By Mark Maher
The term stronghold appears at least fifty times in the Bible. It is commonly referred to a fortress. “A stronghold is a false premise that denies God’s promise. It sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 corinthians 10:5). It seeks to eclipse our discovery of God. It attempts to magnify the problem and minimize God’s ability to solve it.” Max Lucado
To get on the path of serving God’s purpose, we have to look at some of the strongholds in our lives that we have put up to protect us, BUT NOW may be diminishing our potential. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Corinthians 10:4)
1. Anger – used to put a barrier around us or to protect us BUT NOW, friends and family are a little more reluctant to reach out to us.
2. Bitterness – used to put a barrier around our heart BUT NOW time is going by and we are losing our hope and we are beginning to forget that we have the power to change and adapt.
3. Fear – used to put a barrier to protect us, BUT NOW we lose our boldness, confidence, and ability to live life to the full and the courage to step out of our comfort zone to help others.
4. Unforgiveness – used to put a barrier up to protect ourselves, BUT NOW we lose our heart to love on others, and to be willing to show grace and forgiveness. We begin to lose our capacity to love, which has the potential to be our greatest strength as love is our most powerful spiritual weapon.
5. Scarcity Mindset – used to protect and control money and things, BUT NOW we have lost our ability to give and be generous and we have lost our trust and confidence that God always provides.
6. Isolation – used to protect us against hurt BUT NOW we are pushing friends away that God’s trying to send to help us.
7. Worry – used to protect us against things that might go wrong, BUT NOW we lose our ability to be proactive and initiate change and growth.
What are the strongholds that we build up? These are the areas that are hard to tear down and we need Christ because their spiritual and not worldly. The worldly perspective will build up walls. The spiritual will tear down the walls and it’s challenging and not easily done without the Spirit of God.
As God‘s children, we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, and with Him come all the Fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Every blessing that God provides will usually require a demolishment of strongholds, a pruning, or letting go. John 15 says that “if we ABIDE in Christ, every branch in me that does not bear fruit he taketh away: and every branch that bears fruit, he cuts back, so that it may bring forth even MORE FRUIT.” Your greatest potential and growth will probably come from overcoming your greatest obstacles.
What is the stronghold that we begin to not even notice in our lives? Be brave and ask your spouse or friend, and then have the courage to work on it with God’s help. Tell the story of God’s faithfulness, and not the story of fear.
