31 Days of Victory: {Day 8} The Battlefield

“For though we live in the 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 up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.“ - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

The scriptures above have been positively instrumental in my life. In fact, in preparing to write this post I’ve been fighting tears of joy while I sit in awe over the healing work that God has done in my mind… okay, there’s no more fighting it. Now the tears are just flowing {I’m so thankful for freedom}.

I have been praying earnestly for you and if you haven’t yet experienced the incredible freedom in your thought life that God says is available, I pray that these words will be an aid to you on the road to liberty.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Aside from understanding the gospel, I believe understanding the battlefield of the mind is one of the biggest keys to experiencing the spiritual freedom that was purchased for us on the cross. Our thoughts directly affect every single area of our life including our perception of God, of ourselves, of our circumstances, and our perception of the ability to be victorious in Christ. Our thoughts determine our actions, our responses, our fears, our struggles, our addictions, our compulsion, and our insecurities—they all find their home in our minds.  

I find it interesting that right in the middle of a passage about waging war with weapons of divine power, a reference to the mind seems to come out of nowhere. “…And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” The truth is, the battlefield is the mind. Many believers live in defeat because they have not yet laid hold of the fact that God has already given them the weapons needed to find victory over their thoughts.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” A pretension is a false or unsupportable claim, especially to merit, worth, or importance [dictionary.com]. {Side note: false and unsupportable claims come from the enemy whose native tongue is lying. See John 8:44} Arguments and pretensions will often creep their little, slimy way into our brains in the form of doubt {which can destroy our faith}, discouragement {which can lead to depression}, temptation {which can lead us to sin}, fear {which can lead to panic and anxiety}, and pride {which is just plain ugly}…to name a few.

If we don’t take our thoughts captive, they will take us captive!

At best, these false and unsupportable claims take our focus away from God and at worst they cause us to believe that something in our life is stronger or more powerful than God. {Visit day 2 if you need a refresher on how BIG He actually is.} Nothing is stronger, more powerful or more desirable than Him. When we begin to believe lies, one by one they gather to set up camp. Before you know it, they’ve built an all out stronghold that completely affects our thought patterns. A stronghold is a major area of predominance or influence. It’s simply something that has a strong hold on your life—keeping you in captivity. But as a believer in Christ, you have been given the keys to freedom by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Draw your attention to the fact that each of the lies, or strongholds, sets itself up against “the knowledge of God.” Now that’s BOLD! In order to overcome, we need to know God’s truth. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. "Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." [John 8:3-33]

I believe that truth is our primary weapon of defense against the enemy’s schemes and against our faulty thinking. God’s truth {His Word} is our sword and it has “divine power to demolish strongholds” in our minds. According to Dictionary.com, demolish means to destroy or ruin, especially on purpose; tear down, to put an end to; explode, to ruin utterly. You have the authority to take control of your thoughts and make them obedient to Christ. The same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is at work in YOU.

Below is a visual aid I made for you out of the illustrations from Beth Moore’s Breaking Free study. You can see that stinkin' thinkin' {as my friend, Jennifer likes to call it} can create a barrier between us and our freedom. I often imagine this process, taking place in my mind, as I walk victoriously with Jesus. 

May you walk confidently in the freedom that has been given to you through Jesus Christ!

Victoriously,

Monique Zackery

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31 Days of Freedom

31 Days of Purpose

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