Day One - Emotional Strongholds

Posted on Feb 08, 2016 Topic : Weekly Devotionals

The battle to overcome your emotional strongholds is a battle for your mind. Whoever and whatever controls your mind controls your emotions (and your actions). So if you are worrying, stressed out, and depressed, you’re probably thinking things that aren’t true. That’s why the apostle Paul tells us we don’t war against the flesh, but against Satan’s attacks on our mind.

The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

So we’re fighting not only our flesh but also our minds—and Satan’s lies. One of Satan’s favorite strategies is to plant his thoughts in our minds, disguising them as our own thoughts. We accept them as true and begin to act on them. This is the same strategy he used with Eve in the garden when he twisted God’s truth and enticed her to sin.

But if Satan is sending us these sinful thoughts, how can we be blamed for thinking them or acting on them? The answer is that you and I are responsible for what we do with these thoughts once they enter our minds. That’s why the passage we just looked at says we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

When a thought enters your mind, luring you into an emotional stronghold of worry, doubt, anger, hate, or shame, you have two choices. You can reject the thought, or you can adopt it and make it your own. By rejecting it, you tear down the stronghold and put an end to the false way of thinking. It can’t dominate or corrupt your emotions any longer.

Paul says our thoughts can lead in two directions. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). In this verse, “death” is the opposite of life and peace. It is spiritual impoverishment—you may be alive physically, but your emotional life is ebbing away. This ebbing away leads to worry and depression because the flesh does not bring peace, joy, or purpose.

On the other hand, if you set your mind on the things of the Spirit, you have life and peace, purpose and meaning, hope and joy. When the Holy Spirit governs your thoughts, external circumstances don’t dictate your responses.

So if you want to overcome emotional strongholds, change your thoughts. To break free from whatever is holding you hostage, reject Satan’s attempts to influence your thoughts and set your mind on God’s truth—what He says about you and your circumstances