The Devil’s Worst Nightmare Come True

A renewed mind is the devil‘s worst nightmare come true.

Why would the devil hate it when someone has a renewed mind? Very simply, the mind is the only means he has to get to us. That‘s his only access point to our lives. So if we renew our minds, the devil has no access to our lives. That‘s really good news!

Now the question is, “How does the devil access our minds?” He accesses our minds through our thoughts. My own story specifically started with one simple thought. Let’s take a look into the Word of God and I‘ll show you what I mean. Every person has to deal with “castles” in their minds. Not everyone’s situation is as extreme as mine was, obviously, but there is no one who is exempt, no one who doesn‘t have to learn how to control their soul.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)

Circle those words “strongholds.” In the Greek, the word “strongholds” is a very old word with two meanings. Rick Renner has some excellent teaching on the word “strongholds,” if you’d like to find it on the Internet, but for the sake of understanding, I’ll give you the short version here. Both of the meanings of “strongholds” work in this situation. The meaning is described as a place like a castle or a fortress. If you are dealing with a stronghold in your mind, it’s as if a lie has been in your head for so long that it’s become like a castle sitting inside your head. The devil moves in and from this lofty place, he begins to dictate what you think, what you feel, and the way you see yourself.

The second definition of “strongholds” also works in this situation. The second definition is “a prison.” Seemingly these definitions paint pictures of two different things. A castle is something with big walls that tries to keep things from coming in. In a prison, you’re behind bars and can only see what is on the other side. You are on the inside looking out, as the prison keeps you from going out.

When a stronghold is built up in your mind, this lie creates a huge fortress from which the devil will dictate what you should think, how you should feel, and how you should interpret situations in your life. Sometimes people aren’t actually doing anything wrong to you, but you’re seeing their actions as all wrong. You’ve worn these glasses of hurt and unforgiveness for so long — the glasses of “this happened to me in my childhood,” or whatever your case may be — that you see situations in life now through the lens of those past hurts, rejections, and experiences, and you are isolated with no one getting in and no one going out. ]

This also reminds me of the word oppression. The word oppressed in the Greek means an entity or a lie, like a wicked king or a tyrant ruling in your head. Oppression terrorizes your life. An example of this is found in the book of Acts.

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)

At the time, I didn’t understand all this. As a girl wanting love, I decided that the only way I could find it was to have sex with whomever I could. I longed for that feeling of love, even though it wasn’t really love at all. Then the thoughts started coming, Sex equals love, so go get all you can. You don’t know what love really is because your family chose the whole world and lost their daughter. Because this man did that to you, you’re used goods. Who would want to be with you? I would give myself to random people I didn’t even know. I’d meet them in a bar for a one-night stand, have sex with them, and think that I was truly trying to find love. This was a castle — a stronghold — that had built itself up in my mind, and I was seeing the whole world through this.

Everything changed for the worst when I started accepting those thoughts as truth. When you listen to the lies of the enemy — those thoughts, those ideas, those suggestions — and accept them as truth, they start to affect you. Truth always lines up with God’s Word. I guarantee that none of that mess was in the Word of God. None of it!

But the devil wasn’t happy with me just drinking and sleeping around. His ultimate goal was to steal, kill, and destroy my life (John 10:10). Ultimately, he wanted me to either get a STD and die or just be so broken that I wanted to die. That is exactly what happened; I just wanted to die! As I gave away a piece of myself here and there, I didn’t want to live anymore. The satisfaction of love that I thought I would find in the arms of somebody I hardly knew in a bedroom, wasn’t doing it for me. I didn’t feel loved. I felt so empty. I felt so broken. I truly just wanted to die and get it over with.

If my life is proof of nothing else, it is proof of the fact that even when things look their very worst, God does provide a way out. Let’s take a look at 2 Corinthians 10:5. This verse adds more insight into how to handle these strongholds.

Cast Down Imaginations

In Genesis chapter one, God created His world by speaking it into existence. He spoke words. If we are created in God’s image and likeness (and we read that we are, indeed), it stands to reason that we create our world just as our Creator did — by speaking! We create the framework of our minds, what we’re allowed to think and what we’re not allowed to think, by speaking. Our words are extremely important!

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, we are told to cast down imaginations. You can do this very simply by putting your hand on your head and saying, That is not my thought. I only think thoughts of life. I do not think thoughts of death. I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind, in Jesus’ name. The enemy cannot cross the blood of Jesus applied to your life and situation!

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

The word “imaginations” in the Greek, is the word logismos. This is where we get our word logical. There are two types of imaginations. There is the logical imagination and there is an illogical one.

A great example of a logical imagination is when the Holy Spirit tells you to give a certain amount of money in the offering. The logical imagination says, I can‘t give that much in the offering because I wouldn’t be able to pay this back and I wouldn’t be able to do that. Just like that, you reason yourself out of what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. Why? It’s logical. Right? Logical imaginations are the hardest ones to overcome. Not that this is impossible to overcome them; they are just harder to do because they make sense.

An example of an illogical imagination is when the devil comes and lies to you, like he does to a person with an eating disorder. This person is extremely skinny, yet feels like she is overweight. When she looks in the mirror, she sees a 200-pound reflection, but anybody else looking at her can see that she is nothing more than skin and bones. The devil took something that was completely illogical and set up a stronghold in her mind, will, and emotions. He fed her a lie and she chose to accept it.

Handle Your Thoughts

The shield of faith plays an important part in helping you ward off those imaginations from the enemy. How do you release your faith? With your mouth, through the words you say. This is the answer to everything. You must learn that once you accept a lie as truth, it will become one of your beliefs. Once it becomes a belief, you will start acting like it’s true. Everything you do starts with a thought. Thoughts can be categorized into two groups: 1) thoughts of life and 2) thoughts of death. Thoughts are not always extreme like kill yourself, but deadly thoughts can be anything that is antiGod, anti-anointing, anti-Christ, or anti-life.

You can be free from the lies that the devil sends to steal, kill, and destroy. It is vitally important that you deal with those thoughts, ideas, and suggestions quickly and in line with the Word of God. Your thinking determines your emotions. Your emotions determine your decisions. Your decisions determine your actions. Your actions determine your habits. Your habits determine your character.

I didn’t handle my thoughts or emotions. I didn’t handle my hatred, anger, or unforgiveness. And because I didn’t handle them, these things affected my character. I had to learn to deal with all of these things in order to have victory over them. I’m not trying to preach to you or make you feel bad. I’ve been where you are. If you’ve been struggling, I want you to know you’re not alone. I’ve got good news for you! You can look at me and my life now and know that there is hope. I am 35 years old and have been totally free from all that junk for more than 10 years. I no longer have thoughts about committing suicide. It never crosses my mind. I don’t have thoughts about being used up or being unlovable. Why? Because perfect love casts out fear! God is love!

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:18)

I don‘t care how used up you feel, the perfect love of God, the grace of God, and the mercy of God drive away all the hurt and pain and fear. God is truly perfect in all of His ways! You may be living like the devil like I did, but God sees you through grace. God sees you through the blood of Jesus, and you are perfect in all of your ways! Now, it‘s time to learn.