Fear’s Breeding Ground
The Battle of the Mind – Part 1

Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NLT

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 10:5 NLT

We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

The final section of this series on fear is called the “Breeding Ground of Fear.” Like a pond of water is often a breeding ground for mosquitoes, so are the thoughts of our minds the breeding ground for fear. Our thoughts produce our feelings and our feelings will often produce our behavior. God gave us minds that can see things that really don’t exist yet. This power is often referred to as vision by leadership experts. A leader can “see” a future that he believes can happen. For example, Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech was all about what he could see in his mind: “I have a dream…”

However, this same power that can imagine a better future can also be a deadly power that will create such fear that it keeps us from achieving a better future. The negative side of our minds has the power to imagine bad things happening, even though they have not happened, have never happened, and probably never will happen. The old saying is: 80% of what we worry about never happens. I believe that to be one of the “old sayings” that is founded in truth.

The devil uses our imaginations to trip us up, tempt us and paralyze us with fear. His goal in our lives is to keep us from enjoying the abundant life that Jesus died to give us! He wants you to think, in all situations, what the worst-case scenario is and focus on that. We should consider all angles when we make decisions, but why do so many of us always side with the negative thoughts? This week, my goal is to get us to lean to the positive side and trust that God wants us to enjoy victories, not defeat!

Father, I will take captive my negative thoughts, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.