Joshua 1:9 (The Living Bible) says:

“Be bold and strong! Banish fear and doubt! For remember the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

How do we banish fear and doubt? How do we banish other thoughts and images that we know are not of God?

2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT:

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.

Pulling Down the Strongholds

Strongholds are thoughts we can’t seem to get rid of. For example, if someone has hurt us, whenever we see that person or think of them, the angry thoughts, return. We may lash out or talk about the person and dwell on what they did. We know we shouldn’t do that but we do.

The scripture above says that we must pull down these strongholds and bring every thought into captivity. How do we do this?

In Matthew 12:29 Jesus says

“One cannot rob Satan’s kingdom without first binding Satan. Only then can his demons be cast out.”

Satan must be bound before his demons can be cast out, just as a strong man must be tied up before his house can be ransacked and his property robbed.

Binding and Loosing

In Matthew 16:19 (NIV). Jesus spoke to Peter and told him that the Gates of Hades (Hell) will not overcome His Church. Jesus says

“I will give you the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

This means that whatever we bind by the words of our mouths (i.e., on earth) will be bound in the spiritual world. And whatever we loose by the words of our mouth will be loosed in the spiritual world. When He calls binding and loosing the Keys to the Kingdom, it means they are very powerful and important.

Our angry thoughts are from Satan. To get rid of them, we need to bind them and cast them out. I cast them into the abyss, because this is where the legion of devils didn’t want to go when Jesus cast them out. See Luke 8:31.

But there is more to do. In Matthew 12:43 Jesus said

“For if the demon leaves, it goes into the deserts for a while seeking rest but finding none, it says, ‘ I will return to the man I came from.’ Then the demon finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and all enter the man and live in him.”

When I bind and cast out a spirit, I loose the Holy Spirit to fill that void.

Do you want a cleansed and renewed mind? Then start binding imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against God – the thoughts you know are not of God. Cast these thoughts and images out in Jesus’ name. Loose God’s Holy Spirit in their place.

Let’s pray together.

Dear Heavenly Father –

These strongholds have no place in my heart and mind.
Help me to identify them and bind them and cast them out
And loose Your Holy Spirit in their place so
My thoughts and actions will glorify You!

AMEN!

 

DLH   – 1995