Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind

“You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.”

This statement sums up the key takeaway to Be Positive, Not Negative. A positive mind aligns with God because God is positive toward the Christian, who is his adopted child and heir; he is always blessing, promising, giving, and leading the Christian toward righteousness. As such, positivity aligns one’s life with God’s intentions, whereas a negative mind has the potential to derail all of those benefits.

“Make up your mind that you will not quit and give up until victory is complete and you have taken possession of your rightful inheritance.”

One of Meyer’s repeated points is that people are empowered to decide which course they want to take, even in their mental lives. She encourages Christians simply to decide to believe the promises of the Bible, for instance. Here, she holds that Christians can decide not to quit but rather to press on until they attain the victorious Christian life.

“Remember, God is delivering you, little by little, so don’t be discouraged and don’t feel condemned if you make a mistake.”

Here, Meyer warns readers not to fall into the trap of thinking that God’s deliverance will be automatic and instantaneous, and thus taking any continued struggles as evidence of God abandoning them. On the contrary, Meyer says that most of God’s work of deliverance is a slow and patient process of growth, so she reassures readers that they can press on with hope, even in the face of continued struggles. This is part of choosing positivity.

“Positive minds produce positive lives. Negative minds produce negative lives.”

Meyer again insists on positive thinking as one of the secrets to a healthy Christian life: It not only influences one’s mind but also produces effects throughout one’s life. Those who choose hope, thanksgiving, and uplifting thoughts will find more blessing and enjoyment in life than those who choose pessimism and complaint.

“Don’t ever stop hoping. […] I can’t promise you that you’ll never be disappointed. But, even in disappointing times, if they do come, you can hope and be positive. Put yourself in God’s miracle-working realm.”

Here, Meyer focuses on a specific element of positive thinking: hopefulness. She sees hope as an aspect of faith; one chooses to believe the promises of God and looks hopefully to the future for the fulfillment of those promises. God will respond to this act of faith, she says, so the decision to be hopeful brings one into direct contact with God’s action in blessing his people.

“Nearly every deliverance God has brought to me has been progressive and has come about by believing and confessing the Word of God.”

This quote underscores two important ideas: first, that God’s deliverance is often slow, consisting of patient progress rather than giant leaps forward, and second, that internalizing Scripture is one of the main ways in which that deliverance takes shape in the Christian life. Christians should therefore Meditate on Scripture to Learn the Mind of God as a way of allowing God to transform their thought lives.

“The more time a person spends meditating on the Word, the more he will reap from the Word.”

Meyer again underscores the importance of meditation, meaning a prayerful mulling over of Scripture passages to discern their deep meanings and applications, as guided by the Holy Spirit. In Meyer’s view, such Bible study rewards significant time investment, providing more and more insight the more one does it.

“The ways of the Holy Spirit are gentle; most of the time He speaks to us […] in ‘a still small voice.’ It is therefore vital that we learn to keep ourselves in a condition conducive to hearing.”

Meyer here alludes to the biblical account of the prophet Elijah’s flight to the mountain, where he seeks to meet with God and hears his voice not in earthquake, wind, or fire, but in a quiet whisper. Christians are called to focus on this “still small voice of God,” but to do so, one needs to have a mind that is undistracted by problems, doubts, and worries. This underscores the key takeaway to Think About What You’re Thinking About, as awareness of one’s mental state is the first step toward making it “conducive to hearing.”

“When God speaks, we are to mobilize, not rationalize.”

Obedience to God’s commands is central to the Christian life. Meyer regards some normal human responses—like the desire to understand all aspects of an issue before taking action—as detrimental. Meyer believes that it is not as important to understand the “why” behind God’s command as it is to simply obey the command.

“The devil brings storms into your life to intimidate you. During a storm, remember that the mind is the battlefield. Don’t make your decisions based on your thoughts or feelings, but check with your spirit.”

This quote supports the key takeaway to Be Vigilant Against Satan’s Attacks on Your Thought Life. Meyer argues that the mind is the place in which Christians’ own wills contest against the devil’s attempts to distract and deceive them. Christians should therefore not automatically follow the impulses of their minds—thoughts and feelings, which might be influenced by demonic attacks—but rather listen to God’s guidance in their spirits.

“When the thoughts being offered you do not agree with God’s Word, the best way to shut the devil up is the speak the Word.”

This quote exemplifies Meyer’s counsel both to meditate on Scripture and to think about one’s thoughts—to take note of the ideas in one’s mind and to measure them against the instruction of the Bible. If one’s thoughts do not match what Scripture tells one to think about, Meyer concludes, they are an attack of Satan to be counteracted by professing and claiming the truths of Scripture.

“A judgmental mind is an offshoot of a negative mind—thinking about what is wrong with an individual instead of what is right. Be positive and not negative! Others will benefit, but you will benefit more than anyone.”

