Ryan Swanson: Hello and welcome back to the Satisfied Program here on the Thee Generation Podcast. We’re excited that you’ve joined us once again as we continue this series and actually conclude this series, if all goes well, entitled The Mind War. We’ve been discussing different aspects about the thought life and trying to answer questions that are in that discussion. We’ve got a big question we’ll be dealing with in that regard in just a little bit. But first, I just want to mention there’s some exciting news coming. The Chord 2.0 is coming out next month. Chord version 2.0 is coming out in July, hopefully first week of July. So you’ll want to make sure that you are subscribed to our email list for that update. It will be announced via email. We’ll have an initial email going out here probably this next week. And then at launch, we’ll be telling you what features that’s adding. And I’m pretty excited about what this is bringing to the table for Chord users. If you’re not familiar with The Cord, go check that out at thecord.app. That’s also where you can subscribe to that email notification. And at the bottom, you’ll see a way to do that. But The Cord is simply a platform. We’ve designed a tool to facilitate daily effective accountability with men and women. So that’s all I’m going to say for now. But make sure you’re subscribed and ready for that email so you can be one of the first to know about these features that we’re rolling out here next month. Well, I told you we’re wrapping up this series. mind war. I hope you’ve been helped by this. Again, we’ve had some good feedback on this, and I’d love to hear more if there’s some element you want to add or some testimony or something you’d like to share to this. Of course, there are so many aspects to this discussion on the thought life, but there is one aspect we haven’t really dealt with yet. In regard to thought life, we talked extensively about the consideration of thoughts, and we dealt with that with the episode Don’t Even Think About It. Then we spent the last few episodes talking about what we would generally think of when we think of the thought life, and that is the pondering. That’s the lust going on in our mind, and we dealt with that from several different angles. But the element we have not really dealt with yet is this area of desire. Now, we’ve talked about desire in the past in different ways, and we’ve approached that already. But in regards to the thought life, I want to bring this up with a very prevalent question that we get in regards to the thought life, and that is simply this. Is the thought life something I will always struggle with? is this battle in my mind, this mind war, something I just need to accept and deal with as I can because there is no hope of relief. Now, when we’re dealing with this element of desire, we can get confused on this at times, but generally we’re most passionate about the fact that the desire itself is not a sin. And I wouldn’t totally disagree with that, but we need to see where this is leading us. Generally, the support for that statement would come from the fact that Jesus himself was tempted, so the temptation can’t be a sin, and Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. So surely the temptation itself in that moment cannot be sin because Jesus was tempted and he did not sin. Again, I don’t disagree with that, but I think there is a difference between the temptation and the desire. And we need to at least admit that there is a difference. Temptation comes from outside of us. Desire comes from within. Could we say one we have control over and one we do not? Well, that’s the question. Do we have any control over this element of desire? Or is that just set in stone? The desires you have, you will always have. And we are just to deal with those desires. Just a few weeks ago, I sat down with a couple of Christian young men, really genuine guys. It was actually a business contact that put me together with these guys, but they wanted help. They wanted some counsel. And so we sat down and the first one began sharing his story and his testimony. He said, I was an alcoholic for years. These guys, by the way, are in their probably mid thirties and with families. This guy says, I’ve been an alcoholic alcoholic for years. Now I’ve been dry, I’ve been clean for, I think he said, three years. Three years have not touched a drop of alcohol. But he said, every morning I wake up with a craving for alcohol. And he looks at me and he says, is it always going to be that way? How many times do I have to say no before that desire goes away. Well, then the other guy pipes up from across the table and he says, I’ve got to tell you, I’ve got to share. It’s been almost a year now. I’ve been free from nicotine. He said, in one way or the other, I’ve been addicted to nicotine for years. But a year ago, God got a hold of me and changed my life. And he was already saved at that point. But the other guys around the table were attesting to the fact that this guy had really seen quite a change in his life. He had gotten himself into a mess, but God has been really working in his life. And that was his testimony. He says, I’ve been free now from this for a year. I’ve not had any nicotine now for a year. But he said, just like that other guy, I can tell you 100% every morning I wake up with the same craving for nicotine. And he asked the same question. He says, how many times will I have to say no before the desire goes away. Now, to those of us who are so passionate about, well, the temptation’s not a sin, so the desire’s not a sin, and that’s just something you’re going to have to deal with. Just can you imagine me at that point saying to these men, sorry guys, that’s just how it is. That’s probably something you’re going to have to face every morning the rest of your life. Doesn’t something just seem wrong about that? Something about that advice just, it just can’t be right. I mean, at least we want it to be not right. We want so badly to be able to tell someone, hey man, Jesus not only wants to change your actions, but he wants to change your desires. But is that truly a biblical thing to say, that Jesus wants to and can change your desires? Well, instead of spending the rest of the time anecdotally, why don’t we head to Scripture, Isaiah 26, verse 3. Isaiah 26, 3. