Strongholds
Have you ever seen a stronghold before? It is a big military building that countries would build to maintain control over a region during war and peace. These buildings are intimidating to look at and even scarier to try and take over if you were on the other side of battle.
Writers of the Old and New Testaments were familiar with these buildings. Strongholds that looked like castles were common in their times. The New Testament takes images of strongholds from their time and compares them to our spiritual battles as followers of Christ.
These strongholds are of a spiritual nature. They are areas of our hearts where the redemptive work of Jesus hasn’t gained victory and freedom yet. Our spiritual enemy constantly fights to keep us from overcoming these strongholds by attempting to deceive us through lies that feed our own sinful desires. One of the greatest weapons against these lies is the truth of God’s word.
Take time to read and reflect on these truths about our spiritual battle:
Read through Ephesians 6:12, Ephesians 1:20-23, and 2 Corinthians 10:4
Declaration:
Take time to verbally declare these truths found in the above scriptures over yourself:
I have a real spiritual enemy.
The victory of my spiritual battle has already been won by Jesus.
Victory over my spiritual enemy is not just found when I die; freedom is for me today.
I have divine power through Jesus Christ and His spirit to overcome the strongholds in my life.
Prayer:
After declaring these truths over yourself, take time to pray through these prayer prompts.
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Ask the Lord if there are any spiritual strongholds in your life.
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Ask the Lord how he wants to bring freedom to those areas.
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Ask the Lord to send you community to help you in your battle against your spiritual strongholds.
Concluding Declaration:
Once you have prayed through these prompts, go back and declare the truths written above over yourself again.