The Destruction of
Spiritual Fortresses{Part 2}
This is a
continuation of the message we started yesterday(Part1); it expansiate of key
important areas the enemy can sneak into lives and when that are is compromised,
various harm can be done the various department of people’s life. There is a
spiritual battle. The principal battlefield where this fierce conflict is being
waged is in the mind of man. The greatest battles are not fought with
guns and bombs or by combat soldiers on the battlefields of this world;
they are fought in the minds of people.
THE [SPIRITUAL]
STRONGHOLD OF OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST
"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ;"
{2 Corinthians 10:5}
Verse five demonstrates the destructive and constructive
capacity of God’s divinely empowered weapons. “We are destroying
reasonings and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we
are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”
The mind
of man is here compared to an enemy's stronghold or fortress. Many evil and
negative thoughts are housed in this fortress and need to be taken captive to
the obedience of Christ. These reasonings are walls of resistance build up by
worldly, fleshly and demonic influences in our minds and in the minds of
others, and like the walls of Jericho must be pulled down from the proud hold
over our way or pattern of thinking.
God’s spiritual
weapons can destroy reasonings and things that stand against the knowledge of
God. The indication is that there are reckonings, reasonings, speculations or
thoughts that invade and lay siege to the mind. The Bible treats them as
fortresses or strongholds that need to be destroyed. These strong mental
attitudes or patterns rise like a fortress filled with enemy soldiers in our
minds.
What are those mental
bastions?
Ø The strongholds are more precisely defined as belonging to the
will and intellect of man.
Ø They are reasonings within man that are opposed to the truth of
God’s Word.
Ø The exalted proud mind, both conscious and subconscious, and the
stone harden selfish will are the fountain of human actions as they determine
our conduct.
Ø Attitudes patterns and thought patterns can be strongholds that
effect our presuppositions and philosophies of all we do or don’t do.
Ø The proud human mind which sees the Cross of Christ as
foolishness is an example (1 Cor.1:18) and obedience to Christ as a waste of
time are strongholds but there are many more deceived reasonings within each of
our minds where Satan has built up his fortress within our way of thinking. By
building these strongholds over our way of thinking, he controls our mind and
if he controls our mind, he controls us.
The
relationship between a thought and an act is expressed in this poem:
Sow a
thought, reap a word; Sow a word, reap an act;
Sow an
act, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap a destiny.
It all
begins with a thought. Since our thoughts are subject to sin, they too should
be brought under the control of the Holy Spirit. How are you doing in your
thought life?? Is it fully in line with the Word of God?
Hence,
Christian warfare is aimed at pulling down these proud reasonings, these
rationalizations of self-centered man. These proud bulwarks within each of us
that stand against our knowledge of God. These strongholds have been repeatedly
fortified by the lies of Satan that we have believed and professing to be wise
we have exchanged the truth of God for a lie (Rom. 1:18-25).
For us to
break free from sinful thoughts, God must have first place in our life and in
our manner of thinking. Fellowship with God is the best deterrent for wrong and
deceived thinking [and impure thoughts]. We must fill our minds with truth,
instead of the vain or eternally empty thinking of the way of the flesh or of
way the world. The acceptance of the way of the world has caused billions to
base their life on the thinking that their own way for themselves, for life, is
better than God's way. We must firmly reject these lies and transform our way
of thinking by receiving and meditating on the truth, on the Word of God. If
the devil can get control of our minds, he has the control room of our lives.
[ Backsliding begins in the mind with wrong thinking.]
So God’s
spiritual weapons cast down imaginations, or carnal reasonings of the minds of
natural men against God, His providences, and purposes and the methods of
salvation and every truth of the Gospel. These are all disproved, silenced, and
confounded, by the preaching of the Word, which though supposed foolishness and
weakness, becomes wiser and stronger than men by God; and with which the wisdom
of the wise is destroyed, and the understanding of the intelligent is brought
to nothing. Every high opinion that exalts itself against the knowledge of God;
every proud thought of the heart, every great swelling word of conceit, every
arrogant look, and all the haughtiness of men, that have become a high towering
of fortified reasonings and arguments advanced against the Gospel of Christ (or
the knowledge of God), and into a better knowledge of Him can be torn down.
