It’s time to clean up your mind and choose truth! We spoke of this in part 1, and know that dealing with strongholds can be overwhelming and confusing. Let’s face it; we are bombarded by temptation every day through the media, our jobs, friends, family, billboard advertisements, and almost everywhere we shop or vacation! It would be easy for us to think that if God didn’t want us to struggle with strongholds He would keep us away from things that might tempt us, but that’s not how He works. God wants us to trust Him with our strongholds and be honest with ourselves, and Him, about them. He wants us to demolish the lies so that He can fill our hearts and minds with Him and His truth.
I was reading Psalm 48 during my devotions one day and verses 12 & 13 spoke about the Israelites needing to walk around Jerusalem and check its defenses. I have a Life Application Bible so I often read the application at the bottom of the page. The application stated;
“After an enemy army had unsuccessfully besieged Jerusalem, it was important for the people to make a tour of the city, inspecting its defenses and praising God for the protection it had offered. In times of great joy or after God has brought us through some great trial, we ought to inspect our defenses to make sure that the foundations – faith in god, knowledge of his Word, and fellowship and prayers of the body of believers – remain strong. Then we should praise God for his protection.”
It occurred to me, that I need to evaluate how I’m doing and shore up areas I’ve allowed to be infiltrated by lies, or have refused to deal with. Like a computer, I need to check for viruses. Not all viruses are intentional, but they can result from spiritual battles in our minds. If Satan can get us to believe a lie, he gains control over our feelings, behavior and reactions.
Here are a few suggestions for “inspecting your defenses”:
- Do a daily/weekly inventory – go over the things that happened in your day or week; what went right; what went wrong; what and where are some weaknesses that need to be addressed?
- Evaluate if you have unforgiveness towards anyone. Nothing keeps us in bondage or creates strongholds more than unforgiveness. Satan’s greatest success is when people are unwilling to forgive those who have offended them.
- Evaluate lies you may believe. Satan has a field day with those who buy into his lies. We have to keep in the forefront of our minds the fact that Satan is the father of lies, and he will work to destroy our concept of God and our understanding of who we are as His children. Satan can’t do anything about who we are in Christ but he can get us to believe that it isn’t true and encourage us to live as though it isn’t true.
- Repent. If, in our inspection, we find that the thoughts running through our minds are lies we’ve believed and acted on, we need to repent of them so that we can experience freedom, and God’s presence. God cannot coexist with sin.
Rebuking negative thoughts won’t work. We are not called to drive away the darkness; we are called to turn on the light! We can only overcome negative thoughts by choosing the truth!
If you are finding it difficult to sort through the lies you have bought into and the truths in God’s Word, seek out godly counsel. Life In Abundance has safe, godly women who will walk you through this process and help you see who you are in Christ.
By Karen Grotler