OVERCOME STRONGHOLDS IN THE MIND (2)

“Is not MY WORD like a fire?” says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” – Jeremiah 23:29

A huge part of the believer’s spiritual warfare deals with How to OVERCOME STRONGHOLDS in the MIND by the Power of GOD’S WORD: “Is not MY WORD like a fire?” says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jer.23:29). Whether we realise it or not, we are in a War. Paul the apostle referred to the Christian Life as “the good fight of faith” (1Tim.6:12). We’ve noted that the source of every spiritual battle the Believer in Christ will fight is rooted in either the World, the Flesh, or the Devil, and much of this takes place in the Mind. God created us in such a way that we’ll always move in the direction of our dominant thoughts: “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Psa.23:7). What and how we think affects every area of our lives. Our thoughts literally shape our habits and control our lives.

God’s intent is that all our thoughts and actions would be influenced by His Words: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD of GOD” (Lk.4:4). But just as God has a Kingdom agenda that involves His sovereign rule over every area of life, Satan uses deception to accomplish his opposing agenda of bringing the world under his influence and control. Satan and his minions want to capture people’s minds, because the mind is the citadel of the soul! The devil intentionally penetrates the same realms that God works through to manifest His glory: the individual, family, church, and society. He tries to control minds, using the World – beliefs, cultures, ideas, and lives’ experiences – to fill up people’s thoughts and drive their destinies into defeat and destruction.  

God has however equipped us to deal with thoughts that do not align with His Word: “pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled” (2Cor.10: 4-6). A stronghold is a defensive structure. To take thoughts captive means that we reject certain thoughts from infiltrating our being. Strongholds are formed when we fail to reject or overcome such thoughts. They result from wrong thinking or beliefs that have taken root contrary to God’s thoughts; and are most often stirred by the devil’s lies – about self, God or others. Such negative thought patterns give Satan a foothold on our attitudes, behaviour, actions, and habits.

Strongholds in the mind could be in the forms of addiction, anger, fear, loneliness, rejection, and depression. Strongholds do not just sit in the mind doing nothing. They affect behaviour and produce actions and habits, that no matter what one tries, seem impossible to get rid of. Strongholds keep us from enjoying God’s best for our lives. Paul the apostle, describing his days in the flesh, wrote: But I see another law in my members, WARRING against the law of MY MIND, and bringing me into captivity to the Law of SIN which is in my members” (Rom.7:23). We cannot get rid of certain habits or addictions until we change what we believe. Yet, we must pull down the strongholds!

Vital steps to Overcoming Strongholds are: (a) Ask God to reveal the lie we have believed; (b) Repent of believing lies and receive His forgiveness; (c) Ask God to show us the truth; (d) Believe and meditate on the truth; and (e) Exercise our will to choose His Way over ours. Essentially, dismantling Strongholds in the Mind comes through being “transformed by the renewing of (our) mind” (Rom.12:2). By the purifying Fire and shattering hammer of God’s Word, we can overcome Strongholds in the Mind. His Word burns down – like fire, and shatter – like a hammer, the wrong thoughts and lies of the enemy that we believed, and which held us captive. God enables us to capture demonic strongholds that held us captive, as He strengthens the Stronghold of the Holy Spirit in us!