How To Strengthen Your Mind’s Defense System Against Spiritual Attacks

During the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, the Hamas militants used various missiles to attack cities and towns in Israel. However, Israel has a defense system called the Iron Dome that was able to stop and destroy many of these missiles. The Iron Dome uses special technology to track enemy missiles and shoot them down before they can cause harm. This helped protect the people of Israel and reduce the damage caused by the attacks.

As Christians, we are under constant spiritual attacks and it’s usually in the mind. Just as the Iron Dome defended Israel against hostile missiles, it’s important to have a spiritual defense system in our minds to combat tempting thoughts from the devil.

The Battle for the Mind
Our minds are often considered the battleground for the devil because they play a crucial role in our thoughts, beliefs, and decision-making processes. The mind is where our attitudes, desires, and intentions originate. It is the place where we process information, form opinions, and make choices. The devil knows that if he can influence our thoughts and beliefs, he can impact our actions and faith. That is why he and his minions are working overtime to weaken our minds with ungodly thoughts, doubts, fears, and sinful desires.

More than one church member shared with me about their backsliding experience. One sister said that even though at that time, she wore a necklace with a cross and attended church occasionally, she was committing fornication with different men. Another brother left the faith because he felt that God did not answer his prayer for a particular job position that he desired. Yet another brother said that he loved the wild parties and nightlife, so much so that he left the faith for almost 20 years. The testimonies of being tempted by the devil are many. Thankfully, all these believers were spiritually revived and today, serving faithfully in the Church.

Since we know that the mind is the battleground of the enemy, how are we going to fortify our minds against the attacks of the enemy?

How can we build a resilient spiritual “Iron Dome” to safeguard our thoughts and protect our spiritual well-being?

Let us explore how Satan tempts our minds, drawing insights from Scripture and stories that reveal his strategies:

The Power of Deception:
First, we have to acknowledge that the devil is the master of deception and a master deceiver, who seeks to distort truth and lead people astray. He has many ways to present temptations that may seem appealing or harmless at first, but ultimately lead to our spiritual harm and separation from God.

Here are some common tactics he uses:

Distorting And Misinterpreting: The devil twists the meaning of Scripture or promotes false ideas to confuse us and make us doubt what the Bible says. The devil distorted God’s words by asking Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). This question falsely implied that God had forbidden them from eating any fruit in the garden, which was not the case.

Creating Doubt: The devil wants us to question whether we can trust God’s Word. He may make us doubt its accuracy, relevance, or consistency. The devil directly contradicted God’s command by saying to Eve, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). By denying the consequences of disobedience, the devil cast doubt on the truthfulness of God’s warning

Tempting Us To Disobey: The devil tries to make us ignore or go against what the Bible teaches. He may suggest other ideas or lifestyles that go against God’s Word, appealing to our desires and what seems popular.
The devil appealed to Eve’s desires and presented the forbidden fruit as something desirable and beneficial. He said, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). This subtle manipulation played on Eve’s curiosity and her longing for wisdom and power. The end result was that she and Adam were tempted to disobey God.

Persecution And Opposition: The devil may encourage others to treat us badly or oppose us when we follow God’s Word. This can include making fun of us, being mean, or even hurting us physically. There is an account in the New Testament of the apostle Paul being mocked for his faith. In Acts 17:16-34, Paul visited the city of Athens and engaged in discussions with various philosophers and intellectuals. When he preached about Jesus and the resurrection, some of the people mocked him, dismissing his teachings as foolishness. Paul, among many disciples who suffered for their faith, had to endure numerous hardships, including beatings, and imprisonments. Eventually, Paul was martyred, traditionally believed to have been beheaded in Rome.

Cultural Influences: The devil uses the ideas and beliefs of the world around us to make us question or reject what the Bible says. He may make popular ideas or ways of thinking seem more important than what God’s Word tells us. In 2 Timothy 4:10, the apostle Paul mentioned that Demas, who was previously a fellow worker had deserted him because he loved the present world. This suggests that Demas had fallen away from his commitment to the faith and was drawn to the cultural temptations of those days.

Equipping Ourselves with God’s Word
To begin strengthening our spiritual defense system, we have to equip ourselves with God’s Word. This is the most powerful and essential way to resist the deception and temptations of the devil. The Bible serves as a guide and a source of truth, providing us with wisdom, knowledge, and discernment. Here are a few reasons why relying on God’s Word is crucial in our spiritual battle:

Truth and Discernment: The Word of God is a reliable and unchanging source of truth. It helps us recognize and discern the lies and deceptions of the devil. By immersing ourselves in Scripture, we develop a solid foundation of truth that enables us to identify and reject false teachings or worldly ideologies.

