Fighting the Battle of the Mind-Part Three

by Jean Bradley

Welcome back to Fighting the Battle of the Mind. In Part Three, I want to go back to one of the Bible verses quoted in Part two, as I feel I should expand on what was said previously about 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 that says,

‘For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’

So how do we take our thoughts captive, you may ask? I want to share something that happened to me a few years ago, that I think will illustrate this quite clearly. I attended a church conference around that time where the Lord connected me to someone who is very important in my life on many different levels.

I have learned so much from the Holy Spirit over time, and one thing I learned is that when God does something wonderful, the enemy will immediately come and try to steal and destroy it, because that is his nature–to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). However, our God is mighty and when we trust in Him, He brings us through every time!

I was sitting at my desk in my office one afternoon when suddenly I heard this really ugly growling voice telling me that it was going to destroy me and kill me, along with some other things. I was surprised but not afraid, because the Holy Spirit has this thing He does, that when something or someone is attacking me, He rises big within my spirit and then there is no time to consider anything with my mind because Holy Spirit is in control.

I pointed my finger in the direction of the voice and said “Oh No!! The Bible says we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and a sound mind in Jesus Name!! So get out of here. Now!!” I heard that spirit screech and leave in a hurry! The Bible says too in James 4:7 ‘Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ (NIV) and that is exactly what happened, he did flee, fast!

To be honest, I really can’t say whether that voice was in my mind or not, but it was very loud and seemed audible. But the point I want to illustrate is that we must not give thoughts or words like that space in our minds. We must not entertain them or consider them, but immediately say NO!! That is how we take our thoughts captive. In other words, we do not allow them any time to expand because if we do, they will take up residence quickly.

Our mind is ours, and we need to be in control of what plays out there. It is not a free zone for anything to come and go as it wants to. With the Lord on our side we are powerful, and in Him we have the victory in Jesus Name!

Strongholds

The Bible verse quoted above in 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 speaks about pulling down strongholds. What is that exactly?? I believe that this is an area in our mind, on a subconscious level, where the enemy has put us in captivity, in bondage. Sometimes we are not even aware of it, but find ourselves at times acting in a way that is foreign to who we are and totally outside of God’s will for us.

This can be caused by past trauma, even as a young child, when things happened or were done to us that we had no control over. Our enemy is sly and will use those wounds against us, whether we remember what happened to us or not. As a young child we would learn things like feeling hopeless, that we can’t win when ‘they’ are stronger than us and our will to fight back is broken and our mind fragmented.

This can cause disassociation, which is when we disconnect ourselves from reality or zone out. We would subconsciously have made vows and formed beliefs due to that trauma, for instance believing that love means pain, that we will be hurt, that we can’t trust anyone and therefore need to be in control of everything in our lives so that we will not be hurt. It is a defense mechanism, but it actually causes more pain and makes us a prisoner.

We need healing in our mind, will and emotions, deep in our subconscious mind, and total restoration. Our wonderful Father God knows everything about us, He knows more about us that we know ourselves, even what is hidden deep within our subconscious mind, the faulty beliefs and the vows and promises we made to ourselves for protection.

If we ask Him, He will reveal this all to us so that we can give it to Him, asking for total healing, restoration and wholeness. In Matthew 19:26 it says:

Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible” (NLT).

So let us trust God, knowing that He is so faithful and loving and wants the very best for us! Let us pray together:

Fighting the Battle of the Mind-Part One

Fighting the Battle of the Mind-Part Two

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