Strongholds

I was recently discussing a matter with a dear friend regarding some problems with an individual. I've been keeping this person in the loop about the ongoing saga so that I can gain additional wisdom into precisely what is transpiring spiritually.

For the upteenth time, I had attempted to go to this individual and address some concerns. I was again met with this tremendously defensive response. There was avoidance, changing of the issue, defensiveness, anger, and of course - no resolution to the problem. After several hours of back and forth, the conversation finally closed out - with my realization that this person would just never be able to give in.

After relaying this same, repeated story to my friend yet again he wisely said "Satan has a stronghold."

Wow.

Stronghold.



That was precisesly what it was. A stronghold. And the entire picture came together for me on what was really going on in that situation. This person had something in their life that was gripping them spiritually that they could not shake, and as soon as anyone threatened that stronghold its defenses kicked in.

This launched me into a study on strongholds and what they are, and how to defeat them.

At its base level, a stronghold is a faulty way of thinking based on lies and deception. The stronghold then takes root starts attacking other areas of our thinking and eventually parts of our lives that are more visible.

You can't "see" the real stronghold - lies and deception. You don't know what the thinking is, but you can sure can see the visible fruit of that stronghold. Whereas the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, patience, virtue, the fruits of a stronghold are anger, lack of joy, fighting, impatience, harshness, and even loss of virtue. With strongholds there is palpable fear manifested in defensiveness, avoidance, anger, and diversion. When you get close, the defensiveness kicks in.

A good example of a stronghold in Scripture is Jericho. Jericho was this wicked city in the midst of God's chosen people, Israel. It had tall walls and huge defenses - large and imposing. It was seemingly impenetrable and a threat to God's people. A base of operations for their enemy. Every day it was there, lingering on the horizon, it jeopardized the destiny to which Israel was being called, and they would never really be free.

So God had them remove the stronghold. They could not do it through their own physical means - they needed God's help - it was spiritual warfare. So, with strong leadership under Joshua and the truth of God's promise to them, God's people destroyed that stronghold in their midst.

Do you too want to be free? Then you need to take out those strongholds in your life!

³¹To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

³³They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants^b]">[b] and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"

³⁴Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

In the above verses, God tells us how to be free of strongholds. It isn't what you think. It isn't getting into a better financial situation, having all your "rights" restored to you, somehow muscling through it, getting what you want, or getting out from under oppressive people.

It is being set free by the Son, knowing the truth, and being free from sin.

Strongholds manifest themselves in defensiveness, fear, attacking others, division, hurt relationships, "unbreakable" habits, and other visible sins. Those visible sins are not the core problem, however - the lie you believe in your mind is the core problem. Satan has supplanted truth with lies, and that lie has taken root and born fruit.

How long has this been happening?

Since the fall of man in the garden of Eden. Satan deceptively approached Eve and got her to "rethink" the truth God had revealed to her. Adam went right along with it, unwilling to challenge the stronghold (lie) in its infancy. That lie took root and bore fruit, causing them to want to be like God. Satan has had a stronghold on minds ever since with original sin.

Welcome to spiritual warfare!

This brings us to the next question: How do we defeat strongholds?

³For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

We fight strongholds with truth, and we defend against them by putting on the armor of God.



You see, the real problem with the alcoholic isn't that he's addicted to alcohol. The problem is his thinking - the belief that somehow harmfully altering his body's chemistry with alcohol if fun for him in the long run or that it will make troubles go away.

So, you can attack the alcoholic's addiction, but if you don't fix the core spiritual problem - truth, the stronghold will only be torn down paritially, not removed. It will build up again to take control of that person.

What are the strongholds in your life? What sin do you accommodate and allow to build up in your mind? Can you see the core problem? Do you see how it causes you to lash out or get defensive?

We need victory over strongholds! Let's tear down the strongholds in our lives!