Spiritual Armor: The apostle Paul describes the Word of God as part of the spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:17. Just as a soldier wears armor for protection, God’s Word provides us with spiritual protection against the schemes of the devil. It strengthens our faith, guards our hearts and minds, and helps us stand firm in times of temptation.

Guidance and Wisdom: The Bible offers guidance and wisdom for every aspect of life. It provides insights into God’s character, His will, and His ways. By studying Scripture, we gain understanding and discernment, enabling us to make wise decisions and navigate the challenges and temptations that come our way.

Jesus’ Example: When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11), He countered each temptation with the Word of God. Jesus quoted Scripture to resist the devil’s lies and affirm God’s truth. His example shows us the power and effectiveness of using God’s Word as a weapon against deception and temptation.

Let Our Thoughts Be Under The Authority of Christ
Paul encourages us to capture our thoughts and bring them under the authority of Christ: “Our weapons are not physical, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. 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.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

By comparing Satan’s lies with God’s truth in the Bible, we can prevent them from taking hold in our minds and becoming strongholds. The truth of God’s Word serves as a powerful weapon to dismantle false arguments and align our thoughts with Christ.

Psalm 119:11 declares, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” By memorizing and meditating on Scripture, we can combat the enemy’s lies.

Seeking Accountability and Prayer
In the battle against temptation, we should not face it alone. It is crucial to surround ourselves with fellow believers who can hold us accountable and provide support. James 5:16 encourages us to confess our sins to one another and pray for each other, for prayer is a powerful tool in overcoming temptation and guarding our minds.

Summary
1. Understand that we’re in a spiritual battle, and the devil tries to tempt us.

2. Use God’s Word to protect our minds.

3. Ask God for help to understand how the enemy works.

4. Trust God’s wisdom to know what is true and what is not.

5. Equip ourselves with God’s armor. Read and study God’s Word for protection.

6. Through Christ, we gain strength to overcome difficulties.

Five Practical Steps To Demolish Spiritual Strongholds

During her teenage years, a lady became a believer after her parents got divorced. She learned about her father’s infidelity and felt betrayed. However, she found comfort in God who became her loving and perfect Father. Her cell leader taught her about forgiving her father, and she did. For twenty-plus years, she lived with that belief that she had forgiven her biological father. However, in a recent counseling session, the Holy Spirit revealed that her forgiveness for her father was done in a self-centred, condescending and judgmental manner. She was focusing on all the wrong things that her father had done instead of the love of God for her wayward father. Her forgiveness was clinical or legalistic but without true Agape love.

In fact, hidden within this sister was lots of unresolved anger. Her way of retaliation was by making a personal vow to succeed so that she and her mother would never need to depend on her father or any other men. As she grew into a young adult, she had many failed boy-girl relationships. The primary reason was because she had lost trust in men. Somehow, she got this notion that all men would behave just like her father. She vowed to take care of her mother all by herself and never allowed her mother to be bullied by another man. All these resolves had made her a very hard person. Little did she realize that she had allowed the devil to build spiritual strongholds of pride, self-idolization, self-dependence and bitterness in her life.

How A Spiritual Stronghold Is Being Built
A spiritual stronghold may be referred to as a bad attitude, negative habit, harmful idea or distorted belief that has dominated one’s life to a point that one continues to make wrong choices and ungodly decisions. A stronghold often begins with an inner hurt or a disappointment that the victim has experienced. When this hurt is not quickly handed over to the Lord in “Handing-over Prayer” then after a long time it begins to grow deep roots. This discrepancy in life becomes the foundation upon which the enemy will build the stronghold. Brick by brick of misinterpreted ideas and distorted concepts will cause the wall of this stronghold to steadily rise and strengthen. For example, the sister whom I mentioned above, believed the lie that all men would be like her wayward father. As she listened and read more news about wayward husbands, her mind began to justify her misconception. What was her mistake? She had taken the “part” to become the “whole”. Her spiritual stronghold had almost become an impregnable defensive structure of justification in self-preservation.

What Does A Spiritual Stronghold Do To You?
A spiritual stronghold is powerful enough to modify the way you behave and respond to normal situations. The same sister did not respond very well to suitors and even though she did like some of them. Her belief that these men would ultimately betray her had caused her to turn them away. The lie about all men being unfaithful had become such a stronghold that it was producing a deep anguish in her soul. Her ‘perception of reality’ contradicted with the ‘actual reality’ and that caused confusion within. She went through unimaginable mental stress and emotional turmoil. She was angry with herself because she did have some positive feelings for some of these men. Then she blamed her father and was very bitter about his past sins. Ultimately, she was upset with God for creating all the unfaithful men like her father. She was in a catch-22 situation – her heart desired to have a male companion or husband but that same heart distrusted men.

