Written by,
Robert Johnson
One of the most overlooked concept of Christianity is that of spiritual warfare which is the power of mind influence. Do you not know how Paul was serious when he taught this understanding to the Ephesian church. “How can you fight what you can’t see?”
The Spirit of God wants each of you to capture any demonic strongholds that hold you captive and strengthen the stronghold of the Holy Spirit in you.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience to Messiah.
God lives in our mind our heart. It is the spiritual place that he reveals His revealed will. Satan and his demons desire to suck the life/the word out of you by keeping you prisoner to the thoughts of control.
Paul In 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, these are fighting words! Them’s fighting words…for us! Amen?
It’s hard to teach or tell someone something that you have not experienced. I’m so glad many have causing on and are watching in the sprint!!!
Now these fighting words are metaphorical: they speak of weapons, strongholds, high things and bringing into captivity, yet these are not carnal or worldly weapons, but spiritual ones; not strongholds of stone but of imaginations or arguments; not high things in high towers but high-falutin’ attitudes; not taking into captivity enemy soldiers but enemy thoughts.
The mind where God is not is easily influenced. Do you not know many in the church because of past pain and hurt live in this influence and pull those not routed in Gods word into this demonic area.
I think it would be helpful to consider the figurative aspect of the metaphor a bit more.
What is a stronghold? Why are strongholds important in literal warfare?
A stronghold is a defensive structure:
Psalms 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
misgav; properly, a cliff (or other lofty or inaccessible place); figuratively, a refuge:–defense, high fort (tower), refuge.
So a cliff could be a stronghold, because it’s high and inaccessible to one’s enemies.
1 Samuel 23:14. David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph.
Or it could be a man-made fortress or tower
Ps 144:2 [The LORD is..] my goodness, and my fortress; my high tower [misgab, stronghold], and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdues my people under me.
Why would a “high thing” like to hang out in a high cliff or a high tower, exalting itself?
Because it’s safe up there!
If an enemy comes, it’s much easier to drive him away from a stronghold in a high place.
For how many years has a stronghold threatened your security in the heart of your thought life?
Isn’t it about time we went up there and captured it?
Can it be done? Hey, David took the stronghold of Jerusalem and made it his capital!
In 2 Samuel 5:6, The Jebusites taunted David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.”
They thought, “David can’t get in here.”
But David was determined; and he got in there all right— Joab broke through a tunnel that led to a spring and opened the gates to the citadel.
Ancient Babylon also was built up as a seemingly invincible stronghold.
But in Jer 51:53 declared, “‘Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers against her,’ declares the LORD.”
And so he did, sending Cyrus and the Medo-Persians to take the stronghold, by diverting the river that flowed through the city and marching in on the riverbed!
God knows all about strongholds and He knows how to take them — and he’ll tell you how to do it, if you’re willing to fight!
Proverbs 18:10 The Message (MSG)
“10 God’s name is a place of protection—good people can run there and be safe.”
When you come up against a stronghold in your life, do you just want to give up?
Or are you going to willing to fight to take the stronghold?
Strongholds are captured by people who are willing to fight, people with gumption!
If you, God will help you. The Word and the Spirit of God will show you how. Amen?
One thing you should bear in mind about a stronghold: it’s a place, not a person.
I see you 👀 real good now – in the spirit realm….
👉🏾🔥 A stronghold is only a threat if there are enemy soldiers inside.
In Palms 55 David said it was a familiar friend, one I took sweet counsel with, we went into the house of the Lord. It was this one that kicked up his heels against me.
Indeed, a stronghold can also be a place of comfort, a safe place:
For example, in 2 Samuel 22:2-3, David said:
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock,
in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior–from violent men you save me.
The person or persons inside the stronghold could be your enemy or your friend.
In a spiritual stronghold, there could be demons or the Holy Spirit.
But just as a physical stronghold is not an enemy soldier, nor is a spiritual stronghold a demon.
A spiritual stronghold is a habitual pattern of thought, built into one’s thought life.
Satan and his minions want to capture the minds of people: the mind is the citadel of the soul.
Be careful of who you allow access to your mind. Because of past pain and hurt some are or have trained themselves in this area.
I’m preparing a blog on, “Empaths verses non Empaths.” This will Outline why the fight is real – give me a few weeks.
He who controls the mind controls a very strategic place.
Romans 8:5-6: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds seton what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
If you want the abundant life and peace that Gods word promised, you must let his Spirit capture the stronghold up there!
Nor only is our conscious mind the target:
Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
In Matt 12:34-35, The word said, For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Strongholds are also storage places, holding food, water and weapons.
