“Though we live in this world, we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10: 3-5
Strongholds: Set patterns of reasoning through which we process information!
We ALL have set patterns of reasoning! We just don’t understand that some of these patterns are strongholds so we overlook a pivotal truth. It’s easy to leave the biblical understanding of stronghold right were we find it- on the written pages of scripture. But, when we take the word out …and start tinkering and digging deep into it’s meaning….we find that strongholds can take hold and start building itself a little war IN OUR MIND through the very information that our mind has wrapped itself around.
The scripture above begins talking about waging war and concludes with taking “ our thoughts captive.” A stronghold is actually something that we THINK and believe in. Now, we know that what we believe is important; this concept is the crux of Christianity. So, if a stronghold takes place in the mind of the matter, and if we believe the scripture that references the fact that we need to “destroy” or “put an end to” arguments and pretension, known as strongholds, then we MUST tie these things together and realize that Holy Scripture calls us to destroy certain set patterns of reasoning through which we process and affirm information.
Now, here is the significant directive:
With scripture as a guide we must find those certain belief patterns that are not leading us toward truth. With a new, and, yes, clear understanding we are being called by God to make major changes in the way we think. It is crucial that we begin to “take captive” thought patterns that yield unhealthy speech from within the silence of our thought-life; such as fear-based thoughts, condemnation of ourselves or others, unreasonable negativity that springs up in our minds and then falls out of our mouths, and especially the mental inability to stand firm on the spiritual power that God wields in our lives! We must silence the echoes of thoughts that keep us in a mental famine of sorrow. Over and over, we are called to battle against these set patterns of thought that are allowing our Conquering God to be overthrown, mentally and therefore spiritually. To grow spiritually we must silence the Father of Lies or we will be mislead and quickly fall into his mental trap of offense!
Let’s seek freedom. How? We must begin within the elementary foundation of God’s Word to know the genesis. Here is the ground floor of how the Lord of Lords wants us to think:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent
or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me—
put it into practice.
And the God of peace will be with you. ”
Philippians 4:8&9
If we don’t take captive every thought and make it obedient to the directives of Christ….we WILL begin to self-protect and with that we will eventually BETRAY (ourselves OR others). Betrayal is the ultimate abandonment of a relationship… with our spouse and/or with GOD!!! Interestingly, that very abandonment happens silently in the recesses of our minds!
You can abandon or you can preserve…
It is mentally, spiritually and essentially up to you!
Song Recommendation:
Ever Be
By: Bethel Music and Kalley Heiligenthal
