Author’s note
This eBook is a guide and serves as a first guide. It is also recommended as a person affected to get additional expert advice or to see a psychologist or a clergy.
Chapter One
The panic
In recent years, in a country like Nigeria, the news cycle has been swamped with numerous distressing headlines like multiple mass-kidnapping, Biafra agitation, revolution Now, Niger-delta militancy, killer Herdsmen, banditry, the Boko-Haram insurgency and more. Headlines like the pandemic, hash tag EndSARs did take over the entire airwaves and social media. From increasing cases of the pandemic to raising death toll at the Lekki-tollgate, while such stories had been critical to public awareness and sentiment, Nigerians were already confused and disintegrated.
It is a common saying that the world feels like it is coming to an when you are in Nigeria, the emergence of a novel virus in the country at the early quarter of 2020 did not make things any better, news flew around from different quarters, there were theories of conspiracy by Elite to use the new 5G network to wipe out a significant proportion of the human race, that caused a lot of panic and unnecessary arguments among citizens. Mind you that as at the end of the first quarter of 2020 there were neither any confirmed usage of the said 5G network anywhere in Nigeria. The government did not immediately respond to that controversy, rather the people were left to wallow in their speculations and fear of the unknown.
A couple of weeks later came the last straw; the lockdown. When a nationwide lockdown was first announced, many did not know what to make of it because it was unprecedented, such as had never been experienced in the country, most people got to spend a lot of time with their families. But then, businesses began to fold, people lost their jobs, local authorities found an excuse to make life more miserable for the locals, in fact it did actually feel like it was the end of days to emphatically state, everything came crashing, the level of panic was alarming. This was when for me the real damage occurred.
Diligence in panic
You hear about pestilence, violence, insecurity and ungovernable space in your society and how the government is doing very little to sanitize these situations. At some point, an incident occurs in your region involving unknown gun men and there is panic. You are charged to be cautious, defend your territory and so on. Receiving this news, suddenly your receptor cells send impulses to your nerve, which sends an urgent wave of distress to your brain to be on the alert, and therefore, at every little disturbance or loud noise outside, you quiver and you rush to the window to see, your flight hormones are triggered. The sad thing is that your health silently suffers consequences of those episodes, whenever you instantly act upon those distressing thoughts and impulses, your health suffers when anxiety sets in, along with it trouble with sleeping and other indicators, sequel to that, health starts to deteriorate opening gateway to all kinds of risk factors.
Only when we begin to realize the negative effect of these external influences on our well being, shall we know the importance of seeing, reading and listening to what is important, when it is important and to the right degree, rather than letting things go to a fever pitch of panic and urgency. This calls for diligence on the part of the individual to control and discipline their thoughts. In Proverbs 4:23, the bible in this light admonishes us to keep our hearts with all diligence; that for out of it arises the issues of life.
Just as a man must learn a trade in order to be successful in that trade, so does a man need to learn the principle of diligence in the guarding the mind, because whether we like it or not the news of this world or rather the assaults of this world will never seize, the struggle is to guard our mind diligently as it processes received information, from whence arises the issues of life. After all the intention of the media is not to cause panic but to inform and create awareness of the latest news around the world. If that be the case, then one begins to wonder if the joke is on the mind, which surges out of control at the reception of most news from the media.
The tyranny of the urgent
Drawing on Charles Hummel’s postulation in describing the life of highly effective people, introduces the phrase “tyranny of the urgent”, it distinguishes between what is urgent on one hand and on the other what is important. Most times we misplace our priorities in our daily lives, we tend to pursue less important things which may seem urgent but they become a problem. Things like waking up first thing in the morning to check the latest news on your tablet or to turn on the TV to see the live broadcast of a riot happening thousands of miles away from you, become very urgent matters for us, whereas we forget to do things that may not seem as urgent, but are important, things like doing morning devotion and committing your live into the hands of its creator.
The simple maxim of doing first things first allows you to rigorously prioritize your activities so the importance things are taken care of first while others are dealt with accordingly. We can watch the news, but it should be at the right time and to the right degree. We can apportion time for watching or reading the news, say thirty minutes every morning or evening or at whatever time we decide. It also does not have to be a do or die affair, it is okay not to watch or read the news the whole day, we can give ourselves a break from consuming so much news especially when it begins to negatively affect us, but how do you know that you are being negatively affected? In the subsequent chapters we will look closely at some of the warning signs of such effect.