Start to really 👀 at those around you – go past the nice car, the big home, the job, the smile, the looks, than ask yourself what spirit are they operating in.
See so many have forgotten what the word says.
1 John 4:1-5 King James Version (KJV)
“4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.”
A stronghold gets stronger as more stuff—more thought—gets stored in there.
In the life of the mind, the stuff that you were once aware of gets stored up in unconscious memory,
but it can make a stronghold a tough nut to crack!
A stronghold is a way of thinking and feeling that has developed a life of its own in a person.
It might be a rut of depression or recurring unbelief or habitually bad temper.
That was a stronghold in my life, but with God’s help, not any more!
It might be a repeating pattern of failure:
Sometimes a stronghold will cause you to provoke others to reject you (without necessarily knowing you’re doing it)
It might be a stronghold of resentment or worthlessness.
If a person has seen abuse or a victim of abuse most times a stronghold of worthlessness may build up a stockpile of negative thoughts:
“I’m guilty. Nobody could really love me. I’m good for nothing. I’m ugly.”
She might actually be beautiful — and certainly is beautiful in the eyes of God.
But a stronghold gets filled with arguments like these:
“Nobody would like me if they really got to know me. Nobody really knows me.
Nobody really cares for me. Nobody really wants me for me.”
Now all these thoughts may be a pack of lies,
but they can be a stronghold keeping out the truth of God’s love.
Such a person may hear a message about God’s love, whether from a pulpit or a friend, but it goes in one ear and out the other, bouncing off the walls of a stronghold of rejection or worthlessness.
You almost hear the truth come to set you free, and then comes another thought, “Yeah, but what about…?” Or “You just don’t understand….”
And out comes another string of lies, excuses, smokescreens, shot down by blocking spirits.
Thus a stronghold creates inner captivity to deception and misery.
A stronghold keeps a person from thinking clearly, accepting the truth, repenting of sin, and receiving deliverance.
A stronghold can keep a unbeliever from hearing the good news.
A stronghold can keep a believer from hearing the fullness of the good news.
So how do you take a stronghold? First, you have to see it, so you know what you’re dealing with.
It’s kind a hard to take a stronghold you can’t even see.
Strongholds operate in areas of compassion where it is easiest to manipulate the minds of others.
But strongholds of the mind can be hidden—evil things hang out in darkness.
Satan is the prince of darkness, but Messiah is the prince of light. You have been called out of darkness into his wonderful light!
Nevertheless, if there is an old, sinful pattern of thought in you, that is a place of darkness, a stronghold.
Ephesians 5:11 urges us to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Loud but empty! You become fruitless
If you want to let the light of God expose the darkness, you need an attitude of humility, willing to let the light of God reveal the darkness in you.
In Ps 26:2, David prayed, “Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind.”
Can you agree this request?
If not, if you are not willing to let God reveal any strongholds in your life, then the first stronghold you may have to start tearing down is pride!
Who was the first to be guilty of pride? Satan! Massively so!
Pride is the armor of Satan — he uses it to keep demonic strongholds hidden.
Pride keeps people from ever seeing that they are trapped in demonic darkness.
The Spirit of God is determined to bring down the stronghold of pride.
Isaiah 25:11 says,
God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands.
He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low; he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.
If pride is bad news, how much more is humility good news!
James 4:6, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
This is a promise: humility release grace, the power of God to save you.
James 4:7 continues with another promise:
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Satan can’t stand humility! It breaks his power over you!
But God loves it! “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
The sacrifice of Messiah is a perfect shelter of grace enabling you to look at your needs.
Once you recognize the stronghold, the next step to bringing it down is repentance.
Be honest before God, and humbly let the Spirit expose the stronghold in the darkness.
A broken and contrite heart he will not despise.
Demons can’t stand praise! Praise is a powerful way to bring a stronghold.
For every negative stronghold, there’s a powerful way to surround it with opposite truth from God.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of depression, surround it with hope.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of rejection, surround it with acceptance from Abba.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of unresolved anger, surround it with forgiveness.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of fear, surround it with the knowledge of God’s love
If you are struggling with a stronghold of failure, surround it with the victory of the resurrection!
Once you’ve identified a stronghold, go to the Scripture, and study the opposite truth from God.
If the stronghold is rejection, study all that the Bible says about God’s acceptance.
Then surround that stronghold with the word of God!
In Conclusion, once the enemy sees he’s surrounded by humble submission, praise and the word of God, his resistance will quickly weaken, and if he isn’t gone already!
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