THE MIND A BATTLEFIELD

The mind of man’s thinking organ. Through the mind, we know, think, imagine, recollect, and understand. The intellectual power, rationality, wisdom and intelligence of man all belong to the mind. Broadly speaking our mind is everything related to our brain. Mind is the psychological term, while brain is the physiological term. The mind in psychology is the brain in physiology. The mind occupies a big part in man’s life because the mind directs man’s conduct the most.

BEFORE REGENERATION

According to the bible, man’s mind is a battlefield. This is something unique. In the mind satan and the evil spirit battle with the truth and also battle with the believers. We may use an example. The will and the spirit are like a fortress which evil spirits try to attack and capture. Man’s mind is the field on which the battle takes place and from which the fortress is stormed and taken. The Apostle Paul said “3 For though we may be living in the flesh, we are not fighting after the way of the flesh  4 (For the arms with which we are fighting are not those of the flesh, but are strong before God for the destruction of high places);  5 Putting an end to reasonings, and every high thing which is lifted up against the knowledge of God, and causing every thought to come under the authority of Christ; (2 cor.10:3-5) the Apostle first told  us about the war, then he told us where the war is and what it is for. This war is completely related to the mind of man. The apostle likened the” reasonings” to the mind of man a place enemy uses as stronghold. He considered the mind as a stronghold guarded by the enemy that must be “overthrown.” He also considered that within this stronghold there are many “rebellious thoughts” the apostle as to overthrow the mind of man and imprison and take “take captivity” the rebellious thought” in man’s mind so these thoughts would be brought completely unto the “obedience of Christ.” From these verses we can see that the mind of man is a battlefield because this is where evil spirit war with God.

The bible tells us that “4 Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them. (2 Cor. 4:4) these agree with the previously cited scripture because this is how satan guards and blinds the mind of man. Perhaps a man considers himself to be very intelligent, able to use various arguments to oppose the gospel. Some think that others do not believe because they do not yet understand. Actually, the eyes of men’s minds are guarded by satan, their “thoughts were hardened” (3:14). They were “doing the desire of the flesh and the thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3).  They are enemies in [the] mind “(col.1:21) because “the carnal mind is enmity against God:” (Rom. 8:7). We can see that the mind is the part of man’s mind related to which is most easily attacked by satan. The authority of darkness cannot directly do anything to man’s will, emotion and body unless it has gained quite considerable ground I him already. The same is not true with mind. It appears that the mind is the enemy’s property already; he does not need any special permission or invitation from man before he can freely work in the mind. The apostle likens the mind to the enemy’s ‘stronghold,” as if to tell as how deeply rooted and firm the relationship between satan with this evil spirits and the mind of man is. Therefore, satan and his evil spirits can make man’s mind their stronghold and keep man a prisoner through his mind they put man under their authority by utilizing his mind. They also utilize the imprisoned mind to transmit poison to others; and cause them to rise up in rebellion against God. We cannot say with certainty how much of the philosophy, logic, knowledge, fashion, investigation, research and science in the world today come from the power of influence of darkness. But one thing is certain:  reasonings that lift them up against the knowledge of God are the strongholds of the enemy.

The proximity of the mind to the authority of darkness is nothing strange. Mankind’s first sin was the pursuit of the” knowledge of good and evil.” That knowledge was from satan. Hence, the knowledge (mind) of mankind is peculiarly completely with satan. After reading bible carefully and observing the experience of the saints, one can see that all the fellowship between man and satan with this evil spirits is in the mind. One only needs to consider the temptations from the devil. All temptations from the devil to man started occurs in the mind. While it is true that the devil often uses the flesh to arouse man’s consent, he always entices man by turning temptation into some kind of thoughts. We cannot separate temptation from the mind. All temptations are given to us through the thoughts. Since our thoughts have such an “open-door policy” with the authority of darkness, we should know how to guard our thoughts. Before a man is born again, his thoughts pervert him from knowing God therefore; God’s great power is needed to overthrow the reasonings of man. At the time man is saved, one thing happens or should happen-repentance. Repentance in the original text means nothing other than “a change of mind.” Because man is at enemy with God in the mind, God wants man’s mind to have a change before He can give life to man. When man does not believe, his moral nature is in darkness. At the time he is saved, his mind is change. God want man first to have a change of mind before he receives a new heart because the mind is so united with the devil (Acts 11:18)

