Pulling down Strongholds: Strategies from Ancient and Modern Israel

Pulling down Strongholds: Strategies from Ancient and Modern Israel
Messiah conference 2000
Theme: The Spirit of God wants each of you to capture any demonic strongholds that hold you captive
     and strengthen the stronghold of the Holy Spirit in you.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience to Messiah.
     These are fighting words! Them’s fighting words…for us! Amen?
Now these fighting words are metaphorical:
     they speak of weapons, strongholds, high things and bringing into captivity,
     yet these are not carnal or worldly weapons, but spiritual ones;
     not strongholds of stone but of imaginations or arguments;
     not high things in high towers but high-falutin’ attitudes;
     not taking into captivity enemy soldiers but enemy thoughts.
     I think it would be helpful to consider the figurative aspect of the metaphor a bit more.

What is a stronghold? Why are strongholds important in literal warfare?
     A stronghold is a defensive structure:
     Psalms 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
misgav; properly, a cliff (or other lofty or inaccessible place);
     figuratively, a refuge:–defense, high fort (tower), refuge.
     So a cliff could be a stronghold, because it’s high and inaccessible to one’s enemies.
     1 Samuel 23:14. David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph.
     Or it could be a man-made fortress or tower
     Ps 144:2 [The LORD is..] my goodness, and my fortress; my high tower [misgab, stronghold],
     and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdues my people under me.
     Why would a “high thing” like to hang out in a high cliff or a high tower, exalting itself?
     Because it’s safe up there!
     If an enemy comes, it’s much easier to drive him away from a stronghold in a high place.

You can learn about the strategic importance of strongholds in the history of the wars of Israel.
     While my family was in Israel a year ago, we visited a place called Latrun.
     It’s right off the main highway from Tel Aviv and the airport heading up to Jerusalem.
     That was the problem with this place: it’s a stronghold right along the main highway.
     It also intersects with a highway leading from Gaza up to Ramallah,
         two major population centers of Palestinian Arabs.
     The Turks, when they controlled the land, had built this fortress,
         near a monastery and ancient Emmaus.
     That’s right, the road to Emmaus was the road that led up to Jerusalem.
     The British converted the fortress into a police station.
     When the War of Independence began, the Arab Legion controlled the Latrun stronghold.
     From this perch, they could pick off the caravans carrying supplies up to the Jews in Jerusalem.
     This was one stronghold that had to be taken! It had a stranglehold on Jerusalem!
     Five times, five separate times, the fledgling Israeli Defense Forces tried to take it.
     Again and again the Arab Legion—the best, British-trained soldiers on the Arab side—
         drove the attackers away.
     So the Israelis build a “Burma Road” circumventing the stronghold, over rough terrain,
         so the supply trains could get through.
     Thank God for the ingenuity and determination of our people!
     The Arabs still held this fortress—within five miles of Ben-Gurion Airport—until 1967.
     Just before the ‘67 war, Nasser sent Egyptian soldiers to strengthen the Jordanian garrison.
     Fortunately, they had to abandon it during the Six-Day War.
     Now it’s a museum for the IDF Armored Forces,
         with an imposing display of tanks, bought, built or captured by the Israeli army.

So now do you see the strategic importance of a stronghold?
     For 20 years that place threatened the security of our people in the heart of the nation.
     For how many years has a stronghold threatened your security in the heart of your thought life?
     Isn’t it about time we went up there and captured it?

Can it be done? Hey, David took the stronghold of Jerusalem and made it his capital!
     In 2 Samuel 5:6, The Jebusites taunted David, “You will not get in here;
        even the blind and the lame can ward you off.”
     They thought, “David can’t get in here.”
     But David was determined; and he got in there all right—
     Joab broke through a tunnel that led to a spring and opened the gates to the citadel.
     Ancient Babylon also was built up as a seemingly invincible stronghold.
     But in Jer 51:53 declared, “‘Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
         I will send destroyers against her,’ declares the LORD.”
     And so he did, sending Cyrus and the Medo-Persians to take the stronghold,
         by diverting the river that flowed through the city and marching in on the riverbed!

God knows all about strongholds and He knows how to take them — and he’ll tell you how to do it,
     if you’re willing to fight!
     When you come up against a stronghold in your life, do you just want to give up?
     Or are you going to willing to fight to take the stronghold?
     Strongholds are captured by people who are willing to fight, people with gumption!
     If you, God will help you. The Word and the Spirit of God will show you how. Amen?

One thing you should bear in mind about a stronghold: it’s a place, not a person.
     A stronghold is only a threat if there are enemy soldiers inside.
     Indeed, a stronghold can also be a place of comfort, a safe place:
     For example, in 2 Samuel 22:2-3, David said:

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock,
in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior–from violent men you save me.
     The person or persons inside the stronghold could be your enemy or your friend.
     In a spiritual stronghold, there could be demons or the Holy Spirit.
     But just as a physical stronghold is not an enemy soldier, nor is a spiritual stronghold a demon.
     A spiritual stronghold is a habitual pattern of thought, built into one’s thought life.
Satan and his minions want to capture the minds of people: the mind is the citadel of the soul.
     He who controls the mind controls a very strategic place!
     Romans 8:5-6:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set
on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit
have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.
     If you want the abundant life and peace that Yeshua promised,
     you must let his Spirit capture the stronghold up there!
     Nor only is our conscious mind the target:
     Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”
     In Matt 12:34-35, Yeshua said,
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him,
and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Strongholds are also storage places, holding food, water and weapons.
     A stronghold gets stronger as more stuff—more thought—gets stored in there.
     In the life of the mind, the stuff that you were once aware of gets stored up in unconscious memory,
         but it can make a stronghold a tough nut to crack!
     A stronghold is a way of thinking and feeling that has developed a life of its own in a person.
     It might be a rut of depression or recurring unbelief or habitually bad temper.
     That was a stronghold in my life, but with God’s help, not any more!
     It might be a repeating pattern of failure:
     Sometimes a stronghold will cause you to provoke others to reject you
         (without necessarily knowing you’re doing it)
     It might be a stronghold of resentment or worthlessness.
     If a child is sexually molested and/or badly verbally abused,
         a stronghold of worthlessness may build up a stockpile of negative thoughts:
     “I’m guilty. Nobody could really love me. I’m good for nothing. I’m ugly.”
     She might actually be beautiful — and certainly is beautiful in the eyes of God.
     But a stronghold gets filled with arguments like these:
        “Nobody would like me if they really got to know me. Nobody really knows me.
         Nobody really cares for me. Nobody really wants me for me.”
     Now all these thoughts may be a pack of lies,
         but they can be a stronghold keeping out the truth of God’s love.
     Such a person may hear a message about God’s love, whether from a pulpit or a friend,
         but it goes in one ear and out the other,
         bouncing off the walls of a stronghold of rejection or worthlessness.
     You almost hear the truth come to set you free, and then comes another thought,
         “Yeah, but what about…?” Or “You just don’t understand….”
     And out comes another string of lies, excuses, smokescreens, shot down by blocking spirits.
     Thus a stronghold creates inner captivity to deception and misery.
     A stronghold keeps a person from thinking clearly, accepting the truth,
         repenting of sin, and receiving deliverance.
     A stronghold can keep a unbeliever from hearing the good news.
     A stronghold can keep a believer from hearing the fullness of the good news.
— Read on www.lehigh.edu/~gdb0/simcha/strongho.htm