The battle is in the mind

As Christians we must remember that the battle is in the mind. The carnal mind is such that it prevents the entire truth of Jesus Christ from entering in. There are strongholds in the minds of Jehovah's Witnesses, in the minds of muslims, in the minds of Mormons, and in the minds of Jewish people -- fortresses against Jesus. But even Christians who believe in Jesus have fortresses in the mind.

There are no logic in these fortresses. They are only prejudices built up in people's minds: cultural, clannish, familial, experiential. From small fortresses such as " suffering is good and is God giving me a thorn in the flesh and miracles are passed away with the apostles" to larger ones such as "God isn't involved in day to day situations" or even "there is no God."

The assignment given to us from Christ is to break down these strongholds in the minds of people -- whether folks call themselves Christians or not.
We are told to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And God has given us certain weapons in which to fight these spiritual wickedness in high places that uses untransformed or ignorant or prejudiced minds. These are not the human weapons of arguing over spiritual points or even using human medicines. We can use those if God tells us but we are to use spiritual weapons that fight spiritual powers.

Paul uses the symbol of wrestling to explain how these spiritual wars work. We war against despair, doubt, hate, prejudices, unbelief. Wrestling is the appropriate symbol. To the human carnal mind it's as if we're fighting the air, but Paul says we're not beating the air. Something is going on. As we wrestle by using praise to fight the Great Enemy we are affirming Christ's vicotry over the sins, sicknesses, and demonic world. We are also fighting against our own inner sins and doing battle with out own carnal minds which still aren't wholly persuaded that we can ever win and triumph. But fighting is what we are called to do, and transforming our minds from the human doubt and physicality to belief and an understanding of how the spiritual works is what we must do. We are called to occupy -- a military term-- until Christ comes. And that means we must fight the spiritual fight.