Understanding Mental Strongholds
God has provided us with every necessary tool to effectively tear down mental strongholds, but first we must understand what a stronghold is and how it can be removed. Our salvation experience is the first stage in God’s plan for our lives.
His goal is to remold our soul, mind, will, and emotions -- into the image of Jesus Christ. We will be transformed into His character and power if we cooperate with Him. It is important that we understand that our spirits were made perfect upon salvation, but what God deposited there must be moved into our body and soul areas.
We must recognize that God is in a continual process of working within us until the day of His great appearing. Bible truths must manifest in our body, mind, will, and emotions. To reveal Jesus in us, we must pull down strongholds and demolish and remove our old ways of thinking. Spiritual warfare is a battle against anything that sets itself up against the truth, hindering us in God. That is why we must destroy every stronghold, first in ourselves, and then in other people through intercession.
The Scripture says “First take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
Luke 6:42 (NIV)
We win the war one life at a time, and we must begin with ourselves. We are effective when we are healthy in God, then we can pluck others from the grasp of the enemy. Strongholds cloud our discernment and make it difficult to see clearly. These strongholds form a firewall between our spirit, and our body and soul. A firewall is used as a barrier to prevent a fire from spreading. The fire within us is the Holy Spirit.
“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:3-4 (NIV)
“Do not put out the Spirit's fire;” 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NIV)
“For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29 (NKJV)
A stronghold acts as a firewall, holding back the contents of what God deposited in our spirit at the moment of salvation. All truth, faith, fruits, and gifts of the Spirit are accessible to us when we remove the strongholds. When we pursue God and His truth, the firewall comes down a piece at a time and the block is removed.
The power of the Holy Spirit can then flow from the spirit into our body and soul. We must be willing to let God search us and tear down every stronghold. We destroy strongholds by identifying thinking patterns, belief systems, attitudes, and motives that stand opposed to God’s truth and replace them with the Word of God. In counseling this is the work of identifying cognitive distortions, faulty core beliefs and reframing them to agree with God. All of our emotions and behaviors proceed from these patterns of thought.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, 3 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not [a]carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 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,”
This is not a request but a command. It is our ongoing process of sanctification – being set apart for God’s purpose. Consider your thought processes and ask God to reveal your mental strongholds and help you to tear them down so that you can align yourself with the Word of God with every thought and action. You will see the fruit of this in your emotional and relational life. God’s strength is sufficient to do this when we make the choice. Invite Him to lead you in this ongoing process today. I can expediate this process by teaching you the 'how to' tools to accomplish this task.
