The ultimate battle in life is for your mind. God wants your mind, so also, the devil. If your mind is crippled or held captive, you can never be success. The mind is the seat of the power of God in our lives. If you cannot think it, then you can’t have it. The reason why marriage will work is when the couple submits their mind to the word of God. If God wants to bless a man, He will give him a word that would make him think first. Before using Gideon, He called him a mighty man. God must first access you mind to bless you. He did this to Moses and Nehemiah. He put a thought in their mind first, before using them.
Pro 4:23 Keep thy heart (soul) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues (forces) of life.
You don’t have to be a Christian to have a good or active mind. It is possible for anyone to get whatever he thinks. Many times, your life is a reflection of what you are thinking. The appearance of a man determines what his thought life is. I want to help you by God’s grace to think productively and creatively.
Eph 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
Your mind is a battle ground. The devil is trying to capture it through ungodly movies, worldly music, demonic books and bad news. People with little mind are limited to what the world, their education and family background can provide. Once you are in the family of God, you have the mind of Christ. Think solely on the word of God.
THE STRONGHOLD OF THE MIND
Everybody, everywhere, somehow, have a problem with the mind. This is what I call the stronghold of the mind.
2 Cor 10:3-6 For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.
For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,
[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
Being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and obedience [as a church] are fully secured and complete. (AMP)
Over the years, our minds have been programmed by education, our parents, family, friends, and what we’ve heard or thought about. From this point, we’ve been controlled. This eventually becomes a stronghold in our mind. A stronghold is a fortified place that Satan builds to exalt himself against the knowledge and the plans of God. It can be personal or corporate. It can also be you, your family, your church or neighbourhood, built by Satan to exalt himself against the knowledge and plans of God.
ORIGIN OF STRONGHOLD
Every attempt a man makes to solve his problem without God produces a stronghold. It gives rise to gods in his live, which are subsequently passed to coming generations. When you arrogate to people what should be arrogated to God, it becomes a stronghold in the mind.
According to Luke 8:22-40, the other side is the enemy’s territory. When Jesus demanded His disciples to go to the other side, their mind may have being triggered about His intention in the enemy’s territory. His intention was to deliver them from the strongholds Satan had built in their minds. To break the strongholds of the mind, you will need to cast down imaginations. The stronghold of the mind is a mindset that creates hopelessness, causing a believer to accept something he knows is not God’s will. When Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, his mind also fell with him.
Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
TYPES OF STRONGHOLDS
- Ideological Strongholds (Philosophy, Humanism) – this is a mentality produced out of someone else’ reasoning. It is an ideology produced from the creative and productive reasoning of a man. Humanism promotes idolization of man.
- Occultic Strongholds (Satanism) – this is the stronghold of witchcraft and territorial spirits.
Symptoms of Occultic Strongholds:
- Sickness and infirmity without natural causes
- Confusion of the mind
- Sleeplessness
- Sexual explicit dreams. This is regular sex in the dream.
- Extreme weariness
- Unexplainable negative attitude
- Unexplainable poverty
- Constant negative confession
3. Social Strongholds – it could be operational over a city. It could include poverty, injustice, murder and every other social vice. Also, it could be a geographical location that is highly oppressed. The reason people have this stronghold is because they think God does not care about them.
4. Sectarian Strongholds – this is a stronghold of racial, tribal or religious segregation. It creates a sense of superiority on one group of people over the other. This kind of stronghold can prevent inter-tribal marriages. It can limit people, destroy marriages and also lead to inter-tribal wars.
5. Strongholds of Iniquity – iniquity is the sins of the father that produce iniquity or weakness towards certain type of sin in succeeding generation. This is one of the evil of polygamy. It is a mindset. Neh 1:6.
6. Strongholds Between City And Church – the reason armed robbers would go into a church to rob is because of their stronghold against the church. This is prevalent in our land.
SOLUTIONS TO STRONGHOLDS
Jesus is the answer to strongholds. He applies the ultimate solution to every stronghold.
- The love of Christ. Jesus loved this people. If you want to deal with strongholds you must love the one that has the stronghold. If you can love people or yourself in spite of their/your strongholds, you can break the strongholds.
- You must develop the mind of Christ. This is the only power that can break strongholds. Schools, seminars and conventions cannot break strongholds. Renew your mind with the word of God. 1 Cor 2:16, Ps 25:14-15.
- Keep your tongue, watch your conversation. Don’t speak contrary to God’s word. Testify the good deeds of God. 1 Pet 3:10-11.
CONCLUSION
You say you couldn’t, doubt rose up like a giant and it bound you. You say you are not, and your very words cripple you. You say you don’t have, and it keeps you in perpetual poverty. What you say is what you are going to get. What you think is what you say and what you say is what you get. Pull down the strongholds that contain you. You are who He says you are.
Phil 4:8 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious–the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. (MSG)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Every attempt to solve a problem without God produces a stronghold.
God bless you.
