Whoa Nellie

As a child, I had this romantic view of horses, always dreaming of having one. I remember riding by fields with horses in them and saying, "those are my horses." When I was about 12 years old, we moved to a 20 acre lot in Louisiana and my dream came true; my dad bought two old horses, but when I got close to "old Nellie", as we called her, my illusions evaporated and in their place I saw this muscle-bound, powerful creature who, every now and then, released that intimidating power through her nose, snorting loudly. I was terrified inside, but I got on her anyway, and my brother warned me not to let Nellie step into the fence-post holes that he and my dad had just finished digging, but had not yet filled with poles. I am of the sad kind of person that as soon as you give me a warning, I'm certain that that is exactly what I'm going to do, somehow destined now to screw it up. So I got extremely nervous, to which some kind, helpful spectator shouted "don't get nervous, they can sense your fear". "Great!" I thought, too late now, and, as if she really could sense my fear, Nellie took off running down our gravel driveway, knocking me flat on my back, but not out of the saddle.
Thus began the most terrifying ride of my life.
I knew that in a half mile, we would come out on the highway, so as my head bounced on the horse's rump, I started thinking about my options. How was I going to get out of this muddle I had gotten myself into?  I should just roll off the horse onto the ground, but that brilliant idea was abandoned as soon as I glanced over the side and saw the speed with which the gravel was streaking by. There was a moment when I resigned myself to my fate. "Oh well, there was nothing I could do about it," I thought, "I'm completely at the mercy of this horse, I'm going to die." I didn't think I could sit up on the horse, let alone stop her. Then, out of nowhere, "do something" swooped in like a super-hero and I did. Miraculously still holding onto the reins, I managed to pull myself up and bring Nellie to a stand still at the top of a rise, just short of the highway, and just in time to see my big brother, half way down the drive, coming after me on the other horse. Having jumped on with no time to adjust the stirrups, he looked very comical, bumping down the road with his knees sticking out the side of the horse like wings.

Sometimes our minds and our thoughts run away with us. We find ourselves flattened out by the things we think; they carry us away, bouncing us along against our will it seems, and feeling helpless to stop them. Do you ever feel as if you are at the mercy of your mind, that it chooses to run off with your thoughts and you can do nothing to stop it?

"For though we walk in the flesh (as in, we are in these bodies until we die or are taken up with Christ), we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."
fortresses: strongholds, not a common word in classical Greek according to Strong's concordance, but used in this occasion, figuratively, of false arguments which may serve as a place of refuge from reality.

Where are those fortresses that divine weapons can tear down?
"We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ," 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

This war is being waged right in my mind, every waking moment and sometimes even in my sleep. I feel completely unprepared for it, most often cowering behind the rubble trying to not get hit. Sometimes I fight back, rising up and launching a counter attack, shooting arrows of arguments, only to drop and hide from the bombarding that comes in reply. I'm feeble. I'm tired. I want to give up. I want it to stop. I want to lie down and sleep.

Oh, no you don't!
If you go to battle with weapons of the flesh, you are guaranteed defeat, guaranteed to give up and give Satan a foothold, but you have divine weapons, have real spiritual power.
Don't bother with whether you feel like warfare or not, that's a waste of time. You are in this, whether you want to or not. Are you ready?

Be strong in the Lord. Put down your flesh and put on the full armor of God. Stand firm, with truth, righteousness and salvation strapped on. Don't launch arguments anymore, you will never win, instead, take up the shield of faith, blocking and deflecting those fiery darts. With the helmet of salvation and the Word of God, lies will no longer have a foothold in your mind. Speak truth to yourself in the Spirit, and never stop praying. Ephesians 6:10-18

And if you can't remember all of that, when you do catch your mind running away, just say "whoaaaa, Nellie".