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Fortresses of the Mind

written by Asher Intrater
June 15, 2018

We are engaged in “spiritual warfare,” fighting against forces of evil, from the “world, the flesh and the devil.” The battlefield of that warfare is often in our own mind and feelings. 

II Corinthians 10:4-5
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.”

Notice the words “strongholds” (fortresses) and “thoughts.” The fortresses are made up of thoughts—think of it like a small castle in your mind.

Housing Our Thoughts

The source of good and evil is in the spirit; thoughts and emotions are in the soul realm. However, there is a third level, and that is the brain. The brain is in the physical realm. Brain cells are the organs in the body which contain the thoughts of the mind.

As I write this, I see words appearing on a computer screen. For those letters to appear, they must be stored up somewhere on a silicon chip, either in my computer or in the cloud of storage bank computers.

So it is with our thoughts. Words and mind pictures must have a bodily unit which “house” them. The units of the brain that embody those thought streams are called “synapses.” Synapses are a matrix of brain cells that contain our thoughts, much the way a computer holds information in storage. 

These grouping of brain cells containing words and pictures are like a fortress or a stronghold. Whatever we do or say creates physical storage banks in our brain cells. These may be good or bad, but they are there. When we want to change our behavior, it’s like we are tearing down the synapses, and reprogramming those brain cells with correct information.

Everything we think, say or do forms a block of cells in our brain – a “brick” in the wall. Each synapsis contains an electro-magnetic charge. This is the spiritual power of good and evil resident in bodily form.

Spiritual Rearranging

We can’t just have nice intentions floating around. We have to focus our words, thoughts and actions to change the physical composition of these mind fortresses. We wage war against these evil blocks of brain cells. 

We fight that war by spiritual weapons. Our weapons are correct, Spirit-led words, thoughts and actions. We submit to the will of God; meditate on Scriptures; speak the Truth (out loud); and act in obedience to Yeshua.

The point is that spiritual warfare is REAL. The strongholds of the mind are much more REAL than we ever realized. Therefore, we must change our words, thoughts and actions in a more REAL way than we ever realized.

We keep speaking and acting in love and righteousness until the physical composition of the cells in our brain are rearranged to that of love and righteousness. We keep going until every thought is correctly aligned to the obedience and purity of Yeshua.

Asher serves as president of Tikkun Global family of ministries and congregations, dedicated to the dual restoration of Israel and the Church. He is founder of the Revive Israel five-fold ministry team, and oversees both Ahavat Yeshua and Tiferet Yeshua congregations in Israel.

He and his wife Betty share a passion for personal prayer and devotion, local evangelism and discipleship in Hebrew, and unity of the Body of believers worldwide.

Asher was raised in a conservative Jewish home and holds degrees from Harvard University, Baltimore Hebrew College and Messiah Biblical Institute. He has authored numerous books, tracts and articles.

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