"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 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." 2 Corinthians 10: 3-5
The word 'stronghold' could also be referred to as 'mindset'. In other words, when a person has their mind set or fixed on a specific way of doing something or believing that something is truth, it then becomes difficult for their belief to be changed from that in which they have "set their mind" to believing. Although what they believe to be factual may indeed not be at all, to that person it becomes their truth.
Therefore, the greatest and most common assault from our enemy is always first and foremost the battle upon our minds. If our thinking can be swayed from the truth of God's word then we become vulnerable and our offense and defense weakens. As we become broken down we may very well find ourselves hanging out on the enemy's turf rather than standing solidly in the King's court.
There is not one thing that exists -whether good or bad - that did not first begin as a thought. Every action, every invention, every word we speak, did not manifest into existence until the seed of that thought was first within us. As we allowed it to exist and then mature, something - whether a word, an action, a business, an invention, whatever it may have been was created into existence, stemming from that single original thought.
On the other hand, if that first thought was stifled out immediately after it formed and not meditated upon in any sort of way, nothing more would have manifested into existence in it's likeness.
Negative thoughts do not bring about positive actions nor do they manifest good things into existence. Neither does thinking with a negative perspective allow our faith in God to arise that we may receive His best for our lives. When we walk in faith we are believing with the heart and mind that God has only good in store for us, even if it requires Him to turn a bad situation around into something good. God created everything from nothing, He is more than capable of transforming whatever our trial is into a blessing and victory for us. The catch is, we 'receive' by faith when we 'see' by faith. What does that mean? Simply, when we believe God's word, which is good news, we believe the positive report rather than the negative report which may very well be 'in our face' at that moment. When we are standing on the positive report, regardless of how much 'in our face' the negative has been, we are also standing alongside God in the battle rather than alongside of the enemy in the battle.
Remember, God is for us, His report is always favorable for us. His report is good news for us in every area of our lives! The enemy's report is that of condemnation for us and for our various situations. Therefore, it's imperative that we do inventory of the thoughts we are allowing to exist within us and what we are allowing to mature into the words we speak. Are they in alignment with the report of the Lord for our lives or, are they giving territory to the enemy of our souls?
In such a negative world we can maintain a positive perspective only by "bringing every thought into captivity into the obedience of Christ". That means we welcome the Holy Spirit to lead us in our thoughts and when we recognize negativity creeping in, we subdue it and not give it another second to corrupt our thinking. Our battles are won and our lives glorify God when we learn to submit our thoughts to Him.
Our thoughts are much like our life's steering wheel in as; where our thoughts turn to, our lives follow. Align our thoughts with God's will and our lives will shine forth His Spirit and His best!
"For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." Jeremiah 29:11 (Refuse to let anything or anyone convince you otherwise.)
Life is too precious to surrender it to anything other than walking in God's victory and the very best that He has for us.
In the midst of our struggles and trials of life let's not become swept under by allowing them to become bigger and more powerful in our lives than what they should be. We can keep the right perspective by moving to higher ground per se`. When we move our focus onto the One who is the Creator of all that exists and allow Him to be the greatest, most powerful view and actual power in our lives, we then can walk in peace and joy as we are created to.
God is bigger than what we often times give Him credit for being. Our problems can seem so overwhelming at times that we tend to make them greater than God Himself, but that's merely the deception that anxiety produces when we focus on the issue of our problem rather than the Issuer of our peace.
"God can do anything, you know- far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit, deeply and gently within us. " Ephesians 3:20-21
Therefore, stop every now and then throughout the day and take a deep breath and remember just how great and mighty our Father God is, and allow Him the opportunity to be as BIG as He really is, in every situation we have. It's our responsibility to stop allowing small thinking to determine the depth and extent of our faith in what God is more than capable of doing.
Cast off small thinking from this day forward and think BIG....think - GOD! Shake off negative mindsets and every form of negativity as if it's a disease. (In a sense it is!) Agree with the good reports for you and your life - God's report!
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth, It shall not return to Me void but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55: 8-11
As "Believers", it is time for us to truly believe God and His word, thoroughly. We're called to be overcomers and this is the season for us to learn how to truly walk in it. The Lord's grace is extravagantly upon us in this season so that we may step into the renewing of our thoughts and minds to align with His truth more swiftly than in previous seasons known to us. The Lord is stirring within us His Spirit of truth and victory and preparing us for breakthroughs as we've never experienced before. Breakthroughs in finances, in good health springing forth, in relationships that have either been rocky or possibly even severed at one time, restoration of laid down gifts and callings, businesses being revived and made prosperous, prayers being answered swiftly, as well as the prodigals in our family coming back to the Lord.
The Lord is quickening this in my spirit ever so strongly:
WE are the people who are called by His name and His desire is for us to live daily in the transforming power of His name. This transformation begins with our belief system, which obviously begins with our thoughts and mindsets. God's heart is for us to become witnesses of who HE is so that the world might see Him within us.The greatest impact and revival will be because of His Love being poured out through us. God is love, and when we experience His love we then release that love to those around us and into the world. To truly experience His love and to release it as we ought to, we must first genuinely "believe" how much He loves us. It is in knowing the realness of His love for us that our thoughts and perspective will dramatically change from being negative to positive. Instead of coming into agreement with the temporary setbacks of the day, we can then be confident and expect even the negative setbacks to quickly change into something of our benefit. That is the goodness of the Lord for those who love Him.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you." Romans 12:2
The word 'stronghold' could also be referred to as 'mindset'. In other words, when a person has their mind set or fixed on a specific way of doing something or believing that something is truth, it then becomes difficult for their belief to be changed from that in which they have "set their mind" to believing. Although what they believe to be factual may indeed not be at all, to that person it becomes their truth.
