🍞 Manna for Meditation 55

💞Dear God’s beloved Praying Priests, shalom!

💎 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but powerful through God for the tearing down of strongholds. We are tearing down false arguments and every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah—” (2Co 10:3-5, TLV)

💎 "Therefore submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you." (Jas 4:7)

A stronghold is a thought pattern based on a lie.

Satan gives misinterpretations of the traumatised experiences or repetitive incidents in our lives to distort our thoughts about God, ourselves and those around us. Once we embrace the definition given by Satan unheedingly, a stronghold is formed and keeps us from knowing God and ourselves correctly.

Strongholds include:

1. False Arguments: Here the word "arguments" in Greek means thoughts, beliefs, imaginations, reasoning and judgements. Satan uses wrong thoughts and beliefs to oppress and put the people of God in its captivity.

2. Every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God: Pretension that sets itself up is a lofty thing that promotes self-controlling schemes, plots, strategies or conceptions.

We can ask for the divine power to tear down strongholds and destroy the lies of the enemy behind them for obtaining freedom. Tearing down strongholds is a spiritual warfare and every day we need to:

1. Submit to God. (Jas 4:7)

2. Confess and renounce all our sins. (Pro 28:13)

3. Put on the full armor of God. (Eph 6:10-18)

4. In the Name of Yeshua, bind the strong man (Satan), rebuke the evil spirits, and forbid evil spirits from ever returning to us again. (Mat 12:29) Open our eyes and make a declaration.

5. Be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18)

This week, let us practice praying not only for ourselves but also for the Central Asians and Israelis according to the direction and revelation of the Holy Spirit. By the power of God and the God-given authority, we demolish all strongholds, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah. Amen.