September 05, 2019
BIBLE READING: II CORINTHIANS 10
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
As believers and followers of Christ, we daily fight a spiritual battle. The effects of that battle can manifest itself in our physical bodies, but it is not a fleshly battle. Because of that, we use different weapons in spiritual warfare. And make no mistake about it, it is War. The battle we have every day between the flesh and the spirit, and the constant battle with temptation can absolutely wear us down, not just spiritually, but physically and emotionally.
We are given good insight in this passage of how Satan fights his battles. Satan likes to use “strongholds”. This means that Satan likes to take ground and build a camp on it. The more ground he takes, the more he sets up strongholds. For us to gain that ground back, we must pull down his strongholds. Satan knows once he can get us to do something, say something, or think something, it is easy for him to get us to keep doing it from that point. Once we give in, we are prone to continue that sin. That lust and desire grows every time we give in, and that makes it harder for us to say no the next time. That is Satan’s strong holds.
This verse tells us that the spiritual weapons that we must use are “mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds”. They only work because of God’s power. And what are these spiritual weapons? They are PRAYER and the WORD OF GOD.
In Ephesians chapter 6, we are told about the armor of God. There is only one offensive weapon given:
* 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Notice after the only offensive weapon is given, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, that immediately we are told to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. This is the only way to pull down Satan’s strongholds in your life, and you probably know what the strongholds are. It’s going to take prayer, and it’s going to take saturating yourself with, memorizing, quoting, and claiming the Word of God. So go out there today and fight your spiritual battle like you’ve never fought before!