Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 9 July 2024, Tuesday Message
TOPIC: Strongholds Demolished!
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:4
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Fantasies. Silly thoughts. Vain imaginations. Useless daydreams. These will puff themselves up so high in your head that you would swear they were true. A furtive thought lingers in your mind and begins to wear a rut, repeating itself time and again. It could be a false hope, an unfounded fear. Whatever it is, it doesn’t belong in your head. It’s a vain imagination.
I know from experience that if you let vain imaginations grab hold of you, they become powerful strongholds. Every time you replay that daydream, it’s like laying more bricks, making the stronghold higher. Then when you want to kick the thoughts out of your head, you can’t. You try the turning-over-a-new-leaf routine: I’m not going to think those thoughts. I’m not going to waste any more time daydreaming. Trying to single-handedly dismantle strongholds in your mind that way doesn’t work. That’s why I am so grateful that “the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.”
Christians have divine power—that’s the key, divine power—to tear down every vain imagination. It’s possible. You really can make your thoughts obedient to Christ. It may take some time, but by God’s grace that high tower can be toppled.
“Grace…teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:11-12). After the stronghold is knocked down, the rubble still needs to be cleared. Every time I say no to some tempting thought, a few more bricks lying around are smashed to bits. But every time I let something linger in my mind that I shouldn’t, I can almost see that stronghold begin to build itself again.
Is there some vain imagination, some stronghold, in your mind? Don’t rehearse those daydreams or entertain wrong thoughts. Demolish the stronghold with divine demolition.
PRAY: Jesus Christ, conqueror of our weaknesses, teach me not to let fantasies and wrong thinking build great edifices in my mind. Give me the power to demolish those thoughts and to replace them with obedience to you.
Joni Eareckson Tada is an American evangelical Christian author, radio host, artist, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization “accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community”