Supernatual Strongholds

Supernatural strong­holds that Satan builds and the slush­balls that he throws at us. The enemy wants to knock us down and block us from hav­ing a rela­tion­ship with God by build­ing strong­holds in our lives . John 10:10 [show]John 10:10 [10]The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abun­dantly. (ESV)
and 2 Cor 10:3–5 [show]2 Corinthians 10:3–5 [3]For though we walk in the flesh, we are not wag­ing war accord­ing to the flesh. [4]For the weapons of our war­fare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strong­holds. [5]We destroy argu­ments and every lofty opin­ion raised against the knowl­edge of God, and take every thought cap­tive to obey Christ, (ESV)


A strong­hold is a lie. When we believe the lie and act out on the lie Satan builds up a strong­hold in our lives.

There are many sources of these lies (all com­ing from Satan). Sometimes it is just a thought that pops into our mind.

It comes from peo­ple in the world. Lies can come from friends and fam­ily. Lies can come from even our Church leaders.

Examples of lies. God doesn’t exist. God doesn’t love me. We have messed up Gods plan for our lives so why change. Suffering is bad and must be avoided at all costs. If we suf­fer we must have done some­thing wrong. (for the truth see James 1:2–4 [show]James 1:2–4 [2]Count it all joy, my broth­ers, when you meet tri­als of var­i­ous kinds, [3]for you know that the test­ing of your faith pro­duces stead­fast­ness. [4]And let stead­fast­ness have its full effect, that you may be per­fect and com­plete, lack­ing in noth­ing. (ESV)
, Heb 12:7–11 [show]Hebrews 12:7–11 [7]It is for dis­ci­pline that you have to endure. God is treat­ing you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not dis­ci­pline? [8]If you are left with­out dis­ci­pline, in which all have par­tic­i­pated, then you are ille­git­i­mate chil­dren and not sons. [9]Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who dis­ci­plined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be sub­ject to the Father of spir­its and live? [10]For they dis­ci­plined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he dis­ci­plines us for our good, that we may share his holi­ness. [11]For the moment all dis­ci­pline seems painful rather than pleas­ant, but later it yields the peace­ful fruit of right­eous­ness to those who have been trained by it. (ESV)
, Rom 8:18 [show]Romans 8:18 [18]For I con­sider that the suf­fer­ings of this present time are not worth com­par­ing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (ESV)
) If I am good enough I will go to heaven.

When we believe the lies we don’t live the way God would have us live.

Eph 6:10–18 [show]Ephesians 6:10–18 [10]Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11]Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [12]For we do not wres­tle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the author­i­ties, against the cos­mic pow­ers over this present dark­ness, against the spir­i­tual forces of evil in the heav­enly places. [13]Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to with­stand in the evil day, and hav­ing done all, to stand firm. [14]Stand there­fore, hav­ing fas­tened on the belt of truth, and hav­ing put on the breast­plate of right­eous­ness, [15]and, as shoes for your feet, hav­ing put on the readi­ness given by the gospel of peace. [16]In all cir­cum­stances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extin­guish all the flam­ing darts of the evil one; [17]and take the hel­met of sal­va­tion, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, [18]praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and sup­pli­ca­tion. To that end keep alert with all per­se­ver­ance, mak­ing sup­pli­ca­tion for all the saints, (ESV)
. These are our weapons against the strong­holds of the evil one. Spiritual dis­ci­plines are our weapons against the lies of Satan.

With every new defense a new weapon is also devel­oped. Sometimes we face Satan with spit balls and BB guns instead of the best weapons, spir­i­tual weapons that God pro­vides us through His Spirit.

Living the spirit-formed life by Jack hay­ford
Celebration of dis­ci­pline by Richard fos­ter
Life you always wanted

So how do we demol­ish the strong­holds? Take cap­tive of every thought.

We have to rec­og­nize the strong­holds in our life. Stress, anger, anx­i­ety, fear, and depres­sion are key signs of liv­ing the lie of Satan.

Knock down the strong­holds with God’s truth. As we hold on to God’s truth we will knock down those strong­holds that Satan would build against us.

It all starts with con­fess­ing Jesus is Lord of our lives. The one strong­hold we should have is Christ Jesus.