At the point of salvation, a person becomes a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, our fleshly thinking patterns and behaviors do not immediately disappear. This is why persistent sins, or strongholds, often follow believers into their walk with Christ. The difference is that we do not have Christ’s power to destroy such strongholds before we are saved. After salvation, Christ’s authority and power are vested in us. Christ gives us the ability to be, as Romans 8:37 says, “more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
But how do we do this?
How Does the Bible Define Strongholds?
The term “stronghold” is only found once in the New Testament, in the book of 2 Corinthians. As he explains the nature of spiritual warfare, Paul writes, “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against God’s knowledge, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
As Paul describes it, strongholds are the thought processes we pridefully cling to that oppose God’s wisdom. Specifically, they oppose God’s wisdom, as revealed in the gospel of Christ. For example, living under the stronghold of shame is a common stronghold. As books like The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson explain, shame attempts to isolate and declare a person unworthy of love or affection. The gospel says that God finds every single person so precious and worthy of love and relationship that He sent His own Son to die in their place. Even after we have repented, turned from our sins, and come to Christ, many of us still struggle to believe this to be true because the lie of shame has become so ingrained in our psyches. It has become a stronghold, a “lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God.”
Does the Bible Talk about Strongholds We Must Avoid?
Spiritual strongholds show up in many forms in believers’ lives. Addictions to drugs, gambling, pornography, promiscuity, over-eating, isolation, and shopping are just a few examples. All these behaviors are rooted in idolatries formed because of lies that have been believed. Lies about worldly things being able to save us or that God is faithless to deliver. All of these behaviors are condemned in different places throughout the Bible.
Still, one passage explicitly addresses strongholds that keep the freedom and power available to God’s children from being realized. Neil T. Anderson’s book The Bondage Breaker discusses strongholds and highlights the moment in Luke 10 when Jesus sends His disciples to bring His kingdom to earth. Anderson observes, “Jesus confronted the disciples about several kingdom-killing perversions… These perversions included self-sufficiency (verses 10-25), being ashamed of Jesus (verses 26-36), unbelief (verses 37-45), pride (verses 46-48), possessiveness (verses 49-50), ministering in the wrong spirit (verses 51-56), false confidences (verses 57-58), and lame excuses (verses 59-62).”
Jesus explicitly condemns many of these strongholds because they can foil God’s work in the world. In contrast, the world does not only avoid condemning these strongholds. The world also upholds these things as commendable qualities—making it more difficult to recognize and repent of these behaviors. This is why measuring our thoughts and attitudes with Christ’s perspective is imperative.
What Separates a Stronghold from a Spiritual Attack?
From the very beginning, Satan’s tactics have always been to deceive. He deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, attempted to deceive Jesus in the wilderness, and is tirelessly working today to deceive you and me. However, confusion and defeat arise when we do not understand the root of spiritual warfare. Many of us picture spiritual attacks as if they are an exorcism scene in a horror film.
There are times when spiritual oppression does look quite scary. However, it is typically more subtle than that, and it involves the battle for one’s mind. Satan will do His best to deceive and to create strongholds in every believer’s life. Often, he does not need much help. We are quite adept at self-deception.
This is why the biblical response does not involve elaborate rituals. It simply requires we submit to Christ in everything, including our thought life. Whether the lies we believe came from our misguided beliefs or demonic influence, the answer is the same: “Take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). A stronghold could result from demonic influence, but it does not have to be. What is certain is that the stronghold takes root because, to some extent, we are choosing to cling to a belief opposing God’s wisdom.
What Does Paul Say We Must Do to Demolish Strongholds?
Destroying strongholds in your life may feel like a losing battle. I do not think it is a stretch to say that most of us have struggled with a besetting sin and felt that we had no hope of overcoming it.
This will be our experience until we realize that it is not by our power that we demolish the strongholds in our lives. Paul says there is “divine power to destroy strongholds” (1 Corinthians 10:4). The battle is God’s. It was won on the cross when Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities” and “made a public spectacle of them” (Colossians 2:15). Our battle is now won by faith. We must choose to align one’s personal beliefs with what God says. Knowing one’s spiritual authority in Christ and acting on that authority, submitting our struggles to God, is the secret to demolishing strongholds.
A good measure of whether a thought is from God or not is the fruit it produces. Does it create in you “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23)? If it does not, you need to surrender it to Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in all the truth through God’s Word.
As you daily take hold of what God says is true, surrendering every thought to Christ, you will find that what was once a stronghold no longer has any sway over your life. A helpful format that Anderson proposes in his book is to do the following:
- Write out the lie.
- List the effects it has had on your life.
- Search God’s Word for truth.
- Write the truth from Scripture down.
- Create a prayer that includes the Scripture.
- Repeat this prayer every day for 40 days.
The truth will eventually feel more familiar to you than the lie that had become a stronghold. You begin this process by recognizing a lie for what it is: a lie. You must also be willing to ask yourself about your motivations and whether you truly want this situation to change. If we are clinging to a lie for some purpose it supposedly serves, we cannot destroy the stronghold and how it’s affecting our lives. We deceive ourselves if we think we can continue to believe lies and experience the freedom that Christ offers.
Remember that you are not alone in this. When we engage in this battle in faith, God fights for us; we have divine power on our side. Fighting strongholds may not feel easy at first. But we can be assured that, as with most things, ease comes with time.
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