Defeat or Victory: Battle of the Mind vs. the Promises of God
By Pastor Joel – Open Heaven Christian Church – Fisher, Arkansas
Why are so many today living a defeated Christian life?
Many believers sincerely love God, attend church, pray regularly, and believe what is written in the word of God yet live in a continual state of frustration, stagnation, and spiritual defeat. Their lives feel like they are stuck in a rut—like they are in a holding to a pattern defeat—waiting for God to “do something” to change their circumstances. However, the truth revealed throughout Scripture is often uncomfortable but liberating:
God is not waiting to act—He is waiting for His people to believe, think, and act according to what He has already spoken. God is not going to send any of us healing, joy, peace, or blessings in the future, God has already made provisions for all of those promises and provided to all of us a way to obtain those promises, it is called – FAITH in the word of God!
When we look at and study the lives of all the Old Testament patriarchs, we will discover two facts that caused them to obtain the promise of what God had told them.
- God gave them promises.
- Their took action by faith and began living their lives as though they already received the promise because God had spoken it!
For instance, Noah did not sit back and wait till it stared raining before building a big ark, he simply began building it before he ever saw the rain begin to fall, and as a result of his action (FAITH), he was able to not only save his own life, but the lives of his entire family!
Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”
Noah did not need to see the prevailing waters that would destroy the earth, he was told by God what would happen and it did. The promise God made to Noah had not manifested when God spoke it, but because when God spoke, Noah believed and began living his life as if the world was already under water — “ Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet”
How was Noah warned of God about an even that has not been seen with the human eye yet? God told him what would happen, Noah believed and began living his life by faith to a promise God made to him about a worldwide flood. While others did nothing, Noah was the only one to believe God so he began to build on what was spoken to him without the need of seeing the promise manifest itself beforehand.
Not only did the people refuse to follow Noah’s counsel, but they also became angry and wanted to kill him. (See Gen. 6:5; Moses 8:18-26.) When the people would not repent, the Lord told Noah, “Behold, I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh.” (Gen. 6:17.)To protect Noah and his family from the flood, the Lord commanded him to build an ark, in which his family and a certain number of animals would find safety. (See Gen. 6:19, 22; 7:5.)
Noah’s faith in a single promise of God saved him and his entire family!
1 Peter 3:20 “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”
While the Bible does not state the exact time it took to build the ark, Noah continued to believe in the promise given to him by God. It is estimated with common calculations suggesting 50 to 100 years, based on Noah’s age (500 when sons born, 600 at flood) and God’s command for his sons’ families to enter, implying they were grown, leaving 25-75 years for construction, though some interpretations cite 100-120 years as the period God gave humanity before the Flood.
The Faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah
Hebrews 11:
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. 5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
The Christian life is not meant to be reactive, powerless, or defeated. It is meant to be lived from the position of faith in God’s promises. When the believer’s mind and heart are misaligned with God’s Word, the results is delay—not denial—of what God has already promised.
A BIBLICAL FACTS:
- When God makes a promise, it will come to pass. (See Numbers 23:19)
- But without faith it is impossible to please God, and we all must come in faith or we will miss out on any of the rewards of God’s written promises. (See Hebrews 11:6)
The problem is not God or his written promises, it’s a lack of true faith in his promises.
The Root Problem: A Misaligned Mind
Scripture makes it abundantly clear that the mind plays a central role in spiritual victory or defeat.
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
—Proverbs 23:7 (KJV)
Many Christians think according to:
- Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on what you can see with their physical eyes.
2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Many today have faith that says when I see the promise of God, then I will believe it is true, they have a Thomas like faith, they want physical “eye-witnessing evidence” before before ever believing or acting out on the promises of God.
John 20:25 “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” - Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on what a person emotionally feels, faith gives substance to what is hoped for! Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
- Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on what the world says. Many today base their hope and faith on the wisdom of what others believe and are saying in this world, instead of basing their hope and faith the promises of God and His power to bring what God has said as it is written to pass in their life. True faith brings a person into perfect peace when they learn to rest on the promises of the God!
1 Corinthians 2:5 “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” - Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on what past experiences taught them. Yet many base their lives on past experiences and can never seem to get past what has happened to them. This mentality causes a serious spiritual identity issue when trying to obtain the promises of God because all they see is events of the past, fear, worry, sickness, problems, etc. A believer in Christ must understand that they are “presently” right now a new creation in Christ Jesus and must leave the past where it belongs –in the past.
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” - Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on what the flesh is thinking or doing because the flesh man aka (the carnal man) is at odds with God and can never please the Lord. Galatians 5:17 “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
- Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on the “natural carnal man” because the natural man cannot receive anything from God and all of the promises of God seem foolish to him, only the “spiritually renewed man” – “the inward man of the heart” can receive and bring forth in their life any of the promises of God by faith! 2 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
- Faith to obtain the promises of God is not based on what the devil whispers into a persons life.
Many base their life on thoughts that the devil tells them and they begin to loose focus on what the word of God already said in his word. They begin to doubt and loose focus on the promises of God and begin to declare things with their mouth that contradict the very word of God. In time they begin to experience the lies the devil convinces them with, and the next thing you know is they begin to experience whatever lies Satan has whispered to them. Their lives become disoriented and their faith becomes weakened, some even go back to the same miserable life they had before they came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Many use fear over faith when dealing with their circumstances in life, this is exactly what Job who lost every did but that is not what God intended for his children. Job 3:25 “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” God is clear when he said the just shall “live” by faith, not fear.
