What Are Strongholds?

Faith Filled Thoughts
September 8th, 2009
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What Are Strongholds?

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 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,


The sword of the Lord, the word of God and Prayer are offensive weapons against the strongholds,
which allows Satan to keep people captive.
With these two weapons, we can take the offensive, rather than being defensive.
We can pursue our strongholds, to pull them down.
We need to enter the battle wearing our armor, prepared to assault the stronghold with our sword and prayer.
Looking back at Israel, the first generation of the Exodus failed to enter the land of promise,
however the next generation, now led by Joshua did not fail.
Because they believed, they prepared for battle against the stronghold of Jericho.
The Lord Himself led the battle as the commander of Lord’s hosts; Joshua was merely to follow orders (Joshua 5).
They succeeded; Jericho fell because the nation obeyed the Lord (Joshua 6).
However, the next battle was not so successful, because the nation disobeyed;
the stronghold of Ai was able to defeat the armies of Israel (Joshua 7).
Why could a little stronghold defeat Israel?
The nation sinned, when Achan of Judah took garments from Jericho,
he violated God’s command and the whole nation suffered, falling to the stronghold of Ai.
Take a personal inventory of your life.
What areas of your life cause you to fail?
Like faithful Joshua and Caleb, we need to spy out the land.
We need to determine where Satan’s strongholds are.
Our goal is to enter the “Promised Land” of God’s promises.
The issue here is not salvation, but victorious Christian living.
In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-28), the seed is sowed on different types of soil,
in the end, the abundant crop comes from good ground.
Why did the good soil produce a fruitful crop?
Good ground was clear of those things, which prevented growth.
In the parable, the weeds, stones and thistles, choked off the seed (word) planted by the sower (Jesus).
Jesus describes the weeds as the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.
"But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Matthew 13:23
Jesus tells us the key to bearing an abundant crop in this life requires we
• Hear the word
• Understand the word
• Bear fruit
Satan does not want us to bear fruit, his goal is to defeat us, and prevent us from having fruit.
The strongholds are points of operation, allowing Satan to maintain power over us.
Only through the Lord’s power will we be able to be break free from Satan’s control.
We have no power from within or without, except for the Lord.
God’s word reveals the control of Satan in our lives, through strongholds.
Satan uses these strongholds to launch attacks on us.
Therefore, we need to identify where these stronghold are, and remove them.
Just like an ancient army first had to remove strongholds, to hold the land, we need to do the same.
Look towards the Father Today and leave your strongholds at The Feet of The Cross.

May He Bless You and Keep You Today!
With Great Love
IN HIS SERVICE
Connie

Please click below to see something Jesus left for your Spirit !:
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