Straight Dope on Medicine: Strongholds

Author

Scott Ganser
August 21, 2023

Pulling Down Strongholds: Strategies from Ancient and Modern Israel Messiah Conference 2000

Theme: The Spirit of God wants each of you to capture any demonic strongholds that hold you captive
and strengthen the stronghold of the Holy Spirit in you.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says:

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience to Messiah.

In military science, any work erected to strengthen a position against attack is a stronghold. It is defensive in nature. Fortifications are usually of two types: permanent and field. Permanent fortifications include elaborate forts and troop shelters and are most often erected in times of peace or upon threat of war. Field fortifications, which are constructed when in contact with an enemy or when contact is imminent, consist of entrenched positions for personnel and crew-served weapons, cleared fields of fire, and obstacles such as explosive mines, barbed-wire entanglements, felled trees, and antitank ditches.[i]

An attack is anticipated.

The term stronghold appears at least fifty times in the Bible. It commonly referred to a fortress (מִבְצָרֶ֣) with a difficult access (see Judges 6:2; I Sam. 23:14). When King David first saw the city of Jerusalem, it was an old, ancient, cheerless fortress inhabited by enemies. No wonder it was twice called a stronghold (see II Sam. 5:7,9).

The term “fortified city” (often “fenced city” or “defensed city” in the KJV) refers to a town with strong defenses, usually a massive wall structure and inner citadels or strongholds. In general, the fortified city[ii] was a major military or administrative center for a region. Size was not so much the factor, though many of the fortified cities were large cities. Location was much more critical.

The Bible contains two lists of fortified cities, one for Naphtali (Joshua 19:35-38 ), and a list of cities Rehoboam fortified for Judah (2 Chronicles 11:5-12 ). These two lists seem to include most of the walled cities within the tribal area. Among the more important cities in these lists are Hazor in Naphtali and Bethlehem, Tekoa, Hebron, Gath, and Lachish in Judah. At the end of the monarchy, Jeremiah reported that the Babylonians had conquered all the fortified cities of Judah except Lachish and Azekah (Jeremiah 34:6-7 ).

Fortified cities served a strategic function. They could guard a major highway (as did Lachish and Hazor). They could protect mountain passes (Megiddo and Taanach). They could serve as border fortresses (Arad and Hazor). Surely troops would be garrisoned in a fortified city. At times of imminent danger, much of the populace from the surrounding area might find protection in a fortified city (Jeremiah 4:5; Jeremiah 8:14 ).

Other closely related terms used in the Bible include chariot cities and store cities (1 Kings 9:19 ). Chariot cities were major military centers where the chariot troops were garrisoned. Store cities probably served as central supply bases for the military. Each had an important role in the defense of the nation. Chariot cities and store cities were probably also fortified cities.

The Apostle Paul uses the term to describe a mindset or attitude.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6 ASV)[iii]

Does one prevailing problem stalk your life? Where does Satan have a hook in you?

Some are prone to cheat. Others quick to doubt. Maybe you worry. Yes, everyone worries some – but you own the national distributorship of anxiety. Perhaps you are judgmental. Sure, everybody can be critical, but you pass more judgments than the Supreme Court.

What is that one weakness, bad habit, rotten attitude? Where does the devil have a stronghold on you? Ahh, there is the word that fits–stronghold–fortress, citadel, thick walls, tall gates. It’s as if the devil has fenced in one negative attribute, one bad habit, one weakness and constructed a rampart around it. “You aren’t touching this flaw,” he defies to heaven and he places himself squarely between God’s help and your:

–explosive temper

–fragile self-image

–voracious appetite

–distrust for authority

We are in a battle.

Now these fighting words are metaphorical:
they speak of weapons, strongholds, high things and bringing into captivity,
yet these are not carnal or worldly weapons, but spiritual ones;
not strongholds of stone but of imaginations or arguments;
not high things in high towers but high-falutin’ attitudes;
not taking into captivity enemy soldiers but enemy thoughts.
I think it would be helpful to consider the figurative aspect of the metaphor a bit more.