Again, let us leverage on Hummel’s tyranny of the urgent to help us understand which things are important, simply by classifying or categorizing activities into dimensions: important and urgent. This gives us a 2x2 matrix with four quadrants. In the first quadrant, we have tasks that are important and urgent like crisis and emergencies, say your child is critically ill and needs to be hospitalized. In quadrant two, we have tasks that are important but not urgent, like saying your morning and night prayers. The third quadrant involves tasks that are urgent but not important, like grabbing your phone during work hours to call friend to confirm a terrorist attack in their state. The last quadrant contains neither important nor urgent tasks, a complete waste of time. When you think about it, you will understand that when you work enough in quadrant two you will find fewer crises in quadrant one but let us not drift further away from our subject.
The subject of guarding our minds against external influence has not only become a matter of urgency but also that of importance. It is imperative that we be conscious of what news we watch, listen to or read, if it is the sort of news that will destabilize our inner peace then it best left alone. There is nothing new under the sun, there has always been troubling news way before we were born and there always will be when we leave this world. There is a need for you to mind gate what content you allow into your mind, as a matter of urgency, immediately you notice any form of negative vibes, be mindful enough to recognize it, stop and unplug at once!. The consequences of failing to unplug may or may not be immediate but most times are irreversible when the damage is done, we will look at this in two perspectives, the spiritual perspective which will be discussed in the last chapter of this book and health perspective, which we can now divulge in the next chapter.
Chapter Two
Your mind, your health
The body is the servant of the mind; it follows every lead of the mind whether they be conscious or subconscious, at the slightest provocation of the mind the body responds accordingly. We witness this concept in our daily lives, take for instance when a certain threatening situation befalls a man, even before the mind can fully grasp or have time to fully absorb and think about the situation and how best to respond; the brain which is the physical organ of the mind will instantaneously send out stress signals throughout the body and the body’s sympathetic nervous system then stimulates the adrenal glands, triggering the release of catecholamine which prepares the body to flee or to fight. The body is flushed, and looks pale.
Over the years, researchers have extensively studied this cause and effect and have gained insight into the long-term effects it has on the physical and psychological health. Overtime, repeated activation of this biological activity takes its toll on the whole body. Research have shown that some of its long-term effects to include high blood pressure, formation of artery-clogging deposits, and that it also causes brain changes that may contribute to anxiety, depression and addiction. Dr. Leaf had this to say on thoughts:
“When you think, you build thoughts, and these become physical substances in your brain.”
Many people are unable to filter what information they receive into their minds thereby not being able to apply brakes too their thoughts, consequently, robbing themselves of the beauty of calmness and peace, after a while, Alas! Several health challenges associated with stress begin to spring forth. Now, do not get me wrong the fight or flight response is as vital as the human sense of smell, as a matter of fact it could even save one’s life in the advent of a life threatening situation, say standing in a head to head stance with a fast approaching vehicle or a vicious serpent, before you can even have time to process the state of affairs, your reflexes would have rapidly prompted into action: to flee to safety or attack an adversary. Your recent activity will have short-term effect on you, for example, the release of cortisol (stress hormone) will increase your appetite, so you will want to eat more to replace lost energy.
However, that is not the crux of our deliberation; you should focus more on the long-term effects of this activity especially when it has to do with unnecessary stress conditions over unsettling news incautiously gathered from the mainstream media or via any other means. Emphasizes here is placed on being guarded over what your mind receives. If a man will have absolute health let him first filter what contents enter his mind, before he brood over the affairs of his stomach. As Manly Hall puts it:
An unhealthy mind, even in a healthy body, will ultimately destroy health.
Change of diet can only go as far to deliver a man’s health, but a mind which goes a thousand mile per hour has very little to no salvation from even a clinically prescribed diet. Thoughts of distress, fear and anxiety have been known to kill a man faster than a bullet. A troubled mind will express itself through a sickly body.
