Did you know that we are in a war? Everywhere we look we see the casualties. Every day we see people falling from disease, divorce, and tragedy. Looking around at all this suffering, we may think that the battles are being lost in hospitals and divorce courts-but, in reality, we are losing the earlier, more important conflicts on the battlefield of our minds.

Our minds are being bombarded daily with a constant stream of little nagging thoughts, suspicions, doubts, fears, wonderings, and theories. While any one of these can cause defeat and devastation, many of us are plagued by more than one. Our lives have become filled with daily mental battles against a variety of aggressors.

Because we fail to identify the battlefield, we also fail to correctly identify our foe. We tend to believe that men are our problem, or women, the system, money, or religion. In order to defend ourselves, we build up strongholds in our minds. Strongholds are areas of thinking based not on truth but lies. These strongholds, instead of protecting us, actually imprison us and hold us hostage. Because of the presence of these strongholds, we continue to believe lies and make important decisions based on our deception.

Let me give you an example of how strongholds of wrong thinking can destroy a marriage. Mary and her husband, John, are not enjoying a happy marriage. There is strife between them all the time. They are angry, bitter, and resentful. Now their two children are starting to show signs of being affected by all the dissension in the home. One of the kids is even developing stomach problems brought on by all of the conflict.

Mary's problem is that she doesn't know how to let John be the head of their family. She is bossy-she wants to make all the decisions, handle the finances, and discipline the children. She wants to work so she will have her "own" money. She is independent, loud, and demanding. Mary knows that her attitude is wrong, and she wants to change. She's been in counseling, and she is constantly asking for prayer that God would help her with her anger, rebellion, unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness. But she hasn't seen any improvement. Why?

Over the years, Mary has built up strongholds in her mind. Mary can't control her actions because she can't control her thoughts. She can't control her thoughts because of the strongholds in her mind-strongholds that were built very early in her life.

As a child, Mary had an extremely domineering father. For years she suffered helplessly as her father mistreated her and her mother. He was disrespectful in all his ways except toward Mary's brother who could do no wrong. It seemed as if he was favored just because he was a boy. By the time she was sixteen, the strongholds in Mary's mind were firmly established. The stronghold of lies went like this: "Men really think they're something. They are all alike, and you can't trust any of them. They will hurt you and take advantage of you." As a result, Mary's mind was made up: "When I get away from home, nobody is ever going to push me around again!"

Before Mary can ever have victory in her life and peace in her marriage, she will have to tear down the strongholds that are ruling her thinking. Do you see yourself in Mary's life? Many of us have given in to these deceptions at one time or another. How can these strongholds be torn down? We must be willing to receive the light of TRUTH in our minds. Our search for truth begins in God's Word, which says that the truth will set us free (see John 8:32). This means we can be free from bondage, sin, and the strongholds in our minds. But just searching for truth won't set us free, we must be courageous enough to BELIEVE the truth.

Even though truth is revealed, it's sometimes hard to accept. It is a painful process to face our deceptions and deal with them. It's so easy to allow our past and how we were raised to negatively affect us for the rest of our lives. Our past may explain why we're suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stay in bondage. You may have some major strongholds in your life that need to be torn down. Let me encourage you by saying, "God is on your side." There is a war going on, and your mind is the battlefield. But the good news is that God is fighting on your side!