Breaking Free Part 9

Christ is Risen! What a glorious day we have had so far. In the midst of our day of celebration the husband is napping, the baby is napping, and I am taking some valuable quiet time to review the second to last part of my bible study. This particular week was one of my favorites as the emphasis was on the steadfast mind and how we are to make Christ the Lord of our minds.

Day 1: Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you."
Satan is very cunning and deals directly with our thoughts; Mark 4:15, Acts 5:3; 2 Corinthians 11:3.
This day the study went into detail and picked apart the phrases of Isaiah 26:3:
1. "You will keep"- the Hebrew word for keep is nasar meaning "to guard, protect, keep; used to denote guarding a vineyard and fortress." God is the perfect watchman over our minds. (Psalm 139:1-2, 23. Surrendering our thoughts is a safeguard to being given over to a depraved mind. (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20)
2. "in perfect peace"- The Hebrew term is Salom meaning "to be safe, be complete." "It usually denotes a satisfied condition, a state of peacefulness, a sense of well being. This phrase does not mean a perfect mind, but perfect peace within imperfect minds.
3. "him whose mind is steadfast- The Hebrew word for mind is yetser, which means "frame, pattern, image, conception, imagination, thought; device." It is what is formed in the mind (plans and purposes). The Hebrew word for steadfast is Samak meaning "to sustain, to be braced, to lean upon." When temptations come the believer chooses to believe in God's word and act on it.
4. "because he trusts in you"- the Hebrew word for trust is batach meaning "to attach oneself, to confide in, feel safe, be confident, secure."

Day 2: 2 Corinthians 10:5 "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."

This day focused on the phrases of 2 Corinthians 10:4-5:

1. "Divine power to demolish strongholds"- The Greek word for demolish is kathairesis meaning "demolition, destruction of a fortress." The original word for stronghold is echo meaning "to hold fast." The derivative is ochuroma meaning "a stronghold, fortification, fortress", "that is used of any strong points or arguments in which one trusts." God's supernatural power is the only power that can tear down the strongholds we have built, whether for comfort or protection, that now have control over us.
2. "We demolish arguments and every pretension"- The Greek word for arguments is logismos meaning "a reckoning, calculation, consideration, reflection." In other words our rationalizations for the continued presence of strongholds in our lives. The word for pretension is hupsoma meaning "something made high, elevated, a high place". In other words strongholds are: a. anything we have put in a higher position besides God in our lives b. things that pretend to provide something we feel we must have, and c. anything that is a tremendous source of pride for the enemy.
3. "that sets itself up against the knowledge of God"- Sets itself up is epairo meaning "to hoist up as a sail, to life up the eyes, to look upon." Satan's goal is to be worshiped. (Isaiah 14;12-14) Satan leads us with deception, but God leads us "with cords of human kindness, with ties of love." (Hosea 11:4)
4. "we take captive every thought"- to take captive come from the Greek word aichmalotizo meaning " a prisoner, captive, to lead captive; by implication, to subdue, bring into subjection."
5. "to make it obedient to Christ"- "Victorious lives flow from victorious thoughts" and "victorious thoughts come from setting our focus on a victorious God."

Day 3: Deuteronomy 33:29 "'Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places.'"
The remaining 3 days put emphasis on a 5 step process to take one from captivity of our thoughts to our thoughts being captive to Christ.

1. Recognize the captor - The steadfast mind is not a matter of denial. (Deuteronomy 33:29; 2 Corinthians 10:5). The high places are monuments to idolatry in the OT (2 Kings 12:3; 14:4; 15:4, 35; Numbers 33:50-53; 1 Kings 14:22-23). Many believers who serve God still have high places that they fail to tear down. Just like the OT Kings who failed to tear down the high places, our high places can lead to us being eventually torn down.

2. Stand in Agreement with God: 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Day 4: Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

3. Tear down the lies - When we see the sin involved in the stronghold, agree with God, and confess we start to see the lies and the door to our captivity is opened. (2 Corinthians 11:1-2; Galatians 6:1) "Deception is the glue that holds a stronghold together. By the time the stronghold exists, our minds are covered with lies." (John 8:43-45, 32).

4. Put Up the Truth - We still are not totally free after we have confessed. If we just confessed we will soon cycle back into the sin. We need to reprogram our minds with the truth of God's word. (John 8:32; Romans 7:21-23).
An example: Forgiveness of another person who has hurt us: "We want Him (God) to wave a magic wand so we'll never think about him or her again. That's not how God works. He wants to transform and renew our minds (Romans 12:2) so we can think the thoughts of Christ about the person we are forgiving. We will not be free until we adopt the mind of Christ in the matter that has enslaved us."
Some practices that help putting up the truth in the mind: (this was really in Day 5, but it is a review of this step so I am putting it here).
1. Search God's Word for Scriptures. Find scriptures that speak the mind of God to your specific stronghold
2. Write these Scriptures on note cards.
3. Take these Truth Cards where ever you go.
4. Avoid as many forms of deception as possible.

Day 5: Romans 8:6 "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace."

5. Bow thoughts to the Truth - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5: "Take captive every thought" is a present active participle that expresses continuous or repeated action. In other words, we have to keep working on our thought life. This is a continual life long process of "starving the flesh and feeding the spirit. (Romans 8:5-8)

That is all I have time for. There are a lot of details that I left out of this lesson, but I think the overview gives a fair picture. Our last session is Tuesday and then I will review and put a closure on this Bible study. Until the next time.