BubbleBabble

My dear friend,

I picked up this book because I needed to. It wasn’t a random choice or just another trendy read — it was something my heart quietly reached for. Lately, I’ve been walking through a season that feels heavier in my thoughts than in my days. Loneliness has a way of slipping into the mind first, doesn’t it? It sits there quietly, whispering little lies until you start to believe them.

That’s why the title caught me — Winning the War in Your Mind.
It sounded like what I was trying to do but didn’t know how.

I started reading it one evening when I felt especially low. The opening pages spoke of a truth that seemed both simple and piercing:

“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control how you frame it.”

That line alone stopped me. Because while I can’t always change my circumstances, I can ask God to renew how I think about them. That’s what this book is about — changing minds so that lives can change too.

God Created Beauty in Our Minds

Craig Groeschel reminds us that our thoughts shape our lives: “Your life always moves in the direction of your strongest thoughts.” It sounds obvious, but when you think about it, it’s deeply spiritual. The mind is the first place the enemy attacks, planting seeds of fear, doubt, and inadequacy.

For me, this battle often came in the form of loneliness and self-doubt — thoughts like, “You’re only validated if people invite you for hangouts,” or “You’re a lonely person because nobody is texting you.” But Groeschel reminds readers that God has already given us the power to fight back. The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5,

“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

That verse became my banner. Because the truth is, thoughts don’t just disappear on their own — they need to be caught, named, and surrendered. And when we bring them to Jesus, He doesn’t shame us for having them; He transforms them with truth.

Recognizing and Replacing the Lies

One of the most powerful things I learned from this book was how to recognize the lies I was believing and replace them with God’s truth.

I realized I had been clinging to the lie that I needed human validation to feel worthy. Another one whispered that I was only complete when someone else loved or served me. But this book reminded me that these thoughts don’t align with God’s voice.

Groeschel says, “To win the battle for our minds, we must engage, because there is no other way for us to defeat evil. The days of being neutral must be over.”

That line felt like both a challenge and a comfort. Healing isn’t passive. God doesn’t ask us to ignore our thoughts; He invites us to engage them — with prayer, Scripture, and surrender.

The book even walks readers through how to do this: writing down the lie, identifying where it comes from, and replacing it with God’s truth. It reminded me of Philippians 4:8–9:

⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

As Groeschel have said in the book, Paul’s words here move us from thinking to doing to experiencing peace. That’s exactly what this book guided me to do — not just think differently, but to practice truth until peace became a rhythm.

The Mind God Designed

What I also loved about this book is how it connects psychology and Scripture. Groeschel explains that renewing your mind isn’t just a spiritual metaphor — it’s something that can literally reshape your brain. He references research showing how prayer and worship change the brain’s chemistry and strengthen empathy, focus, and peace. In a paragraph, Groeschel says, “Remember Doctor Newburgh, the brain scientist? He’s proven that praising and worshiping God leads to quantifiable changes in brain volume and metabolism, especially in the part of the brain called the cingulate cortex. Turns out an increase in the volume of the cortex results in an increased capacity for compassion, thinking, and feeling. So basically. The cingulate grows, the more empathetic you become.”

Isn’t that amazing? It means that when we praise God, our minds are not only lifted spiritually but healed physically. The more we focus on His truth, the more our hearts and brains align with His design.

This reminded me of 2 Timothy 1:7:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

It’s not God’s will for us to live in mental chaos. He wants us to have sound minds — minds anchored in peace, self-control, and His truth.

So now, when a dark or fearful thought comes, I don’t see it as failure. I see it as an opportunity to engage. To take it captive. To whisper, “Lord, help me reframe this.”

Engaging in the War

Groeschel repeats this idea often: “The only way to win the war is to engage in it.” You can’t win battles you don’t show up for.

This book taught me to pay attention to the moment my thoughts start shifting — the spark of doubt, the quiet voice of comparison — and bring it immediately to Jesus. I started journaling my thought patterns, just as the book suggests. On one side of the page, I’d write the lie. Below it, I’d write first what the Bible says, followed by the truth that I have found to replace the lie. Example:

Lie: I need someone beside me to feel complete.
Bible: Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Mat6v33)
Truth: God is my priority, no matter single or married.

Lie: I am only valid if I am served.
Bible: I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying, ‘You are my servant.’ For I have chosen you and will not throw you away. (Isa41v9)
Truth: God has called me to be His humble servant.

These small exercises turned into sacred moments of honesty. They reminded me that God already knows my heart — as Psalm 139 says,

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
¹⁶ You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

He formed even the most fragile parts of my being. And because He knows my inner world so well, He knows exactly how to heal it.

Each time I surrendered a lie, it felt like dropping a pebble I’d been carrying for years. I didn’t realize how heavy they were until I let them go.

Gentle Takeaways for the Heart

If I could summarize Winning the War in Your Mind in three simple steps, it would be this:

1. Pray for openness. Ask God to reveal the hidden lies in your mind. It’s scary at first, but healing always begins in honesty.
2. Lay it down. Write the lies out. Name them. Bring them to the cross. The book provides practical ways to do this, but what matters most is that it’s between you and God.
3. Replace it with truth. Return to Scripture. Read it out loud. Fill the space once occupied by lies with promises that can’t be shaken.

It’s not a one-time victory. It’s a daily rhythm — a reminder that mental battles are won by persistence in prayer and truth.

If I had to sum up what this book taught me in one line, it would be:
God wants to renew your mind because He loves your heart.

A Prayer for You

Lord, thank You for giving us
minds that can be renewed by Your truth.
When lies whisper, teach us to
hold them captive and bring them to You.
Replace every false belief
with Your Word,
and help us to see ourselves
not through fear, but through faith.
Give us courage to engage, wisdom
to discern, and peace to rest in You.

And friend, if you’ve ever felt like your thoughts were too loud or your peace too fragile, please know this: you are not losing the battle — you are learning to fight it with God beside you.

So next time your mind feels heavy, pause and pray. Because even there, in the quiet war inside your heart, victory already belongs to Him.

With love,