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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Demolishing Strongholds


Part 2

                                         And do not give the devil a foothold.”

                                  Ephesians 4:27

Simply stated, our rebellion towards God provides a place for the devil in our life.  Even the smallest of room, given to an area our lives, in which we refuse to obey God, will soon become a stronghold.

In order to demolish the rebellious behavior, we have to first destroy or demolish the stronghold of wrong thinking built around it:

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

It is only when we bring our thoughts and attitudes in alignment with Christ’s will that the behavior will change. As long as we defend the behaviors within us by being sympathetic to our own sinfulness we should expect to see no change in our lives.  However, when we pull down the walls of wrong thinking, the behavior is then exposed, it is then we begin to see real transformation. Our actions follow our attitudes.

The Apostle Paul recognized this when he wrote Romans 12:2:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Paul understood that we are destined to continue in wrong behavior (pattern of this world) unless we are transformed by renewing our minds.

How then do we pull down the stronghold? It begins by identifying our enemy. First, we must identify any behavior or attitude we hold, that is contrary to God’s Word that we are sympathetic towards.  We must acknowledge that this is a spiritual battle, not one that can be overcome by worldly means:

 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

It means that worldly methods such as violence, political maneuvering, human ingenuity, talents, wealth, organizational skills, charisma and personality are in themselves inadequate in the pulling down of these strongholds. To tear them down will take a two-fold approach.

 

 

Pastor Scott Burr                                                                    

http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com/

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