What’s a Stronghold?
Deception has roots in our perceptions of lack in important areas of life (fear of death, love of money, lust, love). We all try to shore up our self-esteem and happiness by inventing identity and purpose to make sense of our story. When we’re done building this castle that houses who we hope to be, it’s a fortress that protects us from feeling of insignificant. Each brick in our castle is an argument or a pretension that props up a fragile ego. The fortress we build becomes a prison guarded by a strongman, a stronghold. All those wishful deceptions add up to a spiritual entanglement that we can’t walk away from. In a nutshell, it’s me collaborating with the enemy to satisfy my self-ish needs. No wonder strongholds have spiritual power to ensnare us.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (Hearing Jesus)
Setting Captives Free
Since this entrapment started with a mental process but ended in a prison, superficial solutions don’t help much. New mindsets and accountability don’t address the strongman – He’s smarter than our mind games and stronger than our self-will and self-discipline. The only way out is via the access to Father that Jesus redeemed for us in the Courts of Heaven and God’s Council.
The fortress we built one pretentious, logical brick at a time is a legal covenant with the enemy. We may have done it in ignorance but that’s the nature of the spiritual game Satan plays – He doesn’t pretend it’s fair. The stronghold does have a legal basis – that can be broken in the Courts of Heaven:
1. Hear it – Allow Jesus to reveal the accusation in the Courts of Heaven (something like)
a. You volunteered for this deception; you wanted the temptation and agreed to it.
b. Or, it’s something you inherited from elsewhere through no fault of your own.
2. Agree – the second step is to agree with the accusation and take it to the cross
a. Our strategy for repentance is agreeing with your adversary quickly (Mt 5:25).
b. We hear the accusation prophetically in the Courts and legally agree with it.
c. We’re letting Jesus cover it with His redemptive work on the cross (Isa 53:5). (Instead of offering excuses, arguments, and self-justifications)
3. Roots – Accusations can have roots; the Lord can show us a deeper level if it exists.
a. This is typically another accusation, perhaps generational, also taken to the
cross.
4. Decrees – Father reveals prophetic decrees over our lives that replace accusations.
a. The legal shift in the Courts is that Jesus bought us with a price (1Cor 6:19-20)
b. We’ve been translated into His Kingdom (Col 1:13)
c. Not just to stop self-ish patterns, but to put Father’s Kingdom first (Mt 6:33)
Conversations in the Council
The translation from spiritual strongholds to Kingdom is a refuge called Zion in the Old Testament. In the New Covenant it’s God’s Council. Jesus redeemed our access to Father, allowing sons to be present in His divine Council. The ramification is conversations with Father, Jesus, and the 7 Spirits (routinely). We maintain our freedom through the living words that flow from the Council like a river of life. It’s the same water of life that flows out of our belly to invite others into this glorious liberty and this relational Kingdom family known for love (Jn 13:35).
John Garfield
