Freedom in Christ Week 6 Demolishing Strongholds Bratton Baptist Church 30 th March 2014 The following notes are based on the Freedom in Christ Course, written by Steve Goss. For more information see www.ficm.org.uk The notes are not a transcript of what was said but the notes used to speak from, as such some parts might have been expanded on, other parts not said! As grow up - thoughts planted in our minds - [Take a balloon and blow it up gradually, as you speak] Sometimes a little thought is planted in our mind by something that happens to us maybe we are bullied, or worse or someone says something negative about us ( You re useless, You re a failure. You re ugly ). [Take a sharp instrument eg a pin] Perhaps we ve believed it for so long it becomes part of our lives and we can t imagine ever getting over it. [Pop the balloon] The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) We need the Word of God to come and judge the thoughts and attitudes of our heart and pop those that are not true. The truth for Christians is wonderful. God is loving He is intimately concerned about you He has a purpose and plan for your life He has made you His child He has made it possible in Christ for you to become all He created you to be. Many Christians simply aren t experiencing this freedom most aren t, in fact. They believe the truth on one level but they seem unable to make real connections with it that are strong enough to base their lives on. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Galatians 5:1) PAST tense If you re not connecting with the truth, it s probably because of mental strongholds. What Is A Stronghold? Strongholds are connected to the flesh. When we were born physically we did not have the presence of God in our lives, nor the knowledge of His ways. During the early years of our lives we learned to live independently of God He did not figure in our thinking. We really had no choice. One day we became brand new creations in Christ but nobody pushed a clear button in our mind. All of the false beliefs (I'm useless) and coping mechanisms (food) we had developed were still there. We each have different programming but all of us live with these tendencies to act on false information, on lies. Those false beliefs are mental strongholds. Page 1 of 5
Ed Silvoso defines a stronghold as: A mind-set impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable situations that we know are contrary to the will of God. Neil Anderson says, Strongholds are mental habit patterns of thought that are not consistent with God s Word. Sometimes strongholds show themselves in things we feel we should do but don t seem able to, or things we know we shouldn t do but don t feel able to stop. The truth, however, is that God loves us. He would never ask us to do something that we couldn t do. He never asks us to jump over a barrier and then puts it so high that we can t do it. That would be completely against His character. So, if that s how it feels, we re talking about strongholds getting in the way. If we don t have a means of tearing down mental strongholds we will, probably conclude, That s just the way I am I can t change. When we have angry outbursts: Well that s just me. If we don t relate well to others: I m just very shy I can t change. Inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy and paranoia reveal mental strongholds. [Show cartoon sequence My entire personality has been formed around the wrong information ] How Strongholds Are Established Our Environment The fallen world we live in is hostile to God: we lived in it every day before we knew Christ we have been conditioned to conform to it. - naturally followed the way of the world When you came into the world, you were physically alive but spiritually dead. You had very little programmed into the mental computer in your head. You simply picked up ways of thinking from the environment in which you lived. Your family, community, schools and friends all had an effect you just assimilated it from your environment. You may have been told that you were useless or ugly or that you would never amount to much. If you believed those things, you will probably have an inferiority complex. Our environment can predispose us to develop patterns of behaviour that reveal mental strongholds too. For example, imagine the child of an alcoholic. Let s say in the family there are three boys. As the father s problem continues to develop, it turns into domestic violence. When their father comes home drunk these three boys develop different ways of coping. The eldest one feels he can stand up to his dad: Lay one hand on me and you ll regret it! The middle one accommodates: Hi dad, can I get you something? The third runs away and hides in the wardrobe. Twenty years later, their father is long gone and those three boys are adults. When they are confronted with a hostile situation, how do they respond? The chances are that the eldest one will fight, the middle one will accommodate and the youngest one will run away. Traumatic Experiences Traumatic experiences can also set up strongholds because of their intensity: eg a death in the home, a divorce or a rape. (NORMALLY response to ongoing / repeated stimuli - but trauma can be so great that stronghold formed) We ll talk more in a later session about how we can be released from those past experiences. For now let s simply note that it is not the traumatic experience itself that produces a stronghold but the lies we believe as a result of it. For example, if you were abused, you may well have come to see yourself as a victim: helpless; never able to stand up for yourself and take hold of truth. That may have been true of you at one time. But it s not true anymore. Page 2 of 5
A mental stronghold is a lie based on past experiences that can be torn down in Christ. You can go back to those events and process them again from the position of who you are now a child of God. The truth is that no Christian, no matter how bad their past experiences, has to remain a victim, because we are new creations in Christ. God doesn t change our past; He sets us free from it. The problem with strongholds is that if what you believe does not reflect truth, then what you feel will not reflect reality. You may feel rejection when you are not rejected. You may feel helpless to change when actually you re not. Temptation Strongholds are also formed or reinforced when we repeatedly give in to temptation. Satan is the tempter who wants to set up strongholds in your life to keep you going round in circles, to make you feel hopeless. What is temptation? Every temptation is an attempt to get you to live your life independently of God. The basis for that temptation is usually our legitimate needs for significance, security and acceptance. The question is: are those needs going to be met by responding to the world, the flesh and the devil, or are they going to be met by God who promises to meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus [Philippians 4:19]? Satan has observed your behaviour over the years and he knows where you are vulnerable, and that s where he will attack. Your temptations will be unique to your area of vulnerability. But you don t ever have to give in to temptation: Very irritating