Joyce answers viewers’ questions in a replay of her very first live webcast on the Battlefield of the Mind.

the following program is paid for by the

friends and partners of Joyce Meyer

ministries study the mind study every

scripture you can on the mind study what

the Bible says about thinking read books

on the mind listen to CDs and watch DVDs

about the money I mean when you go into

a fight with the devil you got to go in

and say I am NOT gonna come out of this

already I’m gonna win yeah

well for years I’ve taught that the mind

is the battlefield and I will continue

to teach it because our thought life

greatly affects every other area of our

lives

recently we gave people the opportunity

to ask me questions about the mind

through a live webcast online and today

I want to share it with our television

audience because I believe the areas

that we talked about are going to really

help you to

well George there’s a great start and

some wonderful thoughts about where to

begin with all this and we’re our to

getting great questions from all over

the world so let’s just jump right in

and okay good let’s start you clean it

let’s answer quite yes this first one

comes from South Africa and it is asking

the question when people are thinking

thoughts that are negative like you were

just talking about that stinking

thinking where does it usually come from

is it something that I’m just making it

myself is it coming from the devil where

do all these negative thoughts come at

us from well first of all a great

greeting to all of our friends in South

Africa we love you very much and let me

just say that we do have an enemy he’s

called the devil Satan Lucifer an evil

spirit that tries to put evil thoughts

in our mind the Bible actually says in

2nd Corinthians 10 that we have weapons

to fight this enemy that he tries to

build strongholds in our mind and a

stronghold is literally an area where an

enemy will try to embed himself in there

and hide so for example some of you may

have had wrong thinking all your life

but you don’t know it’s wrong I did I

was abused in my childhood and so for

example I always thought I would always

have an inferior life and so I actually

made plans for second best because I

just assumed that I would never have the

best because I thought my life was

already ruined and so until I started to

study the Word of God and really learned

the truth so I could combat those lies I

would have had exactly what I thought

and so the Bible teaches us that Satan

is a liar that he’s the father of lies

that the truth is not in him and unless

we know the truth of God’s Word we have

no way of knowing that we are being

deceived and being lied to

so I believe first of all that all bad

thoughts initially come from Satan but

then many times we get so good at

thinking bad thoughts that he doesn’t

even have to pickling us and we got him

right out we just do it all for him or

sometimes the enemy will even use

well-meaning people even people that

love

to say something to us that may create a

suspicion in our mind our different

things like that so I think the enemy

works in many many many different ways

but it all actually boils down to God is

a plan for our life but Satan also has a

plan for our life and whoever we agree

with that’s the plan we’re going to end

up with so we need to know the Word of

God and I tell people all the time get

into agreement with God Amos 3:3 says

how can two walk together unless they be

agreed if you want to have the life that

God wants you to have you have to learn

what God says about you and learn to get

into agreement with that

so without knowing what God’s Word says

you don’t know if those thoughts are

from him or from the double-o they’ve

been totally wrong a total bondage for

years and years and years I mean I was I

was in I was like 32 33 years old

and even though I went to church a lot

of those years I still he didn’t really

understand that this was the truth of

God’s Word and that this was what I had

to base my life on right I went to

church more as a religious duty but when

I really realized that this is the Word

of God and that I can use this to renew

my mind and learn how to think right

then it became a difference that’s what

changes your life all right here’s

another question from barber from

Houston barber wants to know why is it

that I’m so engulfed with what people

think about me and why does the fact

that people don’t accept me just get

stuck in my mind and drives me so crazy

well hello Barbara in Houston and the

reason for it is insecurity it’s always

interesting to me that one of the first

things that God gives us and wants to

talk to us about is righteousness our

right standing with him because most of

us all of our life have had what I call

wrongness we feel wrong about ourselves

we’ve been told that we do everything

wrong there’s all kinds of comments that

are made to people throughout their life

that make them feel like that there’s

just something wrong with them we have a

