You are not what you think but the spirit that controls you Ephesians 6:12 'For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.' To a layperson, this statement might sound too bizarre and far-fetched, as if we were walking through the Star Wars movie studio pretending to be Jedi to battle against Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith. It is like we are in a world of make-believe where the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly realms are warring against us. In other words, we are attacked by alien invisible forces that are not flesh and blood like us. True, our real enemy is something we cannot see. If we are struggling with what we can see, then we are fighting a fake enemy. Most of us might be wondering, since we cannot astral travel, where our consciousness leaves our bodies, and how to fight a spiritual battle against the dark forces, the equivalent of Darth Sidious. The only evil forces we experience are from the people around us, the ones residing in our homes, offices, churches, or circles of friends, holding invisible knives and daggers, stabbing us with unkind words, deeds and intentions, and leaving us broken, wounded and in pain. With that experience, we can proceed to the next level of understanding. Our struggles are with no one else but with ourselves and the people around us who are no aliens to us, the flesh and blood with whom we are in daily contact. The thoughts and deeds are not of GOD's. The unloving, ungiving and non-sacrificing nature that takes, steals, kills and destroys. It is our source of unhappiness, and because of it, we suffer. Even though this is an indisputable fact, according to Paul, the people are not the culprits. Just as Jesus rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Peter is not the culprit in obstructing Jesus from fulfilling his Father's will to bring salvation for all by dying on the cross. The culprit is the force behind Peter's thoughts. Peter was utterly unaware that, at that moment, he became Satan's tool to become Jesus's stumbling block. How could it be possible for Satan to use Peter as his mouthpiece? Peter spoke to Jesus as the Serpent spoke to Eve, being Satan's voice. What happened at that moment for Peter to utter words of concern and care that were, in fact, words against the will of GOD that Jesus had to rebuke him as Satan? For that, we have to look at Peter's heart. We must understand that Peter had every intention for Jesus to reign as the king of the Jews rather than to suffer and be killed at the hands of the elders, chief priests and scribes. When Jesus called Peter to be his disciple, He promised Peter that he would become a fisher of men instead of a fisherman. If Jesus were to die, the implication is Peter would have to return to being a fisherman and not become a fisher of men. That happened precisely after Jesus's death. His three-year effort of following Jesus around would have been a waste of time. In other words, Peter had self-interest or a personal agenda at heart when he said those words. Even if he did not want Jesus to die because of his love, that is considered a personal agenda. His self-centred agenda becomes an open door to evil influences and the devil's foothold. Is it biblical for Satan to have a foothold in us? Yes, it is biblical because of our fallen nature, and Satan has a legal right over us. Therefore, we are programmed to think evil and do evil. Hence, we do not need to be disciplined to do evil but to do good. According to biblical records, Satan did not come with a whip to get us to do evil. Instead, GOD has to whip us to do good. With that, we can see that we are born with Satan's DNA within us. To cut a long story short, to save us, GOD ended up whipping Himself for our sins. Therefore, in the New Testament, GOD no longer holds the whip but His love to lead us to repentance. To put it another way, GOD whips Himself for every sin we commit. Thus, those who believe in His love shall not perish but have eternal life. As long as we are self-centred and unrepentant, the nature of our flesh, Satan, has a foothold in us through our fallen nature. Satan can speak through us as if it is our intention. When Jesus rebuked Peter, He was rebuking Satan, the mastermind behind Peter. From this encounter, we can conclude that we are nothing more than vessels. We are what fills us. If we are not convinced, we can look at another incident that happened to Peter. When Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by My Father in heaven. This time, Jesus did not rebuke Peter. Instead, He complimented him for saying the right thing. Jesus used the words flesh and blood as Paul did, indicating that the information is not of human origin. It is not a rumour that Peter heard but a spiritual revelation that Peter perceived from no one else but the Father in heaven. In other words, it is a spiritual enlightenment when a person is filled with the Spirit to understand spiritual matters. This encounter is not limited to Peter, but it happened to many people in the Bible, like Bazalel, Elizabeth, Stephen, Barnabas, David, Ezekiel, and the list goes on. From Peter's two spiritual encounters, one with Satan and the other with the Father, we can deduce that a man is only a vessel, and he is what he is filled with, either good or evil. What fills him will be the voice he hears, good or evil. And what fills him will depend on what is in his heart. When he lives for himself, he has eyes only for himself, and is self-centred, then he is filled with the fallen nature. If he lives