                                                      AFTER BELIEVING

After a believer repents, his mind is not completely delivered fro Satan’s workings. That mind of a new believer is as innocent, ignorance and victim. As satan previously worked through the mind he still works now through the mind. The apostle said to the believer in Corinth, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 cor.11:3) the apostle knew how the god of this world had blinded the mind of the unbelievers and, in the same way, how he was deluding the mind of those who already had believed. The apostle knew that even though the believers were already saved, their minds were not yet renewed. Therefore, it remains the most critical battlefield- the mind receives more attacks from the authority of darkness than any other organ of man’s entire being. We must realize that evil spirits of satan pay special attention to our minds and that they always attacks us in our minds. “as the serpent deceived eve by his craftiness.” Satan did not attack eve’s heart first, he attacked her mind first, not our heart, with the purpose of corrupting us from faith in the simplicity. They know that our mind is the weakest spot.

Before we believed, the mind was there stronghold; even now there are still many places that are not yet overthrown. They start where they can be most successful. Eve’s heart was sinless, but she accepted the thought suggested by satan in her mind. She was enchanted by the power of his subtlety to point that her mind lost its rationality, thereby becoming trapped. Therefore, it is useless for a believer to boast that he is upright in his motive. His mind must be trained to withstand evil spirits. Otherwise, they will have a way to tempt and to deceive his mind, and will cause his will to lose its power to decision.

Following 2 Corinthians 11:3, the apostle tells us where the danger comes from. Some will preach “another Jesus” causing them to receive a different spirit” and accept “a different gospel” (v.4). This means that the danger to the believers is to have erroneous teachings instilled into their minds which will lead them away from the pure gospel of Christ. This is what the “serpent” wants to do today. Satan will pretend to be an angel of light so that in their minds believers will worship “another Jesus” who is not the Lord, receive different spirit” which is not the Holy Spirit, and through the believers spread “a different gospel” which is not the gospel of God race. The apostle told us that all this is done by satan in the mind of the believers. One by one, satan turns these “teachings” into thoughts and instill them into the mind of the believers. It is a very pitiful thing today that few believers are able to know these matters. How many believers know satan gives “good thoughts” to man.

We should know that a believer can receive a new life, a new heart, but not a new mind. Many believers have a new heart, but their head is old. The heart is full of love, but the head (the mind) does not have any discernment. Many are puree in their motive, but not so clear in their thoughts is their head. The mind is full of all kinds of mixture and very lacking in crucial, spiritual, discernment. Many believers truly have a tender regard in their hearts for all of God’s children, yet their minds are full of ideas, opinions and goals. Many of God’s best and most faithful children are very narrow and prejudiced in their thoughts. They have made up their mind about the truth. They only want their kind truth and completely reject anything else which does not agree with their prejudices. All this happens because their heads are not as big as their hearts. These are also many God’s children whose minds can never come up with anything.  Although the have heard many truths, they can never remember the; neither can they put them into practice or spread them to others. They have heard plenty, but there is no strength to express what they have heard. Thought they have been receiving truths for years, they cannot meet the smallest needs of others. This kind of people may even boast that they are full of the Holy Spirit! This happens because their minds have not been completely renewed.