habit of feeling that we need to compare

ourselves with other people all the time

compete with other people all the time

even the pictures that we see of people

on magazines they look so perfect and

then it’s so easy for the enemy to tell

us that that’s

way we need to look and if we don’t look

that way then we’re not really what we

should be and so the Bible says that if

any man be in Christ he is a new

creature old things pass away including

old thinking and all things become brand

new it doesn’t just happen in one magic

moment we must renew our minds by

studying the Word of God but then second

Corinthians 5:21 says he that knew no

sin became sin that we might be made the

righteousness of God in Christ God

decides to see us as right with him

because we put our trust and confidence

in Jesus Christ but no confidence in the

flesh Philippians 3:3 says but only in

Christ Jesus well I know about all about

being insecure Barbara I can relate to

where you are and maybe you don’t even

really realize that that’s your problem

but anytime that we care too much about

what other people think

we’re going to end up being controlled

by the thoughts and opinions of other

people so if you ever really want to

live out your destiny and fulfill the

plan that God has for your life then you

have to learn who you are in Christ

that’s the only thing that I personally

know of that can free you from being

overly concerned about what people think

now me telling you this one time is not

going to solve the problem you have to

really meditate on scriptures and

confess them out loud I am the

righteousness of God in Christ he loves

me God’s got a good plan for my life I

don’t have to be overly concerned about

what people think there is a battle but

you can fight and win that battle if you

learn how to do warfare with the Word of

God that’s good all right Susan from

Springfield Missouri would like to know

I have to be around a negative person

every day how do I not let their

negativity affect my emotional state the

way that and the way that I react

towards them well Susan it’s not easy

I’m not going to tell you that it’s easy

if you are in a situation where you have

to be around somebody negative and I

would just like to say to all the people

watching if you’re choosing to be around

somebody negative then you’re just

really tormenting yourself if there’s

any way that you can surround yourself

with positive people you want to do it

but if you’re in a situation

were you around somebody negative you

can’t do anything about it a couple of

suggestions one as much as you can be be

around other people that are positive to

kind of combat that for example you

might have somebody that puts you down a

lot says negative things to you well

make sure you have several friends that

are going to build you up and edify you

and encourage you realize that the

person has a problem it’s always helpful

to me when people are trying to make me

feel bad if I can just even say to

myself sometimes you know they really

have a problem

I remember when Jesus said Father

forgive them for they know not what they

do and we have to remember that a lot of

people that come against us really don’t

know what they’re doing they’re just

acting out of their own pain the other

thing I want to tell you Susan and this

is a must you must spend good quality

time fellowshipping with God on a daily

basis because he is your strength there

are actually things that happened to me

in my life and I’ve been thinking about

these things recently where I just

almost feel like that God has got me

cushioned or hidden from them so I was

going through something really intense

lately and and somebody said to me how

can you do that how can you just go

through something like that and and

still just act like everything is okay

and I almost felt like that it seemed

worse to her than it actually was to me

because I do believe that like we have

shock absorbers on our car so when you

hit a really deep pothole it doesn’t

just you know jar you too bad I believe

that God puts shock absorbers on our

life when we really trust him to protect

us the Bible teaches us that God is the

God of all comfort and that he comforts

us in all of our affliction so if you’re

in that negative situation you really

need to spend good quality fellowship

time with God if you don’t do that it’s

going to be really really difficult but

if you go to God first thing every day

god you know the situation I’ve got I’m

sure if you’re in that situation with a

negative person you’re probably there

because you believe that’s where God

wants you to be for now then

I need you to strengthen me to be here I

really believe that anywhere that God

asks us to be that he will give us the

grace to be there with a good attitude

and I’m sure a lot of people right now

are praying for a bigger shock absorbers

now right so they feel like they need a

new set if I need a new set you know you

can’t wear your shock absorbers out you

have to go in and get new ones

