“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 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; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
• The strongholds of our mind become the strongholds of our society.
• When we have stronghold we are looking for reinforcements and we allow the thought to become strengthened.
• The world is looking to reinforce a negative thought pattern.
• We must have knowledge of God’s word!
• Hosea 4:6 – “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
• Isaiah 5:13 – “Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.”
• Tradition, in a lot of cases, trumps the word according to Jesus’ words in Mark: “Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.” Mark 7:13
• The Word of God will pierce your soul, spirit, and body: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
• “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23
• We are to be sanctified in our spirit, soul, and body. The way we do this is through the Word. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” John 17:17
• You must learn to do warfare, the battle happens in your mind.
• What worries you, masters you!
“I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”
1 John 2:13-14
• You overcome the wicked one when you let the word of God abide in you. Abide meaning stable and fixed.
• When you have the word of God in you, the enemy cannot tempt you because there is something in you greater that that temptation.
• Psalms 119:11 – “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
• By declaring the Word of God, Jesus overcame the wicked one and he left Him.
• Now, how can you declare the Word if you don’t know it and have not been taught it?
• Romans 10:17 – “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
• You will not have faith to overcome the world when you’ve not heard the word.
• Proverbs 4:23 – “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Your heart is the conduit to your life.
• The wrong thought about God or your life could prevent you from walking in your destiny.
“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
Numbers 13:30-33
• The word is filled with the promises of God.
• Galatians 3:29, through Christ, this blessing is on us today.
• Ephesians 3:20: “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” Ephesians 3:20
• Don’t go with the report that speaks to your fear. Don’t let your history control your destiny. This is the decision that the children of Israel were faced with. Having a report that said they could take the land and another report that said they could not take the land, they needed to choose the report that lined up with God’s word.
• They were also stricken by a victim mindset. Don’t let the days of being a victim interrupt your destiny.
• It is aggravating when you see a victor talk like a victim. You have the blessing of God in you and on you. God cannot give you victory when you still think and act like a victim.
• Victims exaggerate so they can convince. They are looking for negativity that supports the strongholds they have.
• The children of Israel wanted to go back to bondage but God, who parted the Red Sea for them to come out, was not going to re-open it for them to go back in. God made it impossible for them to return to bondage.
• You may decide to return to your bondage physically but you can never go back spiritually. God’s spirit will not come with you and you will not have peace there.
• Conviction
• Victor
• Victim
• “Vict” – latin root word, has the meaning conqueror. It is related to the root vince which is found in words such as convict, evict, victor, victorious, and victory.
• If you are a victim, something has conquered you. If you are a victor, He is conquering it all for you. You have to have a conviction of one or the other.
“And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!”
Numbers 14:1-2
• They may not have been purposefully exaggerating, victims do it naturally. They chose death over the thought of suffering.
• We have to minister to the stronghold that tells people that death is the solution to a worthless life but no life is worthless. Don’t make a permanent decision over a temporary circumstance.