A Battle Of The Mind

“We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.” –  2 Corinthians 10:3-5.   

All of us fight battles — for some, it is the battle of the bulge; while for others, it is the battle of the wills with our children; others it is financial battles. Battles, small or large, can seem to be an everyday event, and in the case of the battle for our minds, it is. Every day, a deadly war between God and Satan is taking place on the battleground of your mind. In a culture that loves to distract and hinder us from our relationship with God, we need the truths of the gospel applied to our minds daily. 

First, we need to pay attention to what is going on in our mind. What are you hearing? What are you thinking? What are you believing?  We are constantly being informed by words and ideas, worldviews and philosophies. Our personal stories are filled with disappointment, brokenness, and pain. And our hearts and heads have been informed by lies, deceit, and accusations from the world and Satan. We cannot let any of those take root and become a stronghold for the devil in our minds.

It often starts with a wound we experience, a hurt or disappointment that makes our heart fertile ground for seeds of lies to be planted. On this foundation, the enemy then begins to build brick by brick, a wall of lies, inaccurate ideas about the person of God, erroneous interpretations of Scripture, and distorted perceptions of how God sees us and feels about us. 

It is much like a trickle of water going down a hill. After a while of steady rain, it carves out a crevice in the hill and it always goes the same path every time the water runs down the hill. Our thoughts work much the same way.  When we continually think about something it forms a “crevice” habit in our mind in both good and bad thoughts.  When they are bad thoughts they become strongholds and these strongholds are the reason we struggle with the same things. If a person keeps failing spiritually over and over again it is a stronghold. And once it is a stronghold, it is more difficult to deal with. 

Tomorrow: Truths that can demolish strongholds. 

Discussion Questions:

1. What is a constant battleground in your life? What do you constantly struggle with?
2. What unhealthy habit or unhealthy thought pattern has a stronghold on you?