From Genesis to Revelation, the story of God’s interaction with humanity shows that He is constantly pursuing us. Even as people voluntarily distance themselves from God, He continually reaches out with a love that we can’t fully understand. The story climaxes with Jesus coming to earth to reveal God to us and sacrifice His life for us so that we could enter into a life relationship with God.

Church is more than Sunday. The story of the Bible shows us that God wants to be in relationship with us every moment of every day.

In Narnia (Prince Caspian), against all odds, the Pevensies, Prince Caspian and the Old Narnians defeated the army of King Miraz and his Telmarines. They didn’t do it on their own. Aslan, a talking lion who was a figure of Christ in the movie, was right there by their side. With his help, they defeated their enemies.

Just like Aslan, Jesus also had gathered together an ordinary bunch of followers they he called disciples. And, just like the Narnians – the disciples faced insurmountable odds. As Jesus left the earth, they faced many battles as they spread their new found faith all over the known world.

How could they accomplish this mission of making sure that the message of Jesus was spread throughout the world? Then, on top of that, how would they accomplish their mission and also avoid battling with each other? The the disciples were human too. Just like us, they struggled with pride, competitiveness, arrogance and selfishness.

Jesus had some things to say to them in a scene of his final hours here on earth. The scene is his last meal with the disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem. What could he say to them that would help them in the battles that were coming?

In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

As the disciples let the love of Jesus sink into their inner being and let it saturate their soul in such a way that they experienced it every moment - especially in the midst of the battles that were coming, they could respond with love.

How do we destroy strongholds that are keeping us in bondage? How do we destroy these negative thinking patterns that may have us feeling so defeated?

1. Start with faith-prayer.

The two go hand-in-hand. Faith is the reliance that God wants to be personally active in my life. Prayer is the request for that activity to start happening. Faith is the expectation that God will do it.

2 Corinthians 5 [7] For we walk by faith, not by sight.

The Apostle Paul wrote those words to some friends of his 2,000 years ago. What he meant was, “What we can see with our eyes will only take us so far. There is another dimension to life, a spiritual dimension. It’s filled with values and morals – and the Spirit of God. If we live based on what we can see only with our physical eyes, we’ll live a very shallow existence. But if we will live based on faith – based on what we believe, our values, convictions, and the power of God, we will experience a much fuller life.

Hebrews 11 [6] Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.

Ephesians 6 [18] With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit.

2. Choose to think the truth.

Philippians 4 [8] Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

God gives us promises or truths to help us deal with strongholds. Here are just a few:

Why should I fear when the Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline? 2 Timothy 1:7

Why should I let the powers of darkness have supremacy over my life when the Bible says that the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world? 1 John 4:4

Why should I worry and be anxious when I can give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you? 1 Peter 5:7

I wanted to pick up from where I left off back in May. This whole reflection on the topic of strongholds has really given me some comfort and encouragement in the midst of grieving my mother’s recent death too. I hope these reflections also help you.

All of us face problems in life – depression, discouragement, disappointment, poor health, financial problems, family and marriage problems, guilt, shame. These negative thought patterns have often been burned into our minds over time. Where do they come from? How do they get there? Strongholds take root in our lives through repetition over time. Strongholds or the negative thinking patterns that we have may have occurred by being raised in a non-Christian environment where you may have developed a philosophy of how to survive, cope and succeed in this world apart from God. Or, you may have strongholds in your life from traumatic experiences that may have resulted from facing one of the problems that I just mentioned here – such as depression, discouragement or disappointment, for example. These strongholds in our lives tend to take us down and can defeat us.

Facing problems in life without God can lead to destructive strongholds. These strongholds begin as thoughts that come into our minds. Maybe thoughts to numb the pain we have – like lust. Then, we act on that thought (e.g., temptation to pursue some kid of desire that is ungodly). If we continue in our actions over time, they become habits. And, habits can take root and form permanent behaviors. It’s these behaviors over time that form destructive strongholds in our lives. These destructive strongholds or unhealthy thought patterns get rooted in our lives and lead us away from God’s plan for us — and even lead us into unhealthy behavior too.

In the current Narnia movie, the Pevensie children had the incredible task of trying to defeat an evil king and his army. During their preparations for battle, they came up with ideas and tried to figure things out on their own. Lucy had another idea though. She believed that Aslan, the Christ-like lion character, was there to help them defeat their enemies. Eventually, all of the Pevensie children believed that Aslan was there to help. As they depended on him, he provided some offensive weapons such as walking trees that helped overcome the army of King Miraz in a final battle.

We also have some weapons to help us deal with the spiritual battles that we face daily.

2 Corinthians 10 [3] For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. [4] For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. [5] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

The image that the Apostle Paul is presenting here is similar to an offensive battering ram that is designed to tear down strongholds. The strongholds that keep us down - perhaps more than any other - at the negative thinking patterns have the potential to control our minds for years and years - and keep in bondage to things that are not reality. For example, God says that anyone who is a follower of Christ is forever loved by him no matter what. Sometimes when we fail, we get into the self-condemning thinking that convinces us that God doesn’t love us anymore.