Tearing Down Strongholds

“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.” (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

“Strongholds” are not necessarily bad things. They can be neutral physical structures like castles. Castles could protect the villages and lands around them, or they could oppress them. Spiritually God can be our stronghold like a might tower. But when we talk about spiritual strongholds these days we are more likely to think about demonic strongholds in our minds.

We have made subtle agreements with Satan earlier in our lives. “I’ll never be loved.” “I’ll always fail.” “I’ll always get sick.” Whatever. And we hold on to those agreements in spite of the promises of God! These agreements are directly counter to God’s promises to us. Even when we are in the will of God we will sometimes lose love, or fail, or get sick. The difference is that these are trials that increase our faith and they are quite temporary. But when Satan sends them, they are destructive and take us out of God’s will and power.

How Do We Defeat Strongholds?

With the power of Christ! That’s how they did it back then when He was physically here.

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” (Luke 13:10-16)

Tearing down strongholds is active work and the Word of God is your weapon. The Word is the Bible, the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, the Living Word. “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. (1 John 3:8)

Be sensitive to your thoughts that are counter to the promises of God. “I’ll never have enough money… I’m a loser… I have no self-confidence.” These are not God’s words; they are Satan’s and yours because you listened to the false tempter. Here is what God says through the apostle John: “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5) And “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

Seriously, if you struggle with these feelings, these strongholds, then write down the verse on a card or print them out on a piece of paper, or put sticky notes in a little Bible you carry in your purse. Whatever works. Just keep them with you!

Strongholds are built from lies. Satan is telling your things that are not true and he wants you to believe it. And when we decide to believe it then we believe the lie! So how do we tear down strongholds? With the truth in the Word of God. Stop dwelling on the old agreements and meditate instead on the Bible. Find Bible verses what directly counter Satan’s lies and repeat them, read them, memorize them, meditate on them. You have this stronghold because you pay so much attention to the lies and give them so much power through constant repetition. Replace them with the truth, God’s truth!

Does this mean that counseling and medication aren’t needed? Goodness no. God frequently works healing through the medical profession. A wise counselor can be extremely helpful – sometimes even a life saver. A Christian psychologist literally saved my life when I was 29. And mental states that are the result of biology can sometimes benefit from medications. That is OK. What we are talking about are mental and physical struggles that are the result of spiritual agreements that we made with the tempter, in opposition to God’s promises.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.   (Isaiah 61:1-2)