Blog 44 / Our High Calling
October 21, 2021
Demolishing Strongholds
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Cor 10:4 NIV)
An earlier blog (“Dealing with Strongholds”) discussed strongholds that may intrude into our own lives. Here we turn to other strongholds in the world.
Right now there is a war going on in the heavenlies between the righteous forces of heaven and the evil forces of hell. The spoils of war are the souls of men and women. God calls His people to enter into this conflict through intercessory prayer. Our prayers influence the war. “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matt 16:19 NIV).
The Church (and GRN’s) mandate is to advance the kingdom of God. But powerful enemy strongholds hinder us. These strongholds fuel false belief systems that are reinforced daily by billions of repetitious prayers made to false gods, billions of sacrifices made to idols, and by materialism and godless philosophies. All of these strengthen the web of deception that keeps a strong hold over billions of people.
Although Christ disarmed Satan at Calvary, the god of this age is for the duration blinding the eyes of people so they cannot see the Light (2 Cor 4:4). Not only that, his strongholds of deceit, lies and idolatry shape the mindsets of billions making their belief systems seem like impenetrable fortresses. But the Lord has given us weapons with divine power to demolish these “fortresses” – and demolish them we must.
In modern warfare an army must first knock out the enemy’s air power to keep its ground troops from being bombed from above. The Church too needs to win the battle in the heavenlies by taking out the strongholds to clear the way for ministry to take place on the ground.
All of us need to do our part in this unseen warfare. We can do this by making prayer for the extension of God’s kingdom and the pulling down of strongholds a regular part of our prayer times. This will gain us a reputation in heaven for being formidable prayer warriors. But it must be God’s love that motivates our prayers. He loves all people and so should we. They are not the enemy. Satan and his demonic forces are.
As we pray, use Scripture. The Word of God is all powerful for every battle. Jesus used Scripture to confound Satan. And nothing demoralizes and thwarts the enemy more than God’s people singing His praises. Using the Word with praise, and with full access to the Throne Room, will indeed make us formidable prayer warriors who will cause utter confusion in the enemy camp.
Colin Stott
GRN Global Prayer Coordinator
