Hello, Friends! I pray that all is well with you.
And welcome to our new members. We're up to 20 people
now; praise the Lord!

I hope you guys are blessed by this devotional:

STRONGHOLDS OF THE MIND

We are taking every thought captive to the obedience
of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

The nature of the battle for your mind is clearly
presented in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: "For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for 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."

The first thing you need to know about the battle for
your mind is that it is not fought on the plane of
human ingenuity or ability. You can't outsmart or
outmuscle the flesh or the devil on your own. Your
weapons must be "divinely powerful" if you are going
to win a spiritual conflict.

The main targets which must be destroyed are the
"fortresses" in the mind. The King James Version uses
the word strongholds . Strongholds are
negative patterns of thought which are burned into our
minds either through repetition over time or through
one-time traumatic experiences.

Thoughts determine behavior, and thought patterns
determine temperaments. Strongholds are revealed in
un-Christlike temperaments and behavior patterns. A
mind-set impregnated with hopelessness causes us to
accept
as unchangeable something known to be contrary to God.


How are these destructive strongholds established in
our minds? Usually they are the result of a number of
subtle steps which lead us away from God's plan for us
and mire us in Plan B behavior. We will look at these
steps and how we should respond to them over the next
several days.

Prayer:
Lord, I determine to prepare my mind for action today
and avoid passivity in my thinking, because Satan
loves passivity.

HOW YOU ARE PROGRAMMED

References:-->Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through
philosophy and empty deception, according to the
tradition of men . . . rather than according to Christ


The first step toward the formation of strongholds in
our minds can be called "environmental stimulation."
You were designed to live in fellowship with God and
fulfill His purposes, but you were born physically
alive and spiritually dead in a hostile world
(Ephesians 2:1, 2). Before you came to Christ, all
your stimulation came from this environment. Every
day you lived in this environment you were influenced
by it and preconditioned to conform to it.

The worldly stimulation you were exposed to was both
brief and prevailing. Brief stimulation includes
individual events, situations, places and personal
encounters you experienced. You were influenced by
books you read, movies you watched, music you listened
to, and traumatic events you experienced or witnessed,
such as a car accident or a death in the family. You
learned a way (which may or may not have been God's
way) to cope with these experiences and resolve the
conflicts they produced.

Prevailing stimulation consists of long-term exposure
to your environment, such as the influence of your
family, your friends and peers, your neighborhood,
your teachers, and your job. If you grew up separated
from God, and were raised in a non-Christian
environment, you developed a philosophy of how to
survive, cope and succeed in this world apart from
God.

When you became a Christian your sins were washed
away, but your predisposition to think and behave a
certain way, which you developed as you adjusted to
your environment, remained programmed in your mind. In
fact, you can become a born-again believer and
continue to live on the basis of the lifestyle you
developed while living independently of God. That is
why Paul insists that we be transformed by the
renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

Prayer:
I know I was saved in a moment, Lord. But my character
still needs daily transformation. Help me be as
patient with others in their transformation as You are
with me.

=====
"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his
love has been brought to full expression through us." 1 John 4:12

www.brennakate.com
www.livejournal.com/~brennakate

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