2 Corinthians 10:3-5
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;
Verse four is in parenthesis to include a thought and expand on verse three before we read verse five.
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Man is a spirit, who lives in a body and possesses a soul. Your body connects you to the earth and your spirit connects you to God. You are connected to the earth and your environment. In between your flesh and your spirit rests your soul.
1 Thessalonians 5:23
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.
Note that peace is not feeling good about a bad thing. It is when you have wholeness in spirit, soul and body.
2 Corinthians 10:3
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
Reading this verse again after giving attention to our three part make up should allow us to really see that our flesh is just how we get around, its not where the war and victory takes place.
We shouldn’t look at 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 as a passage only for us. Strongholds exist in society and on other people. Perhaps God is liberating you so that you can liberate others.
One of the deepest strongholds that the enemy has on the mind of man is the spirit of fear. It can prevent us from advancing the kingdom of God in the earth. The answer to the stronghold of fear is 2 Timothy 1:7 which reads “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit has the ability to bring all things to our remembrance. He can cause us to remember things we’ve heard, read, or received from God’s word regardless of how long ago we received it. He can’t bring to remembrance what you’ve never heard. God’s knowledge is important.
- 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.
- 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.
People are in bondage and destroyed for a lack of knowledge of God. All this is referring to the soul. When we are saved and know Jesus, we also know His Spirit. When we are in the Word and meditating on it we are giving the Holy Spirit something that He agrees with. 1 John 5:7 teaches that God, the Word, and the Holy Ghost all same. Put the Word in you, then you are giving the Holy Spirit the weapon to use on your behalf:
- Ephesians 6:17
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
God needs our mind, that is constantly hearing from the flesh, to hear from the Spirit. This enables the Spirit to do a work. Most believers live fleshy because they only feed their minds fleshy stuff. You need the Word in your mind because that is what connects you to His Spirit and gives you real power.
In Joshua 1, God called Joshua to meditate on his word. Until you have filled your mind with His word, your flesh will not act out on the Holly Spirit.
- Psalms 119:11 – Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
God told Joshua that if He meditated on His word that he would observe to do His word. Five chapters later in Joshua 6, they were faced with the stronghold of Jericho. None went out and none went in. The walls were so tall and wide that they had chariot races on the top of the wall. It was a fortress but God had given it to the children of Israel.
Like the walls of Jericho, some have mental stronghold in which the enemy controls what goes in your mind and what come out. Once a stronghold has been established, the enemy looks for reinforcement!
He called them to meditate and not say a word. They needed to see what God said until they saw it manifest. We are made in his image. Our life will inevitably create what we imagine.
We will become the product of our thought life. Proverbs 23:7 reinforces this truth:
- Proverbs 23:7 – For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
If you fill your mind with evil or perversion, you will act on it. Whatever you put into your eyes and ears is what you will become.
- Romans 10:8 – But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Until the Word is occupying your heart it won’t completely occupy your mouth.
Take the Word of God into your prayer life. Something supernatural happens when you pray and declare the word of God over your situation or circumstances.
The enemy is strategic, he builds weapons. 1 John 3:12 says that Cain was of the evil one. He used a weapon to murder Able, there was bloodshed. The first man to form weapons out of metal was named after Cain and was called Tubal Cain, Genesis 5. The word shows us that weapons are formed:
- Isaiah 54:17 – No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord , and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
Your mind is connected to the second heaven. Your mind is the median between your spirit and flesh. We are in a constant war of what our flesh wants and what would please the Spirit.
Daniel 10:1-12
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
Heaven responds to the word of God. Heaven was moved by Daniel’s words. He affected all three realms with the word of God.
Hebrews 4:12
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.
The word of God is the only thing that affects the spirit, soul and body all at the same time! There is not a more powerful position than a born again believer declaring the word of God in the authority of the name of Jesus!
Do battle with the Word!