Is Having Spiritual Strongholds Similar To Demonization?
A spiritual stronghold is more like a demonic oppression but not to the point of demonic possession. The mind, emotion, and will are being trapped by the continual bombardment of fresh lies or memories of old lies. Daily, all these negative thoughts become fodders for the human reasoning to chew upon. The enemy is working overtime to help the victim justified why he or she has the rights to be remain hurt and disappointed.

We notice that even though the victims are believers, when they are in spiritual bondage, they suffer spiritual blindness too. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age [a reference to Satan and his demons] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” It is not just the unbelievers who are blinded by the devil but the disobedient believers are also afflicted in the same way. For example, there seems to be a persistent hindrance in preventing these people with spiritual strongholds from fully accepting the Word of God. Apart from that, they are basically blinded to the truth, facts and reality. Some actually get very angry when we try to present these to them.

Here are five practical steps that you can take to demolish all spiritual strongholds in your life:

1. Finding The Root Causes – Before you can demolish your spiritual strongholds, you have to know the the root causes of these lies. You cannot remove the strongholds with changed behavior alone, you need the power of the Holy Spirit. It is never about behavioral modification but identity transformation. First, allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the root cause of your spiritual stronghold – like the sister mentioned above, her root cause was that of rejection and insecurity. Some have strongholds because of unforgiveness and others because of hatred. Whatever it may be, hand it purposefully to Jesus in your handing-over prayer. As we have been forgiven by God for all our sins, we have to learn how to forgive those who offended or hurt us.

2. Handing-over Prayer – Handing-over prayer is a really good tool to use in forgiving the people who have hurt you. As the Holy Spirit reveals different people who hurt you, all you need to do is to surrender them to the Lord. Literally hand them over to the Lord. If the hurtful memories come back and mess up your emotion again, calm down, hand them over to Jesus again. You can do this type of prayer wherever you are and whenever you have time. For example, I do my handing-over prayer while cleaning the house, driving a car or simply relaxing. Whenever any unhappy thought comes or judgmental spirit attacks, I just whisper a prayer to hand all these to the Lord. Keep handing over until your faith and emotion catch up with your handing-over prayer.

3. Taking Every Thought Captive – Paul says that – “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). All these strongholds of harmful thoughts, when not contested, will affect your life and destiny. Watch how Jesus prevented a God-contradicting idea that was hurled at him when His own disciple, Peter, suggested that He should avoid the cross. The Bible says that Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns’ ” (Matthew 16:22–23). That was a decisive and clean move. It instantly took the “crossless” thought captive. As a former military man, that temptation was tantamount to the enemy trying to establish a beachhead onshore. And Jesus used the biggest canon to blow it away.

4. Appropriating The Name of Jesus – I like to share a technique that I use when negative or angry thoughts want to take over my mind and cause me to hate or criticize someone. I declare out loud, “In The Mighty Name of Jesus!” You will notice that these words have eight syllables and it should take you less than eight seconds to declare these words.
Why is this important? The reason is that when those negative thoughts come, they want to enter into your basal ganglia that is the part of your mind where you are entertaining all your hurts and disappointments. And if you do not rebuke those thoughts in eight seconds, they will become a part of your misery. When you open your mouth to take authority in the mighty name of Jesus, you bind the strong man and prevent him from pushing all these unhealthy thoughts into the region of your self-doubt, worries, inner hurts and disappointments. Immediately after your – “In The Mighty Name of Jesus!” – you are pulled back from the twilight zone of demonic influence into the present moment where the Spirit of God is. You can then immediately hand all those negative thoughts and ideas of hatred over to Jesus. [see Handing-Over Prayer),

5. Meditating Upon The Scriptures -If the feeling of anger and bitterness continue to grip your heart, it can only mean that there are still vacancies and voids in your life. Your life is not fully transformed as it may still have rebellion, immorality and corruption. The Bible says to not “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). The next thing that can definitely help you will be meditating upon the Scriptures. Let God’s Word fill the voids and vacancies. Our church has prepared a series of scripture-meditation videos that are no longer than 15 minutes each. You can get started immediately by watching these free videos.

Submit yourself to the Word of God and let the presence of God saturate you. You do not resist the devil by sheer will power but by the Word of God. The more you submit to God’s Word, the lies of the devil will have no place in your heart. The devil does not like yielded disciples of Christ who humble themselves and obey the Word of God. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

A constant meditation upon the Word of God will also give you the assurance of who you are in Christ and what your real identity is in the kingdom of God. This truth alone will nullify the persistent lies of the devil which include self-doubt and self-rejection.

All spiritual strongholds can be destroyed but you need to take those drastic measures mentioned in this article so as to get rid of them. You can be victorious and live in peace, joy and blessings! Here is a helpful video for you.