We can illustrate our metal strong holds/thought patterns in the following example:

We are driving along highway and we start to get board with seeing the same type of scenery over and over. We see a sign on the road that says exit here for something more exciting. We decide to exit and turn onto the dirt road. While we are driving we get caught up in the ruts in the road. But we continue on in the same direction, because the ruts are traveling in the same direction we are. The next sign we see says keep going straight if you want to sin. We think that we want to turn around, but it is very difficult because the ruts in the road are very deep. We turn our steering wheel, but the car keeps going straight.

The dirt in the road symbolizes the transition from being spiritually clean to spiritually dirty. As soon as you took the exit you have just allowed an unclean thought that is not from God into your mind. This directly affects your soul since your soul consists of your mind, will and emotions. The depth of the rut represents the strength of the mental stronghold. The mud in the ruts represents our old stinking thinking we had before we decided to live for God. Mud has a tendency to stick, which means it is very difficult to turn around once we have started entertaining the thought process that leads to sin. Our goal should be to replace the first thought that leads to the second thought with a pure thought or the Word of God. Paul the Apostle said that what ever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy focus on these things. We just need to understand to keep our mind obedient to Christ (II Corinthians 10:5). We also need to understand our identity in Christ, so many Christians don't understand who we are in Christ. The bible says that we are sons of the most high God, Kings and Priests to our Lord. We need to make a decision to serve God and stick with it, not go back and forth constantly repenting for our sin like we are spreading some kind of disease.

Carnal Desires
One other thing to consider is the basic carnal desire to sin. If your heart wants to sin and you are just trying to "live by the law"; you will fail every time. The first thing we need to have is "The Fear of the Lord" which is to hate sin. The Fear of the Lord is also the beginning of knowledge. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This is done by basically purging our old style of thinking with the Word of God.

We must crucify our flesh in order to overcome our carnal desires (Galatians 2:20). We must be crucified with Christ, so that our body of sin will be done away with (Romans 6:6). We must not allow sin to reign in our bodies (Romans 6:12). If we live by our carnal nature we will activate the laws of sin and death in our lives. Saved or unsaved, when we live by our carnal nature we are slaves to sin (Romans 7:25). We must learn to walk in the Spirit to activate the laws of Spirit and Life. On thing I learned is that if you give in to carnal desires in one area of your life it will affect other areas also. This is because your carnal minded thinking will result in a form of self-deception that will rapidly spread to other channels of thought throughout your mind. In other words you are being double minded by trying to walk in the spirit and in the flesh. (James 1:8) A double minded man is unstable in all that he does. For example if you are trying to overcome an addiction, but you still entertain lustful thoughts, you will have a hard time overcoming that addiction. This is tied to a lack of spiritual growth, which will severely hinder your recovery.

How do we learn to walk in the spirit? (For a more detailed description see: study on self-control) Paul the Apostle gives us a great deal of insight on how to walk according to the spirit. We need to get a deep understanding of exactly what our freedom in Christ is. We need to know that when sin we put ourselves in a "Yoke of Slavery". One thing that we must understand is that "everything is permissible" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"- but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others (Romans 10:23-24). In the book of Galatians Paul goes on to say that we were called to be free. "But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather serve one another in love". "So I say unto you live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of your sinful nature". (Galatians 5:13, 16). Our spirit is in direct conflict with our sinful nature, this is why it is so important to understand that we must crucify our flesh. When we belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature with it's passions and desires (Galatians 5:24).

Are You Hiding Fear
Fear is the number one thing that Satan uses to enable people to believe his lies. In almost every case, people that have been deceived are hiding fear in their hearts.
Webster's dictionary defines fear as the desire to escape danger or to believe with regret. The desire to escape danger could actually be used to control us like a puppet on a string. Hebrews 2:14-15 "so that by his (Christ) death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. To believe with regret is also to believe with sorrow or remorse. Sorrow or remorse would be the opposite of joy, which is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So it is safe to say that fear is not one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit but comes from the creator of the unfruitful works of darkness.

Fear is what activates the kingdom of darkness. Fear basically indicates your lack of faith that God is in control. Whatever area of your life you are hiding that fear, you will be in control by that fear. Fear and Faith are inversely proportional to each other. This means that the higher degree of fear you have the lesser degree of faith you have. We need to expose the fear in our hearts and replace it with Faith. 1Timothy 1:7 for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.

The fear of being alone is a big problem with a large number of people today. This type of fear could be compared to a deadly poisonous venom, just waiting for the opportunity to infect us with a lethal dose. There are times in our lives when God wants us to be alone so we can hear his voice. When Jacob fled his homeland to Laban he was finally alone without any of his family or friends with him. God spoke to Jacob in dream; Jacob understood what God said. This word from God prompted Jacob to make a covenant with God, which changed the coarse of his life.

We can't hear Gods voice if we are always in the presence of others. Satan will use the fear of being alone to draw us away from God, which will at the very least hinder us from experiencing God's best in our lives. He will deceive you into relationships that are ungodly. I struggled early in my walk with God for this very same reason. I would get involved with women that I knew I shouldn't be with. I would overlook severe character flaws fueled by my desire for intimacy and a fear of being alone.

The Fear of the reproach of Christ is a common problem with a lot of Christians. Reproach is defined as- to scold for a fault or to discredit. I have met a lot of Christians that want to remain neutral when it comes to standing up for their faith. This is usually fueled by a Fear of confrontation. A common excuse is that their relationship with God is personal and they won't push their beliefs on someone else. This is true that our relationship with God is personal, but Jesus said go out into all the world and make disciples of everyone. When the Holy Spirit lives in us it generates a Zeal for God. This is a natural response to a relationship with the one True and Living Father. We shouldn?t use a flattering tongue with people when it comes to speaking the truth. In the parable of the ten minas Jesus illustrated the danger of living in fear. The servant was instructed to multiply the money that was given to him. Out of fear the servant hid it in a piece of cloth and gave him back the same amount that was given to him. The master called him a wicked servant and put him to death. This was an example of what a person living in fear would do with the gifts and talents that God has given him. When we don't serve the Lord we are basically hiding our gifts a talents in a cloth (clothes).

Overall we need to teach ourselves to identify our fears and replace it with faith. This could be a life long process, but we should always be striving for spiritual growth and not spiritual perfection. When we strive for perfection we will always come up short, which opens the door for fear, doubt and unbelief.