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Good morning my “Walking With Jesus” friends;
When you hear the word “Stronghold”, I wonder what comes into your mind? Perhaps a castle or fortress or well defended high ground?
What might the term “stronghold” mean in business, or politics, or heath care, or education, or crime, or addictive things like drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling?
And now this question… and what does ‘stronghold’ mean spiritually?
Today, we’re considering 2 Corinthians 10, my friends, and you’ll find this word “Stronghold” in verse 4, so let’s do some digging together, are you ready?
Paul is writing, you remember, to Christians in the wild and wicked city of Corinth. A large city in its day, of perhaps a quarter of a million people. A very diverse city, with people who both live and visit there from all over the world, as it’s a port city. Those who are coming to Christ in Corinth, are finding it difficult to wean themselves from the wild lives they had been living. They feel like they are living in a battle-zone.
Look at vs. 3-5 “For though we live IN the world, we do not wage WAR as the world does. The WEAPONS we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have DIVINE power to demolish STRONGHOLDS. We 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.” As you see, I have capitalized certain words for emphasis.
These three verses are extremely important for any Christian, anywhere, in any generation, who is trying to live a God honoring life, while living surrounded by a wicked world.
Do you see the phrase “…we do not wage war as the world does…”? Paul is not using the words ‘wage war’ to describe what soldiers do on the battlefields with guns, bombs, and bayonets. Paul is referring to an even more dangerous and vicious war. The battle for the heart, mind and soul of every living person. That battle is fought between Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Satan, but it also involves every human being, because we decide the outcome of the battles!
Now watch this friends… God has determined the outcome of the spiritual WAR, but we, each of us, for whom the battles rage, determine the outcome of the daily battles, which are fought for us, individually. Oh please be sure you understand this.
When Jesus died on the cross as our atoning sacrifice, taking upon himself the sin guilt of humanity and also bearing the wrath of God for our sin, and as Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus was defeating Satan and the ultimate authority of his dark kingdom in our world (Heb. 2:14,15). That’s what I mean when I say the ‘war’ has been ultimately won by Jesus. Revelation 20 gives clear description of Satan and his demons’ eternal destiny in the lake of burning sulfur, when final reckoning and judgment takes place for all humanity who have ever lived, as well as Satan and all his demons. A new heaven and a new earth, without any Satan or evil follows in Rev. 21.
History tells us that in every major war there is a time delay between the time the loosing army surrenders to the victor, and the final papers of surrender are signed and word is sent out to all fighting units everywhere to lay down their weapons and stop fighting, the war is over. It is in that time delay that battles continue since neither the papers of surrender have been signed, nor has word come to the remotest parts of the war. My friends you and I are living in that ‘time delay’ spiritually. Jesus won the spiritual war 2000 years ago, but the battles for individual human hearts continue, ferociously, and will continue, until the events of Revelation 20, sometime in the future.
Ok, so that’s what Paul means when he says “wage war”. Now what does he mean when Paul says “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds…” (10:4). What are these weapons, available to you and me for fighting the spiritual battles, raging for our hearts, minds and souls? And, what are the battle schemes, the battle tactics and even the battle weapons the devil is using to try and defeat us and take us as prisoners of this spiritual war?
Here are three very important Scriptures you need to remember when considering the spiritual battles we all are fighting:
1 John 5:19 “…the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Be careful here, this does not mean Satan has more power that God. It means that when Adam & Eve turned away from God and yielded to Satan’s temptation in the garden of Eden, they invited Satan into our world, and in believing his lies rather than God’s truth; in following Satan’s advice and rejecting God’s warning and eating of the forbidden fruit, they invited Satan to rule here and rejected God’s rule on earth.
God is Sovereign over all. He has ultimate authority. He created the angel Lucifer who is Satan, and can control him at all times and could destroy him if God wanted. But God has created humanity with free will, and so God restrains His Sovereign authority and He allows humans to exercise their free will and choose their God, their ruler, their king. Humanity has in every generation rejected the one, true, Holy, Creator God and chosen Satan, so that is why John writes in 1 John 5:19 that Satan is the one humans have invited to have control in our world.
While God continues to provide everything we need to live… air, water, and food. While God keeps creating human babies and sustaining the life of every person, God also allows every person to determine Who they want to yield their life to. . . Jesus or Satan. There the battles rage, everyday, for every person! Only at the end of time as we know it, will God finally exercise His full authority and remove Satan and evil from our world, as seen in Revelation 20. Till then, the battles rage on.
1 Peter 5:8 says “Be alert and self-controlled. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, stand firm in the faith…” That’s clear and graphic isn’t it? “The faith” is of course our faith in Jesus Christ…all He taught, what He accomplished on earth and what He is doing now, interceding for us (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 1:3). It’s also our faith in God and His truth, the Bible (Heb. 4:12,13). Our faith in the Holy Spirit of God and all He is ready to do in your life and mine (Rom. 8:5-9; John 3:3-7 and much more).
There is great God power in our faith, right? Power enough to defeat Satan and his attacks against our thinking, our emotions, our will, and our soul. So our faith is one of the great weapons Paul was talking about. It’s vital we keep strengthening our faith, that’s part of why I write this “Walking With Jesus” for us everyday.
You see in 1 Peter 5:8 the devil’s prowling efforts to intimidate us and look for any weakness, are continual, everyday, and they are ferocious! Peter uses the picture of a prowling lion on purpose. Is there anything more frightening, especially to a small animal like a sheep? Remember what Jesus said in John 10:10 when He was talking about sheep and the Good Shepherd? “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” Now what do you see when you link John 10:10 with 1 Peter 5:8?
The third Scripture I urge us to consider in understanding 2 Corinthians 10:4 is Ephesians 6:10-18. We’ll dig deeply into that when we work through Ephesians a month or so from now. But for today consider vs. 10-12. “…be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Wow…what do you see here my friends?