Why are strongholds important in literal warfare?

They protect and give you endurance. You can weather the storm or the attack.

Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
misgav; properly, a cliff (or other lofty or inaccessible place);
figuratively, a refuge:--defense, high fort (tower), refuge.


So, a cliff could be a stronghold, because it’s high and inaccessible to one’s enemies.
1 Samuel 23:14. David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph.
Or it could be a man-made fortress or tower. Ps 144:2 [The LORD is..] my goodness, and my fortress; my high tower [misgab, stronghold],
and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdues my people under me.
In battle, elevation is of strategic and tactical advantage.

You can learn about the strategic importance of strongholds in the history of the wars of Israel.
While my family was in Israel a year ago, we visited a place called Latrun.
It’s right off the main highway from Tel Aviv and the airport heading up to Jerusalem.
It also intersects with a highway leading from Gaza up to Ramallah,
two major population centers of Palestinian Arabs.
The Turks, when they controlled the land, had built this fortress,
near a monastery and ancient Emmaus.
That’s right, the road to Emmaus was the road that led up to Jerusalem.
The British converted the fortress into a police station.
When the War of Independence began, the Arab Legion controlled the Latrun stronghold.
From this perch, they could pick off the caravans carrying supplies up to the Jews in Jerusalem.
This was one stronghold that had to be taken! It had a stranglehold on Jerusalem!
Five times, five separate times, the fledgling Israeli Defense Forces tried to take it.
Again and again the Arab Legion—the best, British-trained soldiers on the Arab side—
drove the attackers away.
So the Israelis build a "Burma Road" circumventing the stronghold, over rough terrain,
so the supply trains could get through.

Thank God for the ingenuity and determination of our people!
The Arabs still held this fortress—within five miles of Ben-Gurion Airport—until 1967.
Just before the ‘67 war, Nasser sent Egyptian soldiers to strengthen the Jordanian garrison.
Fortunately, they had to abandon it during the Six-Day War.
Now it’s a museum for the IDF Armored Forces,
with an imposing display of tanks, bought, built or captured by the Israeli army.

Now do you see the strategic importance of a stronghold?
For 20 years that place threatened the security of our people in the heart of the nation.
For how many years has a stronghold threatened your security in the heart of your thought life?
Isn’t it about time we went up there and captured it?

Can it be done? David took the stronghold of Jerusalem and made it his capital!
In 2 Samuel 5:6, The Jebusites taunted David, "You will not get in here;
even the blind and the lame can ward you off."
They thought, "David can't get in here."
But David was determined; and he got in there all right—
  Joab broke through a tunnel that led to a spring and opened the gates to the citadel.
Ancient Babylon also was built up as a seemingly invincible stronghold.
But in Jer 51:53 declared, "‘Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold,
I will send destroyers against her,’ declares the LORD."
And so he did, sending Cyrus and the Medo-Persians to take the stronghold,
by diverting the river that flowed through the city and marching in on the riverbed!

God knows all about strongholds and He knows how to take them — and he’ll tell you how to do it,
if you’re willing to fight!
When you come up against a stronghold in your life, do you just want to give up?
Or are you going to willing to fight to take the stronghold?
Strongholds are captured by people who are willing to fight, people with gumption!
If you, God will help you. The Word and the Spirit of God will show you how. Amen?


A stronghold is only a threat if there are enemy soldiers inside.
Indeed, a stronghold can also be a place of comfort, a safe place:
For example, in 2 Samuel 22:2-3, David said:

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock,
in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation.
He is my stronghold, my refuge, and my savior--from violent men you save me.

  The person or persons inside the stronghold could be your enemy or your friend.
In a spiritual stronghold, there could be demons or the Holy Spirit.
But just as a physical stronghold is not an enemy soldier, nor is a spiritual stronghold a demon.
A spiritual stronghold is a habitual pattern of thought, built into one’s thought life.

Satan and his minions want to capture the minds of people: the mind is the citadel of the soul.
He who controls the mind controls a very strategic place!
Romans 8:5-6:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set
on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit
have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death,
but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.

