I just typed this to a mentee. Then paused and thought about it. “Until we deal with root causes, all other self-coping methods are just bandages that cover the emotional infection.” What happens when infections are ignored? They become systemic.

How do we know if we have an emotional infection? The puss of bitterness oozes out of our words and attitudes. Does bitterness ooze from something in your past? It is time to remove the bandages and apply the scalpel of God’s word ~ piercing into the center of the infection so healing can begin.

It all starts with our thoughts. In truth, everything does. Our hearts were designed for communication with the Lord. They are the center of our beliefs. What we believe about God affects our communication with Him and with others. 

Our hearts are to be a deep refreshing reservoir of verses that we have hidden there. If we misuse our hearts, they can become a cesspool of contaminating thoughts. What is your inner dialogue like?

Hebrews 11:1 used the words “now faith.” It indicates active faith. How do we keep our faith active? Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” 2 Corinthians 10:4 is our battle cry for effective spiritual warfare.

It says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” Verse 5 gives us an explanation of how demonically set up strongholds operate ~anything that opposes God’s way.

It says, “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…” 2  Peter 1:3 says, “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Our faith increases as we continue to gain experiential knowledge of God.

Let us come to our senses ~ be aware of when our thoughts displease the Lord. 2 Timothy 2:26 says, “And that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

Fallow ground can only bear weed seeds. They propagate with no action on our part. Fiery dart lies are self-seeders. We break up fallow ground first by repenting of giving that ground over to satan when we believed his lies. Ephesians 4:27.

We look to the cross. We remember the price that was paid. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, “For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  We are not our own. Our life was redeemed from the kingdom of darkness. Let us bear fruit that will  glorify the Lord. We do that by abiding in His word, implanting it in our hearts ~ taking back the ground ~ advancing His Kingdom.

James 1:21 says that it is the implanted word that will save our soul ~ inner thoughts that control us. Either God’s word controls our thoughts, or the lies that satan has planted through fiery darts. Lies that we did not deflect through our door shield of faith.

Jeremiah 1:10 instructs us on what to do once those strongholds are revealed. It says, “…to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” Paul wrote about faith in Colossians 2:7. It says, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”

Have you strayed from the paths of righteousness? Paul’s words to the Galatians were harsh. Let them jar us from any complacency. Verse 1 says, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth…? Bewitched by the lies we allowed to penetrate.

In verse 3 he wrote, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Thoughts that feed our flesh are coming directly from inner strongholds. The next time you react in your flesh, stop and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the stronghold that holds you captive to satan’s will.

What do you allow in your life that distracts you from meditating in God’s word? Mark 4:18-19 recorded those things that choke out God’s word that was sown into our hearts. They are the cares of this world. Are you allowing the media to contaminate your thoughts?

They are also the deceitfulness of riches. Are you pursuing something that is not God-given direction? Another thing that chokes God’s word is the desire for other things. Do you read His word for understanding daily? Is it your priority?

Joshua 1:8 says that we are to read it for the express purpose to observe its truth and from it to make personal application. As we read with purpose and focus, the Holy Spirit will highlight the lies we have believed. He will also point out the truth that we are not walking in. He will reveal the hidden strongholds that oppose His will and ways.

A farmer has to plow up fallow ground in order to produce seed bearing plantings. I’ve read historical accounts of the early settlers in land that is uncultivated prairie. They had to toil to dig up the fallow ground. They also had to haul water from a river in order to keep their crops hydrated.

The opposite of fallow ground was recorded in Psalm 1:3. It says, “He shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

What are the conditions that we need to meet in order to have such fertile ground in our hearts? Verse 1 says that we don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly. We don’t hang out with folks who are scornful ~ contemptuous. 

Verse 2 says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” The Hebrew word for meditate means to abandon all outside distractions.

Negative thoughts are seeds that are sown onto fallow ground. What will they produce? Weed seeds. Hosea 10:12-13 says, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.You have plowed wickedness; you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way…”

Our way always opposes God’s way. That is one of the reasons the enemy shoots fiery dart lies. If we don’t block them, they will penetrate and seed themselves into our heart. Then he is able to begin to negatively influence our thoughts. His goal is to destroy our faith.

In Ephesians 6: Paul listed God’s armor to help us to stand and to keep on standing. Our shield of faith ~ note it is faith ~ that quenches the fiery dart lies. It all begins with the soil of our hearts. If there is fallow ground, that is where the dart will land to set up an internal stronghold.

FYI: tomorrow and Thursday mornings I will post my blog later than usual. I don’t want to disturb my house guest. She will be sleeping in the same room where my computer is. I’m letting you know ahead of time so no one panics

Having a daily discipline of reading God’s word for understanding is essential. Print on a page is just that. However, as we read with intention to learn, the Holy Spirit will highlight what He wants us to notice. That is our clue to stop and consider, ponder, or think about the phrase or words He highlighted ~ observing to do.

I keep a journal as I read. The other morning I was eating my breakfast. The Holy Spirit began reminding me of highlights from the chapters I had read the night before. I got up and started writing down the insights. I shared them with you through several days of these devotionals.

Though I did not know it at the time, the Holy Spirit was laying up treasures that I could actively apply to my life the next day. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” New real estate for newly plowed ground.

We train our mind to retain by repetition, What happens when we keep going over and over something from our past? It occupies or takes up real estate in our mind. It is fallow ground. It usurps faith. We are created to glorify the Lord by bearing much fruit. Spiritual fruit won’t grow in unprepared ground.

James 1:25 says, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Joshua 1:8 says to observe and meditate ~ thereby making our way prosperous and having good success.

1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” Philippians 2:5 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”