The will to go forward is a faith choice to do so.

A thought seemingly out of nowhere leads you to make a sinful choice. You see a picture, hear a song, taste a food, touch a shirt, etc., and all of a sudden you find yourself asking for forgiveness.

What in the world is going on? You’re not crazy! This thought came from either one of two sources – one outside or one inside you. Today we’ll deal with the stronghold from within.

In the back of our brains is our hippocampus. Simply put, it stores our life’s experiences to the current moment in time. This information can be put there by us, by others or by the Spirit of God. And, is the source of the thoughts that can trigger us to either move with the Spirit toward truth and freedom or against Him toward lies and bondage.

This stored information (aka “flesh) battles the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). It is a very real battle won only through one faith choice at a time to follow the Spirit. Your enemy knows this. He also knows your past, even the stuff you’ve seemingly forgotten, and will try to use it to trigger disobedience.

The winner of this battle is called a stronghold (2 Cor. 10:4). As believers in Christ, though, we have been given the power to tear down the enemy’s strongholds – no matter who put them there (2 Cor. 10:4-6).

This power allows us to take every thought captive, match it with the truth of the Word of God in order to expose the origins of that thought, and then by faith act on the truth. This process brings freedom from the triggers that can blow up our lives.

The next time you’re triggered by a thought that seems to come out of nowhere, make the decision to deal with it, rather than go with it. Begin to create new neuropathways to victory by building a new Godly stronghold in your hippocampus (Rom. 12:2) through daily faith choices.

Choose to be triggered toward Jesus, the place of safety and strength.