Some days
MY COMPUTER helps me fly like an eagle. Other times, it bogs me down like a
hippopotamus. On "eagle days" I'm grateful for my computer. But there
are those hippo times when I regret the day I bought one.
A while
back I had to contend with a man-made virus that invaded my computer. What
bothers me most is that viruses are created maliciously. Bright people who live
with darkness in their lives want to make other people miserable. What's worse,
I permitted the virus to enter my machine by opening what I thought was an
innocent e-mail.
Sin resembles a computer
virus. Satan wants to destroy Christians by
infecting their minds. The Bible urges believers to bring "every thought into captivity
to the obedience of Christ" (2
Corinthians 10:5).
Just as
we let a virus into our computers, we also let darkness into our lives when we
open ourselves unthinkingly to the godless messages that permeate our culture.
We let down our guard and hardly notice the sin that infects our minds.
But by
admitting our sinfulness, reading God's Word, and praying, we can build a
firewall, or barrier, to safeguard our minds. With the help of the Spirit, we'll
keep our minds from becoming unwitting hosts for unwanted. You need to guard
your thoughts as you would your wallet.
[Heavenly
Father, I’m often careless with what I allow to enter my mind; By Your Spirit:.
please help me to guard my mind. By Your grace, keep me from situations that
wage war on my thought life.]
Not only
can we pull down these centers of opposition against divine truth by the
spiritually powerful weapons, we can also use them to capture or subdue every
thought to the obedience of Christ. After storming and pulling down and
destroying these lofty high towers we can take possession of prisoners. These
rebellious thoughts, preconceptions, and intentions are made captives and
brought into obedience to Christ. The obedience of Christ is the only
stronghold that the enemy cannot enter into and conquer therefore we so
desperately need the fortress of obedience to Christ in our life. O that
rebellion in our heart and mind might be quelled and that God’s divine and
sovereign will might reign in its place! Paul recognized that we have to live
in the world with its trouble and "in the flesh" with its frailties.
But the real battle is spiritual. Satan's stronghold is our minds. He is ever
seeking to capture our thoughts. God has not left us to the whims of the flesh
or to Satan. We have been given the weapons we need to take “every thought
captive to the obedience of Christ.” Obedience is possible because of what
Christ has already done. Because the victory was won on the cross, we have the
right to evict thoughts that come from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
THE SPIRITUAL VICTORY
FOUND IN COMPLETE OBEDIENCE
How do
you know if you have torn down Satan’s strongholds in your life and are
fortifying your life in obedience to Christ. Verse six explains the action of
complete obedience. And we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your
obedience is complete.
Once you
have torn down know strongholds in your life, taken your will and thoughts
captive for Christ and no longer running from God’s discipline, you become
ready to punish all that is not of Christ in your life. There are always places
in our life that as we grow in God’s truth we discover are still not in line
with His Word. When these raise their ugly head we relentlessly jump on them
for we realize what would happen if they again gained a beach-head in our life.
Bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; or taking captive our
whole understanding; means our mind is so saturated with divine light, that it
clearly sees Christ alone as the One True Savior, and so become obedient to Him
as Lord. Complete obedience means we look to Him alone for life and salvation,
and rely upon Him. We become desirous and willing to be saved by Him in His own
way so we receive and embrace all His truths and doctrines with faith and love,
and obey them from the heart. It means we cheerfully and willingly submit to
all His commands and directions so that we by the grace of God are demolishing
all the enemies’ strong holds and reasonings. Our heart and mind have
captivated by Him and His love for us so that we want no other master of our
soul than Him alone. Complete obedience means that we will not tolerate
disobedience in our life.
“Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it
is time to seek the LORD, till He come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12).
So seek
the Lord till He comes and rain righteousness down on us.
