Understanding Strongholds (Part 1)

GOG - 18 - 230 - 2018: Understanding Strongholds (Part 1)

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Understanding

Strongholds Pastor Charles Omofomah

(Part 1)

Here's something else very important about strongholds. Note that in our passage, there is no single thing said about demons.

This passage is mostly used when Christians talk about spiritual warfare. Some Christians will say “there are territorial demons that are holding us in this atmosphere! Let's pull them 1 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

2 But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that conTidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the Tlesh.

down and we have to start at 12 midnight, because that's when the territorial demons are operating.” Absolutely nothing is said here about demons. This needs to be established in our minds. I believe that there are territorial demons because in the Book of Daniel, we read about the “Prince of Persia” (Daniel 10:13). That is a reference to an evil spirit.

3 For though we walk in the Tlesh, we do not war according to the Tlesh.

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 And being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulTilled.

2 Corinthians 10:1-6

The subject of strongholds is a very important area that the Church needs to know about, especially if you want any kind of healing whether it is physical or mental. I also think that the subject of strongholds is an area in Christianity that is grossly misunderstood, especially in connection to the passage which we read. ”Stronghold” is a combination of two words, “strong” and “hold.” The Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, deTines “stronghold” to mean to fortify through the idea of holding safely a castle; Tiguratively it refers to an argument; a stronghold. The Dictionary deTines a stronghold to be a fastness, or fortiTied refuge. Let's just use a very simple illustration. A fortress is a place where anything is in great strength. If you turn the word round, you will get my very kindergarten deTinition of a stronghold which means to hold strongly or hold fast.

Strongholds Can Be Seen And May Not Always Be Caused By Demons In our text we read, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down of strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). Paul is telling us, strongholds have to be pulled down. The Tirst thing you need to know about strongholds is that, they have a stronghold over the people they have a hold over. Everybody has one stronghold or the other. One of the synonyms of a strong hold is a castle. That tells us that strongholds are conspicuous. They can be seen. A little house may not be seen, but a castle can be seen.

However, in the New Testament, particularly in the Epistles, you will Tind out that there is nothing said about freeing nations from territorial demons. You hear this sort of things when believers say, they are going for mapping, and by “mapping” they mean they are going to see what kind of demons operate in those territories, so that they can deal with them. I want to ask you a very fundamental question. If you're going to deliver nations from territorial demons, how are you going to deal with them? Is it by casting them out? If you do, to where are you going to cast them out? To another nation? I'm not saying that they can't be cast out but if you cast territorial demons out from one place now, they become territorial demons of another place. Demons will still be on earth because as long as the lease on the earth is still with Adam, they will still be in nations.

The Bible says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16). The earth was Tirst given to our Tirst parents Adam and Eve. Adam sold out to Satan. Therefore, as long as Adam has a lease on the earth, and he sold out to Satan, demons will remain here. Adam gave them the right to remain here but you can be free from them. If you want people to be free, give them the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and set them free.

“Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). We do not deny the existence of demonic spirits. We are just saying we have changed location. Satan no longer has hold over us. When more people are set free through the gospel, God will be the happier for it. You also, will be the happier for it. When the Bible says that, “…the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4), it simply means that if you allow the hold to be over you, it becomes a powerful force and when something is a powerful force, you don't just tell it to leave you alone, because it has become a powerful force that

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GOG - 18 - 230 - 2018: Understanding Strongholds (Part 1)

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that needs to be pulled down. In your mind you may be thinking the way to pull them down is to cast them out. The Bible doesn't

their stories strive to activate in me all the “fairy tales” that my mom told me. When you see such preachers on television, change

necessarily say that. Why then do strongholds become very powerful forces?

the channel, because once such thoughts of generational curses begin to occur to you, fear will grip your heart and fear has torment.

2 Corinthians 10:5 puts it this way:

Through Imagination

5 Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Strongholds Are Built In The Arena Of The Mind

The other element in the arena of the mind is the imagination.

