Breaking Strongholds

During one of my travels to Europe, a friend and I hiked through the Eltz Forrest just outside of Trier, Germany, until reaching the heart of the forrest. As we neared an opening in the trees, I caught a glimpse of the beloved Eltz Castle perched up on a rock in the distance.

It was the most stunning site I'd ever seen, as if straight out of a fairy tale!  My brain could not process just how old the structure was. When I say old, I'm not talking about USA old. I'm talking, it took multiple generations of the Eltz family over 500 years just to finish building the now 900-year-old castle.

What fascinated me almost as much as the age, was the security measures taken to ensure the safety of those who sought refuge inside of the castle. Not only were elaborate gates, bridges, and rocky terrain incorporated in the building plans to serve as barriers between external threats, but also an entire forrest surrounded the fortress as yet another means of protection from potential enemies.

In 1 Samuel of the Bible, we read a story about the Israelite leader, David (who would later become one of the most well-known kings in the history of God's people) fleeing for his life as King Saul sought to destroy him. We read
that King Saul "sought him every day" to kill him, but God divinely protected David as he hid within the "strongholds in the wilderness" (1 Samuel 23:14, ESV).  Just like the Eltz family, David knew that the thick forrest and terrain of the wilderness would serve as a stronghold, or barrier, between him and the enemies that pursued him.

As we move from the time of earthly Kings, and into the reign of the eternal King Jesus, we begin to see a shift take place when "strongholds" are mentioned. Where before in the Old Testament a "stronghold" represented a physical barrier between two or more parties, in the New Testament a "stronghold" often refers to a spiritual barrier that separates a person (or group of people) from the presence of, protection of, and peace of God.

For you and I, strongholds look a lot less like an enchanted castle out in the middle of a forrest, and a lot more like negative experiences, false beliefs, addictive substances, generational trauma, unhealthy practices, harmful ideologies, unfruitful habits, and destructive sin patterns that build up barriers between us and God. These strongholds root down deep in our inner being, taking hold of our hearts and minds until we find ourselves in a spiritual prison of sorts.

And just as the strongholds surrounding the castle were near impossible for the enemy to penetrate, by our own strength, we cannot burst through these barriers without help from something (or Someone) more powerful than the stronghold that entraps us.

God's Word tells us that, "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4, ESV).

Did you catch that?

The strongholds that we face around us and at times, inside of us, are not merely physical, but are rooted within he spiritual realm.  The powers we face while in this flesh (human body), are no match for the divine and ultimate power found in God through Jesus Christ--the One who has authority and power over every stronghold. 

We know that after defeating death by the Holy Spirit of God, Jesus now sits "in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come" (Ephesians 1:16-21, ESV).  

We no longer have to remain trapped within the walls of our strongholds, because no matter how powerful they may seem in our lives, Jesus is more powerful and longs to destroy all of our strongholds if we allow Him to.  Through the work of Jesus, God "reconciled us to himself", while "entrusting to us the message of reconciliation", that we might carry His power into the strongholds of this world, bringing that message with us wherever we go!