Tony Evans - 30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

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Copyright 2015 Tony Evans Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402

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CONTENTS

Dr. Evans would like to share two important messages with you that will help you overcome fear and worry.

To download Freedom from Fear (from Matthew 14:22-33) and Be Happy, Dont Worry (from Philippians 4:6) at no charge, visit our website:

go.tonyevans.org/overcome

H ealthy emotions are to the soul what the senses are to the body. They reveal the way we feel about lifes circumstances.

But some people are imprisoned by negative emotions. These people dont just have a bad day once in a whilethat happens to all of us. Rather, they feel as if theyre trapped, as if they cant escape, and as if their very life is being choked out of them. When they wake up in the morning, they dont say, Good morning, Lord. Rather, they say, Good Lord, its morning. They struggle to survive and may feel helpless, hopeless, and worthless.

I use the word stronghold because anger, depression, worry, stress, low self-esteemthese are spiritual issues. They must be overcome spiritually. When we get the spiritual component right, we wont be enslaved by our emotions.

Some emotional strongholds can be tied to a physiological cause, such as a chemical imbalance. But most emotional strongholds dont spring from physiological causes. Rather, they stem from sineither your own or someone elses. For example, you might struggle with emotions of guilt, shame, or regret because of wrong choices you have made. Or you may have suffered abuse, rape, betrayal, or rejection. In these cases, the stronghold of fear, insecurity, or worry didnt come from your own sin but from others.

Emotional strongholds can even result from what I call atmospheric sin. This happens when sin clouds the atmosphere around us and affects us regardless of whether we actively participate in it. This is often the case with greed, social irresponsibility, injustice, racism, and so on. These can lead to emotional strongholds just as secondhand smoke can lead to lung cancer. In an environment that is rife with sin, people are more likely to suffer from emotional strongholds.

People who find themselves enslaved to their emotions may deny the problem exists, or they may use pills, entertainment, sex, or money to distract themselves from the real issues causing their emotional discomfort. But I want to help you discover the root behind what you are experiencing so you can overcome it. I want to look beyond your feelings so you can discover and address the causes of your emotional strongholdsand overcome them.

God did not create you to be imprisoned by emotional strongholds. Rather, He has promised you a full life in Christ. Jesus said, I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). He has not called you to live each day in defeat. He wants you to know and trust that He is in control of all things and that He is watching over your entire life.

If you are not experiencing the abundant life Christ freely gives, now is the time to overcome your emotional strongholds. Turn to Him and ask Him to reveal the areas where an emotional stronghold may have set in. He wants to show you how to see past your sorrowhow to view your life from His vantage point.

From where you stand right now, life may look dismal. Yet from where God is seated, all is well. When we overcome emotional strongholds, we let go of our need to understand everything right now. We trust God to make a miracle out of what looks like a mess.

Remember, emotions dont thinkthey merely respond. Emotions have to borrow thoughts in order to stimulate feelings from them. Therefore, whatever controls your thoughts also controls how you feel.

For example, if you were weighed down with worry and stress because your bills had piled up, you had been laid off from work, and you saw no way out of your financial chaos, your emotions would be responding to how you were thinking about your situation.

But if I handed you a check for $500,000well, lets just say your emotions would completely change. Thats because your emotions follow your thoughts. You can overcome emotional strongholds by mastering your thinking. When you align your thoughts with Gods truth, you will be set free. Guaranteed.

T he battle to overcome your emotional strongholds is a battle for your mind. Whoever and whatever controls your mind controls your emotions (and your actions). So if you are worrying, stressed out, and depressed, youre probably thinking things that arent true. Thats why the apostle Paul tells us we dont war against the flesh, but against Satans attacks on our mind.

The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

So were fighting not only our flesh but also our mindsand Satans lies. One of Satans favorite strategies is to plant his thoughts in our minds, disguising them as our own thoughts. We accept them as true and begin to act on them. This is the same strategy he used with Eve in the garden when he twisted Gods truth and enticed her to sin.

But if Satan is sending us these sinful thoughts, how can we be blamed for thinking them or acting on them? The answer is that you and I are responsible for what we do with these thoughts once they enter our minds. Thats why the passage we just looked at says we are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

When a thought enters your mind, luring you into an emotional stronghold of worry, doubt, anger, hate, or shame, you have two choices. You can reject the thought, or you can adopt it and make it your own. By rejecting it, you tear down the stronghold and put an end to the false way of thinking. It cant dominate or corrupt your emotions any longer.

Paul says our thoughts can lead in two directions. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:6). In this verse, death is the opposite of life and peace. It is spiritual impoverishmentyou may be alive physically, but your emotional life is ebbing away. This ebbing away leads to worry and depression because the flesh does not bring peace, joy, or purpose.