From your memory, you switch to imagination. If it has to do with sickness, if you dwell on it long enough, you may even begin to imagine that you will die from the sickness. You will see your cofTin with your body lying in there. You'll begin to think or imagine your loved ones that are already in Heaven and you take solace in the fact that it won't be that lonely. You begin to imagine

You have to know that strongholds are built, created, or erected in the arena of your mind. That is why strongholds become very powerful forces. The Bible shows us the process. Take a look at the

what people will say at your funeral and how they will cry for you. You'll ask yourself, “When I die, who will take care of my children?” You can spend so much of your time doing this. If you imagine it, it will

word “thought.” We may interchange “thought” for “mind.” Thoughts take place in the mind, so, strongholds are built in the arena of your mind.

happen. When the Tower of Babel was being built, God said that nothing that they imagined will be impossible unto them (Genesis 11:6).

Through Memories

Imaginations are simpler when there is

There are two main elements in the arena of the mind, or thoughts. The Tirst one is your memory. Let's assume a woman did not have the opportunity to live a moral life before she became saved. She lived a very rough life while she was in the world and so, she got married and many years go by and she can't have a child. Her memory tells her, “You can't conceive because of those abortions you committed. When they were being carried out, your womb was destroyed.” That becomes a stronghold. Her Pastor may stay with her, and counsel with her, yet her mind will be whispering, “What about the abortion?” Then, maybe she watches a movie where she sees a woman who could not deliver because she destroyed her womb through abortion, and what she watched comes back to her.

Maybe you noticed a small swelling on one part of your body and you are trusting God that it will go. Instead, it gets bigger. Then it reminds you of your father who died seven years ago, and it started by having a small swelling. Your grandfather had the same thing.

Your great-grandfather had the same thing. That is a stronghold.

They may tell you, “By His stripes you are healed,” but what you have remembered has become a big castle and instead of seeing the

something that is propelling it. I'll tell you what I mean. People call imaginations “building castles in the air.” However, imaginations don't just happen, there are things that fuel them. The things that fuel them are what you hear and what you see. Imaginations constitute such a powerful force that Jesus Christ described them as real. He said if you look at a woman, to lust after her, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart (Matthew 5:28). That means if a man sees a woman, looks at her contours and in his imagination strips her naked and has sex with her, it's as strong as being real.

The other day, I was talking to a young man. He was an unbeliever and I eventually led him to Christ. In the course of my discussion with him, I got to where I had to tell him some testimonies about myself. I told him that I didn't marry early, but my wife is the only one who has seen my nakedness. He interrupted me by asking how can a man live for twenty or twenty Tive years without “meeting” with a woman but before a lot of people “meet” with a woman or a man, they had already done it in their imagination.

The word “imagination” also means an argument. The imagination gives rise to arguments based on the person's experience. The

stripes, you are seeing your father, your grandfather, and your great-grandfather: three generations. Worse still, you are the Tirstborn of your parents. Then, you switch on your television, and a man is preaching that the curse of Tirstborn will have to be removed and such preachers follow it up with testimonies, “This one came

reason for this is because, whenever you carry out what is in your imagination, it becomes an experience. Experiences over and over become a habit and a habit turns into a stronghold. The stronghold becomes an argument. For some of you, it may be as a result of what you learnt in school. Maybe you have an infection and you are

the other day and I cast out the spirit of Tirstborn.” As you sit there, you say, “It's just like my story.” Put off the television! There are no demons, there are only strongholds in the memory. In the Bible, the Tirstborn was meant to receive a double portion of the father's inheritance. I don't know how that is a curse. That is a blessing to

told, “By the stripes of Jesus, this infection will dematerialize,” but you say, “The organism is there.” You remember what you were taught that there are microscopic organisms in everything including your skin, and these organisms cannot be seen. What you have been taught has become a stronghold that becomes an argument against

me and if they're not dealt with, they will turn you into a piece of bread for the Devil.

the Word of God.

Another example of strongholds is in the area of generational curses. When I hear preachers talking about generational curses,

Mind what you hear and what you watch. What you hear and watch may become arguments which become strongholds in your mind.

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