Man’s head does more damage to him than his heart! If believers could differentiate between the renewing of the heart and the renewing of the head, they would not be misleading to trust in man. Believers must know that a man can have the most intimate fellowship with God, and at the satan time, the mind can unintentionally receive the suggestions of satan, bring his conduct, speech and judgment into error. Other than the clear teaching of the bible, no one person’s word is entirely dependable. We should not live by the words of any one person just because we are close to him of admire and honor him. We must realize that even though a person’s word and deeds are very holy, his thoughts are not necessary entirely spiritual. Our attention should not be on his words and deeds, but on his mind, his head. If we believe what a servant of God says to be God’s truth based on the words and conduct of the man of God, we are making his words and conduct the standard for the truth, and not the bible. Throughout history, many propagators of heresies were holy believers! Even though their heart-life-was renewed, their head-mind-was the same as before. Therefore, they behave in such a way. We admit that life is more important than knowledge-many times more important-but after we have been edified in life, we should not neglect the pursuit of knowledge, that is, the knowledge that proceeds from the renewed mind. Believers must realize that both their heart and their mind must be renewed.

If the mind is not renewed, a believer’s life will not be balances; it will be almost impossible to do any god work. Most teachings today emphasize a believer’s spiritual life (the heart) – how one should love, be patient, humble etc. these are surely very important and nothing can substitute for these things. However, we should not think that these are sufficient to make up all the needs. They are important for a believer’s mind to be renewed and enlarged and increase in the strength so that it becomes strong. Otherwise, we will have an imbalanced life. Many people think that a spiritual believer should be one without any perception. It seems that the more foolish one is the better. Besides being a little better than other in his living, he has no other usefulness, and he cannot be entrusted with anything. Of course, we do not want worldly intelligence and knowledge. But the goal of God’s salvation is not that we would continue to use the same mind that was defiled by sin. God want our mind to be renewed in the same want that our spirit is renewed. God wants our mind to be restored to the perfect condition that existed at the time of His creation so that we will not only glorify God in our living, but also with our mind. Countless numbers of God’s children have become narrow, obstinate, hard and even defiled through the negligence of their minds. The result is that they have come short of God’s glory. Believers must know in order for their lives to be full, their minds must be renewed. God’s kingdom is lacking in workers because the minds of many believers are incapable of being anything. Believers forget that after they are saved, they should still pursue the full renewing of their mind. This results in their work being hindered. This is why the bible emphatically tells the believers, “be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” (Rom.12:2)

A MIND UNDER THE ATTACK OF EVIL SPIRIT

If we examine all the experiences in the minds of the believers, we will realize that the minds of the believers are just narrow; they also have many other sickness. For example, the mind is affected by thoughts and imaginations that cannot be controlled, filthy pictures, wandering and chaotic recollections, sudden loss of memory, prejudices that comes from now here, lack of concentration, thoughts that are stagnant and obstructed as if the mind is chained or fanatical thoughts that turn uncontrollably. Believers always feel that they have no strength to control their minds or direct them according to the will. Moreover, they often find themselves prone to forget about all kind of things, great and small. They find themselves unknowingly committing many “indiscreet” mistakes, without ever bothering to learn the reason for committing them. As far as their body is concerned, they do not seen to have any illness. Yet they do not clearly know why their minds have these symptoms of sickness. Many believers’ minds today are like this, but they do not know the cause.

If a believer realizes that his mind is affected in the way mentioned above he only needs to consider a few things to know where these ailments come from. He only needs to ask himself a few questions? Who controls his mind? Does he control man’s mind? If he does, why is he unable to control it now? Is it God who control man’s mind for him, if neither he of God control, who does? It has to be the authority of darkness that usurps the mind and brings forth these kinds symptoms. Therefore, when a believer seen that he cannot control his own mind, he should know that this is the enemy’s work. One point should always be remembered: man has a free will. God’s goal is for man to rule himself. Man has the authority to rule over all of his own faculties. Hence, the mind should come under the rule of the will. A believer should ask himself if he has such a mind, and if his thoughts are his own. If they are not his own, they must be the work of evil spirits who work within man’s minds. The will does not want to think and the mind desires to obey the will. In spite of this, the mind finds itself continually thinking. This means that the thoughts in the mind are no longer his own thoughts, but the work of another “person” who is utilizing his thoughts against his will. If a believer does not choose to think, the thoughts that are in his mind are no longer his; they belong to evil spirits.

