A stronghold is anything that is not of God that has a strong hold on us. That’s what strongholds do – they become the filters (like 100-year-old glass) through which everything we see and perceive gets distorted and perverted. Everything then looks warbly when we look through it. We have to deal with strongholds and break them off of our lives, whether it’s 1] through prayer (bring out the book!) and applying the Word to it; 2] actually understanding our identities in Christ – who we are and who God says we are, and; 3] by our being able to say to the devil, the world, and anything else that comes our way, “I’m not that person. I’m a child of God, a son of the Most High God – I’m a daughter of the King.”
We live in a fallen, broken world – why would we expect it to be any different? Why are we surprised at how dark it is? As God causes us to see more clearly, removing the scales from our eyes as we are awakened spiritually – he opens our eyes so we can see clearly what’s going on in this world. Then, we understand that our world is under the bondage of a dark force. However, we, as Americans, expect the best culturally, because our nation was founded on biblical principles. On every monument in Washington, D.C., the Word of God is found, etched in granite.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV
“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…”
One of the primary ways we deal with strongholds (personal, Church, local community, and cultural) is to go to war in prayer – in alignment with God’s Word – with bold, confident, audacious faith! We are already engaged in a spiritual war and should be locked and loaded when we get up every morning.
If we’re a child of God and said, “Yes” to Jesus, war is a part of who we are. The beauty is, that we serve the Mighty One – the King of Kings – the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The battle is his – not just ours. We get to participate, but Jesus has already fought and won the biggest war ever. That means we can get up with confidence and pray boldly with audacious faith.
1] God did not design prayer to put a burden on you. He designed prayer to take the burden off of you.
Many of us have the mindset that we’re laboring in prayer – we’re burdened in prayer – but that’s not what God intended. He gave us prayer for our benefit and for the benefit of the world around us, to offload the burden, the weight, and the gravity of the world around us so that we could be at peace, at rest, happy, blessed, and live up in a down world.
Philippians 4:6,7 NKJV
“Be anxious for nothing [no thing], but in everything by prayer and supplication [petition], with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10:41 “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet while Martha was worrying about everything else.
We’re to pray about “everything”, even the good stuff that we’re thankful for. We’re to pray “without ceasing”, “and the peace [Greek: eirēnē – Hebrew: shâlôm] of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [military term meaning to garrison] your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” We are the gatekeepers of our minds through Christ Jesus, and if we will pray about “every – thing,” then we’ll be anxious for “no – thing.”
We’re living in a spun-up culture – over politics, darkness, corruption, greed, sin – everything. Do we really want to live that way for the rest of our lives? – spun up, anxious, and worried about our future, the economy, and how we’re going to pay our bills? If we don’t, there’s an answer. It’s called BHAG – Big Hairy Audacious Goals. We need to pray BHAG kinds of prayers. We need to get our faith up and get our worship on and go after what God has given us to do – partner with him in prayer – and dare to believe for the “big rocks” that God has called us to move.
Psalms 145:18,19 NIV
“The LORD is near [comes close] to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.”
That’s a promise, and we can stand on God’s promises – on his Word – if we want to break and demolish strongholds of anxiety off of our lives. “All” in Hebrew literally means “All”. God wants to lift the burden off of us through prayer without ceasing. We all have to pray and seek his face. God’s passion is to light us up for others to come see us burn with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2] People don’t spend time in prayer because they don’t believe it works. If you believed it worked, you would never stop praying “without ceasing”.
We aren’t spending time in prayer because we’ve been disillusioned and disappointed. Most of us have had prayer goals and objectives that we prayed for and believed that God was going to answer the way we wanted him to. When we didn’t get the answer we were looking for, in reality, we did get an answer – we just didn’t see it. He draws near to all who call upon him and he answers all who cry out. That’s the promise of God’s Word.
1 John 5:14,15 NIV
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.”
We pray in alignment with his will and then leave the results up to him, and we believe even if we don’t see it – it’s not according to our will – but according to his. If we truly believe God answers our prayers, we will never stop praying. God is challenging us to go after him with BHAG’s based on his Word.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Matthew 7:7,8 AMP
“Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, the door will be opened.”
3] Your Prayers Move and Shift Things in the Heavenly/Spiritual Realms On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Matthew 6:9-10 NKJV
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.”
That’s saying we have a part to play in bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to supersede and overlay the kingdom of this earth. We need to know there are demonic and satanic strategies aimed to destroy our country, our culture, our planet, and the people of this world literally from the inside out. We need to understand that there are strategies against our lives -against our success as a father or mother – a spouse – a business person – as someone who can make a difference in the culture. There are strategies against us right now where we are. We shouldn’t bury our heads in the sand.
If we read the Declaration of Independence, it says, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…” This is what our country was built upon. This is the foundation of our nation. There are four direct references to God in the Declaration of Independence: 1] “Nature’s God”; 2] “Man’s Creator”; 3] “The Supreme Judge of the World”; and 4] “Divine Providence”
There is no argument to be made. The founders of our nation and signers of our constitution were men of God who realized that they had to build everything on the right foundation and the right principles – which was the foundation of Scripture. The one source used which superseded all others was the Bible. We used to know that the Constitution was written to protect the Church from the government – not the government from the Church. We need to get that right and not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ that’s the foundation of our nation.
Thirty percent of Americans under the age of thirty-five say they’re in favor of socialism. However, ninety-eight percent of those couldn’t define socialism. That’s a stronghold in our nation right now. We’re addressing things political in nature because we are bringing the Kingdom of God and superseding the kingdom of this earth. That’s our responsibility before God, to occupy until he returns.
Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 2:6 NIV
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 1:18-22 NIV
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.”
We are not under demonic forces – they are under us – because we are seated in Christ at the right hand of the Father. That is our identity – that’s who we are – the demonic forces are under our feet!
Colossians 2:9-10 NKJV
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
We’re over it, too, because we’re in him. We never have to be afraid. We can move some big rocks with our BHAG prayers, and our prayers matter. Like Daniel, who prayed and fasted for three weeks, God hears our prayers the first day we open our mouths to pray, but angelic wars might be fought before the answer comes. Things are set in motion as soon as we dare to pray for big things – when we believe and don’t doubt. We’re here to move some big things with big, audacious prayer. God is waiting – he’s listening …and he’ll respond by dispatching angels to bring the answer.
Prayer
Father, in Jesus’ name, we lift up our faith and our hearts, and we are revitalized in our belief that You hear us. You want us to cry out to You, and You, in turn, respond to us. You are dispatching heavenly messengers on our behalf. As we seek You with our whole hearts, God, You are responding in the heavens, and heavenly wars are started based on our prayers. So, we revive old prayers in Jesus’ name – things we had faith for but let fall – we revive them and we allow You to revive them in us.
Stir our hearts to believe again. May we begin to pray with boldness, clarity, faith, and confidence, not only that You hear us, but that You are already responding to us. Lord, begin to show us areas of breakthrough to see the light breaking through the dawn and show us how You are moving on our behalf in response to our prayers. We pray and seek You for it. In Jesus’ name. Amen
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on The Bridge
Featured Image by Olivia Snow on Unsplash
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