Free from self-occupation

The key is to win the battle for the mind because that’s where the conflict’s always at.

II Corinthians 10 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
[4] (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
[5] Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

“The warfare we’re in with the Adversary today is not done by warring against flesh and blood things,” says Jordan. “Spiritual battles get fought in your inner man. God has a spirit and you have a spirit. Where would God work in you?

"Paul said to the Galatians in 3:3: ‘Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?’

“You see all this performance stuff, all this activity aimed at the physical outward external stuff is backwards. Satan works through your body, into your soul and then into your spirit.

“God works in your spirit out through your soul, manifested in your body. So where’s the real battle? It’s going to be in the spirit of our minds.

“Paul says ‘casting down imaginations.’ He's saying, 'Go over and grab all that vain imaginations.' All those things you project in your mind, think in your mind, dream up, or have other people put into your thinking). The course of this world is ‘bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop’--constantly.

“I’m absolutely amazed that any young man or woman would get to be 20-25 years old and say, ‘I want to honor the Lord with my body. I’m not married and I’m not going to engage in things that don’t belong in my life until I’m married.’

“If you watch TV, every show you see tells you that sex outside of marriage is the norm, drunkenness is the norm, shooting, killing and murdering and lying are the norms. It gets pumped into your thinking all day long.

“He says, ‘Casting down all of that. Get rid of that stuff! Take that stuff and just throw it out the window.’ Imagine yourself on the third floor of a building and watch it go 'splat' on the pavement.

“Now, just because you threw it out, if you don’t put something in its place, you know what, it’ll come back or something just as bad or worse will.

“Because you can’t think about two things at once, but you also can’t think about nothing. Lay in the bed at night and try not to think of anything. Harder you try, what happens? Because you’re trying hard to think!

“ ‘Bringing every thought into captivity.’ You see, you’re to renew your mind to develop a positive habit of believing what God says. Develop a positive habit in your mind that says, ‘I am beloved of the Father.’ Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience--not TO Christ, but to the obedience OF Christ.

“That verse is not talking about your obedience; it’s talking about His obedience. And when I bring my thinking into captivity to the grace and love of God given to me through the crosswork  of Jesus Christ, I’ll be free from self-occupation--free from thinking about me and my stuff and I’ll start thinking about me and His stuff. In fact, I’ll just start thinking about His stuff.

“And that’s when you find rest in the Father’s love. And it won’t just be a theological point and a doctrinal statement to say, ‘God loves you.’ It’ll be something that comes into your experience.”