Reclaiming Strongholds

Throughout this mini series, we've focused on more of the "negative" connotations of spiritual strongholds that can enslave us to patterns, addictions, beliefs, ideas, and behaviors that ultimately harm us. This harm may express itself emotionally, physically, sexually, mentally, spiritually, relationally, or financially.

What I find so interesting, is that the definition for spiritual stronghold, ("a mental or behavioral pattern, often based on a lie or deception, that resists God's truth and hinders spiritual growth"), is typically the first depiction of stronghold that comes to our minds. This type of stronghold traps us behind the unhealthy fortified walls of limitations that either we have placed on ourselves, or that others have unrightfully placed upon us. I picture this type of stronghold looking more like a prison in which every bar that keeps us caged, is a lie we've adopted as truth.

But if we look at the literal definition of stronghold in and of itself, ("a place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack"), we see a very different depiction of stronghold that implies strength, protection, safety, and necessity.

Scripture teaches us that God wishes for all to know Him and to be known by Him in intimate relationship (2 Peter 3:9). Scripture also teaches us that as we experience this reconciliation to God, we also experience a renewal of the mind, spirit, heart, behavioral patterns, and even how we perceive truth.  A few of my favorite passages that discuss this transformation are:

Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is."

Ephesians 4:23, "...put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds..."

Colossians 3:9-11, "...seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

When we encounter God for the first time, He meets us right in the thick of us being trapped behind the limitations and lies of whatever spiritual strongholds we've accepted as truth and reality (Ephesians 2:1-10). And while He deeply loves us just as we are when He meets us in our mess, He loves us enough to rescue us, reconcile us to Himself, and redeem these spiritual strongholds.

God does this by inviting us to trust Him to defeat our spiritual strongholds by help of His truth, His work on the cross through Jesus, His indwelling Holy Spirit, and His family (the church). As God works in us and through us to defeat our spiritual strongholds, He then divinely becomes our stronghold. This process frees us from the bondage of our spiritual strongholds, and places us into the protective presence of God's fortified stronghold. When God is our stronghold, no enemy can stand against us because no enemy (including the tactics used by the enemy) can stand against God (2 Chronicles 13:12, Romans 8:31). As we root ourselves deep into the fortified stronghold of God's Word, God's gospel, God's Spirit, and God's people, we can declare the same reality declared by King David in Psalm 3:3, "But you, O LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head high"; or the reality that he declares in Psalm 18:2, "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whose I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety".

God doesn't just want to help us defeat our spiritual strongholds; He wants to become our eternal stronghold--the fortified protector of our souls.