Therefore, the greatest and most common assault from our enemy is always first and foremost the battle upon our minds. If our thinking can be swayed from the truth of God's word then we become vulnerable and our offense and defense weakens. As we become broken down we may very well find ourselves hanging out on the enemy's turf rather than standing solidly in the King's court.
There is not one thing that exists -whether good or bad - that did not first begin as a thought. Every action, every invention, every word we speak, did not manifest into existence until the seed of that thought was first within us. As we allowed it to exist and then mature, something - whether a word, an action, a business, an invention, whatever it may have been was created into existence, stemming from that single original thought.
On the other hand, if that first thought was stifled out immediately after it formed and not meditated upon in any sort of way, nothing more would have manifested into existence in it's likeness.
Negative thoughts do not bring about positive actions nor do they manifest good things into existence. Neither does thinking with a negative perspective allow our faith in God to arise that we may receive His best for our lives. When we walk in faith we are believing with the heart and mind that God has only good in store for us, even if it requires Him to turn a bad situation around into something good. God created everything from nothing, He is more than capable of transforming whatever our trial is into a blessing and victory for us. The catch is, we 'receive' by faith when we 'see' by faith. What does that mean? Simply, when we believe God's word, which is good news, we believe the positive report rather than the negative report which may very well be 'in our face' at that moment. When we are standing on the positive report, regardless of how much 'in our face' the negative has been, we are also standing alongside God in the battle rather than alongside of the enemy in the battle.
Remember, God is for us, His report is always favorable for us. His report is good news for us in every area of our lives! The enemy's report is that of condemnation for us and for our various situations. Therefore, it's imperative that we do inventory of the thoughts we are allowing to exist within us and what we are allowing to mature into the words we speak. Are they in alignment with the report of the Lord for our lives or, are they giving territory to the enemy of our souls?
In such a negative world we can maintain a positive perspective only by "bringing every thought into captivity into the obedience of Christ". That means we welcome the Holy Spirit to lead us in our thoughts and when we recognize negativity creeping in, we subdue it and not give it another second to corrupt our thinking. Our battles are won and our lives glorify God when we learn to submit our thoughts to Him.
Our thoughts are much like our life's steering wheel in as; where our thoughts turn to, our lives follow. Align our thoughts with God's will and our lives will shine forth His Spirit and His best!
"For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." Jeremiah 29:11 (Refuse to let anything or anyone convince you otherwise.)
Life is too precious to surrender it to anything other than walking in God's victory and the very best that He has for us.
In the midst of our struggles and trials of life let's not become swept under by allowing them to become bigger and more powerful in our lives than what they should be. We can keep the right perspective by moving to higher ground per se`. When we move our focus onto the One who is the Creator of all that exists and allow Him to be the greatest, most powerful view and actual power in our lives, we then can walk in peace and joy as we are created to.
God is bigger than what we often times give Him credit for being. Our problems can seem so overwhelming at times that we tend to make them greater than God Himself, but that's merely the deception that anxiety produces when we focus on the issue of our problem rather than the Issuer of our peace.
"God can do anything, you know- far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit, deeply and gently within us. " Ephesians 3:20-21
Therefore, stop every now and then throughout the day and take a deep breath and remember just how great and mighty our Father God is, and allow Him the opportunity to be as BIG as He really is, in every situation we have. It's our responsibility to stop allowing small thinking to determine the depth and extent of our faith in what God is more than capable of doing.
Cast off small thinking from this day forward and think BIG....think - GOD! Shake off negative mindsets and every form of negativity as if it's a disease. (In a sense it is!) Agree with the good reports for you and your life - God's report!
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth, It shall not return to Me void but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55: 8-11
As "Believers", it is time for us to truly believe God and His word, thoroughly. We're called to be overcomers and this is the season for us to learn how to truly walk in it. The Lord's grace is extravagantly upon us in this season so that we may step into the renewing of our thoughts and minds to align with His truth more swiftly than in previous seasons known to us. The Lord is stirring within us His Spirit of truth and victory and preparing us for breakthroughs as we've never experienced before. Breakthroughs in finances, in good health springing forth, in relationships that have either been rocky or possibly even severed at one time, restoration of laid down gifts and callings, businesses being revived and made prosperous, prayers being answered swiftly, as well as the prodigals in our family coming back to the Lord.
The Lord is quickening this in my spirit ever so strongly:
WE are the people who are called by His name and His desire is for us to live daily in the transforming power of His name. This transformation begins with our belief system, which obviously begins with our thoughts and mindsets. God's heart is for us to become witnesses of who HE is so that the world might see Him within us.The greatest impact and revival will be because of His Love being poured out through us. God is love, and when we experience His love we then release that love to those around us and into the world. To truly experience His love and to release it as we ought to, we must first genuinely "believe" how much He loves us. It is in knowing the realness of His love for us that our thoughts and perspective will dramatically change from being negative to positive. Instead of coming into agreement with the temporary setbacks of the day, we can then be confident and expect even the negative setbacks to quickly change into something of our benefit. That is the goodness of the Lord for those who love Him.
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you." Romans 12:2