“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.”
(2Corinthians 10.3-5, NIV)
ok, so I’m listening to 3rd day.
‘divine power to demolish strongholds’
I heard about a guy that was in a coffee shop with a bunch of vampires. One of them began to cast a spell on him. A friend that used to be a vampire but was now a follower of Jesus said, “He’s casting a spell on you to devour your spirit.” the guy said, “He can devour all he wants, the Spirit in me is a river of living water!”
divine power to demolish strongholds
the phrase “wage war” and the word “weapons” are all used in an offensive way. there are other words to describe ‘protect’ and ‘defend’ and these are not those words. The picture and attitude is not one of defensiveness and holding your ground, but one of advancing, attacking, conquering, gaining, and winning.
divine power to demolish strongholds
“By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you‚Äî” Paul is appelling to the Corinthian church to live right by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, and then describes these things. It is not macho or tough or strong power, it is a meek and gentle power with which we wage war and demolish strongholds. It doesn’t look powerful‚Äìit is powerful.
divine power to demolish strongholds
In the gentleness and meekness of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and the life we live being lived out by Jesus Christ in our bodies, the creating and loving God of the Universe beating our hearts and filling our lungs with breath, we demolish strongholds. I have watched two times in my life a building get demolished. Once I sat for about an hour outside a coffee shop and watched a building come down at the mercy of a wrecking ball. Another time it was a bulldozer on a small apartment. The wrecking ball was the most memorable. The guy raised it up, and dropped it on the roof. That sent all of the light fixtures and false ceiling crashing to the floor. The second drop knocked all of the plaster off the ceiling. The third drop sent the wrecking ball through the roof, into the 2nd floor, and onto the floor which counted as the first hit on the ceiling of the 1st floor, which knocked all of the light fixtures and false ceiling of the first floor off. He raised the wrecking ball up through both stories, moved it over a bit, and dropped it again. It went through the roof, though the 2nd floor, and now through the first floor ceiling and onto the main floor. Within 15 minutes the walls were collapsing and the whole building was falling in and filling up the basement. There was no hope of repair, or even salvage of the old pieces. All that could be done was to haul them off to a landfill.
divine power to demolish strongholds
I don’t think I want to pray any more like I’m throwing mud on a stronghold or like I’m breaking out a window with a rock. demolish means destroy. the greek root of the word used by Paul is kathaireo, which means to ‘pull down with violence’ This ain’t the grand canyon getting whittled away over thousands of years by a trickle, it’s Barkley lake forming from a single earthquake, it’s a meteor wiping out all of the dinos, it’s divine power to DEMOLISH strongholds‚Äìand it’s ours.