Strongholds
2 Corinthians 10:1-6 “Now I, Paul,
myself am pleading with you by the meekness
and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent
am bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may
not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who
think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but
mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high
thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience
when your obedience is fulfilled.”
Stronghold is defined as a castle, fortress, a
place of protection, a fortified place, a place of security. God is our
stronghold and place of protection and security. Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my
deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of
my salvation, my stronghold.”
When king David was on the run from Saul for years God took care of David, He put people
around him to protect him and provided strongholds for him to stay in for
protection.
But there are
other type of strongholds that come against the truth and will of God. Every
believer has strongholds in them that need to be identified and pulled down.
There can be strongholds over a city, church, ministry that needs to be
identified and pulled down. In a believer it could be many things, a belief,
way of thinking, attitude, sin, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear, idol, etc. In
the blue letter bible for the verse above in 2 Corinthians 10:4 it defines this
type of stronghold as - a castle, fortress, fastness, anything on which one relies.
Anything a believer attaches or relies themselves on that could continuously
get in the way of our relationship with God. Could be pornography, a habit,
another person, etc, that Satan can and influence and work through. God is
jealous God and going to come after these things in our life because he loves
us and wants his will for our lives. These are areas that God wants to change
and renew to become more like Him. Exodus 34:14-15 (for you
shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God).
In the 9 second video I put on here is from the
Lord of the rings movie. A hobbit named Smeagol or Gollum is fishing with his
friend. His friend finds a ring that represents a very powerful evil to take
over the world. Smeagol becomes influenced by the power of the ring and kills
his friend. The ring is like a stronghold to him that he calls his precious, he
is obsessed by this thing and turns into a mad creature. He looses the ring to
another hobbit and his cousin Frodo is chosen to carry the ring to destroy it.
Smeagol pursues the ring in a deceptive way till it ends up killing him. Even
though this is a fictional movie it has a lot of biblical comparisons. What’s
interesting in this movie is a team of mighty talented warriors is assembled to
go on the journey to help destroy the ring but a humble little hobbit is chosen
to carry the ring till the end and destroy it. There was a lot of deception
because of the ring but Frodo the hobbit proved faithful. Another important
part of this is a hobbit named Sam that was with Frodo and stayed faithful
during the whole journey. Humility is a powerful weapon when dealing with Satan
and his army of demons.
The person I want to use in the bible is Gideon.
Gideon is one of my favorite people in the bible for many reasons, his story is
in Judges 6-8. In Judges 6:12 God comes to Gideon in a low place of weakness
and humility and calls him a Mighty Warrior. God tells him he is going to
rescue Israel from the mighty Midianites who was oppressing Israel to
starvation. Gideon has a really hard time at first accepting this for a while
because of who he is and were he is from and his circumstances. He is small and
God is big and mighty and does powerful supernatural things. It didn't make
since or add up to Gideon and I’m sure it didn't add up to others. Till God
chiseled down 32,000 men in an army to 300 and led Gideon and the men to defeat
the Midianites, God gets the glory.
But the part of Gideon’s story I like is when
Gideon pulled down the false gods of baal and asherah and built an altar to
God. Judges 6:25- “Now
it came to pass the same night that the Lord
said to him, “Take your father’s young bull, the
second bull of seven years old, and tear down the altar of Baal that your
father has, and cut down the wooden image that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on top of this
rock in the proper arrangement, and take the second bull and offer a burnt
sacrifice with the wood of the image which you shall cut down.” So
Gideon took ten men from among his servants and did as the Lord
had said to him. But because he feared his
father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by
day, he did it by
night.” There is a lot that comes to me in this but I like that Gideon was
afraid and went during the night and took ten men with him.
This is from the blue
letter bible, the name Gideon means. Destroyer, brave warrior, hewer of trees,
chop or cut down, to break strength, faith in God not in power of arms. Some
other interesting descriptive words that I won’t list but you can look it up.
Anyway Gideon was in a place of weakness but because of God’s power working in
him supernaturally he accomplished a great work for the kingdom. He was used to
pull down shrines of false god’s and built an altar to God to bring glory to Him.
Even though we walk in
the flesh God gives us his mighty weapons to pull down strongholds. Love,
truth, faith, humility, the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, God’s word,
the armor of God, fasting and prayer are all weapons of God. Every believer has
God’s mighty weapons. Gideon took 10 men with him to tear down the shrines of
false god’s. Your brother’s has God’s mighty weapons. I like to meet and study
with men it helps me grow in many areas. I like to set across from another
brother and open myself up deeper with God’s word and be transparent pray for
one another and have accountability in truth and love. When I fellowship and
study with other men it helps me see what’s in my own heart. Proverbs 27:19 “As in water face
answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” KJV
Have Faith in God’s mighty weapons and that God can use them
through a humble servant no matter how long you have been a believer and what
part of the body you are. God’s mighty weapons are a gift from God to every
believer from the grace of God when you accept Jesus by faith. You don’t have
to earn them through a performance, test, degree or program. You have them from
your faith in God.
2 Corinthians 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all
disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. Readiness on blue letter bible
is defined as prepare ready, opportune, seasonable, to receive
one coming.
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