In many places in Scripture, God is
presented as a warrior, a commander of
an army. Here are some examples:
• Exodus 15:3
• Joshua 5:13–14
• Isaiah 13:3–4 NASB
From the very beginning, humankind
has been enmeshed in the enmity
between God and Satan.
Jesus explained that because of the
commitment and cost of following Him,
He brings strife, and we must accept
this as fact (Matthew 10:34–38).
Yes, you and I were born for spiritual
battle. It is an inescapable fact. If we
shrink from this call and only try to find
peace in the world around us, we may
find ourselves on the wrong side of the
battle: You are like an unfaithful wife who
loves her husband’s enemies. Don’t you
realize that making friends with God’s
enemies—the evil pleasures of this world—
makes you an enemy of God? I say it again,
that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure
of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a
friend of God. (James 4:4 TLB)
capitulate. Every “-ism” ever known to
civilization will have to surrender to
the Name—communism, capitalism,
humanism, atheism, conservatism,
liberalism, materialism, universalism….
PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS
Our role in the fight has been specified for
us, with divine assistance guaranteed
when we step into our battle position:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do
not war according to the flesh. For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty in God for pulling down
strongholds, casting down arguments and
every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3–5)
We know that at the end, even if we are
battle-weary, the Lord of hosts will be
the absolute Victor: For it is written: “As
I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow
to Me, and every tongue shall confess to
God.” (Romans 14:11; see Isaiah 45:23) The “weapons of our warfare” do not
depend on our own strength, because
they are “mighty in God for pulling
down strongholds.” In His strength, we
demolish any defensive structure that
defies God. As I noted earlier, we are
not contending against individuals, but
against power structures. Here Paul
calls them “strongholds,” or “fortresses.”
How should we picture strongholds? The
Greek word translated as “strongholds”
in the above passage is ochuróma. It
refers to a strong-walled, fortified,
military fortress and “is used figuratively
of a false argument in which a person
seeks ‘shelter’ (‘a safe place’) to escape
reality.” 33 The word can be used to refer
to personal strongholds or, more widely,
to trends and assumptions of thought.
“Every knee” means every knee: Every
enemy of God will have to bend the knee
to Him and acknowledge His lordship.
Every one of His rivals will have to Ed Silvoso, head of Harvest Evangelism,
has successfully led intercessors in
his native Argentina and many other
nations to come against invisible
It will not end well for the forces of
darkness. We need to keep standing
with God, armed for battle.
Solutions • 47