“If you would protect your body, guard your mind, if you would renew your body, beautify your mind.” –James Allen
Mental wellbeing
During the lockdown in Nigeria, what the many people did not realize was that whilst they were indoors and busy absorbing all kinds of news from different sources by watching, listing to and reading whatever that mentioned the pandemic, a lot of damages were done to their mental health. A lot of people became depressed and others showed signs of trauma, not just by being locked inside but by digesting all kinds of negative news giving birth to depressive thoughts and other forms of negativity.
Personally, I downloaded apps and visited almost every digital news site, even in the middle of the night I would wake to read the news updates, I wanted to be the first to know and share updates with my friends on social media, often these information would be forwarded many times and sometimes find its way back to me, a vicious cycle. This behavior became a ritual, doing the same things all day and every day. I seemed to spend my day running after my thoughts on trending news even when I did simple tasks. It got to a point where I would think of what I needed downstairs and took off after it, only to get there and forget what I intended to get, this leads to another trip upstairs to go where I was standing when the thought occurred to me. I had to start keeping a pen and paper handy as I tended to forget things more often.
Many people do not realize that every time they bewail or clamor over disturbing news and rumors, every gate of their mind is opened to all sorts of medical conditions, to intended manipulation and to external forces; therefore one must always be self-conscious of what goes into the mind to cloud it and make it apparently vulnerable.
“Everyone takes a shower to get rid of the dirt in the physical bodies, so does not it only make sense to clean your mind of the garbage from the outside world”—John Di Lemme
While it is justifiable to stay up to date on recent happening around the world and everything else, overconsumption of these dreadful streams of information can be detrimental to whole body by causing stress, overdrive and anxiety. Anxiety demoralizes the whole body and opens it up for all kinds of malady.
Chapter Three
Perfect calmness
Serenity of the mind is one of the beautiful trinkets of wisdom; it is a result of long-suffering because it takes relentless self-discipline and steadfastness. It presence is the indication of experience and practice, it is no small matter to be able to remain poised and calm even in threatening situations it is thought evolvement and self-awareness. The more tranquil a man makes himself in the face of adversity the more he flourishes in felicity.
“The secret of life, of abundant life with its strength, its felicity and its unbroken peace is to find Divine Center within oneself and live in and from that, instead of in that outer circumference of disturbance—the clamors, cravings and argumentations which make up the animal and intellectual man, these selfish elements constitute the mere of husks of life and must be thrown away by him, who will penetrate to the central heart of things—to life itself.”—James Allen
During a world cup match between Nigerian and Argentina on the 2nd of June, 2002, a certain aged man was said to have collapsed and passed away when the Nigerian side lost in the close call match, which dashed the last hope of Nigeria qualifying for the next round in the tournament. His demise may have been sudden, but presumably anxiety and stress accumulated overtime may have caused him high blood pressure which triggered the heart attack. He made his mind vulnerable, alas! On that faithful day he paid the price, perhaps if he had set his mind at peace, enjoyed a hobby or did something for himself while the match was going on, then just maybe he would have better received the disappointment. Just how much of our daily live is hijacked by the thoughts of insecurity and every other things happening in our communities, cities and nation at large.
Say to yourself, all that the disturbance and noises outside shall not take away my inner peace, all that tries to steal my joy away I will not be susceptible to; I am not ignorant of vices. He who resolves that he will not rest until he finds out what is going on here or there, shall by the piercing consequence of that resolve, digest every fleeting thought to the detriment of his own mental health and the torment of his sacred peace. But the wise and conscious shall enter into the substance of life, he shall learn how to live in desperate times and he shall live.
He shall not be a servant to confounding opinions; he shall be no slave to worry and anxiety neither shall he be at the mercy of manipulators, false reporters and fake news; he shall be strong, sound and perfectly calm at all times. An unstable mind cannot be relied upon to make sound judgment; it cannot think clearly to make the best decisions. It takes calmness of the mind to make the best decisions in any circumstance.
Peace that passes all understanding
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. —Philippians 4:7.
When you receive God’s kind of peace, other people around you, your family and your friends will perceive it, they will be infested by it, and they will not hesitate to seek your opinion, to confide in you or rely on your discretion. In John 14:27, Jesus tells us that he leaves His peace with us, and that His peace is not as the world gives. He also urges our hearts not to be troubled, neither to be afraid.
