“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the
world. On the contrary, they have divine power
to demolish strongholds.”
(II Corinthians 10:4)
Thoughts… Are you up against a stronghold? Perhaps it is a troublesome spouse or a rebellious child or an overbearing boss. Maybe it’s a crippling disease or a shaky economy or an uncooperative job market. Whatever your stronghold is, in reality, there is an unseen spiritual enemy behind it masking as a real human being or a challenging circumstance.
If you are going to experience a spiritual breakthrough with your stronghold, then Paul says you will need to employ the spiritual weapons that God has put at your disposal. Those weapons are not carnal. In other words, sheer force of will, rational argumentation, personal discipline, financial resources alone cannot secure your victory. Rather, the weapons you must use are spiritual in nature, but they are powerful. They pack a divine punch that will destroy the demonic strongholds that are behind those challenging relationships and difficult circumstances that you are facing.
What are those weapons? First and foremost is the weapon of prayer. It is through prayer that we access the power of God to overcome all the attacks of the enemy. Samuel Chadwick preached, “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” Why does Satan do everything in his power to keep us from prayer? Because prayer works!
The second weapon is the Word of God. Divine truth will expose Satan’s chief strategy, which is deception. Satan is the “father of lies,” and he is effective only as we remain in the dark as to who we really are, what we really have, and what we can really do in Jesus Christ. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit.
The third weapon is the authority of the name of Jesus. All the demons of hell tremble at that name. It is at the name of Jesus that everything must bow in submission. It is in the name of Jesus that we have authority to pray. It is in the name of Jesus that doors must open, demons must flee, and answers must come. We must learn to live and pray in Jesus’s name, otherwise we will live well below our capacity for Divine provision, blessing, freedom and favor.
The fourth weapon is the righteousness of Christ that we wear as a breastplate. It is Christ’s righteousness, imputed to us at salvation, that makes us not only holy before God, it likewise empowers us to live a life of integrity and purity in our daily journey. Christ’s righteousness, worked out in our own daily righteousness, keeps of from being vulnerable to an enemy looking to exploit any chink in our armor.
We were made to win. God has given us every weapon that we need to live the victorious Christian life. These are our weapons of mass destruction. Now we’ve got to make sure we use them.
Prayer… Lord, in you I am completely victorious. You are my shield and my strength. Through you I will overcome. You have provided every weapon to destroy the enemy’s efforts to destroy me. By your Spirit, through your Word, in the name of Jesus, and by his blood that makes me righteous I am more than a conqueror. Thank you for guaranteeing and securing my victory.
One More Thing… “The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came…Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees before temptation comes, and you will always have victory.” —R.A. Torrey
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