If you want the abundant life and peace that Yeshua promised,
you must let his Spirit capture the stronghold up there!
Nor only is our conscious mind the target:
Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."
In Matt 12:34-35, Yeshua said,

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him,
and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

Strongholds are also storage places, holding food, water and weapons.
A stronghold gets stronger as more stuff—more thought—gets stored in there.
In the life of the mind, the stuff that you were once aware of gets stored up in unconscious memory,
but it can make a stronghold a tough nut to crack!
A stronghold is a way of thinking and feeling that has developed a life of its own in a person.
It might be a rut of depression or recurring unbelief or habitually bad temper. It might be a repeating pattern of failure:
Sometimes a stronghold will cause you to provoke others to reject you
(without necessarily knowing you’re doing it)
It might be a stronghold of resentment or worthlessness.
If a child is sexually molested and/or badly verbally abused,
a stronghold of worthlessness may build up a stockpile of negative thoughts:
"I’m guilty. Nobody could really love me. I’m good for nothing. I’m ugly."
She might actually be beautiful — and certainly is beautiful in the eyes of God.
But a stronghold gets filled with arguments like these:
"Nobody would like me if they really got to know me. Nobody really knows me.
Nobody really cares for me. Nobody really wants me for me."
Now all these thoughts may be a pack of lies,
but they can be a stronghold keeping out the truth of God’s love.
Such a person may hear a message about God’s love, whether from a pulpit or a friend,
but it goes in one ear and out the other,
bouncing off the walls of a stronghold of rejection or worthlessness.
You almost hear the truth come to set you free, and then comes another thought,
"Yeah, but what about...?" Or "You just don’t understand...."
And out comes another string of lies, excuses, smokescreens, shot down by blocking spirits.
Thus a stronghold creates inner captivity to deception and misery.
A stronghold keeps a person from thinking clearly, accepting the truth,
repenting of sin, and receiving deliverance.
A stronghold can keep an unbeliever from hearing the good news.
A stronghold can keep a believer from hearing the fullness of the good news.

So how do you take a stronghold?
First, you have to see it, so you know what you’re dealing with.
It’s kind a hard to take a stronghold you can’t even see.
But strongholds of the mind can be hidden—evil things hang out in darkness.
Satan is the prince of darkness, but Messiah is the prince of light.
You have been called out of darkness into his wonderful light!
Nevertheless, if there is an old, sinful pattern of thought in you,
that is a place of darkness, a stronghold.
Ephesians 5:11 urges us to "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness,
but rather expose them."
If you want to let the light of God expose the darkness, you need an attitude of humility,
willing to let the light of God reveal the darkness in you.
In Ps 26:2, David prayed, "Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind."
Can you agree this request?
If not, if you are not willing to let God reveal any strongholds in your life,
then the first stronghold you may have to start tearing down is pride!
Who was the first to be guilty of pride? Satan! Massively so!
Pride is the armor of Satan — he uses it to keep demonic strongholds hidden.
Pride keeps people from ever seeing that they are trapped in demonic darkness.
The Spirit of God is determined to bring down the stronghold of pride.
Isaiah 25:11 says,

God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands.
He will bring down your high fortified walls and lay them low;
he will bring them down to the ground, to the very dust.

If pride is bad news, how much more is humility good news!
James 4:6, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
This is a promise: humility release grace, the power of God to save you.
James 4:7 continues with another promise:
"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Satan can’t stand humility! It breaks his power over you!
But God loves it! "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
The sacrifice of Messiah is a perfect shelter of grace enabling you to look at your needs.

