For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor.10:3-6)
Strongholds are beliefs or belief systems established deep within us that argue against and push back against God’s truth. Our deepest beliefs are written on our hearts. Those are our “core beliefs.” These are written primarily through the power of experiences and typically trump and color our intellectual beliefs. If these beliefs are contrary to God’s word, then they fall into the category of strongholds of the enemy.
Core beliefs can also be strongholds of truth where positive experiences have brought us to conclusions about self, God, or life that lineup with God’s truth. When David was considering the possibility of facing Goliath in battle he referred to two previous formative experiences in his life. When questioned about the wisdom of assaulting the Philistine champion, he said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam.17:37). During his days as a shepherd, David’s flocks had been assaulted by wild animals and he was forced to step in to defend and rescue his sheep. He had overcome both a lion and a bear and had concluded that God had given him supernatural assistance both times. As a result, he believed in his heart that God was with him and whenever he faced an enemy greater than himself, God would supernaturally give him the victory. That truth was written on his heart because of past experiences and the logic of men could not dissuade him of that conviction.
When past experiences have resulted in conclusions contrary to God’s truth and when the enemy has reinforced those lies through the years, how can they be overcome? The world would give us positive thoughts or mantras to repeat over and over so that our thought patterns might be modified. My experience with that approach is that it works – for a while. People can be buoyed by these new ways of thinking for a while but the power fades and any additional negative experiences put people back in the same old place. If demonic forces have been assigned to support the false belief system, their “inner voices” will certainly overcome the “new truth” they have been given by counselors or friends.
What it takes to overcome a stronghold established by an experience is not only the written word of God but a current experience to confirm that word and make it more compelling than Satan’s lies. Experiences with God come in many forms. Notice some of the experiences that created a new paradigm of faith for individuals in the New Testament. Saul (the apostle Paul) was convinced of God’s truth about Jesus when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus and experienced several days of blindness. After Peter had been told through a vision that God was accepting what had once been called unclean, Peter witnessed the Holy Spirit falling on the gentile Cornelius and his household so that Peter was finally convinced that God has accepted the gentile believers into the church. Many Jews who had not believed in Jesus, suddenly became believers when Jesus called Lazarus out of his tomb. The list goes on.
We can experience God in many ways. We can experience him by hearing him speak to us. We can experience him by receiving a strong insight or revelation as we study his written word. We can experience him by prayers being answered in powerful or even “miraculous” ways. We can experience him through an unexpected or miraculous healing, a prophetic word, or a word of knowledge. We can experience him by feeling his presence or by receiving freedom through deliverance in the name of Jesus. We can experience him through angelic encounters, by experiencing the gift of tongues or through dreams or visions. There are innumerable ways that we can experience God. When we do experience him our core beliefs are impacted.
The most powerful moments of emotional healing come when we experience the personal touch of God – his love, his presence, his care, or his affirmation as a father. Prayer invites and sets in motion those encounters. A whisper from God about his love for us and his delight in who we are can dramatically alter our self-image. God’s love for us expressed in healing or deliverance creates powerful paradigm shifts that release us from lies that have held us in bondage to fear, condemnation, rejection and loneliness. The word of God gives meaning to these experiences but the experiences confirm the word of God deep in our hearts so that faith takes root. Then we can believe other promises of God even without direct experience with the promise.
Ultimately, the exercise of divine weapons reveals God to us and reveals his heart toward us. That is what sets us free from the lies and oppression of the enemy. Truth that has been revealed to our hearts by the Spirit is much more powerful than truth communicated to our intellect through reading or teaching. It absolutely takes both, but without experiencing God, life transformation is not as powerful or complete. Even the written word of God has been given to point us to God so that we might experience him.
Ananias could have attempted a Torah study with Saul of Tarsus to convince him that Jesus was truly the Son of God. He could have brought his best intellectual arguments and Saul would have argued back. Saul’s intellectual resistance, however, was no match for a light brighter than the sun and a voice from heaven. Experience destroyed the strongholds in Saul’s heart and mind and he became the apostle Paul. Divine weapons allow us to experience God so that we might willingly submit every thought to the Lordship of Jesus. Divine weapons demonstrate that God exists, Jesus is Lord, and that God is good, knows us personally, and cares for us deeply. They demonstrate that God is greater than Satan and that our ultimate victory is assured. If a man can get all of that in his heart – count him in! As the church begins to exercise all the divine weapons at our disposal, more people will be transformed, more people will love because they have been loved, and more unbelievers will run to Jesus. Be blessed.
