Let’s Demolish

Good morning.

Worrying thoughts - pondering about unproductive concerns - often keep us busy. These thoughts keep us awake at night, occupy our minds during the day and take up time we could have used to pray and worship. The devil specialises in irritating us and keeping us so occupied that we don’t find time to worship the Lord and think of others.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” We need to do this in the spiritual realm and in our thought life. When thoughts and fears take control of our mind we need to talk to those thoughts, shut them up and cast them out. We need to proclaim passages such as Philippians 4:6, 7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” As usual I personalise this passage and make it a prayer: “I will not be anxious about anything, but...”

The battlefield of the spiritual realm is our minds. If the enemy can manage control of your mind, he can manipulate the destiny of your soul. If he can manage to bring fear, depression or even just worldliness to occupy our mind, we won’t have time to think about the Lord, intercede for others, plan exploits for the Kingdom or even look for opportunities to share the gospel. We will only be occupied with ourselves and our concerns.

During the wars of old, if you were in a fortress you were safe. Out on the battlefield you were at risk. “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold,” (Psalm 18:2). If we stay in the Lord, we’re safe. How do we stay in the Lord? We stay in constant communication with the Lord, thinking about Him, what He says to us, praying for others, being busy with Kingdom activities “and do not give the devil a foothold,” (Ephesians 4:27). Giving the devil a foothold means to allow a gap in your fellowship with the Lord where he could enter your mind. It could be a moment of focussing on self and doing or thinking something sinful. Psalm 91 says: “¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ⁴ He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” It’s up to us to get in there and stay there.

The lovely part is that we can be in the fortress and on the battlefield all at once, since the battle is the Lord’s and we just fight with Him. If we therefore stay in our fortress; wherever He goes, we go and whatever He wants to accomplish, we accomplish. We’re not invited to only hide in the fortress; we’re called to be soldiers from within the fortress.

^“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it,” (1Thessalonians 5:16-24).

Lord, I want to stay in you, fighting the good fight of the faith.

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