As we are confronted by our own unpleasant traits, we often succumb to this line as our means in dealing with our guilt, or as a reason for doing it again. The thing is, this statement is one of the most deceitful thing the identity theft (which is satan by the way) has embedded in our minds. It means we can never change. The devil has several strongholds in us for this matter – Financial stronghold (when we worry about sustenance or when we can’t balance our whims to our means); Habitual stronghold (any means of addiction); Spiritual stronghold (inconsistent spiritual discipline, like reading the bible and quiet time); Relational (when there’s difficulty in maintaining a relationship); Mental (pessimism); Physical (bodily insecurities).
Believing this lie is an insult to God, because it’s like saying that He cannot help us. It is, at the same time, a waste of His efforts for us, for He created us in His likeness, His image. This is a great privilege and gives us dignity (contrary to the lowly self that the devil made us think about ourselves). Albeit we do not know the extent of this statement, at least we know some aspect of it includes – like God, we are spiritual beings- our spirits are eternal; we are intellectual – we can think and reason; like God we are relational – we can give and receive love, and we have moral consciousness – our ability to discern right from wrong. This is how God made us.
Empowered as we are, God provided us with strategies to combat this lies from satan. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2Cor. 10:3-4
Capture wrong thoughts. Everything starts in the mind. The moment the thought of injustice, pride, jealousy, unloving sets in, seize it! Instead of dwelling on it, do things the Paul way : “…whatever is true.. noble…right…pure…lovely…admirable – If anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things. Philippians 4:8
Release rights words. Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death…” By our tongue we can hurt someone, and when we hurt someone through words, we could kill that person’s soul. This is hard to do at the heat of an argument, so let our prayers be that of King David’s – “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalms 19:14
Attack and win. After capturing the wrong thoughts and releasing the right words, we need to work hand in hand with God, cooperate with Him. This last strategy is the most essential of the three, because it shows who God is in our lives. Most often we fail, even after doing the first two because, (1) we do it with our own will power. Let us not focus on the “I”, that’s being a big show-off with God as the audience. (2) “I’ll give everything to the Lord.” It’s good to be dependent to God, but not lifting any effort at all is another thing, it’s laziness, big time.
All of us are enforcers of God’s power. We have that strength to fight the strongholds of the enemy within us. When the enemy of God is trying to pull us down, just think that God is living in us, and it’s no longer us but Him.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20