Breaking mental strongholds

THERE ARE some decisions we make that originate from our subconscious mind in such a way that it’s like a knee jerk. We make them automatically, quickly, sometimes irrationally, without thinking and it’s after we have made it that our cognitive mind weighs it to see if it was the correct decision.

Have you ever done something, and after you made the decision and did the action you look back and say, “Why did I do that?” or “I shouldn’t have done that!” In the moment it happened almost instinctively, and the following week if you’re caught in the same situation, you do the same thing all over again. Why is that?

STRONGHOLD

Some of what we do come from a deeper place than our cognitive minds. Some of what we do come from an area of our mind that is pre-programmed to make these decisions. In the New Testament, the Bible calls this phenomenon a “Stronghold”. In the Old Testament a ‘stronghold’ was a literal place, a fortified dwelling used as a means of protection. If an enemy was coming to attack, people would go and hide in their stronghold. It was hard to penetrate, and it provided safety for all who were sheltered by it.

FORTRESS OF DEEP THOUGHTS

In the same way, spiritually it refers to a fortress that protects thought patterns and ideas that govern an individuals’ thoughts, speech, and behaviour. A stronghold is a fortress of deep thoughts that we protect because we think that they’re true. Life taught us them, our experiences with people taught us them, Satan taught us them, and we think that they’re true, so they govern our lives.

Strongholds can be good or bad, but the focus of the Bible is on the strongholds that lead us away from godly thoughts, speech, or behaviour. Ungodly strongholds can be devastating to our spiritual lives and are why some of us, even though we are Christian, struggle with certain sins and things we can’t seem to shake.

It’s foolish to assume that our salvation experience has eliminated all the wrong ideas and ungodly thoughts we grew up with. For many of us they’re still influencing our perceptions and behaviour. While growing up, we all learned to cope with life in various ways, but some of our coping mechanisms aren’t healthy emotionally or spiritually.

WRONG THOUGHTS

The truth is that Satan has exploited our wrong thoughts and may have even given us some of them by relating them to our experiences. We then believe these thoughts, oftentimes more than we believe God’s Word, especially when it comes to our personal lives. That’s why some of us can pray for someone else’s healing with faith and zeal and pull-down heaven, but when we ourselves are sick, we struggle to pray; showing that we’ve accepted lies about God when it comes to our own lives. Psychologists refer to some of these unhealthy patterns of thinking as defence mechanisms, but they aren’t consistent with the thinking God wants us to have as Christians. These defence mechanisms unfortunately end up limiting our lives.

CRIPPLED WITH FEAR

Strongholds are why some of us are not able to pursue our dreams and are being crippled with fear. Strongholds are why some of us are stuck professionally and can’t sustain healthy relationships. Strongholds are why some of us a struggling with certain sins and never achieve God’s best for our lives. These defence mechanisms are the strongholds the enemy uses to control our lives. They are the patterns of thinking programmed into our minds from when we lived independently of God, but they must be broken because they can irrevocably damage our lives and future.