If a believer wants to differentiate which thoughts are his own and which are evil spirits, he should pay attention to how his “thoughts” come about. If his mind is initially quiet, steady, unperturbed and working according to its disposed position, and suddenly, an idea or a thought come like lightning that is totally unrelated to his work or his disposed position or is totally out of order, then the flashing thought is the work of evil spirits. Their intention is to inject their thoughts into the mind of the believer, fooling him into thinking that they are his own thoughts.

As a rule, the thoughts that evil spirits inject into man’s mind are always something that the does not have and something that is contrary to his usual train of thought. The totally “new” and are sudden idea that the person has never thought of before. After a believer has such a thought, he should first ask if he is thinking this way. Is it really him thinking? Does he want to thin this way? Or is it “thought” itself being stirred up in the mind? Is it something he does not want and has never thought of before? A believer should find out if he is thinking the thoughts. If he has not originated the thought and is, in fact, against such a thought, even though the thought somehow find its way into mind, he can conclude that though has, come from evil spirits. All the thought that his will never endorse, and all the thoughts that are actually against his will, are thoughts that are not from man himself but are from outside.

Many times the believers mind is full of thoughts and he finds himself unable to stop these thoughts. His mind (head) is likes a thinking machine, which has “turned on” by an external force, thinking continually and uncontrollable. Even though a believer shakes his head increasingly and tries to reject such thoughts, he is not able to do so. The tide of thoughts come like a rolling wave and refuses to stop day and night. Most believers do not know the reason for this. Little do they realize that this is the work of evil spirits, a believer should know what “a thought.” A is thought is his mind grasping a matter. But in an unstoppable train of thought, but a matter grasping the mind! Originally it was the mind thinking about think. Now the mind, Many times a believer want to drop is matter, but an external force seems to remind him in his mind all the time. It does not allow him to forget and forces him to keep on thinking. This is the work of evil spirits.

In short, a believer should investigate all abnormal phenomena.  Unless there are due to nature illness, all abnormal phenomena are from evil spirits. God does not interfere with the functions of man’s natural faculties. God never interjects His thoughts suddenly into man’s thoughts and He never cuts off the work of man’s mind suddenly or rubs him of anything. All sudden stoppages of thoughts that feel like the brain has become void, sudden appearance of incoherent thoughts in the mind, sudden lapses of memory in the middle of the thoughts that feel like a snap of electronic are the result of the work of evil spirits. Because evil spirits have occupied the faculty of the mind, they can size it at times and stop its function or they can relax it at times and make it action again. A believer should realize that natural cause can produces only natural illnesses. Sudden thoughts and sudden forgetfulness are beyond the control of our will and beyond the course of natural events. For this reason, they must be from some supernatural source. If a believer examines all the phenomena of his mind this way, he will not be ignorant of the reasons for his symptoms.

The book of Ephesians tells us that evil spirits operate “in the sons of disobedience” (2:2).this is very important matter. Evil spirits work not only outside of man but also inside of man. If we want someone to work, at most we use words and expressions and other body movements. But evil spirits can do more than these. They are able to work not only from outside, as from one man to another man, but they are able to operate within man. This means that they are able to penetrate into man’s mind and work within him, causing man to obey them. Man cannot penetrate into the man mind of another man and stealthily suggest many things in private to him nor can man cause another man to be confused about the source of these suggestions. But evil spirits can do these things. They have ways that are unavailable to man I his normal communication with one another. First they work in man’s mind and then reach man’s emotion because the mind and the emotion are closely connected. They also begin from the mind and work their way into man’s will because the mind and the will are also closely connected.

