Who do you see when you look into a mirror? You see yourself! It doesn’t lie.
In the same way, when we look in the Bible and see Jesus, we must realize that we are seeing ourselves. We are seeing what God has made us to be.
Are you as free as you want to be? I can tell you right now, I’m not. Thank God, I’m freer than I used to be, but I want to be freer still! I want to keep letting God change me until there’s no bondage at all left in my life. I want to keep becoming more and more like Jesus until no sickness, sin, failure or lack of any kind has a hold on me.
Second Corinthians 3:17 puts it this way: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us as with unveiled face, because we continued to behold, in the Word of God, as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another: for this comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit.”
When we were born again, God’s own Holy Spirit came to live on the inside of us. He didn’t just come to visit. He came to stay. He’s always there whether we feel like He is or not.
Why then aren’t we all living in complete liberty? Because, in spite of the dramatic change that took place in our hearts when we were born again, our minds, didn’t change a bit. We still had the same old thoughts we’ve always had. We had the same bad self-concept.
We had all the old worries, fears, and habits we’d developed over a lifetime of living without Jesus. As a result, many of us went right on living in bondage even though legally we had been set free.
Come Humbly to the Mirror
Let’s think for a moment about this idea of using the Word of God like a mirror. Who do you see when you look into a mirror? You see yourself! It doesn’t matter how many times you look in that mirror, you never see anyone else there. It’s always you looking back at you.
In the same way, when we look in the Bible and see Jesus, we must realize that we are seeing ourselves. We are seeing what God has made us to be.
Now in the morning when you get up, most likely, you come humbly to the mirror. When you look in it, it gives you instructions. It lets you know that you need to make some changes and adjustments. But no matter how many changes you see you must make, you never argue with the mirror. You never say, “Nope, that’s not me. I refuse to believe that’s me.”
But people do that all the time with the mirror of the Word. They’ll look in it and see that they’re the healed. But because their bodies have symptoms, they’ll say, “Well, that’s not me. I’m not the healed, I’m the sick. That must be somebody else in that mirror.”
Maybe they’ll look in the Word and see that God “gives us the victory, making us conquerors through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57 Amp.) But they’ll think about how they just lost their job or failed in some other endeavor and they’ll think, “I’m not a conqueror. I’m a failure. That mirror is wrong!”
If you do that, the mirror of the Word can’t help you. So don’t make those mistakes. Instead, come humbly to this mirror. As you read it, agree with it. Receive and take directions from it. If you’ll do that, the most miraculous thing will happen.
The Spirit of God will begin to move on you and change you from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. It won’t happen the first time you read it. But if, as the scripture says, you will continue to behold, you will be changed!
Where will that change take place first? In your mind.
Mice, Mice Everywhere!
A mental stronghold is actually a dominant attitude or belief that has been established by repeatedly thinking certain thoughts. For example, if you’ve spent years thinking thoughts of self-pity, you will develop a victim mentality that will govern your life.
Then every time your spirit tries to act like a victor in Jesus, it will run into that stronghold that says, “No, you’re not a victor, you’re a victim. You’ve always been a victim and you always will be. Poor you.”
Second Corinthians 10:4–5 tells us exactly how to deal with those strongholds: “For the weapons of our warfare are not physical, weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, in as much as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ.”
We destroy strongholds by taking captive every thought we have that disagrees with what the mirror of the Word says about us. That’s no small job. It can be done, but it takes effort.
Having a brain full of undisciplined thoughts is like having a house full of mice. Have you ever noticed that if you don’t get rid of mice, they’ll multiply at a great rate? Suddenly, they’ll be everywhere—in the closet, under the bed, inside the cupboards, in the pantry. In the same way, if you don’t control ungodly thoughts, they’ll take over your life.
You’ll be driving along in your car thinking about how angry you are at someone, for instance. You’ll be cooking dinner and find yourself thinking about it again. You’ll find yourself lying awake at night thinking about it some more.
And before you know it, those thoughts have consumed you. They’ve robbed you of your peace. They’ve drained your energy and you’re exhausted.
How do you rid yourself of thoughts like that? The same way you get rid of those mice. You capture them one at a time. You put yourself on alert and start watching over your thoughts.
When you notice one that’s causing you trouble, you say, “Thought, do you agree with the Bible?” If it doesn’t, then you take it captive to the obedience of Christ.
As we behold in the Word of God as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we will constantly be transformed into His very own image in ever-increasing splendor from one degree of glory to another! We will, at last, be free!