Set Free, Part 3: Pulling Down Strongholds

If we are going to walk in freedom, we have to learn how to recognize and resist the lies that take root in our minds. In the first part of this series, we talked about fallow ground—the hardened places of the heart where the Word is heard, the Spirit is experienced, but lasting transformation does not take root. In Part 2, we looked at the broken places of the heart and the anointing of Jesus to heal the brokenhearted. Now we need to talk about another reality that keeps people bound: strongholds.

A stronghold is not just a bad habit or a difficult emotion. A stronghold is formed when a lie becomes more believable to us than the truth of God’s Word. It is what happens when the enemy gains agreement in our thought life, and that agreement begins to shape how we see God, ourselves, other people, and our circumstances. The battle is spiritual, but very often as Joyce Meyer popularized, the battlefield is the mind.

2 Cor 10:3-4 tells us, “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” Paul goes on to say that we cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That means spiritual warfare is not only about what is happening around us. Much of the battle is happening in our thoughts.

The enemy is always after the knowledge of God. He wants to twist how we think about the Father. He wants to distort the goodness of Jesus. He wants to undermine our confidence in the Word. He wants to make accusations feel like discernment, fear feel like wisdom, shame feel like conviction, and unbelief feel like realism. If he can get us to believe lies about God, he can affect the way we live before God.

This is why an unchecked thought life is so dangerous. If we allow every invasive thought to run freely through our minds without testing it against Scripture and bringing it under the lordship of Jesus, we give the enemy room to work. Thoughts of fear, accusation, suspicion, lust, bitterness, rejection, despair, and condemnation do not have the right to rule the mind of a believer. We have been given the mind of Christ, and we have authority in Jesus to take thoughts captive.

That does not mean the battle is always instant or easy. Sometimes we have allowed our minds to be trained for years to think in agreement with fear, sin, trauma, or deception. Some people know what it feels like to have thoughts running like a train they cannot stop. But in Christ, we are not powerless. We do not have to surrender our minds to torment. We can begin to identify the thought, reject the lie, speak the truth, and bring our minds back under the authority of Jesus.

Paul is clear, we are to pull down strongholds. We are not to entertain every thought that enters our minds. We are to take thoughts captive. There is an active partnership with the Holy Spirit where we refuse to agree with anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We open our mouths and declare the truth. We resist the enemy. We renew our minds with the Word. We stop agreeing with what Jesus died to set us free from.

That also means we must pay attention to what we allow into our eyes and ears. We cannot continually fill our minds with perversion, violence, accusation, lust, fear, and rebellion and then wonder why our thoughts feel out of control. This is not about legalism. This is about wisdom. If we want a free mind, we cannot keep feeding it bondage. We must guard what we consume because what we continually receive will shape what we believe.

Jesus is anointed to set captives free. Isaiah 61 says the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him to preach good news, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and open the prison to those who are bound. That same anointing is still moving through Jesus and through His Church today. Liberty is our if we will receive it. 

We have to settle this: a life of following Jesus is a life of spiritual warfare. We do not need to be afraid, we do need to be vigilant. The enemy looks for opportunities, and one of the primary places he probes is our minds. So let’s stay awake. Let’s guard our thoughts. Let’s stay anchored in truth and refuse to let lies become more familiar to us than the voice of God.

Strongholds come down when truth is believed, declared, and obeyed. Lies lose power when they are exposed to the light of Christ. Our minds are renewed when we bring our thoughts under the authority of the Word and the Spirit. Over time, what once felt uncontrollable can come into peace, clarity, and freedom.

I want to encourage you to ask the Lord to search our thought life. Ask Him, “Where have I believed lies? Where have I agreed with fear? Where have I allowed accusation, shame, lust, bitterness, or unbelief to shape my thinking? Where has the enemy built something in my mind that Jesus wants to tear down?”

As the Lord reveals areas of doubt and deception that have formed your thoughts, acknowledge this by repenting. Ask Him to show you the truth. Find verses that speak the truth and fill your mind with them. There is freedom available in Christ. Your weapons are mighty in God to pull down the strongholds that have tried to hold you captive. No stronghold has more authority than the name of Jesus. No lie is stronger than the truth of His Word. And no captive heart is beyond the reach of the One who came to set us free.