Spiritual Strongholds in Your Life
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (2 Cor. 10:4 KJV)
A stronghold is a term, best understood from the military perspective. It is a fortress or a castle which is fortified and presents stiff resistance to any attacking enemy forces. When someone is in a stronghold, they are relatively safe from enemy forces. The Apostle Paul uses the word in a figurative sense in our verse above to describe fortified places in people’s minds which are hard to penetrate.
It is important to note that in 2 Corinthians 10:4, these spiritual strongholds are in the mind, as clearly seen in verse 5 which calls them arguments and reasonings. In fact, the strongholds are opinions, points of views, world-views, ways of thinking, etc. that someone in a case might be using to fortify his or her belief in defending their position against any opponent.
Strongholds in cities or people’s lives are not some demonic places where occultic activities take place or other similar demonic activities. It is in the minds of the people. It is what people use as the reasons to reject the idea of God for instance or view the Gospel as foolish. Even more importantly, we may also have strongholds in our own lives. It may be the way we think that is the greatest enemy of our progress. There is more spiritual battle in our minds than many of us realize. Use God’s weapons to pull down strongholds in your life, and in those around you.
MEDITATE
Can we win spiritual battles using carnal weapons? What are some of these carnal methods that you can think of?
APPLY THE WORD
Ephesians 6:13-18 gives us God’s weapons. You will immediately realize that they may seem unreasonable to us at first sight. Did you notice that debates are not part of them to pull down these strongholds( carnal methods)? Trust and use God’s methods. This is one of the reasons why prayer is the backbone of evangelism though we might not see why that would work. Similarly, that mountain and pain in your life might not need power for a miracle. It might just require a change in the way you think! Renew your mind with the Word!
PRAY
Ask the Lord to help you pull down every stronghold in your own life!
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