Renewing Your Mind: Strongholds

Like we said last week, the word of God is spirit, so when you focus on God’s word you are more likely to be spiritually minded.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

We see the word telling us that the word of God divides the soul and the spirit, which means that the word of God will cause you to walk in the spirit more, and therefore influence your soul to walk after it. When this happens, you will find it easier to control your body as it follows after the soul. There is no direct connection between your body and your spirit. Your soul is what connects the two. Normally for a carnally minded person, the soul and the body work together, with the absence of the influence of the spirit. For a spiritually minded person, the spirit influences the soul, which in turn influences the body. The point is to win the soul over, as when you do this you will have won the body over as it is a slave of the soul. It sounds easy, but it is not as easy as your soul already has some “strongholds”.

Going back to our text in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, we see Paul saying that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…” verse 4. What are strongholds or spiritual bondage? According to the dictionary, a stronghold is a "well-fortified place, a fortress". Our key text (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) is talking about well-fortified places and fortresses created in our minds, through thoughts. How are they created? When we think about something negative over and over, we create MINDSETS and STRONGHOLDS in our minds that make us think that we can't change, that it's "the way we are". Some examples of these are addictions, bad habits, weaknesses, dirty thinking etc.

These strongholds are shaped by the world, and are mindsets that are created by thinking according to the world. They are strong and fortified, meaning they cannot be easily pulled down, as they took much time and effort to put up. A stronghold is a concept in the war times where people used to build well-fortified places that the enemy cannot penetrate easily. They used to be one of the major ways of keeping a city/ country/ nation/ kingdom safe, and when the stronghold was taken over the whole city/ country/ nation/ kingdom was taken over. David in 2 Samuel 5:6-7 took over the whole of Jerusalem by first taking over the stronghold, which was Zion. Only a stronger and wittier enemy with mightier weapons could pull down strongholds, but first they had to have an understanding of how the strongholds were set up, and how they can be destroyed. This is why spies had to be sent first.

This is the imagery Paul used in our key text, when he talks about strongholds. Picture having such in your mind, that have been built by wrong thinking. Any positive thinking or truth that threatens to penetrate your mind will be met by opposition from the stronghold, and it will take something stronger to destroy the stronghold. This is only done through the spiritual weapons, of the word of God, prayer and praise.

What the word of God does is demolish the strongholds, and replace it with truth, through renewing the mind. Renewing the mind is not a one-time thing, as it is undoing what took months and in most cases years to build. The process is so thorough that Paul again calls it “transforming”:

Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

The only hindrance to us presenting our bodies as a living, holy and acceptable sacrifice to God is our thoughts. This is why Paul tells us not to be conformed to the patterns of the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. To be transformed means to be changed from one state to another. The moment we were born, the world goes to work, trying to conform you or mold you into behaving and being like it. Remember, the enemy is the god of the world (2 Corinthians 4:4), so it’s him who’s working through the world to conform you to his patterns, of evil and sin. The only way to avoid being conformed by the world is to allow the word of God to transform us, to change us from one state to another. This only happens through the renewal of our minds.

To renew something means to make it new again. We talked of programming; renewing of the mind is even better than programming, as it restores to a newer state. Basically, Paul is talking about making your mind new again, just the way God made it originally. This is not magic, and does not come automatically. It takes effort. This is what Jesus means in John 8:31-32:

“…If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  

The word of God is not only living and powerful, but is also a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). This means that the word of God, when you abide in it, will tell you when you are going off and thus keep you from falling back into your former ways. It will tell you the thought that is from God, and one that is from the devil, working through the flesh. The word of God is the litmus test of thoughts. If it does not align to the word of God, it is not of God and should not be accepted in your mind, in your heart. You shall only know the truth when you abide in God’s word, and only then will the truth set you free. This re-emphasizes the point that renewing the mind is a process, and not a one-time thing.

Prayer is fellowship/ communion with God. As you fellowship with God, you draw on grace and strength to enable you demolish the strongholds. God knows you and is the one who formed you, and knows your every thought, every word even the unspoken ones, your heart, soul and ways (Psalm 94:11, 139:1-4, 23-24; Proverbs 24:12; Luke 16:15). He wants to help you, and prayer is one way of getting Him involved. The Bible tells us in James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” You have to humble enough to tell God, “I cannot do this on my own, I need your help.” You have to be humble enough to allow God to show you where you are erring and the strongholds in your life, to deliberately spend time in the word of God so that you ensure that you thinking is always aligned to the word of God and is always being renewed. When you do this He makes His grace, which is sufficient for you, to be available, and His strength to be made perfect in your weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9). Before you resist the devil, you have to submit to God (James 4:7), and yield yourself to Him. As you fellowship with God through prayer, you will find it easier to pull down the strongholds, by His grace and strength.

On your own, you cannot think any good or meaningful thought, which is why you need God:

Psalm 94:11
The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.

When you submit to God and always follow the promptings of the Spirit, you will find yourself thinking meaningful thoughts, which are based on the word of God.

While strongholds are being destroyed through studying the word of God and prayer, which may take time as it’s a process, sometimes you may feel discouraged, feel like the process is taking too long. You may be tempted to focus on mistakes, when you find yourself erring and sinning. In times such as this, remember that it is not your works that make you acceptable to God, it is the blood of Christ, it is grace and mercy. God knew and loved you and was merciful and gracious to you when you were still a sinner, how much more will He not love you and be merciful and gracious to you NOW that you are His beloved son/ daughter?

Romans 5:8-9
But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Hebrews 4:15-16
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but  was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 8:12
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

While the strongholds are being broken and you find yourself having sinned, do not condemn yourself or allow the devil to. Repent, receive forgiveness, mercy and grace, rise up back again and go back to fighting the war through the spiritual weapons. Assure your heart and hold on to your confession, believing that the stronghold is being broken, and the One who said they can be brought down is faithful to see them brought down.

1 John 3:19-20
And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

Hebrews 10:19-23
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, … let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of  our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

As the stronghold is being destroyed, this is where you apply praise, the other spiritual weapon. Praise is a sacrifice to God, which helps us to focus on God and Him alone. Praise shifts the focus from whatever you are dealing with, to God.

Hebrews 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Strongholds can be broken. Take a moment and evaluate yourself, allowing the Spirit of God to point out any strongholds in your life. Mindsets, habits, addictions, beliefs etc. that you have come to believe cannot go away, and have accepted the lie that that's who you are. Maybe you believe you're naturally angry, bitter, deceptive, cunning, a fornicator, masturbator, porn addict, evil thinker, hater etc., and that you cannot change. That's a lie from the devil, do not accept it. Ask yourself, "do I resemble Christ?" "What habit is keeping me from reflecting Christ in may daily life?" The process of pulling down strongholds begins with you admitting that you have a stronghold, then applying the principles we have talked about.

The weapons of our warfare, prayer, praise and the word of God, are mighty in God to pull down any stronghold and enable you to live a life that is totally reflecting Christ. 



-- Sam Gitonga.



(19/01/14 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.)

Brother Sam Gitonga is a Youth Leader at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.

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