What are Strongholds?…

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish 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 NIV)

“Strongholds” are false, fixed ideas  which exert a kind of power over my thinking, making my thoughts run in repetitive “ruts” that are difficult to extricate myself from.  They can make me feel trapped and isolated, powerless to change.  They can keep me away from God and his love.  They can impede my acceptance of myself as a flawed yet deeply loved child of my Heavenly Father.  And they can interfere or even destroy my capacity to enter into communion with others, to receive love from them and genuinely love them in return.

What kind of thoughts are we talking about?  Perhaps ideas about my own defects which make me hide my true self from others out of fear of rejection. Perhaps thoughts that make me feel, contrary to all that I hear (and even intellectually assent to), that God will never accept me, that he’s really hard to please.  Or perhaps beliefs about others which stem from painful memories of my past, making me wary of their sincerity or even doubt the safety of being in a relationship at all.  Such beliefs can keep me from ever opening my heart to them. 

These kinds of thoughts are the main tool of the Enemy. If he can get me to believe his deceptions, my own mind is “highjacked” and will do his work for him.  A stronghold is like a fortress in my mind which pretends to be stronger than God himself, stronger than his love, mercy, and goodness.  This kind of thinking leaves me feeling isolated and powerless, like I am left to my own devices to manage life all by myself.  Discouragement, even despair can follow. 

But we have not been left alone, ever!  “Nothing…can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).  The love of Jesus, and the support and prayers of the Body of Christ can surround us with reassurance and offer strength and encouragement. 

Plus, we have “weapons” which are strong and effective for “demolishing” –  obliterating – these fortresses in the mind, liberating me to receive the love of my Heavenly Father and begin risking opening my heart – little by little – to others.  The Holy Spirit living within me helps me wield the “sword” of the Word of God in the Scriptures (Ephesians 6:17), that Truth that frees me from these errors, and thwarts “the wickedness and the snares of the Devil”.  And the “medicine” of the Sacraments heals and renews my mind. 

This is the strength and the hope we have, the victory we can realize in our lives because of Jesus’s love and what he has done for us.  And that is very Good News indeed!