Demolish those strongolds

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 2 Corinthians 9-10; Psalm 3

TO CHEW ON: "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, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:4,5


Joyce Meyer, in her book Battlefield of the Mind says: "The mind is the leader or forerunner of all actions .... Our actions are a direct result of our thoughts" - Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind, p. 3.

What  a key scripture 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 has become in my life as I seek to think rightly.

'Strongholds' seemed like an old-fashioned word, though, and I wondered how different Bible translations rendered it. Surprise! in four that I consulted (Amplifed, NLT, NIV, and ESV)  the word strongholds was used. So I looked up stronghold.

[The dictionary says it is "a place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack, also a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld."]

My Bible has a wonderful article which gives an anatomy of the mental strongholds Paul talks about here:

"Strongholds are first established in the mind; that is why we are to take every thought captive.

Behind a stronghold is also a lie—a place of personal bondage where God's Word has been subjugated to any unscriptural idea or personally confusing belief that is held to be true.

Behind every lie is a fear and behind every fear is an idol.

Idols are established wherever there exists a failure to trust in the provisions of God that are ours through Jesus Christ.

Some of the weapons that pull down these strongholds are:

• God's Word (Hebrews 4:12-13).

• The blood of the Cross (Revelation 12:11).

• The name of Jesus (Mark 16:7).

Strongholds are pulled down and confronted bondage is broken as these spiritual weapons of our warfare are employed (see Ephesians 6:13-18)" - Christopher Hayward, "Pulling Down Strongholds," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1621,2 (formatting added).

You will recall that Ephesians 6:13-18 is the Armour of God passage where the weapons named are truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to recognize the strongholds in my life and to identify the lies, fears, and idols behind them. Help me to use Your weapons to tear these strongholds down. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 3

MORE: We need to know the Word

"Second Corinthians 10:4,5 clearly indicates that we must know the Word of God well enough to be able to compare what is in our mind with what is in the mind of God; any thought that attempts to exalt itself above the Word of God we are to cast down and bring into captivity to Jesus Christ" - Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind, p. 4.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

An ancient father's advice

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 Chronicles 25-29; Psalm 70

TO CHEW ON: “‘As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts.’” 1 Chronicles 28:9

David’s advice to his newly crowned son, Solomon, is good advice for us too.

David told Solomon:

“know the God of your father…”
Know (yada) is transliterated know, learn, perceive and see, know by experience, recognize, admit, acknowledge and confess.

“…and serve Him…”
Serve (abad) - work serve, labour, serve another by labour.

“…with a loyal (whole - NASB) heart…”
Whole (shalem) - complete, full, perfect.

“… and a willing mind.”
Willing (chaphets) - desiring, delighting in, having pleasure in.

Living out this advice is bound to impact life in practical ways. In Psalm 37, written perhaps around the same time David gave the advice to Solomon (Psalm 37:25), David declares:

“Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness.
Delight yourself also in the LORD
And He shall give you the desires of your heart” - Psalm 37:3,4.

Notice the word “delight” - an aspect of the willing mind.

David, in Psalm 37, argues against fretting (Psalm 37:7,8), and for keeping life’s big picture in mind (Psalm 37:9-22; 34-40), trusting God to direct the steps of everyday living (Psalm 37:23,24), and of treasuring God and His word in one’s heart (Psalm 37:31 cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9).

In this day of distraction and many shiny things to explore with the accompanying temptation to give one’s heart and mind to them, David’s simple advice to Solomon may be more difficult for us to follow than it would seem. Yet I believe it is the solution to many of the issues we deal with—stress, worry, decision-making, and being scorned, overlooked, and ignored by the world as people of faith, to name some.

PRAYER: Dear Father, I want to know You and serve You with a loyal (my whole) heart, and a willing mind. Please nudge me today when my heart wanders to lesser things.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 70

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

Care-less living

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 26:1-19

TO CHEW ON: "You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because He trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3

If you've been around the Bible for a while, you probably have this little gem of a verse (Isaiah 26:3) safely tucked into your memory. Spending a few minutes this morning digging into its corners, I see again why it is so popular. For it is powerful in its delivery of four big truths:

1. We can have an all-encompassing peace - "You will keep him in perfect peace…"
Isaiah describes the peace God gives as "perfect." [What a rich word peace is: (shalom) bodily soundness, welfare, prosperity, contentment, peace of relationships and more.] My Bible's study notes explain: "Perfect peace is expressed in Hebrew as shalom, shalom. … You will keep him in everything the word implies: health, happiness, well-being" - Nathaniel M. Van Cleave, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible. p.901.

2. But this peace is promised only when our mind … - "… whose mind…"
The word for mind here is not the most common "mind" word. [Mind (yetser) means form, framework, creative imagination, intellectual framework.] What Isaiah is saying is that the person whose intellectual framework and creative imagination is founded on God will have the above peace. I like how the Amplified Bible clarifies this: "You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You" - Isaiah 26:3 AMP.

3. …assumes a necessary posture - "… is stayed on You…"
Having a mind stayed on God doesn't mean we're thinking about God all day long. Rather, stayed refers to the mind's posture. Some versions translate stayed as steadfast: "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace …" NASB. [Stayed or steadfast (samak) means leans, lays, rests and braces oneself.] Therefore that mind of ours needs to lean, lay, rest, and brace itself on God (not public opinion, the news, the state of our health, not even our own common sense).

4. The result is care-less living - "…Because he trusts in You."
That peace we talked about in #1 results when we live a life of trust [trust (batach) have confidence, be secure, safe, careless] in God.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to lean on You so completely today that peace, not care, will fill my day. Amen.

MORE: Feast for All Faithful Departed

Today the church remembers those who have died in the "Feast of All Faithful Departed." The liturgy for the day begins with this collect:

"O God, the Maker and Redeemer of all believers: Grant to the faithful departed the unsearchable benefits of the passion of your Son; that on the day of his appearing they may be manifested as your children; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen."

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)