The War Within
Are you aware of the battle in your own mind?
Verse of the Day
“But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.”
Today’s Devotional
Have you ever had a conversation with someone and realized that this person felt the same as you about a topic? It can be as simple as both of you disliking mushrooms, or as complex as both of you having similar wounds from your childhood. Either way, there is something that really connects us when we see that we have things in common.
That feeling, that connection, happens for me when I read this passage, especially when we look at more than just today’s verse. Here’s what Paul says about himself: “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” (Romans 7:21-25)
The Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, struggled with his mind. Griffith Thomas wrote, “The one point of the passages is that it describes a man who is trying to be good and holy by his own efforts and is beaten back every time by the power of indwelling sin.” Enduringword.com says, “The entire tone of the statement shows that Paul is desperate for deliverance. He is overwhelmed with a sense of his own powerlessness and sinfulness. We must come to the same place of desperation to find victory.”
We cannot win the battle within our minds on our own. We must each come to a place where we recognize our deep need for Jesus and the salvation that He brings. Jesus is the solution not only for our eternal destination, but also for the battles that we face here and now – including with our thinking. As I have been studying this topic, there have been several days that I can identify as being particularly taxing. My brain simply would not shut up. I felt attacked, and the attack was from within my own mind. On those days, I was trying to fight the battle in my mind on my own power. I was trying to force my thinking to be better. It didn’t work.
Paul tells us that “The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” For me, that means that I need to repent of trying to fix my thinking on my own, and ask Jesus to rule and reign in my thinking every day. I need to be willing to be focused more on Him and less on me. I need to occupy my mind and my actions with being useful to others in an effort to point them to Jesus. On the days when I intentionally do those things (repeatedly), there is so much more peace. Jesus really is the answer.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What is the current battle that goes on in your mind?
How have you tried to win that battle? Were you successful?
Are you powerless over your own thinking?
How can you invite Jesus into the battle in your mind?