ya know that’s good advice all right

this is a question from Krista from

North Carolina and she says how do you

handle the battle in your mind when

you’re struggling with addiction well I

believe that you have to first of all

believe that nothing can control you

Krista except the Holy Spirit if you get

close enough to God I think one of the

things that Satan lies to us about is we

get this thinking I can’t stand this I

can’t stand it I can’t stand it it’s too

much for me I can’t do this I can’t do

this it’s too hard it’s too hard it’s

too hard and one of the things that I

want to encourage you to stop saying is

it’s too hard I can’t do this it’s too

much for me I wrote a book not too long

ago called power thoughts and it has 12

things in it that you can think on

purpose that will be life-changing for

you that help renew your mind and the

first thing I wrote on was I can do

whatever I need to do in life

through Christ who strengthens me so

when you wake up in the morning I’m sure

that very early in the morning sometimes

before your eyes are fully open the

enemy enemy the devil may try to put

thoughts in your mind

well this desire is going to come the

need for this addiction is going to come

and it’s just going to be too much for

you and so you may even before you ever

put your feet on the floor be afraid

that you’re already not going to be able

to do what you need to do that day I

want to encourage you early in the

morning first thing

god I need you to help me today I trust

you to help me today I don’t believe

anything is too much for me with you on

my side

learn scriptures like if God be for me

who can be against me if God is on my

side of whom shall I fear one scripture

that was just brought up fresh to me

about a month ago and I did some

teaching on this as first John 4:4 says

we have already defeated and overcome

them the agents of Antichrist that means

we’ve already defeated and overcome the

devil why because

greater is He that is in me than he that

is in the world you see the truth is

what you believe is going to become the

dominating thing in your life if you

believe the addiction is too much for

you then it will be but if you believe

that you can do whatever you need to do

and if you have to take it one second at

a time one minute at a time one hour at

a time don’t think about how am I going

to be able to stand this the rest of my

life think about I can do this for the

next five minutes I can resist this

temptation for an hour even things like

when I stopped smoking ginger which is

probably a minor thing compared to what

you know a lot of people are dealing

with but it was hard for me and I just

remember that every day that I made it

without smoking the next day was a tiny

bit easier I probably should say for

about the first week every day was hard

but then after that truly every day got

a little bit easier and I kind of felt

like if I can just make it 30 days and

you know sure enough when those 30 days

were over it really wasn’t that much of

a battle for anymore I would have times

went like maybe I’d get angry or get

upset about something or I’d have some

extra stress and just out of habit my

first thought would be oh you know I got

to get a cigarette but I don’t think

like that now after all these years of

not smoking that’s the last thing that I

would think of so you can change you can

be completely free Jesus has already set

you free you just need to believe that

wake up in the morning saying I’m free

from this the only thing I’m addicted to

is Jesus himself I’ve got to have him

but I don’t have to have anything else

and it’s important for us to realize

that every issue we have

every addiction every thought every fear

is is covered in God’s Word I mean there

is an answer for everything that we’re

looking for because sometimes people

will be listening to this and they’ll

say well that doesn’t really apply to

what I’m dealing with

but Jesus covered it all he’s in the Sun

is that free is free indeed

and every promise of God the Bible says

is available to whosoever will

and that’s not just whosoever will have

the promise we’d all like that but

whosoever will do the part that god asks

them to do and there’s even a scripture

in Deuteronomy that says stop saying

it’s too hard stop saying it’s too

difficult and so that’s one of the

things that you need to do right away if

you have a challenge in front of you

that’s hard stop saying it’s hard

because we believe more of what we say

and what anybody else says and if we can

begin to say the right thing get into

agreement with God that helps renew our

mind so the more we think right the more

we speak right the more we speak right

the more we think right and it just

becomes like the cycle of renewing your

mind too poor pretty soon it actually

hurts me now to think negatively for

very long like if I if I start thinking

negatively living is just not right I

can tell something’s just not right I

can tell losing my joy you know that and

