Free Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer

nothing about giving away only old things! It would be more of a sacrifice for me to give the dress away because it was new, but it would also be more of a blessing to Ruth Ann.
    As I opened up my heart to God, He began to show me that I had purchased the dress for Ruth Ann to begin with; that was the reason I could never bring myself to wear it. The Lord had intended to use me as His agent to bless her all the time. But I'd had my own idea about the dress and, until I was willing to lay down my idea, I could not be led by the Spirit.
    This particular incident taught me a lot. The realization of how easily we can be led by our heads and allow reasoning to keep us out of God's will provoked in me a "reverential" fear of reasoning.
    Remember, according to 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural man does not understand the spiritual man. My carnal mind (my natural man) did not understand giving away a new dress I had never worn, but my spirit (my spiritual man) understood it well.
    I hope this example will bring more understanding to you in this area and help you walk in the will of God more than ever before.
    (By the way, I know you're probably wondering if I ever gave Ruth Ann the red dress. Yes, I did, and now she works in our office full time and still wears the red dress to work occasionally.)
    BE A DOER OF THE WORD!
    But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. James 1:22
    Any time we see what the Word says and refuse to do it, reasoning has somehow gotten involved and deceived us into believing something other than the truth. We cannot spend excessive time trying to understand (mentally) everything the Word says. If we bear witness in the spirit, we can move ahead and do it.
    I have found out that God wants me to obey Him, whether or not I feel like it, want to or think it is a good idea.
    When God speaks, through His Word or in our inner man, we are not to reason, debate or ask ourselves if what He has said is logical.
    When God speaks, we are to mobilize - not rationalize.
    TRUST GOD. NOT HUMAN REASON
    Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. Proverbs 3:5
    In other words, do not rely on reasoning. Reasoning opens the door for deception and brings much confusion.
    I once asked the Lord why so many people are confused and He said to me, "Tell them to stop trying to figure everything out, and they will stop being confused." I have found it to be absolutely true. Reasoning and confusion go together.
    You and I can ponder a thing in our heart, we can hold it before the Lord and see if He desires to give us understanding, but the minute we start feeling confused, we have gone too far.
    Reasoning is dangerous for many reasons, but one of them is this: we can reason and figure something out that seems to make sense to us. But what we have reasoned to be correct may still be incorrect.
    The human mind likes logic and order and reason. It likes to deal with what it understands. Therefore, we have a tendency to put things into neat little bins in the compartments of our mind, thinking, "This must be the way it is because it fits so nicely here." We can find something our minds are comfortable with and still be totally wrong.
    The Apostle Paul said in Romans 9:1, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying; my conscience [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me. Paul knew he was doing the right thing, not because his reasoning said it was right, but because it bore witness in his spirit.
    As we have seen, the mind does, at times, aid the spirit. The mind and the spirit do work together, but the spirit is the more noble organ and should always be honored above the mind.
    If we know in our spirit that a thing is wrong, we should not allow reasoning to talk us into doing it. Also, if we know something is right, we