Saturday 9 August 2014

Today's meditation with JoyceMeyer

Satan’s Strongholds by Joyce Meyer - August 09, 2014

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds. —2 Corinthians 10:4

A stronghold is an area in which we are held in bondage—any part of our lives in which Satan imprisons us. He does this by causing us to think a certain way—a way that is based on lies we have been told. As long as we believe things that are not true, we will remain imprisoned by those strongholds. To enjoy freedom, we must learn to use God’s mighty weapons.

In my book Battlefield of the Mind , I referred to Mary, who had
been mistreated and brainwashed by her father, and by the time
she was a teen, she didn’t trust men. It’s no wonder that she and
her husband faced many conflicts in their ¬marriage. For years,
Satan had lied to her and she believed the lies.

Mary isn’t one isolated case. I know a man named Daniel, who is
quite intelligent. In fact, his family used to tell him he was the
smartest man in town. God had given him a good mind, but Satan used that fact to imprison him. Until he met Jesus Christ, Daniel believed he was smarter than and superior to everyone else.

Because of his pride, it was easy for him to be deceived and think
more highly of himself than he should. He became critical and
judgmental of others who he felt were not as brilliant as he
believed he was.

Patricia was somewhat like Mary, except that her father constantly told her she was no good; that she was worthless and should marry the first man who would have her. That’s exactly what she did, and she lived a miserable life. She felt she was never good enough for anyone.

Mary, Daniel, and Patricia had been trapped in different prisons,
but Satan was the jail keeper. All three lived miserable lives until
they leaned what Paul meant by “the weapons of our warfare.”

The Word of God is the weapon that set them free. That weapon
became effective through preaching, teaching, books, tapes,
seminars, small Bible study groups, and their own private studies.

They also learned to turn to other spiritual weapons such as
praise and prayer. They learned that when we genuinely praise
God from our hearts, we defeat the devil quicker than by using any other battle plan.

They didn’t overcome every problem the first day—it was a slow
process, but it was worth the wait. Patricia later said, “It took a lot of years for me to become imprisoned through the lies of Satan, so why not give God plenty of time to work His good plan into my life?” Our victory is not a one-time, big event—it is a process.

“The more I realized how badly Satan played with my mind,”
Daniel said, “the more I could stand against him. The truth of
God’s Word made me free.”

Praise and prayer are great weapons that God’s people should
use in overcoming the power of the evil one. Praise helps us keep
our minds on God, His power, and the good things that are taking
place in our lives. It is proof that we believe He can and will help
us.

True prayer reflects a relationship with God and shows that we
depend on Him. We are His children, and He is our Father. When we pray, we open the door for God’s help. We ask Him to free our minds and give us victory over Satan’s strongholds. God answers those prayers. In fact, God is more eager to answer our prayers for help than we are to ask. Think of prayer this way: when we pray in faith, tremendous power is made available to us.

As we truly understand that we are God’s children, we will gain
confidence to use the weapons of our warfare. The weapons are
there. We just need instruction on how to use them and
encouragement not to give up. Jesus has promised to be with us
always (see Matthew 28:20). We can win with our weapons
because they are spiritual weapons. The devil fights a carnal,
fleshly warfare, but we can win because we have the power of God on our side.

Precious Holy Spirit, teach me to understand that the weapons of
our warfare are spiritual and that we can win against every attack of the devil. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.

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