Stronghold is a military term for a fortress, a fortified place, a term the Apostle Paul used figuratively of mind structures - fortresses made of thoughts. We allow strongholds to form in our mind by not resisting, by not bringing every wayward thought into captive obedience to Christ, into subjection to the Holy Spirit. Said another way, when we allow wayward thoughts unchecked, without resistance, we “give place” to the enemy, we give him a door of access to flood our mind with his thoughts. Anxiety, worry, depression, oppression, sinful thoughts, fears -- whatever the form of the enemy’s assault -- must go, for “In Christ I died, in His name I refuse. I am dead to that.” This is the divine mantra of the Holy Spirit for those who are “In Christ.” Our job is to align our hearts with the reality of the victory of the Cross so that we can see His divine purposes and release the power out-flowing from His resurrection. By declaring our position in Christ we declare the thing attacking our mind to be dead, and dead things have no power over us. The enemy is defeated and must flee. Now pulling down strongholds of the mind is warfare; they were not formed in a day and will take time to destroy. We must persist in this offensive for the Peace of God for that is what is at stake in this battle. Every time a wayward thought presents itself, no matter how frequent, speak this divine mantra to it: “In Christ I died, in His name I refuse. I am dead to that.” Then, and this is very important, “set your mind on things above”: “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report … meditate on these things … and the God of peace will be with you.” Success will require due diligence for this is a battle that can only be won through perseverance. As the enemy realizes his attacks are only moving you God-ward and refocusing your mind on the Kingdom, the attacks will cease. Persistence will make this a habit of choice... a spiritual discipline, and God’s peace will abound.
MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS
A HABIT OF CHOICE
No comments:
Post a Comment