Posted on November 22nd, 2022.

Joshua 6:20
When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelite’s charged straight into the town and captured it.

At the end of Joshua 5 and all of chapter 6, we read of a time that Joshua and the people of Israel experienced something supernatural to bring down Jericho’s walls. Further research revealed an interesting article by Bryant Wood called The Walls of Jericho, which talks about the walls from an archaeological perspective.

Over the years, many Pastors have preached about Faith being used as a vehicle to get Heaven to move here on earth. The Faith the Israelite’s displayed to watch God collapse the walls is remarkable. However, the purpose of this blog is not to piggyback off those that taught previously regarding how the walls came down with Faith. The goal is to bridge the gap that addresses the stronghold itself and why Faith brought it down.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6

For 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 the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

There are strongholds in our lives that cannot be addressed simply by saying, “Stop doing that.” Depending on the type of fortress, the walls can get very high (lofty) and broad. With strongholds being that thick, the only way to overcome them is through divine intervention.

What is a stronghold?

PAUL DEFINES A STRONGHOLD IN 2 CORINTHIANS 10:5; ARGUMENTS AND LOFTY OPINIONS AGAINST THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
THINK OF A PARTITION WALL.

WE SEE THEM USED IN MANY DIFFERENT AREAS OF LIFE. TO SEPARATE CUBICLES AT WORK OR TO SEPARATE A LARGE ROOM AT CHURCH INTO SMALLER ROOMS. THEY CAN ALSO BE USED TO CREATE PRIVACY AROUND AN AREA.

It is essential to understand the following point; God is sovereign and in control. He speaks about everything we could deal with in his written Word. We have to realize that if we seek Jesus, we find our steps to be full of Life. If we seek everything else, Life escapes us. It is just a matter of how long God will let a person stay against him at that point. Another way to say that is, how long can someone think they are in control?

Think about it; anything considered a priority outside of our Lord Jesus Christ is regarded as an idol. Idolatry opens the door to the type of fruit that withers away, primarily when it is rooted in pride and selfishness. Therefore we can then conclude, Life is in Christ. When we seek Jesus, we find the Knowledge of God.

The Knowledge of God?

All treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in God. The mystery of God is Jesus, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him, Colossians 2:2-4. There is a high cost for giving up the knowledge of God. It causes a person not to glorify or give thanks to him. Romans 1:21-31 says when that happens, that person’s heart will darken. The moment that happens, the Bible calls it, exchanging the glory of God for idols. The Bible says in verse 24 that God gave them over to sinful desires and sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Paul is writing to believers about what it looks like for people’s choice to be against God. They start by failing to acknowledge him or by failing to thank him for everything since everything we have and own comes from him. Verse 22 says they claimed to be wise, yet they became fools. According to Proverbs 2:6, the Lord gives wisdom. That means they recognized God in some way. We are not born against God; we learn that. Giving into building walls to not face him, we become foolish.

Point: The choice to turn our back to God is the process of building strongholds in our minds, Hosea 4:6 & 2 Corinthians 10:5.

Making a choice not to seek Jesus is what destroys us. Why? Because the barrier (stronghold) between soul and spirit keeps us from learning & retaining the knowledge of God.

How do we know we are dealing with a stronghold?

We go through trials, learning how to believe God no matter the situation. Please click on Trials and Temptation. A stronghold does not start as such. A fortress is built over time, brick by brick. Another way to say it; it gets made idea by idea—an argument after argument. A lot of times, Satan will plant the weed seed with the intention for it to bloom into full blown sin one day.

The Need of the Cross “You never have to teach your children how to lie or throw a temper tantrum because we are all born sinful.”
-Dr. Tony Evans.

Let us say a child grows up in an environment where fist fighting is the way to resolve anger. The child will grow into thinking, in every situation of anger, “I will throw hands.” As the child becomes a young man, it becomes difficult to understand that it is not a safe primary idea to resolve anger.

Point: An idea can become a desire, which turns to sin, which eventually turns to death.

Let us think for a second about the word stronghold. It is a wall. When there are many walls, it is considered a fortress. A fortress can be a building or buildings used to fortify a position; in this case, the mind. A fort has multiple entities working simultaneously to create an atmosphere and culture where the stronghold can remain fortified.

Tweet Point: An atmosphere rooted in selfishness and pride keeps a person heavily fortified against the Knowledge of God.

How can an entire culture stem off of one thought?

One of the parameters about this Life we live is that we are always growing. We have a choice to grow with Jesus or against him. The problem is if we choose not to believe him, the growth we experience outside his covering has consequences called curses.

Different people do different things when an altercation arises. Some people don’t run toward a fight. They remove themselves from the situation and let whoever is acting up knock each other out.