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Now that perfect peace in the Hebrew is literally shalom, shalom. There was no doubt to the original audience what kind of peace this was referring to. And it is not a circumstantial peace. It’s not all of my ducks are in a row and everything’s just going well for me. No troubles on the horizon. That’s not what this is. This is a state of mind. Everything about this verse is referring to the state of mind, whose mind is stayed on thee. You have both the mind and will aspects wrapped up in that. And then it says, because he trusteth. Again, this is all state of mind here. So it’s dealing more with mind than actions. And I think applies more than anything to this situation where you have two guys saying, look, I haven’t acted on this desire. I’ve been clean. I’ve been dry. But I’m telling you, I’m not at peace. I think from this verse in Isaiah and others, we could say dogmatically that God has a bigger plan. God’s got something better. Now, the verse says this peace comes when our mind is stayed on Christ. Now, the interesting thing is these guys are saying, how many times do I have to say no? Well, that question when they wake up of whether or not I’m going to give in to alcohol or whether or not I’m going to give in to nicotine. And for many of us on this podcast, whether or not I’m going to give in to those lustful thoughts or looking at something I shouldn’t, that question is not a yes or no question. We think that’s a yes or no question. And so how many times do I have to say no before the question goes away, essentially? But you know what we learned from this verse? Is it’s not a yes or no question. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is, what, idle? Empty? As long as we say no and keep our mind empty? No. Whose mind is stayed on thee. The choice of alcohol is not yes or no. It’s whether we’re going to be stayed on that or stayed on Christ. Then it says, because he trusteth in thee. The choice of alcohol is not yes or no. It’s whether we’re going to trust in alcohol or trust in Christ. You see, this is multiple choice. It’s not yes or no. This isn’t true or false. This is a multiple choice question that we’re dealing with. Are you going to choose yourself, your flesh, the nicotine, the alcohol, the pornography, those wicked thoughts? Or are you going to choose Christ? guys it’s a scary thing to be in a position where you’re having to say no to something over and over and over and over because eventually you are going to just end up doing what down deep you want to do that’s just the facts you’re eventually going to give in and do whatever it is truly down deep you really have your heart set on doing so look there’s plenty of times to say no that’s part of the battle. I’m not saying that that’s not part of it. It certainly is. But when we’re saying no, we also need to say yes to something else. The victory is never going to come by just saying no a certain amount of times. Once you hit a hundred times of successfully saying no, then just the battle goes away. Now you’ve got to fill that with something else. You have to say yes. And I told those guys, when you wake up in the morning, you’re reminded of the fact that you need help. You’re reminded of the fact that I’m really empty. You’re reminded of the fact that you want to accomplish something. And so in the past, that accomplishment and that fulfillment has all been coped with through this alcohol and this nicotine and this lust and everything else. That’s how you’ve gotten the fulfillment in the past. That’s how you have had your affirmation in the past. And so when you wake up now feeling empty and useless, you immediately think that the solution is the nicotine and the alcohol. And so what a better opportunity than in that moment saying no to the nicotine and alcohol, but at the same time saying yes to getting up and spending time with the Lord. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. When you are choosing to stay your mind on Christ, you are choosing peace. this doesn’t say that will keep him in perfect peace who tries their hardest that will keep him in perfect peace who has a 100 day purity streak and then finally has peace and the temptation’s gone no that’s not what it says doesn’t say that will keep him in perfect peace who’s on the court app for three years no it doesn’t say that that’s not the point now all of these things are part of the battle and we need to distinguish this and we’ll kind of conclude with this thought there are elements of the battle that are biblical but they are not the end goal so we’ve broken down in the past the uh i would say three elements of the battle which are desire availability and isolation and a lot of our discussion in this podcast dealing with practical steps in in helping you fight this battle in those areas of availability and isolation specifically giving tools to help you with that. Tools to fight. And we are called to fight. We’ve discussed that in depth. I’m very passionate on that fact. We are in a war and expected to be a good soldier and not just sit back and wait for everything to happen. However, the goal of war is not just a good fight. Let me say that again. The goal of war is not to have a good fight. The goal of war has to be peace. You have not truly won the war until you are at peace. We’ve looked at the verse in Ephesians chapter 6 in the past where Paul says