Do you remember the bible story of the great tempest in the sea? Let us read it below:
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him! —Matthew 8:24-27
You see hereinto, Jesus was able to calm the raving tide not just because he had the authority but also because he had peace within him. Remind me again when a man void of peace was able to establish it with others. Notice that one person who is always at loggerhead with everyone else? Could be in your school, in your work place, in your church or in your neighborhood, yes, we all have them, they are liked a troubled sea, a raving tide, how can they possibly give what they do not possess themselves; you cannot give what you do not have.
Tempest blown-away mind is an unstable mind, It is time to put away your economic socio-political opinions and argumentation, take a break from the trending news and your vicious circle of endless worrying, they are eating you up, put out your hand now and receive the peace of God that passes all understanding. The kind of peace that eludes the world, the resting that keeps you settled even when everyone is else is running helter-scatter, but you are composed, you are calm and you are diligently carrying your duties knowing that your peace is with God.
Chapter Four
Avoid copy and paste
The social media has increasingly become a source of information about the pandemic. According to a survey by Digital Third Coast, 68% of Americans said that the news and subsequent updates has left them feeling anxious during the pandemic. Meanwhile, 65% and 67% of respondents reported feeling overwhelmed and burnt out by the news respectively. 54% even said they were cutting back on their news consumption to escape these feelings. This survey is just one out of several carried in various countries of the world, they all seem to be in tandem on the negative effects of the trending news.
In today’s world, basically everything is commercialized and news is not left out. Many journalists these days can write anything just to sell, there are also fake websites out there reporting on fake news for personal gain or propaganda. You do not have to lend your voice to every news you come across, you must not read every news with a malefic or disturbing headline, unfortunately that is the kind that draws our attention the most. You could read about a woman on a Facebook post, who poisoned her newly wedding husband over a trivial matter, you could hair about the story of the mother-in-law on radio, who got pregnant for her son-in-law and many more like these. Well, you do not even know if these stories are true and most importantly those stories are not going to be your portion, that something happened to somebody out there does not mean that it is going to happen to you.
You consume too many news that you become afraid of the future, afraid of marriage, afraid of people, men growing skeptical about women and women turning bitter over men and so. As much as whatever is happening out there is affecting your gender, your denomination, your tribe, you name it, and as much as it may be okay for your voice to be heard, do not make the mistake of personalizing or bring these filtered news reports into your life and family. Most times we make that mistake of copying and pasting other people’s situations into our lives out of fear, fear of the unknown, fear of the same occurrences happening to us, but the good news is that you do not have to be afraid. II Tim. 1: 7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and sound mind (KJV). Why should we be afraid when He has not given us the spirit of fear? All we need do is leverage the power of God to discipline our minds. The Amplified bible interprets the text “sound mind” as personal discipline [abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control].
How to unplug
Almost every mobile phone user in the globe today receives some sort of news on a daily basis; through a mobile device a user can feel the pulse of the nation, scroll through news around the globe all in the palm of their hand. The nature of journalism demands that news outlet report and updates their pages with daily news, and 80% of the times these news carry headlines of recent crises and disturbing incidents, which of course are more likely to captivate the interest of readers or viewers. Today, news papers go into one of every five homes, the news is never ending and the publishers are never wealthy enough to stop selling them.
Every cell phone gives some sort of indication to the user to notify them when it is fully charged, some make sounds or flashes light and displays a prompt to the user to unplug cable from power source, to avoid causing damages to the battery. This is exactly what happens with the human brain which is the physical facility for the mind. Our minds when it is overwhelmed with worries, fears, anxieties and toxicities prompt us to unplug from the sources of those, but many times we do not recognize these prompts. They come in the form of headaches, tense, restlessness, panic, increased heart rate, hyperventilation, trembling, weakness, difficulty with concentration, disrupted sleep, depression, insomnia and others.
When these notifications from our mind beacons us to unplug and we continue to neglect them, just as the battery of a cell phone would, our mind and body go into overdrive which overtime reduces life expectancy by causing damages that lead to premature death. These simple and useful techniques can help you unplug from power source.
