Lesson 7
When you have a stronghold in your mind, you think about things the wrong way. There is a good chance you’re thinking about somebody the wrong way right now.
This person can be anyone in your life. Why are you thinking bad thoughts about them? Is it because of a squabble that began years ago? You’ve wounded each other over and over and those wounds are now controlling the way you think about them.
It seems no one is exempt here. Everyone is an equal opportunity target. It can be your children, your spouse, your ex-BFF or even your pastor. Oh yeah, pastors are targets. Maybe your target is your boss, because she did something to wound you and now that wound controls your thinking. You have negative thoughts that feed upon each other. The boss walks past you without saying “Good Morning,” and off you go. “Well, I bet she’s gonna fire me today! I’m nobody to her!” you think. Meanwhile, the boss isn’t thinking about you at all. She has bigger problems. She no doubt has her own soul wounds.
Before you realize it, you’re feeding these crazy thoughts. You hatch accusatory, judgmental, critical thoughts, all coming from wounds inside of you.
But, from my own experience, when your soul begins to heal, when you use the weapons of our warfare that are “mighty for the throwing down of strongholds,” you begin to understand what “mighty” means. You become strong in soul. And your mind thinks in patterns completely different than before.
Wounds in your soul can control every part of your mind, will and emotions.
What, exactly, is the job of your will? The job of your will is to make correct, God-given decisions. You want to make healthy, good decisions, as God intended for you.
However, everyone I know has made bad decisions in their lives. Sometimes, those bad decisions have brought devastation. Christians make bad decisions. Some of you have probably started a ministry that was soul-led, not God-led. You started it anyway and involved people and then it crashed and burned and those people were hurt and wounded.
Maybe you started a business. You didn’t pray about it because your will was controlled by wounds inside of you. Your business crashed and burned or even went bankrupt. Now, you have a big old mess.
Wounds in your soul can cause you to choose wrong things. They can cause you to buy the wrong house at the wrong time or send your kids to wrong schools. Wounds can cause you to choose to do the wrong things when trying to share custody of your children with your ex- spouse. They can drive you to make wrong decisions.
Women who seem to always pick the wrong guys are often victims of abuse. The wounds from abuse drive them to make the wrong choices, again and again. This is so common that I know lots of women who fit that description, some of them now on their fourth or fifth husband. Their picker is broken.
These women even pick men that beat them and mentally abuse them. They always have a story. Something happened to them as children, some sort of abuse or molestation or something that wounded them. Now they make decisions out of those wounds. Don’t get me wrong. There is never a reason to justify abuse. Nor am I blaming the women who end up in those relationships. I’m blaming their soul wounds.
Did you know living in poverty traumatizes you? Think of it. You went from school to school and lived in bad, unsafe neighborhoods. There was never enough food. You went to school in ragged, shabby clothes and people teased you. It was a horrible life. As you grew, you were traumatized by that existence and it wounded your soul. Today you’re making bad decisions with your money. Your electricity is about to be turned off and you are getting your nails done, because “you deserve it”. Maybe you get a nice check, but rather than pay down some debt, you buy a big-screen TV because, by golly, you never had a nice TV growing up so you’re gonna have one now!
Well, good for you. Enjoy watching it when the man cuts the power!
I’m showing you why you make bad decisions, why you can never seem to get ahead. Knowing the source of the problem is the first step to solving it.
And that’s where we will pick up next week. Big love, KS
