40687 JM copyright page r13tr 3/30/07 11:03 AM Page iv

If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware

that this book may have been stolen property and reported as unsold
and destroyed to the publisher. In such case neither the author nor
the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

Copyright 2006 by Joyce Meyer

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,
no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Inter-
national Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used
by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copy-
right The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible 1971. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from The New King James Version. Copyright
1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible. Old Testament copyright
1965, 1987 by Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan. New Testament copyright
1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California. Used by permission.
FaithWords
Hachette Book Group USA
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Visit our Web site at www.faithwords.com.
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition: June 2006
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
The FaithWords name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group USA.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyer, Joyce
Battlefield of the mind for teens : winning the battle in your mind /
Joyce Meyer with Todd Hafer.1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: A guide to overcoming the worries of the world, written
specifically for teen readersProvided by the publisher.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-446-69764-4
1. Christian teenagersReligious life. 2. Thought and thinkingReligious aspects
Christianity. 3. Spiritual warfare. I. Hafer, Todd. II. Title.
BV4531.3.M49 2006
248.8'3dc22 2005034011
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2
3
CONTENTS 4
5
6
7
8
9
PART ONE Its All About the Mind 1

Chapter 1 This Is Your Mind . . . This Is Your Mind in a

Battle 7
Chapter 2 John, Mary, and the Blended Family That Doesnt
Wanna Blend 13
Chapter 3 Just Who Do You Think You Are? 23

Chapter 4 Perseverance = Payoff 29

Chapter 5 The Power of the Positive 33

2
Chapter 6 Dont Let Satan Put Your Mind in a Bind 41
2
Chapter 7 Think About What Youre Thinking About 46 2
2
2
PART TWO Hows Your Head? 53 2
2
Chapter 8 Is My Mind Normal, or What? 59
2
Chapter 9 Oh, Where Has My Mind Run Off to This 2
Time? 63 2
3
3
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vi Contents

PART THREE Six States You Do Not Want to Live In 69

2
Chapter 10 The State of Confusion 73
3
4 Chapter 11 The States of Doubt and Unbelief 80

5 Chapter 12 The State of Worry 88

6
Chapter 13 The State of Judgment 92
7
8 Chapter 14 The State of Passivity 96

9
0
PART FOUR Unheavenly Head-Spaces 101
2
3 Unheavenly Head-Space #1 I dont wanna take responsibility for
4 my spiritualityisnt that what we have pastors
5 and parents for? 105
6 Unheavenly Head-Space #2 My future is determined by my past
7
and my present. 108
8
9 Unheavenly Head-Space #3 Its my way or the highway. 111

0 Unheavenly Head-Space #4 Life is too hard for me to take

cant God make it easier? 116
2
Unheavenly Head-Space #5 Life is so unfairdoesnt that give
3
me the right to complain? 118
4
5 Unheavenly Head-Space #6 My behavior might be wrongbut
6 its not my fault. 123
7 Unheavenly Head-Space #7 I have a right to feel sorry for myself
8 my life stinks! 127
9
0
Unheavenly Head-Space #8 Im not a very good person, so I dont
deserve Gods blessings. 131
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Contents vii

Unheavenly Head-Space #9 Why shouldnt I be jealous? Most of

the people I know are better off than I am! 133 2
3
Conclusion WWJT Is Your WMD! 138
4
5
Notes 149
6
Bibliography 153
7
8
9

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2
ER
CHAPT 3

1 4
5
6
7
8
9
This Is Your Mind . . .
This Is Your Mind
in a Battle
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against
the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12
2
2
2
2

A
re you feeling a little tired lately? Confused? Depressed? 2
Kicked-around? Its no wonderyoure in a war. 2
However, your war isnt a conventional battle that can 2
be fought with conventional weapons. Take a look at the scrip- 2
ture that begins this chapter. This warfare isnt with other human 2
beings. Not your arch nemesis at school. Not your teachers. Not 2
your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. Not even your parents. 3
Your enemy is Satan himself, the ex-angel-turned-deviland 3

7
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8 Joyce Meyer

his demonic forces. (The Amplified version of the Bible calls

2 them master spirits.) Satans coming after you with a carefully
3 crafted plan of attack, one you might not even see coming. In
4 fact, you might not even believe youre in a war at all. Thats one
5 of your enemys best tricksdeception.
6 Satan is a liar. Jesus called him the father of lies and of all that
7 is false (John 8:44 AMP). Here are some of his deceptive lines,
8 which hell use as he tries to control your mind. How many of
9 them have you heard, in one form or another?
0
You dont need to listen to your parents, your pastor, your
2 youth leaders, and all those other people who try to tell you
3 how to live. I mean, look at em, those incompetent hyp-
4 ocrites. Look at all their flaws and inconsistencies. This is your
5 life. Live it your way.
6 Drinking, drugs, and sex wont really hurt you. All of those
7 horror stories wont happen to you. Its just a big scare tactic.
8 Adults just dont want you to have any funeven though they
9 had plenty when they were your age. They just want to control
0 you.
Do you really believe in the devil? Some red-skinned bald
2 dude with a pointy tail and a pitchfork? An intelligent person
3 like you? Get realthats a myth. There is no devil, and there
4 is no hell. And, by the way, there is no God or heaven, either.
5 Right now is all there is. So, get yours while you can.
6 Come on, admit it: You have doubts about God all the time. If
7 God was real, why would He allow those doubts to creep up
8 inside of your head?
9 If there really was a God who cared, would you feel as lonely
0 as you do, as overwhelmed by life as you do, as powerless to
change things?
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Battlefield of the Mind FOR TEENS 9

