37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind , that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1-2
In Peter 1:13, Peter commands the Christian to “gird up the loins of your mind”. To “gird up. . .” is to prepare for battle .
Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind , be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 1 Peter 1:13
“The stronghold of the mind is therefore the strategic centre of the ‘war’ with the ‘god of this age’, because it is primarily through the mind that he holds holds captives in his power.” (Lewis, Jesse Penn, The Battle for the Mind, p. 4)
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 verifies Satan’s strategic war on the mind. It states the devil has ” blinded the minds ” of unsaved people.
These “imaginations” will influence and control you
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
“The mind of the Christian is also the strategic centre of the ‘war on the saints’ which Satan wages with ceaseless and fiendish skill. And for this reason. The mind is the vehicle for the Spirit of God, dwelling in the spirit of the believer. . .” (Ibid, p.4)
The Bible in 2 Corinthians 10:5 instructs the Christian to cast down “imaginations”. Images are what is flashing across the movie screen theaters. The rest of the verse proves this point, “. . bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” – every thought – the “thinking process” of the mind.
Casting down imaginations , and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Corinthians 10:5
Jesse Penn Lewis, comments on 2 Corinthians 10:5 with the reasoning “The Holy Spirit, dwelling in the spirit needs the mind as a channel for expression.”
“If the mind is the vehicle of the Spirit it is absolutely necessary that the Spirit of God should have full possession of it, with every “rebellious thought’ brought into captivity to Christ. The Holy Spirit, dwelling in the spirit needs the mind as a channel for expression.” (Ibid, p. 5)
As much as possible, the Holy Spirit requires a clean, uncluttered and obedient mind to perform His work. To corrupt your mind with false “images” is to hinder the ability of the Holy Spirit to “speak” to you.
Imaginations come from the root word “images”
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3
Perhaps the greatest spiritual damage The Passion does is that it plants an “imagination” of the Lord Jesus into the mind that perverts the ability of the Holy Spirit to paint the true picture.