The Messiness in Strongholds

A stronghold is an area in which we are held in bondage to a certain way of thinking. Webster’s Dictionary defines a stronghold as a fort or a place of security. This definition reminds me of in Old Testament biblical times when Babylon, Nineveh, Damascus and Carthage were cities that were protected by gigantic stone walls--Those particular cities were called a stronghold where the people that lived in the cities felt safe behind those thick stone walls. For example, in the book of Joshua we can read that Jericho was a stronghold city and had fortified walls up to 25 feet high and 20 feet thick.

The moment that Joshua entered the promised land, he had to attack Jericho first because it was a major stronghold, and the Israelites would not have safety in the Promised Land. So, when I personally think of strongholds, I think of those thick Jericho walls that can be built in our minds. Those walls in our mind can be just as high and thick spiritually as the Jericho walls were physically. 

A stronghold of the mind can encompass worry, anxiety, anger, doubt, fear, shame, resentment, insecurity or anything that has caused a wall to be built in our mind to hide behind. Strongholds are formed from our own thought patterns of emotions and perceptions; and can be a protective wall to protect the sin that is in our hearts. 

And friends, just because we are daughters of the living King, does not mean that we are not capable of sinning. 1st John 1:8 states “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So, John is saying that in this life that we are always capable of sinning and should never let down our guard.

Our minds can truly be broken by sin! Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked; who really knows how bad it is?” Our heart is inclined toward sin from the time we are born, and we must ask God to help us each and every day to break any stronghold that we might have built between us and God.

And by the way, let’s not believe everything our mind thinks and the feelings of our emotions! Just because we think something, does not make it true, and as we know, the world will constantly put suggestions in our minds that are false and negative. Even Paul struggles in Romans 7:19: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” 

And Paul continues in Romans 7:23-24 “I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.  This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.”

So why is it so important to God to pull down the walls and destroy the spiritual strongholds that we battle each day? It is because God wants us to have faith that He will help us. Just like the Israelites who had faith that God would help them remove the walls of Jericho, we are to have faith that God will break down the wall of strongholds in our hearts and minds if we allow Him to. Our God is stronger than any stronghold. 

God sees all of our strongholds and knows all we think. Even when we might be unaware of his presence, He is there. We can have no secrets from God. Hebrews 4:13 “And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account.” So, nothing can be hidden from God.  He knows about everyone everywhere, and everything about us is wide open to his all-seeing eyes.  And how comforting to realize that although God knows us intimately, he still loves us!