verse... No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1 Corinthians 10:13) God always provides a way of escape. I m going to show you a cartoon sequence of someone undergoing temptation. Keep a careful eye out and then see if you can spot in which frame the way of escape is. [Show I ll take a drive slide sequence] It was a trick question! The way of escape was before the first frame. Why was she thinking about driving past the supermarket? If you could measure it, you d probably find that she was already salivating. The thought of what she was going to do was there already, even if she did not recognise it. So where is that way of escape when we are tempted? Because sometimes it doesn t feel that there is one at all! The answer is to practise threshold thinking. God has provided a way of escape from all temptation where is it? Right at the beginning when the tempting thought first comes into your mind. That s your opportunity to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Your mind is like an airport and you are the air traffic controller. A lot of thoughts ask for permission to land. But you have complete control over which will land and which will be turned away. You have to decide right at the outset, however. The moment you give a tempting thought permission to land, the chances of your being able to turn it away reduce significantly. This is taking every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). II requires effort and a constant commitment to truth. Tempting thoughts that are not dealt with straightaway lead on to actions. Repeating the action will result in a habit. Exercising the habit long enough produces a stronghold. Effects of Strongholds Faulty view of reality Strongholds have a major effect on our ability to look at the world as it really is. The main question for all of us is: are we willing to trust God and look at things the way He says they are, whether they feel true to us or not? Page 3 of 5
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) The truth is that God knows infinitely more than we do. Faith s reasonable and we should assume our responsibility to think. The problem is that our ability to work things out is limited. We are incapable of determining what is best for us, so we are dependent on God to show us. Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6) We are tempted to lean on our own understanding, to try and work things out for ourselves, to manage independently of God. Strongholds tend to prevent us seeing what is really true because of how they make us feel. For example, many Christians say they know that God loves them (heard it, sung it, read it in Bible) because it says so in the Bible, but do they really believe it? Many of us realty don t know just how special we are to God. Bad Choices Illustration: One woman, after reading through the list of Security, Significance And Acceptance Restored In Christ, came up to the leader of the session with tears in her eyes and said over and over again with great joy. I m not inferior! She explained that her older brother had always been the clever one and that she had grown up with a profound sense of being inferior. Many people over the years had told her that she was not inferior but that had not changed how she felt and how she acted. During that session the Word of God had opened her eyes and she saw herself as she really was. A stronghold had been torn down by the Word of God. Providing she continued to reject the lie that she was inferior, her feelings would change and her perception of herself would be based on the truth that she is indeed a child of God. Every day we have to make a choice between doing things God s way and leaning on our own understanding. To live a truly free life in Christ we have to know, and choose to believe, what God says easier said than done because of all the strongholds and patterns of thought we have lived by since as far back as we can remember. Strongholds always push us towards making bad choices because they are based on false information. A stronghold will predispose us to ignore the Danger signs that God has posted, making us think that we know best how we can feel significant, secure and accepted. An attitude of leaning on our own understanding will grow in our life when we continually entertain thoughts that are contrary to God s Word. God s way will grow in our life, and we will make consistently better choices, when we choose to commit ourselves to know God and His ways. He really does want only the best for us and He knows what is best. We are anything but helpless in this struggle between going God s way and going our own way. In Christ, we have the choice and ability every day to renew our minds by choosing God s way instead of leaning on our own understanding. You are the one who determines the winner in this battle for your mind. Demolishing Strongholds Do we have to put up with strongholds? No! For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) The first thing a computer does when you turn it on is check for viruses. We need to do that too we need to uncover and deal with any footholds the enemy may have in our lives. You will have the opportunity to do this when we go through The Steps To Freedom In Christ. Page 4 of 5
Resist the Devil and he will flee from you Once you ve done that, a stronghold is nothing more than a habitual way of thinking and behaving. If you have believed a lie, you can renounce that lie and choose the truth instead. Think of a stronghold this way. Let s say after it rains you drive a Land Rover across a field it would create some ruts. If you do that every day for some time, you won t even have to steer after a while. The Land Rover will follow the ruts. In fact, any attempt to steer out of the ruts will be met with resistance. But you can steer out of the ruts of habitual faulty thinking by making a sustained effort over a period of time. If you ve learned something wrongly, you can relearn it if you have programmed your computer badly, you can reprogram it. You can, in effect, reprogram your mind with the truth. But you have to want to. You have to choose to. And you have to know that it is possible for you to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). All the time we need to guard our minds by taking every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), continually ensuring that our thoughts are in line with truth by practising threshold thinking and throwing out any that are not. You may already have become aware of some strongholds. When you go through The Steps To Freedom In Christ, you will almost certainly become aware of some more. A Whole Answer We are not just up against this world (the system we were brought up in) and we are not just struggling with the flesh (those pre-programmed, learned habits and patterns of thought). We are up against the world, the flesh and the devil. If we want a whole answer, we need to understand all three. In the next session we are going to look at the role of the devil. But when we come to that session, please don t forget what you have already learned. Of those three issues, the influence of the devil is actually the easiest to resolve, but it s generally the one that is understood the least and dealt with the least. Page 5 of 5