Welcome to Day 1 of our Mastermind: Winning The War Within daily devotionals. During the next few weeks, in our Mastermind series, we will be talking about mental health, and how to win the war in our minds.

During the message yesterday, Josh said this: 

"You Must believe to your core that you can’t have a positive life with a negative mind."

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV

We are transforming our life by retraining our thoughts. 

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the biggest stronghold holding you back?

2. What truth about God, would demolish that lie?

3. If you actually believed that you would be given Divine power from God to take captive your thoughts and confront your strongholds, what would change today?

Pray 

Prayer is a conversation with God, and every conversation begins by addressing the person to whom you are speaking by name. Jesus begins with “Our Father in heaven.” He focuses on a distinct person — the Heavenly Father with whom he has a personal relationship. We share the same right to call God “Father,” and there are times when we need to talk with our Abba Father, Daddy God. But God is three distinct persons in One: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I find it helpful in my prayer times to focus on which of the Holy Trinity I need to talk to. Often I talk to Jesus, the friend who is closer than a brother and the Savior of my soul. Other times I cry out to the Holy Spirit, who fills and empowers me to do the tasks Father God has called me to do. Having a distinct sense of who I am speaking to helps me formulate what I want to say and how I want to say it.

A heartfelt thank you is always a great way to start. God loves to see that we have grateful hearts. But more importantly, as we take the time to praise God for all He has done in the past — the answered prayers, the impossible situations overcome, the healings and grace — our faith grows as we acknowledge answered prayers. 

James 5:16 reminds us that if we want our prayers to be heard, our hearts need to be right with God and with one another. If you feel your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, take some time to check your heart.

We often hesitate to bother God with the little things we need, thinking he shouldn’t be bothered. In Jesus’ time, bread was a staple — one of the most basic needs of life — and he did not hesitate to ask God to provide it.

So often when the big problems come, we try everything we can to solve the problem before we think to pray. The Bible says, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” So never hesitate to ask God for whatever you need. Your Father in heaven delights to give you good gifts.

The Lord’s Prayer is not the only place where Jesus role-modeled a heart of obedience and submission to the will of God over his own desires and needs. In the Garden of Gethsemane, only hours before Jesus’ crucifixion, he would once again pray, “not my will, but yours be done.” In a world where the future is so uncertain, it can be hard to know how to pray or what to ask for when difficult circumstances arise. But the one thing we can know with absolute certainty is that God’s plan for those who love him is good, and the safest place we can be is in the center of His will.