[It is
All about the Seed we plant (Luke 8:11). The soil is neutral; it will grow
whatever seed you allow to be planted there. If you search the scriptures about
the type of life you want to have, the kind of traits you want in your
character, the type of relationships you want to have and pray those verses to
God, meditate on them, chew them over and over in your mind. If thoughts come
in contrary to them, cast them out! Get rid of them, they do not belong in your
life. Do not let them take root.
You have
by God’s grace and strength broke up the fallow ground. This ground will not be
hard wayside where seed will not take root nor is it shallow where it cannot
gain root. Neither will it have weeds to choke out the good seed if we keep it
tended with diligence and repentance. Yank out those weeds by the roots while
they are small and keep yourself growing in the right direction.]
IN CONCLUSION
Strongholds
are self-inflicted bonds we placed on ourselves and need to be removed one by
one. Just as it takes time to build strongholds, they need time to come down. It
takes 21 days to make a habit, but in 21 days we can replace it with a new,
God glorifying lifestyle, but we need to remember that we have to want to
change; God will not go against our will.
Is
anything in your mind usurping God’s place? Is anything keeping you from
knowing God more fully, from following Him more closely, from serving Him more
faithfully? If so it is a stronghold and must come down and God has given us
the weapons to tear it down and destroy it. What thoughts come up against you
when you attempt to apply yourself to Christian teachings? If your thinking is
not consistent with obedience to Christ, you are being deceived by false
teachers, pride or sin. For if you were wholly Christ’s you would cast out
anything in your life not of Him. Tear down the strongholds and open your life
more fully to being obedient to Christ. Fight the good fight of faith with
divinely empowered weapons with Christ as your commander-in-chief.
In 2
Timothy 4:7-8 the Apostle Paul made some closing comments on his life. “I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; (8)
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me,
but also to all who have loved His appearing (NAS)
You
cannot love Him and not obey Him, if you think so you love Jesus and yet do not
obey His Word, Satan has built a stronghold in your mind and heart (Jn. 15).
Come today and lay hold of the grace you need to fight the spiritual fight of
faith in and for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sermon by Dennis
Davidson
Prayer Points
1.
I pull down the
stronghold of confusion in my life in the name of Jesus.
2.
Every seat of
confusion in my life, be broken down in the name of Jesus.
3.
Let the storm of
confusion within my mind be still in the name of Jesus.
4.
Every cloud of
confusion that has enveloped my mind, fade away now in the name of Jesus.
5.
I reject every storm
of confusion, and claim a sound mind in the name of Jesus.
6.
Every power that
wants to destroy my life, I command you to be destroyed in Jesus' name.
7.
Every faulty
foundation in my life, receive the fire of God in the name of Jesus.
8.
I fire back every
arrow of mind destruction fired into my life back to the sender in the name of
Jesus.
9.
My mind, receive
divine touch of God and be relieved in the name of Jesus.
10.
Lord strengthen me in
my inner mind with your fire and your power in the name of Jesus.
11.
I pull down every
stronghold of uncontrollable thought in my life in the name of Jesus.
12.
I cast down every
evil imagination in my heart in the name of Jesus.
13.
I bring into
captivity every area of my thought life to the obedient of Christ in the name
of Jesus.
14.
I break the power of
evil remote control over my thought in the name of Jesus.
15.
I seal off every
doorway of evil uncontrollable thought in my life with the blood of Jesus in
Jesus' name.
16.
I scatter into pieces
every evil imagination against me in the name of Jesus.
17.
I command all
imaginations contrary to my prayer life to be defeated in the name of Jesus.
18.
I cast down and bring
to naught every demonic imagination against me and my family in Jesus' name.
19.
I immune my spirit,
soul and body against every vain imagination in the name of Jesus.
20.
I cast out, plunder
and frustrate every satanic imagination against my life in the name of Jesus.
21.
Lord, I pull down
every stronghold of the enemy over my life in the name of Jesus.
22.
I pull down and roast
every demonic ladder the enemy is using to climb into my life in the name of
Jesus.