then it’s just like I’ve been there done

that

no thank you I’m not going there again

yeah all right well a lot of this also

all the different questions comes down

to fear with an addiction there’s that

fear that we’re going to step back to

where we were and don’t want to go with

thoughts that come into our minds it’s

that that fear factor and so here’s a

question about that this comes from

Michele in Pennsylvania and she says I’m

feeling more powerful I’m dealing with

the attacks on the enemy but my mind

sometimes gets filled with doubt and

fear and sometimes it is very

frightening so any insight that you can

provide for combating fear would be

greatly appreciated okay well one of the

only real reason that the Bible gives

for not fearing is fear not for I am

with you so to try to fight fear on your

own is useless you have to know first of

all that God is with you

secondly I want you to realize that fear

is a spirit that creates a feeling the

Bible says God has not given us a spirit

of fear but of power and love and a

sound mind but when the Bible says fear

not it doesn’t really mean don’t you

dare feel fear I think we’re all going

to feel fear at different times

our life but it but fear not means don’t

give in to the fear the word fear

actually means to take flight or to run

away from so we can be subject to

worrisome thoughts fearful thoughts I

can’t sit here and say that my mind is

never attacked with worry because it is

and sometimes I just want to go get that

out of there but I just one of the

things that comes to my heart and maybe

because it’s in my heart maybe this is

really for you I find that I have a much

more difficult time with my mind when

I’m really really really tired like for

example after I go out and do a

conference on a weekend I give my whole

self to my teachings in my conferences

and I’ve traveled there I’ve traveled

back I’ve done that the conference’s

I’ve slept in a strange bed I’m tired

and I have discovered that if I’m not

careful it’s much easier for me on the

Sunday after my conferences to get mad

at Dave quicker to get my feelings hurt

easier if anybody does say something to

me that normally maybe I could just say

oh they didn’t mean anything by that

on that day it’s much easier for me to

get my feelings hurt so I’ve learned

that on Sundays after my conferences I

need to make sure that I don’t do

anything that’s going to be too intense

or anything that’s going to create more

stress I need to do something I enjoy I

need to be around people that I know

that I’m going to enjoy so you want to

make sure that you’re taking care of

yourself because if you’re tired all the

time and I actually believe right now

this is probably ministering to a lot of

people watching right now if you’re

tired all the time

you just try getting three or four hours

sleep if you’re a person who needs eight

and see how much more how much more

difficult it is for you to keep your

thinking right on those days when you

haven’t had good sleep another thing

that I think really affects us is we let

our lives get out of balance I really

love what first Peter five says it says

be well balanced for your adversary the

devil roams about like a lion roaring

and fierce hunger seeking someone whom

he may seize upon and devour so the

devil can’t just

anybody who wants to he looks for the

right person and one of the people that

he can devour is someone whose life is

out of balance now you know what I mean

by that Jin Jin I’m sure you can relate

to this I had many many many years in my

life where I was a workaholic I mean you

know in any no easy to get any day when

I go to bed now there would be something

else to do if I wanted to do it yeah but

I now have my life organized in such a

way where I mean five o’clock at night

I’m like done and then I’m having what I

now call lovingly my chair therapy I’ve

learned that if I don’t rest in the

evenings especially you know because

I’ve lived a few years now and the more

years you live the more you need to do

that I’ve got to have some downtime in

the evening and a couple hours to be

quiet

rest do something I like otherwise I’m

going to get burnt out and I think

especially in our society today there is

unbelievable pressure that is put on

people everybody’s got an expectation

everybody places a demand and sometimes

you just feel like it’s overwhelming and

so you end up just thinking you have to

just keep going going going going going

going going to try to meet all these

demands but sooner or later you’re going

to learn how to say no I need to rest I

need to get some sleep I need to have

some fun and if you’ll do that you will

find that it’s harder for the enemy to

control your thinking now still it all

comes down to knowing the word of God

and being quick to apply the word of God

the Bible says that the weapons of our

warfare are not carnal but they’re

mighty through God to the pulling down

of strongholds we have weapons they’re

not carnal they’re spiritual weapons and

