June 14, 2004

"Strongholds of the Mind"

We can have many kinds of thoughts.  There can be false guilt.  There is a good sense of guilt, but there is also false guilt.  There can be self-condemnation.  There will always be things that will make us think less of ourselves.  Satan works that way in our minds, whereas God will always build us up.  He'll always affirm us.  He does correct, reprove, and chastise us but it's done with such love that it won't break us.  It won't shatter us.  God will never put us down.  So when you begin to see that you're going down, know that your thought life is in trouble. 

Strongholds in our thinking patterns can be so hidden that we don't even recognize them as evil.  We need the power of the Holy Spirit constantly.  "Show me, show me, show me.  Let me see the fruit of this.  Let me see what this action produced."  Sometimes the only way that we are able to detect if there's something else within ourselves is by the fruit it produces.  We may see that our actions are not bearing good fruit or the fruits of the Spirit.  Bottom line, the fruit of the Spirit will always be Jesus.

For example, when our thought life is in agreement with unbelief, if that's how we're thinking, if we constantly have fear, if we're in habitual sin, then the enemy will rest in that.  There won't even be any manifestations of His presence because he's totally at home because we've made him at home.  Often we're so comfortable with these thought patterns that we're not even aware that we've given him an environment to rest in.  But once we become aware of them, then there will be a period of wrestling with them because the enemy has a stronghold.  A stronghold means that he has a strong hold.  He isn't going to want to go.  So we need to wrestle with him for some time especially if the hold is strong.  We are wrestling to remove his power and his lies from our mind with the truth of God.  We are bringing every thought that exalts itself against God into captivity.  We are bringing every thought into captivity that in any way goes against God, Scripture, the teachings of the Church, or authentic authority.  We need to look at each of these areas.  If our thoughts are going counter to that, then we need to bring them into captivity with Jesus. 

How do we do this?  We can look objectively at any  thought or attitude that does not conform to the likeness of Jesus or His teachings.  We have to look at our thoughts objectively.  If we look at it subjectively, then we're not going to see it because we can talk ourselves into or out of anything.  We have to look at this thought pattern or this attitude objectively.  Does it conform to the teachings of Jesus?  If not, we have a power to do something about it.  We can take authority over it right away.  Scripture refers to this as binding and loosening ( see Mt 16:19).  We command it to go, and we ask God to come with His truth.  Or if you prefer, ask God to come with truth, and it will go.  We can bind it and make it inactive so that it will not be speaking to our mind and "inspiring" us.  Then when the Holy Spirit comes, He can throw it out.  His perfect Love, the Spirit of Truth, will take care of it.  So we call on Him-we can't do it alone.

We might have a stronghold of failure.  We might have a constant attitude that, "I'm a loser.  I never win.  Nothing good is going to happen to me."  Whatever that erroneous thought is, capture it and attack it with God's truth.  Attack it with something that Jesus has said.  It may be helpful to jot it down and put it on your refrigerator or in your Bible where you can see it often.  Truth is a powerful counterattack.  We need our mind to be filled with His truth.  For example, if we have this stronghold of failure, a Scripture that comes to my mind is, "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" (see Phil 4:13).  Yes, we are losers if we try it by ourselves.  Satan will always give us half-truths.  Sometimes he will give us ninety-percent truths or ninety-nine percent truths.  We need to know Truth.  We need to know the Word.  We need to know Scripture.  And we need to believe it.  St. Paul said, "When I am powerless, it is then that I am strong" (2Cor 12:10) and "I can do all things in Him" (see Phil 4:13).  Jesus said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).  This is truth.          

Excerpt from Powers and Principalities Conference, "Sword of Truth: offensive prayer," Omaha, NE, 2003.