Once you recognize the stronghold, the next step to bringing it down is repentance.
Be honest before God, and humbly let the Spirit expose the stronghold in the darkness.
Pray, "Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind."
When the Holy Spirit shows you an area of darkness, repent.
You may need to overcome the instinct of defend yourself.
You may need to silence the little lawyer who steps out of a dark corner of your mind,
pleading, "My client is not so bad."
If you let him, that whiny defense attorney will defend you just fine—
but you’ll never see what’s wrong in you, nor face what needs to change.
Who is the best defense attorney of all time? Yeshua!
How does He defend you; how does He justify you? By his blood.
So you don’t need to justify yourself. Let him do it.
A broken and contrite heart he will not despise.
Suppose a stronghold has gotten entrenched and strong?
Sometimes a frontal attack on a stronghold doesn’t seem to work. What should you do?
Jewish soldiers tried to capture the Old City of Jerusalem with a frontal attack
a couple of times in the War of Independence,
but as soon as they got up to the gates of the Old City, and were thrown back.
Here’s how the IDF took the Old City in 1967:
They swept around the city to the north, then seized the Mount of Scopus,
then kept on going up to the Mount of Olives, to the east—
I've seen a picture of Israeli generals looking down at the Old City from the east!
Thus, having surrounded the city, they were able to cut off supplies and reinforcements.
Though the Jordanian army tried to send reinforcements up from Jericho,
this time they were thrown back!
When the Jordanian general inside the Old City realized he was surrounded,
he realized, "resistance is futile," so he cut his losses and fled the city.
Then the Israelis were able to break into the city with relatively little resistance.
So, this is how successful military planners usually do it:
surround the stronghold and cut off its supplies.

Does this strategy also apply to spiritual strongholds? I think so....
Something like this strategy was at work in the battle of Jericho.
Who gave Joshua the strategy for taking the city? The angel of the LORD.
What was the strategy? March around the city for seven days then blow your trumpets!
Here’s what I think they were doing, in the Spirit:
They were surrounding the city, with obedience to God’s word, with faith,
with the praises of God.
Thus they cut off that city from its supplies, from the realm of darkness.
As the power of faith grew in the hearts of the marching people,
the power of the walls of Jericho grew weak.
 How do you surround a stronghold of negative thinking, bad old speculations? How about praise?
Psalms 32:7. "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me
with songs of deliverance."
Surround the stronghold with the praise, singing psalms and spiritual songs to God.
Demons can’t stand praise! Praise is a powerful way to bring a stronghold.

For every negative stronghold, there’s a powerful way to surround it with opposite truth from God.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of depression, surround it with hope.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of rejection, surround it with acceptance from Abba.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of unresolved anger, surround it with forgiveness.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of fear, surround it with the knowledge of God’s love.
If you are struggling with a stronghold of failure, surround it with the victory of the resurrection!
Once you’ve identified a stronghold, go to the Scripture, and study the opposite truth from God.
If the stronghold is rejection, study all that the Bible says about God’s acceptance.
Use a concordance or a chain bible or topical bible.
Then surround that stronghold with the word of God!
Listen, once the enemy sees he’s surrounded by humble submission, praise,
and the word of God, his resistance will quickly weaken, and if he isn’t gone already!

Can we take a moment to pray about this?
"Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind."
Show me any areas in my life that I have not fully surrendered to you.
(If you recognize any area of chronic sin strengthened by negative thinking,
take a moment to confess it to the Lord, now.)

Lord, forgive me of compromise. Give me the courage to pull down every stronghold within me
without reluctance or willful deception in my heart.
Thank you, Lord Yeshua, for forgiving and cleansing me from all my sins,
and breaking every curse against me, on the cross.

By the power of the Holy Spirit and in the Name of Yeshua,
I bind any satanic influences that were reinforcing compromise and sin within me.
I submit myself to the light of the Spirit of Truth to expose any strongholds of sin in me.
By the mighty weapons of the Spirit and the Word, I proclaim that each evil stronghold is coming down!

I purpose to surround this evil stronghold with praise and affirming truth from the Word of God.
I purpose to take every pattern of negative thinking captive and bring it to the obedience to Messiah.
I purpose, by the grace of God, to follow through until even the ruins of this stronghold
is removed from my mind!
I purpose to think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
I will think about such things.
I will talk about such things. I will get involved in such things.

I purpose, by the grace of God, to build up one stronghold within my mind and my heart:
the stronghold of the living God!
"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous will run to it and be safe."
In the shelter of your presence, O God my Savior, you will keep me safe.

In Yeshua’s mighty name, Amen.