After my initial conversion to Christianity, it didn’t take long for me to realize that an inner war had been declared and that my mind was where the heaviest skirmishes were taking place.

The ground force troops had been released when I began to recognize that if I was ever going to see victory over my flesh, it would have to first be won in the battlefront of my thinking. The word tells us, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he …” Proverbs 23:7 KJV

I immediately jumped into the foxhole of truth that I found in Galatians 2:20 NIV: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

That hand grenade of a verse had become my John 3:16, if you will, as far as grounding me in the reality that until I die spirituality, no real life was ever going to come forth.

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24 NIV

I once heard a well-known man of God describe to an audience his early morning ritual. He stated that the very first thing he does after shutting off the alarm is he stands up, stretches, thanks God for a new day, and then… HE DROPS DEAD!

Of course, the audience roared with laughter. Then he quipped, “No, really, I am dead serious!” More laughter ensued. After the hilarity had finally subsided and all eyes were “ten hup” to the wisdom of his next statements, like a good soldier of the Lord, he began to strategically take us through the process of daily mortification of the flesh. The first rules of engagement include the following:

1. Announce that your carnal mind has been declared DOA (dead on arrival).

2. You’ll now be reporting to a new commander in chief from this point on.

3. Never forget, the battles are won and lost in the arena of your mind.

I now faithfully report to my commanding officer every morning. And I’m proud to say I am gaining more and more ground over the lies of the enemy. Some days I find myself dying a thousand deaths within a 24-hour day. This carnal mind does not die easily, but it has to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ.

So now, every morning, I hear the reveille of God’s bugle as He wakes me up to the reality that, yes, the battle is on, but THE WAR HAS ALREADY BEEN WON. I simply stand in an unwavering faith, believing that it is no longer I who lives, but Christ living in me. As Romans 8:37 says, I am more than a conqueror!

Copyright © Missey Butler. Used by permission.