Unplug your attention
When you become mindful enough to recognize what you are feeling at the moment, get resettled and put away the source of your present predicament. Turn off the TV for a while; put your phone and gadgets down for a moment. Our minds are designed to tend towards the most stimulating things around us, and these electronic gadgets have become daily parts of our lives and interestingly the most stimulating things around us. Whenever you notice the signs of distress from watching, listening or reading news, it is time to discipline yourself by unplugging from those sources and giving yourself a break.
It is like this, when you want to charge your phone and you plug the charger to a wall socket and suddenly the socket begins to burn and spark, making cracking sounds, what do you do next? Of course you disconnect your phone from the charger; your primary reflexes will propel you to unplug the charger from the wall socket, because as long as the charger stays connected there is bound to be a passage of current which will definitely cause more damages. This same principle applies to the “current” of trending news and media influence on the human mind, but why do our primary reflexes not propel us to unplug our minds from the power source? We must learn to unplug from the vicious attack of the media for the sake of our mental well being, because your mental well being is non-negotiable.
Focus on positive thoughts
Mental overdrive is a serious business, and not staying in charge of your own mind every second can affect not just your performance at work, at school and other places, but can also ruin your life and relationships. Every second you spend dwelling on a negative thought influences the next ten seconds of your thought process, whenever you notice yourself drifting away on negative thoughts, get up from the spot where you are, talk a walk get some fresh air and focus on the positive areas of your life. If it is at work think of how far you have come in your career, in school think of the successes you have achieved so far, in the home think of all the blessings you have received. When you find yourself worrying about tomorrow, remember that you survived yesterday; that you are still alive today is reason enough to be positive. Generally, focus on thoughts that make you feel safe, accepted, loved and honored.
Practice mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness is the act of intensely being aware of what you are sensing and feeling in the moment void of judgment and interpretation. Matt Tenney, author of The Mindfulness Edge, summarizes it in these words:
We train our awareness so that we become less distracted by our own thinking, which allows us to enjoy our lives more, to be more present with people, and to see our world, both inner and outer, with greater clarity.
We can practice mindfulness by intentionally focusing on our emotions and without judgment, taking cognizance to whatever we are experiencing and sensing at the moment. The next time you feel overly keen about something that probably has not happened yet, that it makes your heart beat faster than normal, say to yourself, I am feeling anxious and I recognize this feeling for what is it, then take some deep breaths and take a moment to notice the sensation of your breaths by doing so you will intentionally create space for resettling yourself, which gives you power.
Chapter Five
The mind as a battlefield
The mind is unusual in that it constitute a battleground where supernatural forces contend against the mind of a man. The will of a man is like a citadel which these forces aim to capture and the field where battle is done for the contention is the mind. Even the Bible clearly intimates us on this reality in II Cor. 10:3-5 in the words Paul the Apostle reads:
3 We walk in the flesh, we do not war after it; he continued to:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…(KJV)
It is obvious that this passage of the scripture precisely talks about the mind as a place of battle. Notice how it first he intimates us with reality of a battle, then where the battle is fought and finally what is being contended for. The struggle is exclusively for man’s mind and unfortunately many do not even know about this, the ignorance of this truth has led them into all kinds of manipulations. This is not puzzling to anyone wise enough to recognize that out of the abundance of the mind proceeds words and actions or inaction; everything starts from the mind, which is the best target for any manipulator and most unfortunately man’s weakest link. So you see why this topic must not be treated lightly.
Let us look at that particular scripture in another perspective, Paul talks about the flesh not being our chief enemy, we could say the flesh in this context could be the physical events happening all around us, like the coup that happened in Myanmar, a new virus variant in Brazil, Mexican Cartel wars, Boko-Haram insurgence in Nigeria and many other issues around the globe. Paul went further to assert that our defense against our true enemy in obscurity is powerful but only if we can will it, because they are not physical.
