3 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does"
We do not wage war the way the world does. Hmmm. I know that the way the world does it today is quite similar to the way it was thousands of years ago. The first stage is the siege..or in our case today, sanctions. Supplies to the city/ country are cut off. The water supply, rivers etc are diverted and the attacking force can lay in wait for years! In the days of old, this caused horrible consequences with people eating their own children.(2 Kings 6:24—7.20)today a similar approach is sought in order to create enough civil unrest and to despise authority because of the harsh conditions. This eventually will lead to betrayal and treachery.
4 "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
OK, now our weapons are different and our strategy is different. The above-mentioned strategy intends to weaken the enemy from the outside until it starts affecting the inside. It affects the luxury before it goes for the basics. It goes first for the skin before the soul. What supports a building is its foundation. There is an inner part which is so strong that it might not need outward assistance in order to survive or it may go a very long time without the replenishment of supplies. That is the STRONGHOLD. People will guard it that with ALL.
I have a stronghold. The LORD
The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? Ps 27:1
He is my light, He is my salvation. Without Him I am nothing. I can do nothing. I am empty and without direction. I am lost. But with Him, I have life. With Him I am. Even though all sources of replenishment disappeared but I still have God in the center of my life, I am content. I can wait for the next replenishment...and it will come because "He is my salvation". Hallelujah!
Sin, too has a stronghold. When there is sin in your life, it, too develops a stronghold. Laying siege against it and deliberately starving that sin will weaken it but it will not kill it. It will wait for its replenishment...and it will come.
..On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
Ok, about this..I didn't know. We have divine power to demolish strongholds???What??We can go for the heartbeat and give it a TKO?
5 "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."
I think we've just struck gold. But God please open these things to our minds that we can understand. Here we see a trinity at the heart of sin's stronghold.
Arguments, Pretension and Thought...
Who would have thought that a stronghold would be made up of such intangible elements which have made many Christians to throw up their hands in defeat and give up the race?
Arguments.
Just about any action goes through that process of rationalization .."Everyone is doing it", "It doesn't hurt anyone", "If God has forgiven murderers, surely He will forgive me", "Just don't think much about it.." Sin requires your mind to be in agreement with the thought of sin before it goes on...At least temporarily. Sin will not care much for the remorse that you will feel after that. All it requires is that window of opportunity.
Jesus met these 'arguments' starting with this phrase 'It is written..."The word of God demolishes arguments. It stands by itself defining morality and truth. "Thou shalt not commit adultery", "Fear not for I am with you", "We are more than conquerors in Christ". The word of God spoken out demolishes all arguments. It stops the whole discussion with sin. The rapport is broken.
Pretension
I confess I had to contact my good friend Google to understand this well.. here is what I got as a definition for Pretension:
1. the laying of a claim to something.
2. a claim or title to something.
3. Often, pretensions. a claim made, especially indirectly or by implication, to some quality, merit, or the like
4. a claim to dignity, importance, or merit.
Sin will try to tell you that you are entitled to it. It is OK. I am reminded of that phrase in the old musical, the Fiddler on the roof "Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!" ha ha!!
That was a different scenario but the devil/sin whispers "You don't have school fees for your child and this money is so easily accessible. It is OK to use it! It is your divine right to educate your child". Pretensions tell you that you have a claim or title. You deserve some happiness! It tells you are a king and therefore you can trample on anyone you wish. It tells you that you are so powerful and therefore you don't need to be accountable. It tells you that you are very strong and that you can resist Potiphar's wife's advances. It sometimes tells you that you are so weak you cannot resist. It tells you that you are so clever that you can out-reason the Public Accounts Committee..so steal whatever you want. All these are PRETENSIONS. After sin has led you to submit to your pretensions, it leaves you to dry in the sun., Then after-all you were not that powerful. you said you were the Conqueror of the British Empire but now you are in exile pondering 'How did it come to this?' You thought you were entitled to some good pleasure and now her husband is about to publish your photos in the Red Pepper.
Demolish the pretension! It is written..
Some pretensions tell you what you are NOT. You are not happy in this marriage. You are not Rich. You are not successful in your business. Life is NOT worth living. These are all pretensions. It is written "I can do all things through Christ". It is written "Let the weak say, I am strong!" It is written "He who finds a wife finds a GOOD thing and obtains favor from the LORD"
I am encouraged by my friend and brother in Christ, Patrick Muinda, who has learned the impact of words on his life. If a word is not in agreement with what He knows the word of God says, he immediately counters it by cancelling it in Jesus' name. If someone tells him that his child is sick, he will counter it by using the word of God to declare divine health over His child. And he does it immediately! right at the threshold of his life. He does not wait for it to bear the fruits of unholy arguments and pretensions.
Thought
"and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"
This is the centroid of the stronghold of the enemy. When He controls thought, he controls you.
"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he" Prov 23:7 the devil will want to gain access to the thoughts that form your heart. Because He knows that is who we are. We are also aware of that. Failure to forgive oneself anchors solely on the notion that, you knowing who you are, are basically unforgivable. How can I think the thoughts that I have and be a child of God, sometimes you ask. that is why it is essential...to 'take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.' It is only in Christ that we can have total and absolute forgiveness.
The problem, is that we always think that thoughts are random. most men (I am actually referring to the male gender here) will answer 'nothing' to the question 'What are you thinking about'. what they may actually mean is that it is of no consequence. Or that it may be quite ridiculous to say the truth that 'I was actually thinking of the pope dancing paka chini.' Giving a face to these thoughts is probably why 'Do you want another rap' by H.E Museveni was a huge hit...or why many Americans enjoy watching 'The Simpsons'(Honestly I don't know why people watch the Simpsons!)
But thoughts can be quantified. Or at least, you can know whether they are under Christ or not. Getting courage to face your thoughts and be strong enough to tell the thought 'you have no place in my life, get out!'..That is the challenge. We want to convince ourselves that we are actually not thinking. you pick the sunrise newspaper/tabloid and immediately go to the center folds just because you are telling yourself that 'I am not thinking'. If a person asked you why you did that, the answer is 'O, I wasn't thinking'...Liar! You were. Not enough courage to face the thought. we should not be intimidated or ashamed of the thoughts that come. They are still at the threshold of your choices. you can choose the thoughts. At least you can choose to give the thoughts a happy ending...in Christ. Joseph in the bible did that..When confronted with the beautiful and lonely (I presume) Mrs Potiphar, he answered
"No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" Genesis 39:9
I think the first part of this response was quite pleasurable to Potiphar's wife. He was thumping his chest Tarzan-style and she might have given out a shy 'Wow'. But he submitted the Tarzan-chest-thumping and made it obedient to God who he would not sin against.
Lord please help me end my thoughts right. Help me Jesus bring all thoughts and make them obedient to You. Help me know you and how you hate sin that I may order my thoughts with reverence for you
Amen
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