the Word of God is the number one

spiritual weapon that we have Jesus and

it’s recorded in Luke 4 when he was

being attacked by the enemy Satan would

put something in his mind that wasn’t

true he knew the word he said it is

written and he’d refuted the lie after

about four rounds of that the Bible says

Satan went away to wait for a more

favorable an opportune time

you can run him off I’m not saying he’ll

never come back but he will have to

listen to the Word of God if you speak

the word and not just

you feel so knowing ourselves knowing

when our guard is down when we’re

weakest that’s right most susceptible to

these kind of things and then acting

quickly when that thought comes in using

the word of God

you know the Bible actually says resist

the devil it is onset yeah that’s also

in 1st Peter 5 and that was another

really big big big thing for me in my

life don’t let the devil play around in

your head for 15 minutes before you

decide to do anything about it as soon

as as soon as the Holy Spirit makes you

aware now get this as the minute that

the Holy Spirit makes you aware that

you’re thinking something you shouldn’t

be thinking that’s when you need to come

against it and it’s helpful sometimes

they even say no I am NOT going to think

like this yeah that’s good this is from

Dawn from Phoenix and she says my

husband died three years ago I found out

after he died that he had been having

relationships with other women and I

have forgiven him but it keeps coming

back to me every day how do I get these

thoughts out of my mind

well I think that the answer for you Don

is the same as some of the other things

that I’ve said only let’s apply it

specifically to your situation you see

the Word of God is so precious that you

can have ten different situations and

you can you can apply it specifically to

each one of those situations first of

all I always like to remember that

hurting people hurt people

so I’m sure you’re hurt by the fact that

you’ve now discovered that the person

you loved and was married to was

unfaithful to you

well in some way he was hurting the

first thing Satan wants you to think is

there something wrong with you

if you would have been better if you

would have done this if you would have

done that if you would have done

something else you have to know who you

are in Christ and say I may have not

been a perfect wife but that was no

reason for him to do what he did and I’m

not now I want you to get this I’m not

going to let it destroy the rest of my

life I feel like that’s a real strong

word for you right now you have to make

a decision today letting go of what lies

behind pressing on to the good things at

our head now as far as this the thought

coming back to you over and over and

over and over and over you probably need

to make some new friends

you need to do some new things one of

the things that I’ve found for me when

I’m being tormented with some kind of

thought and I just can’t seem to get it

off my mind

I’ve really found that it’s helpful just

to go do something go do something that

is different get out of the chair I’m

sitting in thinking about it you know

don’t be around people that are going to

drag me into conversations about it all

the time just get up and go do something

go help somebody else go find somebody

maybe that’s been hurt worse than you

have and try to cheer them up and help

them the bottom line is is these things

don’t always happen overnight when

you’ve been hurt deeply which I’m sure

you have there’s a wound in your soul

there’s a wound in your emotions and

only God can heal that wound so once

again like I told answered to another

one of the questions and I’m not just

trying to be overly spiritual this is

like really really really important you

have to spend time with God what do I

mean by spending time with God just go

to him every day God Here I am I can’t

do this on my own

I can’t make myself think right I can’t

make myself feel right but you’ve

promised that you would give me beauty

for Ashes the oil of joy for mourning

the garment of praise for the spirit of

heaviness actually there’s a promise for

you in Isaiah 61 7 that says that God

will give you a two-fold blessing for

your farmer trouble God will give you a

double blessing for your farmer trouble

I call it double for your trouble and if

you can hang on to those promises really

trusting God to heal those memories and

heal those emotions it will happen it

may not happen overnight but little by

little it will happen but one thing I

can tell you don’t give up because

you’re not going to stay this way

forever if you apply these principles

I’m teaching you you need to help

yourself

you need to get everything you can about

the mind study the mind study every

scripture you can on the mind study what

the Bible says about thinking read books

on the mind listen to CDs then watch

DVDs about the mind I mean when you go

into a fight with the devil you got to

go in and say I am NOT going to come out

of this video

I’m gonna win yeah