Food for Thought: Strongholds

Strongholds.

That, for some reason, is a subject that I don't care for.

I know, in one of the workbooks Serenity and I were working on, it asked for us to think about areas that we wanted to study on, and create files for such. I know that one of Serenity's favorite areas is the subject matter of strongholds. I am totally opposite.

I just don't like to think about it. I don't like thinking about those things I hold strongly to in my spirit that affect my life in a negative manner.

Now, one of the strongest examples of a stronghold that I know of is smoking. It is TERRIBLY difficult for people to stop smoking. I mean, you can want to quit. Yet you go back to it. It's like it's automatic. Why is that?

It's always been a mystery to me. It's like, you know you need to quit something, but it's taring you up inside to do it, and it takes a looooooong time. What is that about?

I've always known of it have to do with strongholds. And it has to do with much more than will power. It has to be something deeper involved.

Now, you know I like to look up words. So I looked up the word stronghold in the dictionary.

It is defined as a well-fortified place or a fortress.

My attention is captured by the words "well-fortified". It ain't just fortified, it is well fortified.

So it suffices to say, it takes a lot of work to break up something that is well fortified.

Hence on a spiritual tip, there is one passage that I know of that addresses strongholds, located in 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthinans 10: 3-5 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).

Interesting. Complicated, but interesting. Speaks to me concerning the fact that there is more to pulling down strongholds than will power. Sure will power works. But there's something deeper involved.

And looking at several versions of the latter part of that verse, it looks like it's important to capturing your thoughts and purposes and pretensions, and bringing them into obedience to Christ.

Hmm. That's a bit deep. Been chewing on that. What is that about?

And that turns me back to the sermon I heard on Thanksgiving Eve that has been on my mind all this time. Especially when I examine my life in light of it.

The easiest thing for me to do is to post my notes on the subject matter.

Be forewarned that these are notes. They are scribbled and disjointed, not perfect. A good service for me constitutes several pages of notes intertwined with personal thoughts and personal "To Do" stuff. So if it looks disjointed, then it is what it is. All in all, there is some very interesting material here, and I bet you will get something different from it than I got.

But I understood a few things after that sermon. About myself, that is. But I will talk about my thoughts and feelings concerning my own self in light of this in the next post.

I find this especially interesting in light of that passage of scripture I mentioned above.


Notes from Thanksgiving service: Subject- Strongholds.


Strongholds occur in the mind.

Your mind holds strong to whatever you feed it.

Hence, things come to the point where the following statement is true:

"I am where I am in life because of the way I think."

Strongholds are constructed thoughts, well fortified in nature. We hold strong to knowledge in our minds and thought life. We usually think of strongholds as negative things. Bad habits that enter into our lives are the results of negative strongholds. Negative strongholds become habits and addictions in your life, and they hold you back.

Yet not all strongholds are negative. Our brain is designed to catch information. What if we could get a grip on that when it comes to the Word of God?

The problem is this: Something is already there in our minds, and it is fighting against God's knowledge, which should have been there first. But it wasn't.

Here's the issue with fasting, and why it's such a hardship for people: Fasting is ultimately about taking away the worldly things for a span of time, and substituing that removal with time with God and the knowledge of God. It is about setting time aside to feed yourself the Word of God.

But some people refuse to do that. They hold so strongly to those worldly things. Those worldly things are massive strongholds.

On renewing the mind: There is no progress without renewing your mind. You will stay the way you are for the rest of your life if you don't work on changing and renewing your mind concerning certain issues in your life.

That is simple to say, but there is more to it than that.

Ephesians 4:23 states "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind."

It does not say "Be renewed in your mind". It says "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind."

This "spirit of the mind" is a place where deeper thought life takes place. This is the unconscious, subconcious part of your mind.

The "spirit of your mind" is what controls your life. It is doing what it has been trained to do.

In Genesis (specifically 2:16-17), Adam and Eve in the garden chose to get their knowledge from another source and not from God. This is when they spiritually died.

We learn from this that it is not good to neglect the higher training in God's Word.

Here's the problem with society: we do not get the knowledge of God first.

We have so exalted the knowledge of this world that we have deemed the knowledge of God insignificant and inconsequential.

Learning is not renewing your mind. Doing what you have learned constitutes renewing your mind.

There are certain things going on in your spirit that operate on automatic pilot of cruise control.

An interesting example that we can all understand: All of us, who have been driving for years, can easily get from one place to another, and not have to really think much about it. While driving, we're thinking about our day, listening to the radio, whatever. We can even drive and eat at the same time, without so much as a second thought. We can get from point A to point B (especially when driving routes we've been driving for years, like from home to work) very easily without much thought.

But was it this easy when we first learned to drive?

No.

We had to concentrate. Especially when attempting to learn how to drive a stick (manual shift car). It took MUCH mental work. Hold down the clutch at the right time, shift, working with both feet.

Eventually our mind was renewed to the process.

There came a point when it simply became all automatic for us.

And it's like that with everything in life.

Hence, the difference between something being effort based in your mind, to where it drops into your spirit, and it becomes a part of your life, and controls your life...


Okay, that's the gist of my notes.

All of this really stuck with me. I ponder it daily. Not in a way of worrying about it all, but doggonit, it explained lots of things I've gone through in my short 40 years of life.

To be continued...