Meyer argues that a judgmental or critical mind is simply an extension of having a negative mind; in this case, that negativity is extended toward others. The key takeaway, as so often in the book, is to choose to think positively, including about other people.

“There is a dynamic principle shown throughout God’s Word, and no person will ever walk in victory unless he understands and operates in it: right action follows right thinking. Let me put it another way: you will not change your behavior until you change your thoughts.”

Meyer’s book is not limited to addressing mental and emotional struggles alone; she sees one’s thought life as deeply interconnected with all aspects of one’s life, including outward behavior. If asked to address something that they would like to change in their lives, Christians might point to a sinful habit, but Meyer contends that for an outward behavior to change, inward mental attitudes must first be transformed.

“Enough can never be said about the power of being positive. God is positive, and if you and I want to flow with Him, we must get on the same wave length and begin to think positively.”

This encapsulates the theological underpinning of Meyer’s push for positivity, which is rooted in the nature and character of God, as described in the Bible. Since God is positively oriented toward people, people must also be positive if they seek to be like him in virtue, holiness, and truth.

“A powerful life cannot be lived without thanksgiving. The Bible instructs us over and over in the principle of thanksgiving. Complaining in thought or word is a death principle, but being thankful and saying so is a life principle.”

One aspect of positivity that Meyer frequently recommends is gratitude or thanksgiving. In the biblical story from which Meyer draws the framework for her book—the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites—one of the Israelites’ chief sins was being ungrateful despite the wonders God had performed in freeing them from enslavement and providing for their needs. Thankfulness, then, emerges as one of the chief virtues for a Christian.

“The more you meditate on the Word of God, the more you will be able to readily draw upon its strength in times of trouble. Remember: the power to do the Word comes from the practice of meditating on it.”

Meyer again points to meditation as a chief practical tactic for winning the war in one’s mind. Meditating on Scripture helps the mind become deeply familiar with it, transforming one’s normal ways of thinking according to God’s thoughts and values.

“Think and speak about your future in a positive way, according to what God has placed in your heart, and not according to what you have seen in the past or are seeing even now in the present.”

One of the “wilderness mentalities” with which Meyer herself is very familiar—due to her history of childhood trauma and abuse—is the belief that one’s future cannot be positive because of all the hardships of the past and present. She asserts, however, that neither the past nor the present determines the future, so one should set any negativity from those sources aside and cast a hopeful eye forward.

“I encourage you to be a person who is not afraid of responsibility. In meeting resistance you will build your strength. If you only do what is easy, you will always remain weak.”

Another “wilderness mentality” Meyer addresses is avoidance of responsibility, and this quote shows Meyer’s insistence on being intentional and decisive in dealing with one’s life circumstances. This also stands as evidence that Meyer does not expect positive thinking to magically produce an easy life; there will continue to be challenges, and one grows by facing those challenges forthrightly.

“Sometimes God leads us the hard way instead of the easy way, because He is doing a work in us. How will we ever learn to lean on Him, if everything in our lives is so easy that we can handle it by ourselves?”

This quote elaborates on the implication of the previous quote, emphasizing that life won’t always be easy, even with a positive attitude. Such hardships are not a sign that one is failing in one’s Christian life; rather, they are part of how God shapes virtue and builds character in people’s hearts and minds.

“The Israelites complained and remained in the wilderness. Jesus praised and was raised from the dead. In this contrast, we can see the power of praise and thanksgiving and also the power of complaining.”

Here Meyer uses a contrast that nearly forms a poetical couplet: “complained and remained” / “praised and was raised.” Christian speakers, especially in the evangelical and charismatic traditions, sometimes offer such catchphrases as mnemonic devices for their audience to hold on to. Her broader point concerns the “wilderness mentality” of making negativity part of one’s core identity.

“God is quick to forgive us if we truly repent, but we cannot truly repent if we will not face and acknowledge the truth about what we have done.”

Meyer here exhorts Christians to be honest with themselves. Positivity does not mean engaging in wishful thinking or putting on rose-colored glasses when one looks at oneself. Rather, one must face up to reality as it is, including one’s own sin. The positivity comes from believing and claiming God’s promise of forgiveness, which he will give if one honestly confesses one’s sin and repents.

“[T]he Lord tells us that we are His and sets forth what He wants for us—that we should know that we are loved, special, valuable and that we should be holy, blameless and above reproach.”

Meyer holds that Christians can maintain a positive attitude about themselves and their futures because of what the Bible says about them. One’s value is not grounded in one’s past or present, or failures or accomplishments, but rather in the fact that God has lavished his love on humanity and promised his favor. Those who accept this, therefore, have every reason to look to the future with hope.

“Set your mind to be happy for others and trust God with yourself. It will take some time and persistence, but when that old mental stronghold has been torn down and replaced by the Word of God, you will be on your way out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.”

In this quote, Meyer draws again on the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt and before their entrance into the Promised Land. This quote shows Meyer’s confidence in the human ability to choose a course of action and follow it through—a core aspect of positivity.