Invisible War
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"
STRONGHOLDS OF THE MIND
STRONGHOLDS CAN BE:
4 Things To Battle Strongholds in Your Mind
-Lay aside every weight & the sin
3. Never let up on learning
-Always be willing to learn something from someone
-Corrective criticism is not to hurt you, it is to help you
4. Let God stretch your imagination
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
- Your mind does not control you; you control your mind Your thoughts do not control you; if your thoughts go in the wrong direction—YOU STOP IT!!
- There is a violent battle happening 24/7. It is a battle in YOUR MIND
- It is intense. It is vicious. It is unfair. It is unrelenting. satan never plays fair. he wants your mind to control you and he wants to control your mind.
- The reason the battle is so intense is because your mind is your greatest asset in this world.
- Everything that you accomplish has to first get into your mind. Every day you live for God, it has to first get into your mind. Every time you worship God, it has to first get into your mind. Every time you pray, it has to get into your mind. Every time you fast, you have to make up your mind. Every situation you have in life, if you are going to accomplish it, it will be because you settled it in your mind that this is the way it is going to be. Then you disciplined your body according to your mind.
- Your mind tells you who to listen to, who not to listen to, who your friends are, who your friends are not.
- Therefore, your mind is your greatest asset. In order for you to be saved, you got to get your mind fixed on God. And your mind becomes your soul. That is who you are. Your personality, your wants, your dislikes. So, when the devil comes against your mind, he comes against you as a whole.
- Mental illness: people that wanted to talk to God but could not because of their mental state. They were in such anguish/pain/hurt or they had got so wrapped up with themselves & the world, or discouraged or lack of faith, because their mind was not fixed on God, they could not communicate with God because of their mental state.
- Have you ever read your Bible? Well, you have heard from God.
- Have you ever listened to a real Man of God? Although he is NOT God, you heard from God.
- Some people minds are so broken that they could not connect to God nor to his people nor listen to wisdom from people who could lead them to God.
- Whatever gets into your mind gets you. Whatever gets into your mind is what you become.
- So, one of the most important things is to control our minds & teach others. This is not mind over matter. This is God helping you control your thoughts. How we guard and encourage ourselves and renew our minds, because the battle fo always sin starts in our mind.
- All sin starts in our mind. “I like it, it looks good, I want it. It is good for me” Isn’t that what Eve said? But it first got into her mind.
- You are never deceived until you want the deception. You will never be deceived until you want the deception. People who want to live any way they want to live can read the Word of God and will allow themselves to understand it the way they want to understand it and be deceived. That’s why we have so many churches. “That church did not fit me.” But, did it fit God?? “Well it does not fit into my schedule.”
- Sports is a god. Anything that will take your mind off of God more than His Word, is your god. We have some people who will tell you more about sports athletes and scores, etc, but cannot quote 1 chapter in the Bible. They couldn’t tell you who Melchizedek is. We have kids who know more about games than they know about God. Therefore, you will find somewhere or something to believe that it is alright, and that’s when you become deceived. It is worshipped. It is praised. People paint their chests, scream, holler and have a party, but when we do it at church, we are out of order. It is just a game. It is not real. It will not help your soul at all. “I hope I go pro.” You have 100% chance of going to heaven if you live for God. You have a 100% chance to go to heaven if you live for God. But to make millions in this world or become famous, you have a slim chance. What is the mindset that we have in this world now that we want to just achieve wordly goals. The NFL, NBA games we play are natural abilities(NFL, NBA), not godly spiritual gifts. God given talents are something that helps HIS KINGDOM, things that edify His Church.
- Our minds are controllable. We can control our thoughts. If you see something that makes you feel a certain way, you cannot help what you feel, but you can help what you think. A good way to that is find a scripture that says you are going to hell for sinning.
- Though we walk after the flesh, we are not waging war after the flesh. We think flesh can conquer flesh because we can feel and see that. We know the words could help. We are looking for a quick fix to help. But the mind did not get that way with 1 quick thought. It took strongholds. It took things that built up that caused a blockage. Psychologists can help some, but flesh cannot conquer STRONGHOLDS. We do not fight with manmade armor, with politics, with money, with humanistic ways. The weapons of our warfare are not flesh. WE have to have the divine power of God to war against the blockages and the strongholds that are built up in our minds. Talking to someone can help, but talking to someone who has God can get you a miracle.
