Strongholds of the Mind
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “For the weapons of our WARFARE are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of STRONGHOLDS; casting down IMAGINATIONS and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.” These scriptures are speaking of the battle that rages in our mind. That battle consists of thoughts and imaginations that would lead us to develop strongholds in out thinking. Strongholds are simply patterns of thinking that will cause you to act a certain way in life. The Bible is clear: The battle in our life is first won or lost in the mind.
Strongholds, or patterns of thoughts that are acted upon, do not happen overnight. They are developed over time through a progression. If we look closely at 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 we will see the progression of how strongholds are developed. The first step is thoughts. At the onset, thoughts appear to be random. They appear to be fiery darts shooting through our wandering minds. Thoughts are seeds seeking harvest in our lives. Have you ever been sitting at work or at some menial task and had a terrible thought rip through your head? You sit there thinking to yourself, “If people knew the thought that just went through my brain they would disown me from their life!” We all will admit that we have had terrible thoughts in our head at one time or another. What are those thoughts trying to do? They are trying to create a harvest of that thought in your life. For example, how is it that people cheat on their spouses? Do they just wake up one day and say, “Today is the day I think I will be unfaithful in my marriage.” No, that’s not what happens. It all started with a thought. They had an argument with their spouse and that opened the door to a terrible thought. The thought came to them, “I am not happy with my spouse. I need something else.” That thought is there as a seed or fiery dart trying to bring adultery into their life.
The second step on the way to developing strongholds is the imaginations stage. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “Casting down IMAGINATIONS…” The word “imaginations” is referring to scenarios that people think about. Once a thought has begun to take root in a person’s life they will then begin to imagine a scenario of that action taking place. They start to think about how to make it actually happen. At this point a person is actually considering acting upon that thought that wants to damage their life. This happens all the time with people. They begin to consider leaving a church, cheating on spouse, trying an addictive substance, having a promiscuous relationship, or something else that will hurt their life. Finally, if they act it out it is then a genuine stronghold.
Pastor Tim
Family Church Jamestown is a non-denominational church located in Chautauqua County in Jamestown between Lakewood and Busti, NY. The senior pastor of Family Church is Pastor Tim Stahlman a native to the Jamestown, NY area.