The war on the human mind comes in the forms of ideas, insinuations, imaginations that may seem to emanate from our minds, but are actually not from us. These suggestions are like fiery darts fired against us day-in day-out without seizing, they may not be visible, but that cannot be said of the actions or inaction that supersede them which practically make our defeat evident.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought. —Ezekiel 38:10 (KJV)
Notice the sentence come into thy mind? Sometimes, a stream of thoughts like a raging sea floods the mind of a Christian in the manner of “I think” or “doing so and so will solve this problem”, hardly the victim of such treacherous invasion recognizes the ploy but it takes the spirit of discernment and deep root in the word of God not to be ignorant of such scheme. We are responsible before God to thoroughly scrutinize every idea, every inspiration and thought to bring the same to the obedience of Christ daily, this simply means to critically ensure that every thought, righteous or not conforms to the will of God and does not in any way go against the teachings of Jesus Christ.
A Christian must be able to discern and interrupt any and all repugnant and unholy thoughts creeping into the mind, all corrupt suggestion impressed upon their hearts, sometimes they could be so strong that it feels like they emanate from our deep thoughts, but alas they are attacks from the master of minds and enemy of man. It is true the attack on man’s mind is unceasing and inevitable but some cases are worst and avoidable. The Christian must do his best never to give place to these vices by avoiding situations that will make his mind vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy, things like giving place to anger, depression, envy, lust, listening to gossips and disturbing news, to mention a few.
An easy way of recognizing these alienated thoughts however natural they appeal, is that they exalted thoughts, as the bible would put “exalteth it against the knowledge of God.” This includes thoughts that encourages self-sufficiency and ignores the need to put one’s whole trust in God in every situation.
Now, last part of that scripture becomes indispensible, the Christian as a soldier of Christ, a guardian of his own mind if you will, must critically scrutinize and bring each and every thought to the full obedience of Jesus Christ. This, my dear reader is the battle and unfortunately it is a never ending one.
Let us apply this to a real life scenario, a man hears of another man’s story, whose wife poisoned him for no justifiable reason, then begins to think about the story over and over in his head trying to logically make sense of the matter. This unknowingly to the man opens up this mind to manipulation, now look at this, at every little provocation from his spouse the thought of that incident flashes back to him, alienated insinuations floods his minds, it would sound like this:
“…maybe this women wants me to die of heart attack so she can inherit my wealth, that is why she is nagging me so much”
“I know that women are evil, who knows if this one is cheating on me…”
Notice the “I” and “me” in those thoughts? Exactly, that is how the enemy of man and his minions launch attacks on our minds, making seem like it is only our own thoughts. These force are extraordinary intelligent and proficient in their lifelong assignment, and man stands no chance of winning this battle except with the grace of God, which strengthens us.
Man’s fallible mind
The complexity of the subject discussed above affronts common sense and is so deep that I cannot afford to divulge it fully, lest we stray from the focus of this book, but I recommend you read Prepare for war by Rebecca Brown MD, which clearly depicted this scenario, also read The spiritual man by Watchman Nee. These books went a long way in my personal development and I encourage you to read it for yourself including other books from the authors.
Since the fall of man, man’s freewill has been in contention between God and the enemy of man. The seat of man’s freewill is the mind, thus, whoever captures the mind of man influence his will, God has no interest in capturing man’s will but has given him everything he needs to WILL alright, but on the other hand the enemy of man intends to capture the seat of man’s freewill and use it for his own purposes.
When Adam sinned against and fell from grace, he made his body and soul vulnerable to the ultimate enemy of man, who corrupted him, and infested his soul and mind with cares of this life or carnality. This is why the mind of man remains fallible till date, the mind of man is filled with carnality and he balled around by the grand manipulator of his mind, who does with man as he wills, no one alive is exempted from the attack of the enemy but there is hope for man, only if he chooses to embrace it by renewing his mind.
5For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.—Romans 12:2
When a man fails to renew his mind and pattern of thoughts, he will continue to be at the mercy of his manipulator. An average Christian may understand the concept of projected thoughts or operation of alienated insinuations from external forces as discussed above, however, because he has failed and fails to renew his mind towards God, he finds those malefic suggestions suiting his purpose at the moment, just the perfect inspiration, a flawless plan and solution to his more immediate concern, he rationalizes it without much effort to scrutinize and bring everything to the obedience of Christ. There is a way that seems right to him but at the end is destruction, because nothing good comes from this peculiar enemy regardless of how right, rational or justifiable his suggestion appeal. The bible made it abundantly clear that he came to steal, to kill and to destroy; so how can a thought injected by him and his cronies be of any good to man, a Christian nonetheless?
