Love Broke Through

by: dennis

edited: author’s sister

five of twelve. it’s been incredible so far to write about my journey, my walk with God, and what God is doing in my life. it’s also good to see my mind shifting the focus to God as I move on from my past.

today I want to talk about the mental battle. the strongholds. the despair of double-mindedness. the process to freedom. and the current state of my mind.

there’s a verse that I personalized for myself during some of the hardest days mentally. it comes from the book of Psalms.

I simply took the first part of this verse and said to myself, “I will live and not die” for a good four years or so, plus or minus; this was something I said to myself all day long, just to make it through the day. when one feels that there is nothing to live for, one verse is all they need to keep going. to keep pressing on. to remind themselves to hold on. to hope for a better future. to believe, no matter how weakly, that God can break the strongholds of your mind, to give you a future, and to work all things for good, no matter how impossible it seems at the moment.

as I sit here, reflecting back, I remember how I thought about this verse and just thought, only God can make all things work together for good, because right now, I just don’t see it. like it seems so far-fetched. but isn’t that what the walk of a believer is? having faith even though you don’t see it.

one of the worst strongholds I had in my mind was thinking I would never have a singularly focused mind, that I was forever doomed to be a double-minded person. that I would never be able to say that I believe in God with all of my mind. I felt so locked in. so trapped into this way of thinking. I felt locked into being a hypocrite forever: professing faith in Yeshua, believing in His completed work for me, believing that He is Lord, believing that He forgives me, and yet still thinking about my obsession with pornography. I thought it would permanently just be a part of who I am. it felt unchangeable. it truly felt impossible to think I could ever be of one mind. this was my prayer. this was my hope. and there was no one that could pull this off, except God.

I thought about this verse a lot during my years of struggle. I thought about how double-minded I was. and how much I didn’t want to be this man anymore.

as I continued to fight for, believe in, and pray for a mind set free, I would see how a stronghold would eventually come down and then I would find myself later looking back and realizing I don’t have that stronghold anymore. praise God!

over the last couple of months, God has reminded me of many more examples of how my mind has been set free. I am absolutely grateful to God for the freedom that my mind has now. it’s much more calmer now. it’s more at peace. I am just grateful. only God can give this kind of peace and freedom. with God, the mental strongholds can be broken.

praise God that He gives us the tools to cast down the strongholds of our minds. taking every thought captive in obedience to God is a must. there is no other way to surrender your mind.

tools? what tools are you using? well I’m glad you asked. there are several. meditating on God’s Word. prayer. confessing with those people you trust in your life. worshiping and praising God.

these are the weapons of warfare given to us. use it. there is real power when you use them in faith. no wonder that they are called weapons. some battles are won quickly, some more slowly. it’s a fight. is it easy? no. not a single bit. was it meant to be easy? no. I wish. but God is good. and God is faithful. and God will be with you in the fight.

take courage. use your weapons of faith. be strong. and trust in Him.

be blessed.