I wrote this a few years ago and needed to revisit it. I hope it ministers to you as it has to me.
“Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on earth” (Colossians 3:2).
It’s so easy to get caught up in the chaos or the frills of the world. Our purposeful vision becomes altered when our thoughts about life are negative. There is always something to thank God for each day. I have been in a battle against my own mind recently. I was having thoughts that were not of God and not of His truth. I was caught off guard and began thinking, ” this is weird. Why is this happening to me? Why am I having these thoughts?” As I began to study the Word and pray, I realized that those thoughts were of the devil. I was reminded of the above scripture and this one as follows, ” Dear friends,when the fiery ordeal arises among you to test you, don’t be surprised by it, as if something unusual were happening to you. Instead, as you share in the sufferings of the Messiah rejoice, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of His glory” (1Peter 4:12 HCSB). The devil is tricky and will try to manipulate us,distracting us from fulfilling our purpose or to cause us to have a, “bad day.” We must stay alert, when thoughts of depression, hurt, anger, frustration, lust, etc invade our minds and we must replace them with Heavenly ones. The devil is looking for someone to trap, but we know that we have the victory through Christ! God said that we are His people, that He loves us like no other, that we are beautiful, that we are a “Royal Priesthood,” that He wants the best for us, that His timing is precious. He calmed the waters from the storm and He can calm the storms of our on minds. Surrender it all to Him today. Spiritual Growth is a journey. As long as we continue to set our thoughts on things above, we will be alright through the power of the Holy Spirit!
a daughter of destiny 
Good evening,
I’d like to thank you for sharing this experience. As I was reading it and meditating on it, of course, I came up with few questions, but I’d only ask couple of them:
1. As a believer aka “follower of Christ”, what should I do to avoid those obstacles or pressures?
If can’t,
2. How should I remain persistent in the battle?
First, thank you for reading and thank you for your questions. I pray that I can answer them clearly for you. As believers and followers of Christ we will be tested. Tests and trials aren’t necessarily avoidable. Now, as we grow, there may be places we shouldn’t go anymore, things we shouldn’t do or people we need not hang around. But we will always face battles as believers in Christ (Ephesians 6:12). We should rejoice as we suffer because we know that it will strengthen our faith. Roman 5:3-5 states, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.” Paul reminds us that tests and trials help us to realize and know where our strength comes from and that when we have these tests, which are sometimes from God we should humble ourselves, leaning on Him for strength (2 Corinthians 12:1-10). As we grow stronger in the Lord sometimes these things happen to refine us and strengthen our faith. To persevere through the battles we face, remain in the Word, meditate on it and study it (1 Peter 5:7)(Philippians 4:6-7).Pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).Sometimes sharing with a few other believers will help you through (James 5:16). We need the support and prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ. But most importantly, pray through and draw nearer to Christ.
God bless you!
To add I say they aren’t avoidable because this is a sin sick world that we live in (Ephesians 6) and while we have our salvation through Christ as believers, we are still sinners saved by Grace (Ephesians 2:8, Romans 3:23) .
So it makes me think that one should not fight for victory, but from the victory for Jesus Christ has already defeated satan! And our part is to execute the victory by standing your ground. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the whiles of the devil,” (Ephesians 6:11).
God bless you, too!