The way they move is by stealthily and secretly putting their favorite thoughts into man’s mind in order to accomplish their goal. Or they may prevent man from thinking anything that they also not want him to think about. The bible clearly teaches that the authority of darkness can gives thoughts to man as well as steal thoughts away from man. John 13:2 says the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Luke 8:12 says “then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart,” this speaks of how satan takes away the word from the heart.” This speaks of how satan takes away the word which man should remember so that man forgets everything. These tow verses tells us of the two kinds of work that evil spirits perform in man’s mind. But verses we can identify the works of the evil spirits their works are always to add or subtract something form the mind of man.

THE REASON FOR THE EVIL SPIRITS’ ATTACK

Why are the believer’s minds so attacked by the evil spirits? One answer is that the believers themselves afford evil spirits (also called demons) an opportunity to attack in their minds. We should realize that it is possible for the believers mind to suffer demons attacks. This is proven by the experiences of many believers. The place of demons most often attack is the mind because the mind and evil spirits have a special rapport. The attack of evil spirits on the believers mind produces the aforementioned phenomena. Part or the whole of man’s mind have already isolated themselves from man’s sovereign rule and fallen into the hand of evil spirits. As a result, evil spirits are able to think and stop as they wish and ignore the believers own will. Although the mind still resides in the body, its sovereignty belongs to someone else. Even though the believers may oppose it, nothing will avail. In whatever aspect the believers give place to evil spirits, that aspect will not thereafter obey man’s will again. Instead, it will obey another will. When the believers give any ground in the minds. To put it in another way, if the mind of a believer has lost its sovereignty and is no longer able to rule over itself, the mind is already occupied by evil spirits. Evil spirits have not attacked the believers mind, his will should be able to rule over everything; he can think when he wants to think and spot when he wants to stop. He will not encounter ant difficulty.

The minds of the believer are attacked by evil spirits because the believers have given place to evil spirits in their minds. Believers are prone to give more places in the mind to evil spirits because the mind is related to evil spirits in such a special way. These places become leverage in the believers minds upon which evil spirits freely work. We should remember than mind is of man; if the evil spirits do not have man’s consent, they cannot use his mind. If man does not volunteer-intentionally or unintentional-to hand over the mind to evil spirits they cannot infringe on man’s freedom. This does not mean that evil spirits will never tempt us in the mind (such will not happen in this life). But it means that when we exercise our will to oppose them, they will immediately stop. The problem today is that even though many believers exercise their problem today is that even though many believers exercise their own will to resist, temptations still do not stop. This should not happen it is a proof of the work of evil spirits because it is done in disregard of man will.

After a believer has indeed yielded to evils spirits, his mind will inevitably be filled with the works of evil spirits. Evil spirits will work on him according to the ground he has given them. Since he has given ground to evil spirits in his mind, they can do whatever they want in his mind. The most important principle in the work of evil spirits is that one has to give ground for them to work. They can only work when they have the ground. Without the ground, they have no way to work. The amount of their work is determined by the amount of ground they received. Whenever believers give ground in their minds to evil spirits, the evil spirits will work in the believers’ minds. These are six kind of ground that believers can give to evil spirits.

1. THE UN-RENEWED MIND

The flash is always the place where evil spirits works. If the mind is not renewed, even if a person is regenerated in his spirit, evil spirits will still have a chance to work. Even though the minds of many believers were turned for a moment at the time of their repentance, it does not mean that their eyes, which have been blinded by satan were complete enlightened. Perhaps many areas are still “veiled” because these dark places were the working ground for evil spirits in past days; the fast that they are diminished today does not mean that they are altogether annihilated. Evil spirits still occupy these areas, from which they also direct their operation; it is very common to see evil spirits occupying the minds men through sin. This happens before they are saved or even after they are saved. Even though some changes have taken place, the old ground has not been uncovered or removed. Therefore, evil spirits still occupy their as their base of operations.