Ezekiel 20 explains God’s viewpoint quite clearly from the time Israel was in Egypt to the promised land. They continually decided to go against God. They would not stop worshiping the fake idols of Egypt (Adultery). They would not observe God’s plan for them to rest and dwell with God (Sabbath). God says he is Holy, and when we observe the Sabbath, we then are Holy. Why? It is about making time to chill with the Lord. It sounds a lot like the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane when he asked the Father to teach us unity, right?

The problem is, *drum roll*, they would not listen. God continually pleaded with his people to believe him. Nevertheless, they chose to go against him time after time, generation after generation.

Every curse starts with God removing himself from the situation because of a darkened heart. Therefore he hands them over to their shameful lusts and desires. He does this for a few reasons, Ezekiel 20:39;43-44. First, to stop a person from polluting God’s holy name. No more gifts (lack of thanks), and no more idols (lack of glorifying God). Second, in order that a person can remember what they have done. Why should a person remember? The answer is the third reason. We will eventually see his loving grace-full bloom. Why? Because he will deal with us, not based on our corrupt practices but by his namesake, Jesus Christ.

God had made promises beyond what was remarkable for Israel, but they continued to choose other idols. God continued to lead them out not because of Israel’s merit but for his namesake. In other words, God stayed true to what he said he would do because he said he would do it. That is the God we serve. He gets ultimate Glory.

For example, let us consider the topic of music. We can see how God uses music in the Bible. What is the purpose behind the music? The purpose behind the music is to give God glory and to be thankful. The more in-depth our praise, we begin to notice a prophetic connection with Jesus. David is the perfect example of the depth of his praise. He was so in tune with God through music; he was able to prophesy the thoughts of Christ. Click HERE & HERE for a couple of examples.

Remember, a lot of Psalms were written and sung well before Jesus came to this earth. How wonderful it is when we embrace Christ through music. David was very close to God and would frequently prophesy through song and dance. Music connects us to Christ in a very different way. Suppose this is the case, we can begin to understand the passion and depth of the mind of Christ through music. With that said, it logically makes sense that the enemy would twist music to keep our eyes on ourselves.

How does this work?

As believers in Jesus Christ, he sends the Holy Spirit to reside in our spirit. The Holy Spirit brings Life to the written Word. Life flows from the Father into his son Jesus. Jesus then flows Life through the Holy Spirit, which resides with our own. As we search the written Word, the Holy Spirit then attaches that Life from on high, through our soul (the way we think, feel, and act) so that we can see it manifest in our Physical Life. It is how we see the Bible come alive before our very eyes. As God’s children, Satan cannot have us make the connection between our Savior and us. To ensure God’s children stay disconnected, he twists (for example) music in an atmosphere that centers around selfish, sinful desires. Over time we lose our desire to want to connect with God. That happens because we build strongholds in our minds to keep out the conviction, the power, and authority of the Holy Spirit. The question is, how?

Remember, Paul said anything contrary to God’s Word. Listening to music is supposed to allow us to prophetically connect to God for purposes of strengthening, encouraging, and comforting us. Essentially a way to help build-up the church. In other words, to build us up as the Bride of Christ. Satan uses music to disconnect us from God and tear us down as individuals, which affects our communities. Think about it. God hates pride. Nevertheless, the number one thing we hear in any song is what did “I” do where “I” have been. How “I” treat people. “I” do not have to explain anything but make money. Why listen to the law? “I” can have things my way. It is someone else fault. “I” need someone in my life. Etc. Since this type of music and atmosphere is contrary to God’s Word, it is an atmosphere that fills us with curses. Galatians 1:6-10; Galatians 5:7-8.

If we dwell and abide in an atmosphere conducive to the allowance of disconnection from Eternal Life, eventually, we will be given to a depraved mind.

First, God gives a person over to lust and desires. That person will then accept unnatural relations. That is the beginning of the filling of every kind of wickedness, Romans 1:26-32.

If you are dealing with strongholds in your life that has you feeling like, “I am an addict,” “This is just who I am,” “Nobody is perfect,” “I am not Jesus,” or “I am just not there yet,” understand that God is greater than the lofty thing that has you, hostage. We must know our identity in Christ. See Identity Crisis.

No structure can be built within our minds that God can not break down. Proverbs 21:22 The walls of Jericho were thought to be impenetrable. In other words, they built up a wall to disconnect from any truth other than their own. Nevertheless, as high and strong that stronghold was, it could not hold up against Joshua’s Faith in God. His obedience by Faith intervened and brought those walls down.

We must believe that God can tear down any partition within us. Sometimes that takes admitting things to Godly people who have Biblical intentions to help us. Sometimes we have to enter Bible-based programs. Whatever the decision is, we must first learn to destroy false ideas and arguments and seek Jesus.

Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment and let me know how God has been blessing your Life. If you need prayer for anything, we currently have a group called Christ Seekers on Facebook. We have prayer warriors that will not only pray for you but help if you need help, even if just to point you in the right direction.

God bless you and yours. Stay Salty!

Amen

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