- Audible voice of God in the Bible: Every time He did in the Bible, it was God telling them to give up something they loved. It was not to tell them something they wanted to hear. If you want God to speak to you audibly or quickly instead of Him leading you, He is going to mess your mind up. Because He would rather lead you into green pastures & beside the still waters. And then you are ready for it as you grow in God. But for God to pick you up and set you where you need to be, it would destroy your mind. It will be like: “take your son over there and sacrifice, Abraham. Or “if you turn back you will turn into a pillar of salt.” If God can lead you, then whatever door He opens for you are easy to pass through and you grow. We live in an instant world, that we want God to snap His finger and we become wealthy, and we become spiritual. We want to bypass all the things God has planned for us to get to where we want. We don’t want what God wants, we want what we want. So, when you are asking God to show you His will…what you’re really asking God is to put me ahead of the ball game. THAT IS SELFISH. You got to learn to grow with God. If you learn quickly, you will move at Godspeed. You have to learn and grow in order to get to where God wants you to be. Be careful what you let get into your mind that you demand God to do. You cannot bargain with God. God looks at the end of your life and puts you here and expects you to get there. And many of those decisions you will have to make up in your own mind; He will not make those decisions for you.
STRONGHOLDS OF THE MIND
- Weapons of our warfare are not flesh; they are divine power. Where are strongholds? IN THE MIND.
- Your bills are not your strongholds. You made those. Worry can be a stronghold because that is in your mind. How you react to the problem is the problem. How far you let your mind go.
- We do not fight with armor/politics/$$, we can only fight by the divine power of God and the renewing of our mind. Getting our mind back where it is supposed to be. You have to go back to where your mind was settled/happy/peace/love. Go back to that, find out what messed it up and then renew your mind back to that point.
- You can’t take the stronghold where you are at now and fix it. You must go back and RENEW. If you try to fix the problem where you are now at the problem, all you will see is the problem, you cannot, because it is too big. You must get the problem out of your mind and go back to where you did not see the problem. And how you got there in that situation to start with.
- We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion and everything that is against the greatness and knowledge of God. We destroy the thoughts that brings us against the things of God, and we bring into captivity what our minds should be thinking on. How good everything is!! We bring in our mind back into captivity from thinking everything is bad. Remind yourself that God has me in a good place, a good home, etc. If all you do is try to fix the problem, all you will see is the problem.
- We destroy the things that make us think negative, such as friends—GET RID OF THEM. If all your friends talk negative, get rid of them.
- It is our job to battle and destroy the strongholds; it is NOT God’s job. You put them there; get them out. You started thinking that way; UNTHINK IT. You started looking at everything the wrong way, but the country is still good, the church is still good, people are still good.
- Life gets better for the church. Psalm 37:25, "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."
- Isaiah 54:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
- A stronghold is simply a mental block; something that stopped your thinking to destroy you. You do not think right. You need something to flush that blockage out. When you have a stronghold, your mind is blocked from everything that is good, and all you can see is the stronghold. If you could only get the thoughts out of your mind, you could see clearly. Because of the stronghold, there is a blockage in their mind and they cannot even see where they where before.
- Will the next thing that happens be a stronghold to you?? We cannot stop life when someone does us wrong. Words can destroy our thinking, and you begin to think everyone is bad. This mental block must be DESTROYED.
STRONGHOLDS CAN BE:
- Worldview, Politics, Materialism, Money, Fame, Religion(hinduism, atheism, buddhism). Tradition can be a stronghold. Jeremiah 17:5, "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord."
- Anything you put before God: Fear, Resentment, Unforgiveness, Trauma
- Put these thoughts into captivity. Every thought must be brought into captivity to obey Christ. To take control of. To conquer. To bring your mind into submission. "I will not believe that, I will believe this." Now your mind is not in control, you are. Get your mind back on track to the goodness of God.
- How do you make your mind behave?? Our mind does not always mind us. It is disobedient, rebellious, contentious. It wants to think a certain way, but it wants to wander. I need to pray but my mind wants to float away.
- Romans 7:19-24, 19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
- The reason we have so many ineffective Christians that do not know how to fight the battle of the mind is because of pastors who have not taught enough or have not made it plain enough. That we have a responsibility to ourself to stop the thinking that is happening in our mind that is unlike God.
- What you think is what you are. How we handle our thoughts is OUR RESPONSIBILITY—not God’s or your Pastor. It is your responsibility to control your own mind. We have to think right.
4 Things To Battle Strongholds in Your Mind
- Don’t believe everything you think
- Guard your mind from media
-Lay aside every weight & the sin
3. Never let up on learning
-Always be willing to learn something from someone
-Corrective criticism is not to hurt you, it is to help you
4. Let God stretch your imagination
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
- Go back to where you had peace, tranquility, love, joy. Go back to that place in your life, repent, and go a different direction. Go forward in life. You have to go back to go forward.
- Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
- Go back, repent of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost again, and the strongholds will leave you. You have to go back and renew your mind to where you messed up. Renew yourself with God’s Spirit.
- If you continue in daily repenting and renewing with God’s Spirit, you can conquer these strongholds.Let God stretch your imagination
- Go back to where you had peace, tranquility, love, joy. Go back to that place in your life, repent, and go a different direction. Go forward in life. You have to go back to go forward.
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