to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, to stand against in the evil day. And we’ve mentioned how that’s the hand-to-hand combat that we’re feeling right now. But then it goes on to say, and having done all to stand. Do you know what that is? It’s shalom, shalom, perfect peace. Looking around at the battlefield and the enemy’s gone, where did it go? Those things we see, man, that used to be a struggle for me. That hasn’t been a temptation for a while now. What’s going on? And we cannot see any immediate apparent threat. And that doesn’t mean that we let our guard down and take the armor off and sit down. No, it says, and having done all to stand, not to sit down. Our guard is not down, but we’re at peace. And I think from this verse in Isaiah, we’d have to say that even in the battle, we could be at peace when our mind is stayed on him. Now, you might say, how in the world could my mind be stayed on Christ when it’s constantly being pulled to and tempted by the world? Well, listen, somehow that question is totally backwards. How about this? How could you possibly be tempted by the world when your mind is stayed on Christ? One last verse for us in Psalm 63, 1, David speaking, My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land. Now, when I read this a few weeks ago, Something struck me here about this. As I’m reading, my soul thirsteth for thee. Well, that makes sense. That’s David’s soul. But when I read, my flesh longeth for, fill in the blank. I would expect it to say, yes, my soul thirsteth for God. But here’s David, my flesh longeth for Bathsheba. You know, that lust. This is my flesh. Now, I know he’s writing this years after this issue with Bathsheba. But the point being, he’s saying that his flesh now is longing and thirsting for God. Now, I don’t think David’s trying to give us a deep theological position on our flesh, our old man here, and give us the soteriology. I don’t think he’s trying to teach us that from this. I think simply what we’re learning here from David is he’s saying, My flesh, my soul, all of me is thirsting for God. All of me, everything. We have grown so content with the conundrum inside of us where our soul, our regenerated soul wants to do what’s right, but our flesh is constantly pulling us. And it seems like 50-50 here. We’re going back and forth, back and forth in this struggle, in this battle. And of course, Paul can relate when he says the things that I would do, I do not. and the things that I would not that I do, and the whole conundrum there that he’s presenting, he can relate to that. But I don’t think that’s our excuse for saying, well, man, Paul was struggling pretty significantly. So I think that’s pretty fine that that’s where I’m at. No, I don’t think that that was Paul’s goal. Again, there is a time for the battle. And of course, this should be expected that Paul, who is just as much a man as you and I, would experience that same level of struggle. But I don’t think he’s saying that this is the goal here. No, I think it’s the opposite. He’s not content. He’s not content with this struggle. It’s a frustration. It’s paralyzing him from doing what he knows he needs to do because there is no peace. And what an example hear from David, my soul thirsteth for thee and my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land. Listen, I’m not at the point right now, at least where I’m saying that an evil desire in itself is sin. I don’t know. I don’t know how all that works, but my point is, what’s your goal? What would you like Christ to do? It’s very unlikely. It’s probably not going to happen that he’s just going to take it all away overnight. And I want that to be very clear because many times we come to Christ and that’s it. It’s all or nothing. It’s either you take it away so I don’t even want it anymore, or I’m just going to keep doing it. Well, that’s a cop-out. That’s an easy way out. And that’s refusing to fight the battles. Every one of us is required to fight. Just as the children of Israel, though they were required to trust God to perform the miracles, they still, every time, we’re required to fight. So this isn’t about shrinking from our responsibility and the instruction that we’ve been given all throughout scripture to fight this battle. But the point is, what’s the goal? I just heard from someone who’s been on the cord now for a year and has experienced complete freedom and victory over pornography now for one year during that time. And I love that. That’s awesome. But I wonder if the next step, the next level would be somebody calling to say, you know what? I can’t hardly relate now to my old self. God has changed my desires. Friends, which of us knows what God wants to do in this area of our life? And it’d be pretty sad if this whole time he was just waiting for us to ask and to trust him, and he wanted to give us a greater level of peace. So here, I think, is what it boils down to. Plan for a battle, but pray for and of course we know that that peace is going to come not just from saying no to certain things but by saying yes to staying our mind on Christ I don’t understand it all but I’m telling you it’s Bible and I want it I want that and I want it for each one of you if you’ve got thoughts on this or would like to share something or have a follow up question please feel free to reach out to me ryan at satisfied.org and I’d love to get your thoughts on this aspect of desire but I’m excited to see how this change and shift in our thinking and in our goals and in our prayers will affect our journey to be less gratified and more satisfied with Jesus Christ.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Thee Generation Podcast. If you’ve been blessed or helped in any way by this episode or any other episodes, please consider sharing what God has done in your life. Your testimony could be exactly what someone else needs to take their own step out of the boat.