When a cement wall needs to be demolished, it doesn't take a couple hits of a workman's hammer to knock it down. It requires someone with knowledge of the tools needed to knock the wall down. That person would come to the job came with three tools -- a sledge hammer and a regular workman’s hammer and chisel. First, with the sledge hammer, he began striking the wall with blow after blow. To a casual bystander, it appeared he was wasting his time. Ten, twenty, thirty blows, and not so much as a crack. But, on the thirty-sixth blow, a horizontal crack appeared in the wall. On the thirty-seventh, several cracks appeared in a spiderweb pattern. On the thirty-eighth, the whole wall was covered with cracks. Then, the contractor laid his sledge hammer down and with a workman’s hammer and chisel proceeded to bring the wall down one piece at a time.
I want to use this story to demonstrate persistence in using God's Word through prayer to demolish spiritual strongholds. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul defines strongholds as arguments, pretensions, or thoughts that set themselves against the knowledge of God. Any beliefs that have made their ways into our thinking that are contrary to truth as revealed in Scripture are strongholds of the Enemy that stand in the way of our knowing God and making Him known. For this reason, they hinder us in our walk with the Lord and in our prayer lives. Edgardo Silvoso’s definition sums it up very well- "A spiritual stronghold is a mind-set impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable, situations that we know are contrary to the will of God." The basis for strongholds is that we doubt (James 1:6-8) How do we deal this this doubt and the stongholds in our lives? That is where prayer comes in...
It's not just one prayer here and there as we are being pounded by the stronghold. It is
praying without ceasing (I Thes 5:17). James 5:13-18 says "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing Psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." It goes on to say in verse 19-20 "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." I believe that God has called us to be praying on behalf of others. He wants us to call on the victory that He has given us through His Son Jesus Christ. It is only by His grace that we are able to offer up prayers for others. And while praying for others, Satan is sure to be there casting doubt as God's answer may be "not yet, I haven't accomplished all that I have set out to accomplish in this situation". Satan will be pounding at your door hurling flaming arrows...but it is our responsibility to be "Submitting ourselves to God, Resisting the devil, and drawing night unto God" (James 4:7-8)Ephesians 6:16 says that it is our shield of faith that will quench those fiery darts of the wicked.
What does my faith look like in times of trouble? Am I a double minded man (James 1:8) or am I am man grounded in God's word, hoping for those things which I do not see the evidence for at this time? (Hebrews 11:1) Remember, one only needs the faith of a mustard seed. Matthew 17:20 says "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." If you are filled with unbelief, do not let Satan bind you in that. Agree quickly with him and run to Jesus for help~! It is better to ask for help now than let Satan cripple one our men in the army of God. A man brought his son who was filled with a spirit to the disciples to be healed. They were unable to heal him, but when Jesus came to them...by the time Jesus came, this father had little faith. Infact, he told Jesus, if you can't do anything with him - please have compassion on us and help us. Jesus responded to him in Mark 9:23 "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes." At that point the man in verse 24 says "Lord, I believe; help me in my unbelief." Jesus then cast the demon out of the boy. My point here is that the father asked Jesus to help him with his unbelief. I think at times, we may need to be more vulnerable to God and tell him what is going on inside and ask Him to help us through it.
Psalm 145:13- "The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made" The degree of our faithfulness is the direct result of our regard for God's faithfulness. God's faithfulness (
Aman) in the Old Testament can be translated firm, steady, sure, trust honesty safety and certainty. So what does faithfulness mean when applied to God? The faithfulness of God is His believability! What does faithfulness mean when it is applied to us? The faithfulness of a believer is his belief in God's believability~! Faithfulness is resting in His certainty, being persuaded by His honesty, trusting in His reality, being won over by his veracity....being sure that He's sure and believing He's worth believing. Deuteronomy 32:4 reminds us that God is the Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment; He is a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Even when it doesn't look like God is paying attention or things are just going way wrong, we must remember that His ways are perfect. Psalm 115:11 says "Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; he is their help and their shield." God expressed His faithfulness to us in Christ, and Christ expressed His faithfulness to us in the Holy Spirit. Only through the Holy Spirit can we express our faithfulness to Him . Faithfulness is a fruit of the spirit. It is by God's grace that we are filled with faithfulness during the hard times.
The only weapon we have against Satan is truth. In John 17:17 - Jesus is interceding to His father and he says "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." When reading through the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:13-18) the only weapon that is mentioned is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. It is through the Word of God that we expose the lies of the devil - Hebrews 4:12 says that "the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing assunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the heart." We must look for the promises that God has given us and pray according to His will. Jesus gave us an example of using the Word of God when he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. (Luke 4:4,8,&12)It is also by the word of God that our faith is increased which will give us the strength to persevere. (Rom 10:17)This faith according to I John 4:5 is what will give born again Christians victory over the world. How exciting is that? When you feel defeated, come back to this verse and remember that the victory is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Spiritual strongholds are human reasonings that exalt themselves over the revelation of God’s will for our lives as revealed in Scripture. They are Satan's schemes to trip us up in our walk with the Lord. They breed hopelessness that paralyzes the faith we have in God’s promises and cloud our mind from being able to see God’s purposes for our lives and the lives of those for whom we pray. If we do not seek God for His wisdom and look to His Word for guidance we are in danger of giving into these strongholds when we are faced with life's challenges. Strongholds weaken our lives and make our prayers ineffective by causing us to become double-minded. We try to balance our own plans with God’s rather than dying to ourselves with a whole-hearted commitment to follow Him. In doing so, we build our lives on a shaky foundation and find ourselves praying prayers that waver through indecisiveness and unbelief. We must realize that we overcome strongholds in our lives by allowing God’s Word to be final authority in our lives. We allow the light of Scripture to expose our hearts, to bring us to repentance, to lead us to worship, and to recognize and resist Satan’s schemes against us. When we are persistent in using the sword of God’s Word against the strongholds of the Enemy, God will draw near to us, Satan will flee from us, the clouds of deception and blindness with dispel, and the walls of Satan’s strongholds will come down. What’s holding us back from a deepening intimacy with the Lord, greater victory over the Enemy, and a fruitful ministry and prayer life? It is our duty before God to allow the Lord to expose any strongholds that we have tolerated and to put the Sword to them. It is only after we are able to do this in our own life that we will be able to intercede on others behalf.
Remember, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