Do you see the enemy well described? Do you see the phrase ‘the devil’s schemes’? Do you see the word “struggle”? But do you also see the challenge to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power”? Do you see Paul urging us to “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil…”?
Ok my friends, so I hope now you have a better understanding of the reality and ferocity of these spiritual battles raging, as Satan tries to draw you back into the control of his dark kingdom. Or, if you have never trusted in Jesus Christ to be your Savior, and you are still under Satan’s authority, he’s trying hard to keep you in bondage to his dark kingdom. Do you see that my friends? Can you identify what tactics the devil is using against you in his schemes? Can you identify the evil weapons he is using against you? Can you identify your areas of weakness or vulnerability? Honestly now, how are we each doing in the spiritual battle for our minds, our hearts, our wills and our souls?
Now listen to this: since Jesus has already ultimately defeated Satan, if we have trusted in Jesus Christ to save us from Satan’s dominion,the Bible says in Colossians 1:13,14 that God has “…rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.”
So we followers of Jesus Christ no longer live with any allegiance to Satan. He does not own us, nor does he have any authority over us. That angers him, of course, and he is determined to attack us, seeking to draw us back to living our lives in the darkness of sin and if we do that, we then live in rebellion against God and rejection of Jesus. And so the battle rages every day… and you and I know it, as we are tempted to lie, cheat, steal, lust, covet, get angry and hurt other people, and in a thousand ways live our lives sinfully, making a mockery of Jesus and all He has accomplished for our salvation!
So let’s go back to 2 Corinthians 10:4, you see Paul urges us to remember “The weapons we fight with…have divine power to demolish strongholds.”! So what are some of these great spiritual weapons which have divine power, my friends?
1. The Word of God, the Bible! Satan and his demons MUST submit to the authority of God’s Word. Remember when Satan tempted Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11), all three times Jesus countered the devil’s attack by quoting Scripture! “It is written” Jesus said. Jesus didn’t do anything else in that fight, and Matt. 4:10 says “Jesus said to him (the devil), ‘away from Me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only.” And verse 11 says “Then the devil left Jesus and angels came and attended Him.”
There it is my friends, victory with the WORD of God…and that is available to you and me, every day, in every spiritual attack we may experience. So the more you and I know God’s Word, the more effectively we can defend ourselves against Satan’s attacks. John 8:44 tells us Satan will always try to attack our minds with lies and we must counter with God’s truth.
2. Another weapon already mentioned is our FAITH in God! All through Scripture we see normal people like you and me, facing profound challenges in life…and it comes down to how strong their faith is in God. There’s a story about that on almost every page of the Bible, right? You remember them from your Sunday School days as a child…but do you know them well enough as an adult. that you can find one that fits with whatever challenge you are facing today? Listen to this strong word from God to Hebrew king Ahaz, through the prophet Isaiah when Jerusalem was under attack… “This is what the Sovereign LORD says…If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” (Isaiah 7:9). Now that’s a powerful word for you and me today, isn’t it?
3. Here’s another promise from God found in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has seized you, except what is common to man. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted He will also provide a way out, so that you can stand up under it.” So, what do you see here is God’s promise to you and me, my friends, regardless of the temptation we face? One of the great truths here is that we don’t have to fight alone. A great weapon we have is the army of God’s people. Trying to live life alone, fighting our battles alone, is foolish. Rally other Christian friends around you when engaging the battle. What they’ve learned in their fights might be very helpful to you, since God says the spiritual battles are common to all of us.
Now are we getting a good understanding of what Paul is saying to the Corinthian Christians living in a very difficult time in Corinth?
Can you give me two more minutes for verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 10? “We 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.” Wow that’s both powerful and specific. Arguments, pretense and thoughts can be great enemies of our hearts, our minds and our relationship with Jesus! So how’s the battle for your mind going friends?
What do you do to protect your mind from all the trash trying to worm its way in to your thinking? Talk radio, cable TV, internet pop-ups…and on and on. Do you have specific Scripture that you use to help you build a defense for your mind? Let me give you these two: Romans 12:1&2, Romans 8:5-9. Now I hope you can add several more to that…for Ephesians 4:17-20 tells us there is a great battle raging for your mind, that will then move to capture your heart and turn your life into the darkness.
So what are the tactics and weapons of the dark kingdom which have been effective in harming your heart, your emotions, your feelings in the past? Have you worked at understanding your heart battles well and have you built strong defenses to protect your heart?
Do you hear Paul urging us to see that we can live victoriously in all the spiritual battles in this life, if we battle with divine power weapons, in the certainty of our identity in Christ as a redeemed follower of Jesus and live Holy Spirit empowered, a Spirit filled son or daughter of the Most High God? We are protected by the Name of Jesus, there is no greater name (Phil. 2:6-11). We are protected by the blood of Jesus which has redeemed us and earned our forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7,8).
Notice one last verse in this 10th chapter. Paul writes something that sounds like a strategic battle plan in the war. “Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can peach the gospel in the regions beyond you.” (10:15,16). As you and I, my friends, fight and win spiritual battles, using divine power, the strongholds of Satan in lives, marriages, families, neighborhoods, communities and even nations are broken down and the Kingdom of God expands on earth, moving forward first penetrating the darkness, and then actually pushing the darkness back.
I’ve seen it happen my friends, in every place I’ve ever lived. How about you? Come on… let’s all own this and be part of the strategic advance of God in our day, where-ever you live, as you win the spiritual battles.
Oh Jesus, thank you for making it possible that we can be victorious in the daily battles we face with the devil. Thank you that YOU have won the war, and you’re helping us win the daily battles.
Click to read today’s chapter: 2 Corinthians 10. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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