Evil spirits are very careful in covering up their works. If a believer is fleshly, they will generate many thoughts through his mind which are similar to his character and condition. They will make him believe that these are his own thoughts and that they are natural. If such a person is seeking for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they will counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit and gave him many supernatural revelations, convincing him that those are from God. Because evil spirits know that this kind of unrenowned mind is the best ground for their work, they obstruct the believer in many ways, causing him to become ignorant and not pursue the renewed of his mind. This is the most frequent ground given to evil spirits. But if there is only this kind of ground given without the passivity spoken of below, the mind and memory will still not be weakened too severely.

2. IMPROPER THOUGHTS

All sin arises when one gives ground to evil spirits. When a believer pays attention to sin in his mind,   it means he has loaned his mind to the evil spirits because all sin come from evil spirits. If a believer yields to sin in his mind, he cannot refuse the evil spirits behind the sin. However long sinful thoughts reside in the heart, the evil spirits will work within him. All filthy, haughty, unkind, unrighteous and similar thoughts give ground to evil spirits believers who yield in their minds and do not refuse these kinds of thoughts will find these kinds of thought coming back more easily the next time. It also because harder to ward them off because evil spirits have already occupied a place in their mind.

In addition to sin, there are many other improper thoughts that can become a base of operation for evil spirits. Evil spirits often inject a thought into the believers. If they receive it, the thought becomes a ground for evil spirits to work on. Every unconfirmed idea, every vain thought, every notion that comes from nowhere, a sentence one hears in passing, a line in a book one reads accidentally, as well as all the fancies in human life give ground to evil spirits. They enable the evil spirits to work in the future- perhaps after several years. They also cause the believer to be full of prejudice, rebel against God’s truth and believer in many heresies.

3. MISUNDERSTANDING GOD’S TRUTH

Believers seldom realize that any time they accept the lies from evil spirits; they give place to evil spirits. If we misconstrue the efforts of evil spirits in us, in our environment and in our work by considering them to be natural, obvious, and spontaneous or cause by ourselves, we have given ground to evil spirits and allowed them to continue their works in these matter. We have accepted the lies from evil spirits and they are able to work through the lies that we have accepted. Because we have choose to believe that these thoughts are not from evil spirits, choosing instead to believe that these things are caused by good reasons that originate from ourselves, subconsciously we have allowed these things to remain in us. Though this allowance is the result of our being deceived, it has nevertheless given sufficient ground to evil spirits to continue their work.

On the other hand, many believers misunderstand God’s truth and are not clear about what it means to die with the Lord, to consecrate themselves to the Lord, to wait on the Holy Spirit and to know God’s move and other truths. As a result, prejudice develops in their heart, and they begin to have ideas about what spiritual teachings should be like. Evil spirits will seize this opportunity and give the believers what they misunderstand and what they think they know. In this way, evil spirits go along with the believers’ misunstanding and work accordingly. The believers think that these proceed from God. Actually, evil spirits have counterfeited God’s work through their misunderstanding.

4. BEING EMPTY IN THE MIND

God created a mind for man; it was not meant fall into disuse. From the beginning God wanted man to hear the word and understand it (Matt. 13:23). From the beginning God wanted man to use his mind to receive His word. This word would then reach from the mind to his love, his will and his Spirit. Therefore, an active mind is a barrier to the work of evil spirits. Consequently, the biggest goal of evil spirits is to make a believer’s mind sink into a state of emptiness. To be empty means to have nothing inside and to be a vacuum. Evil spirits will do this either by deceptions or force; they will cause the believer’s mind to become emptiness. Evil spirits know that the believer’s mind is empty; he will not be able to think and will lose his reason and sense and will.

Believers should exercise their own minds. However, the exercise of the mind is not expedient for evil spirits. As a result, evil spirits try their best to cause the believers’ mind to become empty. When the believers’ minds are functioning normally, the believers will discern all senseless, extraordinary revelations and all kinds of injected thoughts; they will know the source of these thoughts. Emptiness’ of the mind gives ground to evil spirits. All revelations and thoughts received while the mind is empty are from evil spirits. If a believer does not use his mind for a moment, he will see evil spirits zealously coming to his aid!

