"The human mind is the most deceitful of all things. It is incurable.
No one can understand how deceitful it is."
Jeremiah 17:9

I daydream for hours it seems
I keep thinkin' of you, yeah, thinkin' of you
These daydreams, what do they mean?
They keep haunting me, are they warning me?

Daylight turns into night
We try and find the answer but it's nowhere in sight
It's always the same and you know who's to blame
You know what I'm sayin', still we keep on playing

Head games, that's all I get from you
Head games, and I can't take it anymore
Head games, don't wanna play the...
Head games 

Excerpt from "Head Games" by Foreigner


Isn't it crazy what our minds can do to us?  The games it can play with our emotions?  The poor guy who wrote this song (it's okay to reference a Foreigner song in a Christian blog right?  Oh well ...) was obviously in a relationship where his woman was playing head games with him, but if he's anything like me, his mind was probably doing most of the work.

The mind can be deceitful, as the scripture says.  In fact, if I scroll back up to read it, I believe it says its "the most deceitful of all things."  The most deceitful?  I'd say that's pretty bad ... pretty bad indeed.  Then it goes on to say that it's incurable.  Sounds pretty definite to me ... pretty 'final'.  It's been awhile since I've reminded you all of this: I'm not a pastor.  I've had no theological training whatsoever.  I simply love Jesus.  So, that being said, here's my take on this verse.

The mind is where our emotions come from.  The fleeting emotions like happiness, and sadness.  Being excited, and being let down.  Being nervous, or being confident.  That all comes from our mind.  Our spirit is where joy comes from ... and peace ... and self control.  The Bible refers to those as "fruits of the Spirit."  Being happy is far different than being joyful.  Being confident is not even related to being at peace.  You see, our minds can be easily manipulated.  I've always learned this the hard way, and so often, I could have earned a PhD in it.  And if I know scripture the way I think I do, our mind is also the only part of us that the enemy can get to, which is why he can play 'head games' with us, and with our emotions all of the time.  Remember from past blogs, he is tenacious, and persistent.  He won't give up, so we can't either.

What he can't get to is our spirit, or Spirit with a capital S ... however you want to look at it.  For me, when I talk about my spirit, I'm referring to both ... my spirit which is part of me, part of who I am, part of my soul which contains a persons spirit ... and the Holy Spirit, who dwells within me, and who is a member of the Trinity (God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and God the Holy Spirit).  From what I've learned, and what I think I know (speaking to those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior), the enemy can not touch your soul, or spirit.  He can't because that's where God the Holy Spirit resides.  He can't read your mind or know your thoughts.  He can only hear what you and I say, and he's the master at using our words and confessions against us.   It's up to us to recognize that, and to stop it before it goes too far and becomes a destructive force in our life.

Some of you know me well enough to be thinking right now about a pot calling a kettle black ... and you're justified in thinking that.  I know that my mind is a powerful thing ... and at times it's a raging, self-defeating machine, hell bent on destroying my soul and spirit.  Many times over the years it's gotten close to doing just that.  That's when God intervenes.  He knows how much I can take, and He never lets me get past that point.  It's been one heck of a learning process, and one that I'm still going through, so for those of you who may be thinking about the pot and the kettle ... well ... I don't know if I'm quite "there" yet, but I'm still trying.

The verse ends by telling us that we'll never understand why our mind is this way.  If that's the case, then it's time we quit trying to figure it out ... me included.  It's also time to stop letting our emotions control us ... me included.  It's time we start asking God to give us peace, and self control, and joy, and patience, and leave the roller coaster, emotional lives we've been living behind us ... me included.  I know it's easier said than done, but we have to start somewhere right?  We have to start the belief process somewhere, and if after we start it, we fail now and again, then we fail.  The people in your life who love you for all the right reasons will look beyond it, and will continue to stick by you.  The ones who don't ... oh well!  I don't know about you but I've been afraid to speak these words, and afraid to step out in faith to claim the joy that's mine because I've been afraid I'd fail.  I was afraid to tell anyone that I'm through living a self-defeating life for fear of not being able to follow through ... I didn't want to let them down ... or worse, let myself down again.  It was easier to hold on to the misery ... I knew what that was like ... I was comfortable with that pain.

I've been spending the last week wearing out a positive affirmation cd that my psychologist recommended to me a few years ago, listening over and over to the statements being spoken on it ... trying to change my thought process.  Here are some of the statements I've been listening to ...

... when I see that I can love and appreciate myself, take time to take care of myself, stick up for myself, I am giving myself a powerful message to feel well.


... I understand that the time to be motivated by guilt, fear, and resentment is over ... now is the time to do things out of love and celebration, and the joy of self expression.


... I call upon my intention to heal myself and stay well ... I engage my powerful will to assist me in doing this.

Those are just a few of them.  The audio is 22 minutes in length, and over the past few years has been the single most effective tool in combating my depression.  Some have chuckled at the thought of listening to it ... some have dismissed it as psycho-babble.  I have two things to say to them.  First, I've listened to it countless times and it's all based on Scripture.  Second ... oh well.

I don't know if this is reaching someone other than me.  Sometimes I have to write just to get myself to think differently.  I hope it's helping someone else.  If it's speaking to you, as I've said before, you can know that you're not alone in your struggles.  Next to God, I'm right here with you.  God bless.