Have you ever felt like someone was peppering your mind
with questions and concerns like these? Thats how Satan works. 2
He plants all kinds of nagging thoughts, suspicions, and doubts in 3
your mind. He moves slowly, according to his well-laid plans for 4
you. Always remember that when it comes to destroying your 5
life, Satan has a custom-tailored battle strategy just for you. He 6
has studied you for a long time. And hes going to attack you where 7
youre weak, where youre curious, where youre inconsistent. 8
For example, he knows your insecurities. If you are self- 9
conscious about your physical appearance, the devil might devise
a plan to bring someone into your life who tells you that youre
hot, someone who makes you feel attractive. Then, this person
youve welcomed into your life might start to pressure you for
sex. You know you shouldnt, but you dont want to risk losing
someone who makes you feel so good about yourself.
So now Satan can sit back and watch you squirm. Hes put his
secret weapon in place. He has timeand your raging hormones
on his side. He knows that you cant click on the TV, power
up your computer, or open a magazine without seeing sexual
content of some sort. (For example, there are more than 4 million 2
pornographic Web sites on the Internet.) Hell invest as much 2
time as it takes to bring you down. The devil is short in a lot 2
of areas, but patience isnt one of them. He has patience to 2
spare. 2
Fortunately for you, youre not going into the battle un- 2
armed. The Bible, Gods holy message, assures you, For the 2
weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and 2
blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and 2
destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments 2
and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing 3
that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and 3
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10 Joyce Meyer

we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedi-
2 ence of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed one) (2 Corinthians
3 10:4-5 AMP).
4 Now, you might be asking yourself, What are these strong-
5 holds that Im supposed to overthrow and destroy? Think of it this
6 way: Satan wants to play you like a video game, conquering one
7 level at a time. Lets go back to our sexual-temptation example.
8 Satans not going to try to turn you from a pure person into a
9 promiscuous, out-of-control sex addict overnight.
0 No, hes much more likely to get you interested in a sexually
suggestive-yet-mainstream moviethe kind thats in movie the-
2 aters and on basic cable TV all the time. Or maybe an Internet
3 chat room where the conversation occasionallybut not all the
4 timeturns inappropriate.
5 Next, you might find yourself visiting Web sites you know you
6 shouldnt, or taking your interest in suggestive movies to the next
7 levelgraduating from typical cable fare to pay-per-view stuff
8 that turns up the sexual heat.
9 And so it goes. The same kind of thing happens with drugs,
0 drinking, cheating, and lying. How many of your friends have you
heard lying to their parents, via cell phone, about where they are,
2 whom they are with, and what they are doing? Those lies, most
3 likely, were probably more innocuous at firstlike Sure, Mom, I
4 ate breakfast this morning, or, Honest, Dad, we werent assigned
5 any homework this weekend. But those Level 1 lies soon be-
6 came Level 2, and so on.
7 Are you beginning to see Satans sneaky war strategy? Is it
8 scaring you, at least a little? Good. Every good soldier approaches
9 battle with a heightened sense of awareness. Only a fool would
0 charge into a war and not be aware of what is at stake.
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Battlefield of the Mind FOR TEENS 11

The Dirty Dozen: 12 Ways Todays Teens Are Losing 2

the Battle for Their Mindsand for Their Lives
3
1. Almost half of all 9th- through 12th-graders have had 4
sexincluding 61 percent of high-school seniors. (And 5
teens who watch lots of sex on TV are more than twice 6
as likely to have sex as those who are more discerning 7
about their TV viewing.)1,2 8
2. Nearly half of people under the age of 21 who drink al- 9
cohol, binge-drink. (Binge-drinking is defined as having
five or more drinks on one occasion.) More than 500,000
young people are unintentionally injured every year
while under the influence of alcohol. And about 1,500 of
this number die as a direct result of alcohol abuse, such
as alcohol poisoning.3
3. Seventy-three percent of teens say they see at least one
act of discrimination a month, but only 22 percent speak
up and do something about it.4
4. Parents and teens are not on the same pageor even in
the same bookwhen it comes to sex. While half of 2
todays teens are sexually active, 84 percent of parents 2
believe their kids are not sexually active. Meanwhile, 87 2
percent of teens say it would be easier to delay sex if they 2
could have more open, honest talks with parents.5 2
5. One in six of todays young females are drunk when they 2
lose their virginity. (One in seven say their partner was 2
drunk, as well.)6 2
6. The United States has the highest STD and teen-pregnancy 2
rates in the developed world. In fact, the U.S. rate of teen 2
pregnancy is double that of any other industrialized nation.7 3
3
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12 Joyce Meyer

7. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among Ameri-

2
cans ages 15 to 24.8
3
8. More than 4 million teens become infected with an STD
4
each year.9
5
9. Almost one in four 8th-graders has tried huffing
6
using household chemicals like paint thinner or type cor-
7
rector to get high.10
8
10. Every year in the United States, more than 800,000 girls
9
19 and under get pregnant.11
0
11. The average age at which teens start taking drugs is 13.12
12. Among sexually active high-school seniors, more than 21
2
percent have had four or more sex partners.13
3
4
5
Okay, lets take a look at what weve learned so far.
6
1. You are engaged in a war.
7
2. Satan is your enemy.
8
3. Your own mind is the battleground.
9
4. The devil will work diligently to establish strongholds in
0
your mind, conquering the territory piece by piece, just
like a master gamer conquers a video game.
2
5. The devil works to achieve victory by strategy and de-
3
ceitbattle plans and lies. One of his best lies is to con-
4
vince you that he doesnt exist.
5
6. Your enemy is in no hurry. Hes going to take his time. He
6
doesnt need to win now. He just wants to win in the end.
7
8
9 Now, lets move on to the next chapter and see another way
0 that a satanic plan can work its cruel results.