23.
I come against every
evil pronouncement made against my life in the name of Jesus.
24.
I arrest and bind
every satanic notebook written against my life in the name of Jesus.
25.
I cancel and nullify
every imagination of enemy upon my life in the name of Jesus.
Stronghold Destruction
Confessions
ü In the name of Jesus Christ, I bind my spirit, mind, soul and
body to the blood of Jesus and to the will and purposes of God for my life.
ü I bind my mind, will emotions and feelings to the will of
Almighty God.
ü I bind myself to the truth that comes from the Holy Spirit and
to the blood of Jesus.
ü I bind my mind to the mind of Christ that the very thoughts,
feelings and purposes of His heart would be within my thoughts.
ü I bind my feet to the paths of righteousness that their steps
would be steady and sure.
ü I bind my feet to the work of the cross with all of its mercy,
grace, love and forgiveness and dying to self.
ü I bind and loose every old, wrong, ungodly pattern of thinking,
attitude, idea, desire, belief, false belief, and unbelief, motivation, habit
and behavior from me.
ü I tear down, crush, smash and destroy every stronghold
associated with these things and loose it from me.
ü I bind and loose any stronghold in my life that has been
justifying and protecting hard feelings against anyone.
ü I bind and loose the strongholds of unforgiveness, fear and
distrust from me.
ü I bind and loose the power and effects of deceptions and lies
from me.
ü I bind and loose the confusion and the blindness of the god of
this world from my mind that has kept me from seeing the light of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
ü I call forth every precious word of Scripture that has ever
entered in their mind and heart that it would rise up in power within me.
ü I bind their ears to hear the voice of the good Shepherd and a stranger’s
voice they will not follow.
ü I loose my ears from any deafness.
ü I bind my eyes to see the truth and the will and purpose of God.
ü I loose my eyes from any blindness.
ü In the name of Jesus, I bind and loose the power and effects of
any harsh or hard words (word curses) spoken to, about, against, or by me.
ü I bind and loose any strongholds associated with those words and
say they shall be no more.
ü Blessings shall come upon me and overtake me instead.
ü I bind and loose all generational bondages and associated
strongholds from my life.
ü I bind and loose all effects and bondages from me that may have
been caused by mistakes that I have made.
ü Father, in the name of Jesus, I crush, smash and destroy
generational bondages of any kind from mistakes made at any point between
generations and loose it from me.
ü Those bondages will no longer bind or curse any more members of
this family in Jesus Christ name.
ü I bind the strong man, Satan and his demons that I may spoil his
house, taking back every material and spiritual possession he has wrongfully
taken from me.
ü I pray the blood of Jesus over all my possessions right now in
the name of Jesus.
ü I bind and loose the enemy's influence from every part of my
spirit, mind, soul and body and will.
ü I crush, smash and destroy and loose from me every evil
influence of the enemy that he cannot operate against me in any way.
ü I bind and loose the enemy from every part and place of me that
he cannot hinder me or influence me this day in Jesus name.
ü Jesus Christ, Minister to me and pour out your spirit upon me
and place your word in my mouth that it will never leave me.
ü I thank you that I are blessed as I go out and as I come back in
and that not a hair of my head shall perish and not one of my bones shall be
broken in Jesus name and the angels of God are encamped around about me to
guard me and protect me in Jesus name.
ü I bind myself to the
Blood of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit the Protection of Almighty God and the
Banner of Jehovah Nissi.
ü I bind and loose these evil influences in Jesus' name.
ü He has given me the keys and the authority to do so.
ü Thank you, Lord, for the truth.
ü I rest knowing that all things are in Your Care and Your Hands.
In Jesus name.
Seven Fold Amen with Faith!!!
Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
2015 is your Year of multiple restoration and
unparalleled Favor in the name of Jesus
|
IF THE ENEMY HAS STOLEN FROM YOU;
RECOVERY IS BY FORCE.
STOP THEM BEFORE THEY STOP YOU,
GOD BLESS YOU.
|
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