both groups would likely hurt along the way, but those in the first group could run through the pain. They could continue running even if they started to feel a little uncomfortable. They could run through it, and eventually the pain could knock off. They could keep going.
Those in the second group, however, when they experienced some kind of little pain would stop running. The pain stopped them. It would hinder their time, their race, and where they would finish. Those in the first group learned endurance while those in the second group were just there for the experience.
Which runner are you in this race called life? Are you here to win it? Over and over again, the Apostle Paul talks about being in a race. You have to ask yourself which category fits you. Are you running the appointed course with patient endurance, with steady and active persistence? Underline “appointed course” in Hebrews 12:1. It’s not talking about somebody else’s course; it’s talking about your course. What are you called to do? You can usually look at your passions and the things that you’re good at to find an answer to that question. The Lord will somehow have those wrapped up in what you’re called to do.
It’s your race. There’s a grace for your lane. There’s a grace for your race. There’s a grace for your place. If you’re running somebody else’s race or crossing over into another lane, you’ll feel like something is just off. Dr. Hagin used to say, “It’s like washing your feet with your socks on — something’s just a little bit off.” Take a look at what race you are running. What are you doing? What lane are you in, and how are you running?
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher, [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2, AMP
Do you know what brought Jesus through the passion that He had to go through? It was the joy that was set before Him — that joy was your face and my face. We are the joy that was set before Jesus. You are the joy that was set before Jesus! Think about that. Let it settle in you for a moment. Wrap your heart around that. You gave Him so much joy that He endured all of the lashing, all of the beating, all of the piercing, all of the nailing, all of the hanging, all of the death, hell, and the grave. Your face was there so that you could be the joy set before Him. He died so you could run, so we could all run. He absolutely did that for you and me and everyone else!
What is the joy set before you to run this race and to control your soul? Ask the Father. What is the thing that will motivate you? For me, I would not have been happy if I couldn’t sing and lead people into the presence of God. Even in the lowest of my low times, it is what I always wanted to do. Even when I was running from God’s call on my life, the joy of that feeling has always been there. I’ve been ministering in church since I was three years old. I can’t remember my first message, it was so long ago, but I knew that I really loved that feeling. So when I was going through the daily necessities of the daily, I would remember that feeling as the joy set before me. When I was saying my confessions up to 200 times a day, I would have that in mind.
As I gained more and more control over my soul — mind, will and emotions — I was more and more able to start loving on people the way I wanted to. Why? Because I experienced the love of God in a new way. I knew that in my deepest and lowest point, He actually never left me. That moment when I sat in the comer of the mental facility on a hard wooden chair with a blanket around me, and I said, “God,” He said, “Yep.” He was there for me. He never left me. He never forsook me. He never gave up on me. He looked ahead to this point in my life today, to 35-year-old Kylie who has her happy back, and that’s who He saw when I was in that chair. That’s how He looks at you, too!
I wanted to help people. That was the joy set before me. I also really wanted to be married, and I wanted to have a family. I didn’t want to pass on generational curses to my child. There was a reason why I woke up every morning and stayed determined, and there has to be a reason why you wake up every morning and stay determined. That was all out there. Jesus had the joy set before Him to cause Him to endure. You have a joy. You have to see the joy before you to can endure while you’re learning to control your soul. See that thing that motivates you.
My mother had kind of an inferiority complex at one time. People would call her and ask her to preach, and she’d say, “No, no you don’t want me. You want my mother; she’s famous.” She didn’t feel worthy enough, and the devil was trying to keep her in a very low place with her voice silent.
One night she had a vision. She saw this pasture with beautiful rolling hills, almost like pictures you’ve seen of Ireland. She was walking over these gentle hills when, all of a sudden, she saw a beautiful stream. There was a man crouched down by the stream, and he was working very intently on something. She came closer and closer until she could peek over the shoulder of this man. In his hands, she saw this grotesque, ugly, cancerous-looking thing.
As she watched, he would sweep down and dip his hand into the water. Then he would allow the water to run over his fingers and drop on this nasty thing. Wherever the water dropped, healing would come. Like new baby skin, it would come.
Then she looked closer at the man and took a step back. Suddenly she realized it was Jesus. She said, “What are You doing? What is that ugly nasty thing?”
Jesus looked up at her and said, “That’s your soul. I am the Great Shepherd, and I want to restore your soul.”
Mom asked, “Well, what do I do to keep it from being like that?” Jesus then walked her through much of the process I have shared with you in this book.
He refreshes and restores my life (myself); He leads me in the paths of righteousness[uprightness and right standing with Him – not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake. Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my [brimming] cup runs over. Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place. Psalm 23, AMP
Look at that. Jesus leads you beside still and restful waters. I declare right now in the name of Jesus, if you are having trouble sleeping, that He leads you beside still and restful waters. You tell your soul to stop with the lies, and you will sleep!
He refreshes and restores your life. He leads you in paths of righteousness, uprightness and right standing with Him, not because you earned it, but for His name’s sake. All of these things must be part of your daily soul care as you learn to walk in the freedom Jesus died to give you. It’s a daily thing. Hold fast. Bring to remembrance the good He has done for you. Confess the Word. Stay connected. Soul Control is yours for the taking!