Begin thinking according to what God has already written about his children in scripture.
“Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
—Romans 12:2 (KJV)
A renewed mind does not wait for circumstances to change before believing God—it believes God until circumstances change. All circumstances in life can be changed by applying our faith to the promises of God!
Faith Is Agreement With What God Has Already Said
Even the scriptures teach how can two walk together unless they are in agreement?
Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
Biblical faith is not hoping God will do something new; it is agreeing with what God has already promised and expecting it to come to pass as Noah and all the patriarchs of old did! Faith is “NOW” not in the future… Faith responds with Yes Lord, I receive your promises now!
“Now faith isthe substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
—Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
When believers live defeated lives, it is often because they are:
- Waiting for evidence before believing what is written in the word of God.
- Waiting for feelings before acting.
- Waiting for God to move before simply believing and obeying.
Yet Scripture repeatedly shows God waiting on people to move in faith first.
Biblical Example #1: Israel at the Promised Land (Numbers 13–14)
God had already promised Israel the land.
“I am the LORD your God, which have brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan.”
—Leviticus 25:38 (KJV)
But when they “saw giants”, their thinking contradicted God’s promise.
“And there we saw the giants… and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.”
—Numbers 13:33 (KJV)
Only Joshua and Caleb aligned their minds with God’s Word:
“If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land…”
—Numbers 14:8 (KJV)
Because the people believed the report of fear instead of the promise of God, their blessing was delayed for forty years.
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land… forty years…”
—Numbers 14:34 (KJV)
God was not withholding the land. Their thinking withheld them from it.
In Moses’ day, the children of Israel went through a dessert in circles because of their unwillingness to believe and trust in the Lord. In their journey they began to complain and murmured so God allowed things to get more difficult for them until “faith” in the promise was fulfilled and they inherited the promise land. Some did not make it during those forty years in the dessert, some died in defeat along the way to the promise land.
Biblical Example #2: The Paralytic at Bethesda (John 5)
This man waited 38 years for physical manifestation that would change his life.
“Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool…”
—John 5:7 (KJV)
Jesus did not ask him to wait longer. He commanded action.
“Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”
—John 5:8 (KJV)
Healing manifested when the man acted on the word spoken, not when conditions improved.
Biblical Example #3: The Woman With the Issue of Blood (Mark 5)
Her breakthrough began with aligned thinking and confession.
“For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.”
—Mark 5:28 (KJV)
Her circumstances did not change her belief—her belief changed her circumstances.
“Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole.”
—Mark 5:34 (KJV)
God did not decide at that moment to heal her—her faith accessed what was already made available by God.
Biblical Example #4: Peter Walking on Water (Matthew 14)
Peter walked supernaturally as long as his focus remained on Christ’s word when Jesus said “come”.
“And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water…”
—Matthew 14:29 (KJV)
When Peter obeyed the word of God he aligned himself to what God had already spoken to him and began to experience supernatural experiences because of his faith in what God said to him. Jesus said come and he simply obeyed and for a few moments God allowed Peter to experience his power to cause peter to defy what is not normal in life – waking on water.
He sank only when his thinking shifted to natural circumstances. Peters focus shifted to the natural mind and he began to put his faith on what he was seeing rather then on what God had spoken to him so he began sinking and experiencing what was normal to him in everyday life, fear, worry, and doubt in the word of God. Peter’s faith on walking on water was short lived.
“But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid…”
—Matthew 14:30 (KJV)
Faith works only while the mind and heart stays aligned with God’s command – His Word!
God’s Promises Are Already Yes
Scripture is explicit:
“For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen…”
—2 Corinthians 1:20 (KJV)
The delay is rarely on God’s side.
“The LORD is not slack concerning his promise…”
—2 Peter 3:9 (KJV)
God waits for alignment—not effort, not striving, but believing agreement.
The Danger of Waiting on God When God Is Waiting on You
Many believers say:
- “I’m waiting on God to help me.”
- “I’m waiting on God to heal me.”
- “I’m waiting on God to bless me.”
- “I’m waiting on God to open a door.”
Yet Scripture says:
“According to your faith be it unto you.”
—Matthew 9:29 (KJV)
“Ye have not, because ye ask not.”
—James 4:2 (KJV)
“Without faith it is impossible to please him.”
—Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)
God responds to faith that aligns with His Word—not a persons feelings, circumstances in life, or passive waiting.
Breaking Out of the Spiritual Rut
Victory begins when believers:
- Reject misinformation from the world, flesh, and devil
- Renew your mind with Scripture
- Speak what God has already spoken
- Act in obedience before seeing any results
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
—Psalm 119:11 (KJV)
“If ye continue in my word… ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
—John 8:31–32 (KJV)
Conclusion: God Has Already Spoken
God’s promises are not unclear. They are written, precise, and reliable.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
—Matthew 24:35 (KJV)
The defeated Christian life is not caused by lack of love for God—but by lack of alignment with what He has already spoken in his word.
When the believer’s mind and heart come into agreement with God’s Word, faith produces movement, obedience produces manifestation, and stagnation gives way to victory.
God is not waiting to change circumstances. God is waiting for us all to align by faith to his word so we can accomplish the perfect will of God. The Lord see you and I as “more than conquerors” and is waiting for our faith to be activated so we can overcome this world, the flesh, and the devil.
Romans 8:37 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
He is waiting for His people to believe Him—and walk accordingly His will – The Word of God!