Garrison
It is spiritual suicide for any Christian not to guard their mind. Many Christians today, no longer see the need to guard their minds courtesy of the overwhelming influence of the media, they entertain every thought, every lust and every other thing that corrupts the heart and besets the mind.
But, a Christian as a soldier on his guard recognizes black for what it is, he rarely needs any higher form of reasoning or education to discern what is of God and what is of his enemy, he simply needs to do his duty which is to guard, what is to be guarded? The windows of his mind, his eyes, his ears and even the tongue.
…taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench every fiery dart shot of the wicked. –Eph. 6:16 (KJV)
On this battlefield of ours, there is man’s way of guarding our minds and unplugging from power source, but there is the Christian way, the better way. The verse above clearly speaks of faith in God as the Christian’s battle shield in guarding or garrisoning over his mind, this may sound a bit funny to the ordinary man but to the deep Christians, who understands the terrain wherein he is and how helpless he is without God, knows that his absolute faith is an invaluable asset unto victory.
A professed Christian must be on his lions girt always, the bible charges us to be watchful and pray always with all prayer and supplication, not to be at the continuous mercy of the master of minds and arch enemy of our souls. Many Christians today barely have time for the bible, many wake in the morning to check the latest news updates, and often times end up deliberating and arguing the news with others that often times their entirely forget to pray and then when they realize how late they are for work or other activities, they quickly dash out. This is the way of the world not the way of Christ. Christ’s way is to be watchful, to be vigilant, every Christian must be conscious of the terrain within s/he is, like a garrison of troops guarding the king’s castle, the Christian soldier even for one second cannot be distracted because he knows not from whence the enemy cometh.
Dr. Rebecca Brown in the chapter fifteen of her book Prepare for war, furnishes us with the reality of the mind as a battlefield and that everyone is attacked in their mind more than any other place. In it she critically illustrated the mental struggle of a double minded man and how the enemy of his soul mocked his effort. But, when he exercised faith, courage came, he resisted the devil and he flew from him. That is the beautiful thing about faith in God, it makes you bold, strong, wise, and it gives you discernment and hope. Dr. Brown also went ahead to postulate that this battle of ours is unceasing, unrelenting and will continue as long as we live on the earth, therefore I say unto you dear reader, you need the daily grace of God as long as you walk this earth, that you may be able to garrison and stand against the fiery darts of the enemy of your mind.
Conclusion
Believe it or not, the brain reacts poorly to distressing news, and subsequently it releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, repeated experiences of this can affect the whole body negatively. While staying up to date on trending news, moderation is the key. Between concerns for loved ones, uncertainties for the future, the pandemic, lockdown restrictions, insecurity, dwindling economy, recession, unemployment and the likes, have left many people with the feeling of despondency, frustration and fear. As a Christian, you must understand that this is what the world is about, but we are not of this world, our minds must not conform to this world but must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. However, this transformation and renewal does not come automatically, it comes through faith in God, through reading the Word. The Word of God says that He has not given us the spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind, so why should we fear?
The synoptic gospels acquaint us of the story of the disciples who were so petrified by a siege of raging tide; they thought that they were going to die so they woke Jesus and said unto him:
“Teacher, care ye not that we drown?” but he answered them saying:
“Why are you afraid, O ye of little faith?.
The significance of this story presents the matrix of cause and effect in the life of a modern-day Christian. When a Christian begins to fidget over news and concerns of this life such as rumors of wars, unemployment, insecurity, protests, recession or famine to mention a few, and he gradually begin to lose his sacred peace, calmness and his very faith in God to keep him wholly. Honestly, sometimes it feels like those are what the news is intended to achieve, knowing the tricks and vices of our enemy, why should we give in these invasive news and bad reports? Rather than that we should set our minds on, things above, on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. —Philippians 4:8 (KJV)
Dear reader, the verse above summaries the whole matter, therefore, I charge you to transform, renew, purify and guard your mind vigilantly from the assaults of this world, and fix your mind on things above, as you do may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
THE END
Impressum
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 18.12.2021
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Widmung:
This book is dedicated to Christians all over the world.