“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.”
2
Corinthians 10: 3-4
What is a
stronghold? A stronghold was a fortress built to protect the people inside from
the attack of a physical enemy. King David built strongholds in the desert to
defend himself against King Saul:
“David stayed in the desert strongholds and
in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after Day Saul searched for him, but
God did not give David into his hands.”
The sense of
refuge and protection provided by these wilderness fortresses caused David to
use them as a way to describe God as a stronghold against his spiritual
enemies:
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and
my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the
horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Psalm
18:2
However, the
strongholds that the Apostle Paul is addressing in 2 Corinthians 10 are not
those fortresses keeping evil out, but they are strongholds constructed to
protect the evil inside. This stronghold
is not a physical structure, but rather it is an entrenched pattern of
thought or belief that is contrary to the Word and Will of God. It is where
sinful activity is actually defended within us by our own sympathetic thoughts
and attitudes towards evil. It is a fortress constructed out of layer upon
layer of wrong thinking and wrong attitudes.
“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
Corinthians 10:5
A stronghold
is then any type of thinking that exalts itself above the knowledge of God. In
a very real sense, it is where wrong thinking is providing protection for wrong
behavior. Unfortunately, however, when we allow these strongholds in our lives
we provide a haven for our spiritual enemy.
Pastor Scott Burr
http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/
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