for GOD and others, has eyes for people in need, and is GOD and people-oriented, then his heart is filled with the Spirit of GOD. Hence, whoever he listens to will be his master. Hence, whatever we think is not our own. It is from whom we allow to fill our hearts. Unless we can change a person's heart, we cannot change his mind. His mind is controlled by what fills his heart. Paul understood, beyond what meets the eye, the relationship between our hearts and the spirits that control our minds. Therefore, he said, 'For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world's darkness, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.' It is not without reason that GOD always talks about the heart more than the mind of a man. He referred to David as a man after His heart and not a man after His mind. Once our heart is right with GOD, then our mind will think within the framework of GOD. Another excellent example of understanding how the heart affects the outcome of the mind is in the story of Nebuchadnezzar. GOD made Nebuchadnezzar great for His purpose, and his greatness was like a tree large and strong, whose top reached the sky and was visible to all the earth, whose foliage was beautiful and whose fruit was abundant, providing food for all, under which the beasts of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air nested. One day, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and he exclaimed, "Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" When his heart was filled with pride in himself and his greatness, GOD struck him down with madness. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. Only after seven years did GOD restore his sanity, and He praised and exalted and glorified GOD as the king of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. The moral of Nebuchadnezzar's story is that the heart determines our future more than our efforts. When Nebuchadnezzar's heart was filled with himself, God flipped his mind like a pancake. One moment, he was sane, and another moment, he became insane. Only when God felt that Nebuchadnezzar was humbled enough did God flip his mind back. In other words, our mind is nothing more than a marionette where the puppeteer controls every movement of the puppet with strings. The puppet is not free to do as it wishes, but according to the puppeteer that controls it. Likewise, our mind is not free to think as we want to but according to whom fills our hearts. In computer terminology, a man is only the hardware, and the software that helps him to think and operate comes from the spiritual realm. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon wrote, 'Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.' Why the heart and not our mind? Solomon understood that when he gave his heart to GOD, GOD gave him a perfect mind filled with wisdom and understanding. Once his heart turned away from GOD, his wisdom and understanding were lacking to preserve his kingdom. Only GOD holds the key to the springs of life, and the secret passage to them is the heart. The mind can think as many dreams as it wants, but it will only be wishful thinking. Therefore, if we want to have the blessings of heaven, we must have a heart for GOD. It is more than going through the ritual of going to church, giving tithes and offerings or doing charities. It is to put GOD as the centre of our life and let our world revolve around Him. Filling our hearts with the love for GOD and not with the desires of our fallen nature is the key to success in life. It is only through the guidance of GOD that we find life. If we follow the advice of our fallen nature, we will find death because life is only in the hands of GOD. Therefore, if we are not of GOD, whatever we do is a waste of time because there can only be one outcome - death. In other words, we will make lousy decisions despite our best efforts because we are ill-advised. Anything not under GOD's counsel is not under His will. Epistle 1 John writes, 'And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we already possess what we have asked of Him.' To understand this statement from the opposite perspective, if we do not ask according to His will, He does not hear us. Therefore, those who go to church to pray for nothing else but themselves are praying in vain because they are not asking according to GOD's will. They are nothing more than mouthpieces of Satan, praying for the desires of their fallen nature, which are evil. GOD will not listen to them. GOD wants us to worship Him in Spirit and truth, meaning the Holy Spirit must anoint our thoughts, teaching us to pray. Our prayers will align with GOD's will, and He will be pleased to listen to us. Whatever we do, we will not contravene the first and second greatest commandments, which are to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbour as yourself. Only if we live a self-centred life will we contradict a god-centred life. When we live for GOD and others, we have to sacrifice our self-centred lives for them because we cannot put our interests and GOD first at the same time. There can be only one first. We must choose one over the other. Therefore, we must rightly select what should be within us: the Spirit of Life or the spirit of death. Prayer: Thank you for enlightening my mind with Your words. Continue to teach me Your truth so that I may walk in it and find life. Protect me from the deceits of my enemies, who come as wolves in sheep's clothing. Continue to renew my mind with the truth so that I can be transformed into your image. Amen.