5. RECEIVING SUGGESTION

Evil spirits very frequently injected their thoughts into the believers mind. They especially love to “prophesy” to the believer about his circumstances and future. They tell the believer what will become and what he will encounter in the future. If a believer does not know that this are from evil spirits and accepts them or does not reject them, allowing them to remain in the mind, evil spirit will work in the environment at the right time and cause the believer to encounter the thing which was prophesied; in his ignorance, the believer may consider that he himself long known about this. Actually, evil spirits have disguised their idea into some kind of prophecy and injected them into the mind of the believer with the intention of testing the believer’s will to see if he will accept or refuse it. If the believer’s will does not oppose it or if it agree with it, evil spirits will again ground and  work on the believer as much as they will. All of the words of future-tellers and palm readers are fulfilled according to this principle.

Some times evil spirits give similar prophecies concerning a believer’s body. They tell him that he is weak of sick. If the believer accepts his though, he will really become sick and weakened. When the believer is in his sickness, he only knows that he is sick. Those with scientific knowledge may say that it is psychological, but those with spiritual insight know that this is cause by the believer accepting the suggestion of evil spirits; he has given to them. Countless cases of so-called natural illness and so-called psychological activity are the work of evil spirits who work through the ground given to them by man. If a believer does not resist all the thoughts that that come from evil spirits, the will work according to the thoughts they have given to the believer because they have been afforded the ground.

6. PASSIVITY IN THE MIND

Generally speaking, this is not much difference between emptiness of the mind and passivity of the mind. But strictly speaking, being empty in the mind is not using the mind, while being passive in the mind is waiting for external forces to come and use the mind. Passivity is one step further than emptiness. To be passive is to not move on our own and allow an external force to come and move us. To be passive in the mind is to thinking on our own and allow outside force to think in our mind. To be passive is to become a machine.

Passivity in the mind offers the best working ground for evil spirits. This is no other ground that evil spirits like more. If a believer does not use his own mind and expects outside forces to come upon him, supernatural evil spirits will have an opportunity to take possession of his will and body. Just as a foolish mind can easily be cheated because of its ignorance, a passive mind can easily be attacked of its lack of consciousness. It cannot respond if it not as thought it has no brain. If a believer allows his mind to stop thinking, reasoning and deciding and if he does not compare his own experience and work with that revealed in the bible, he is inviting satan’s deceptions to come into his mind.

In trying to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, many believers consider that henceforth they do not need to weigh consider or decide whether any seemingly God-given thoughts are according t the light of the bible. They think that the meaning of being led by the Holy Spirit is like being dead, and that thing should only listen to the thoughts and impulse that come from their mind. In particular, they believe that the thoughts that come after they praying are from God. As a result, while they pray and after they pray, they allow their minds to sink into passivity. They stop their own thoughts and every other activity of the mind, in hope of receiving “God’s thoughts.” They believe that this kind of thought is from God and they become hardened, obstinate and unreasonable things. Little they realize that 1. Praying does not cause thoughts to become God’s thoughts: 2. Waiting for godly thoughts before and after they pray, only invites evil spirits to counterfeit God; and 3. God’s guidance is in the intuition and not in the mind. Many believers do not understand that God does not want man to be passive, but to co-labor with Him in an active way. They expend considerable effort to train themselves to become men with passive minds- to become persons who do not know how to think by themselves-and they expect to receive God’s thoughts this way. Little do they realize that when they do not use their minds, God does not use their minds either and He does not give them His thoughts, because His principle is that man would use his own will to control his own faculties and co-labour with Him. When men do not use their mind, evil spirits take the opportunity to come in and control. God does not want men to become machines in order to receive His revelation. Only evil spirits want men to become this way. Hence all passivity efforts convenience for evil spirits. Evil spirits utilize the ignorance and passivity of the believers to work in their minds.