Just as Jericho was a stronghold in
Canaan, we have strongholds in our lives. The apostle Paul used the term to
describe a mind-set or attitude.
“The weapons of our warfare are . . .
mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every
high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (vv. 4–5, emphasis
mine). The apostle defined a stronghold as an argument or high thing that
“exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” It is a conviction, outlook, or
belief that attempts to interfere with truth. Other translations describe a
stronghold as • “imaginations” (kjv), • “pretension” (niv), • “lofty opinion”
(esv), • “warped philosophies” (msg). A stronghold is a false premise that
denies God’s promise. It “sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (v. 5
niv). It seeks to eclipse our discovery of God. It attempts to magnify the
problem and minimize God’s ability to solve it. Does a stronghold have a strong
hold on you? Do you see nothing but Jericho? Do you feel nothing but despair?
Do you think thoughts of defeat? Do you speak the language of impossibility?
God could never forgive me. (the stronghold of guilt). I could never forgive that person.
(the stronghold of resentment) Bad things always happen to me. (the stronghold
of self-pity) I have to be in charge. (the stronghold of pride) I don’t deserve
to be loved. (the stronghold of rejection) I’ll never recover. (the stronghold
of defeat) I must be good, or God will reject me. (the stronghold of
performance) I’m only as good as I look. (the stronghold of appearance) My
value equals my possessions. (the stronghold of materialism) Most Christians
don’t recognize strongholds. They live in the shadow of these joy-sucking
Jericho. But we don’t have to be among them. Our weapons are from God and have
“divine power to demolish strongholds” (v. 4 niv). Isn’t that what we want? We
long to see our strongholds demolished, turned into rubble once and for all,
forever and ever, ka-boom! We long to see Jericho brought to the ground. How
does this happen? By keeping God in the center.
The ark of the covenant was the
symbol of the Lord’s presence. Joshua placed the ark in the middle of the
procession. Every activity orbited around God. We don’t attack our Jericho with
anger, blame casting, or finger-pointing. No, we keep God center stage, using
the weapons of worship, Scripture, and prayer. We employ every tool God offers:
hymns, songs, communion, Scripture memorization, and petition. We turn off the
TV and open the Bible more. We remember Jesus’ promise: “I am with you always”
(Matt. 28:20). We worry less, pray always. We even blast our version of a ram’s
horn. Ram’s horn? The Hebrews used two instruments: the silver trumpet and the
ram’s horn. The silver trumpet was used to call the people to assemble (Num.
10:2). The ram’s horn celebrated a battle already won. When Abraham displayed
his willingness to give up his son Isaac as an offering, God stopped him and
provided a ram. The ram’s horn reminds us of God’s sovereign generosity. God
gave Abraham a ram of deliverance. God told Joshua to fill the air with sounds
of ram’s horn victory. And, curiously, he told the people to keep quiet. “Don’t
say a word” (Josh. 6:10 ncv). No chitchat. No opinion giving or
second-guessing. No whining or chatting. Keep your mouth shut and the trumpets
loud. Imagine the reaction of the Canaanites as Joshua’s army marched circles
around them. The first day they mocked the Hebrews. The second day they scoffed
again but not as loudly. By the fourth and fifth days, the enemy had grown
silent. What are these Hebrews up to? they wondered. On the sixth day the
Canaanites were dry mouthed and wide eyed as the Hebrews made their round. The
people of Jericho had never fought a battle like this. Just as challenging is
your battle with your archenemy, the devil. He has held this stronghold in your
life for years. You’ve tried everything to overcome it: renewed discipline,
self-help books, pop culture gurus. Nothing helps. But now you come in God’s
power with God center stage, Jesus in your heart, angels in front and back. You
come, not with hope of a possible victory, but with assurance of complete
victory. March like a Promised Land conqueror. Blast your ram’s horn. Sing
songs of redemption, and declare scriptures of triumph. Marinate your mind with
the declaration of Jesus, “It is finished!”(John 19:30), and the announcement of
the angels, “He is not here; for He is risen” (Matt. 28:6). Personalize the
proclamations of Paul: “We are more than conquerors through [Christ]” (Rom.
8:37), and “I can do all things through Christ” (Phil. 4:13). As you do, the
demons will begin to scatter. They have no choice but to leave.
Sometime back a
mother asked me to pray for her eight-year-old son. He was troubled by a
constant barrage of images and scary visions. He saw people behind cars and in
shadows. The images left him withdrawn and timid. They even took his sleep at
night. On the day we met he appeared defeated. His smile was gone. While his
other siblings were confident and happy, there was no joy in his face. His eyes
often filled with tears, and he clung to his mother. She had taken him to
doctors, but nothing had helped. Would I be willing to pray for him? I told the
young boy what I’ve been telling you. That the devil has no authority over his
life. That the real battles are fought in the mind. That God will help us take
every thought captive. I told him about the spiritual weapons of worship,
Scripture, and prayer and urged him to memorize a Bible verse and quote it each
time the fearful thoughts came to mind. I gave him a tool. “Reach up with your
hand,” I urged, “and grab the thought and throw it in the trash. And as quickly
as you do that, replace it with a verse of Scripture.” We then anointed him
with oil and prayed. Five days later his mother reported great progress. “Since
last week the images are gone; he is no longer seeing them. He is doing well in
school, and he is enjoying reading the book of Genesis. God gave us Psalm 25:5,
‘Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on
You I wait all the day.’ He recites this verse nightly. I believe this has
brought him closer to Christ. He uses the strategy of throwing the fearful
thoughts away in the trash can. He said when he tried to throw them away, his
head would hurt. I asked, ‘What made them go away?’ He smiled and said, ‘I know
God made them go away.’ Another Jericho bites the dust. “Yell a loud no to
the Devil and watch him scamper” (James 4:7 msg). He will retreat. He must
retreat. He is not allowed in the place where God is praised. Just keep
praising and walking. “But, Max, I’ve been walking a long time,” you say.
Yes, it seems like it. It must have
seemed that way to the Hebrews too. Joshua did not tell them how many trips
they would have to make around the city. God told Joshua that the walls would
fall on the seventh day, but Joshua didn’t tell the people. They just kept
walking. Our Joshua didn’t tell us either. Through the pen of Paul, Jesus urges
us to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). Keep
walking. For all you know this may be the day the walls come down. You may be
only steps from a moment like this. On the seventh day . . . they rose early,
about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the
same manner . . . And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the
trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you
the city! . . . ” So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And
it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people
shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people . . .
took the city. (Josh. 6:15–16, 20) The very walls that kept them out became
stepping-stones onto which they could climb. By the way, a great shaking is
coming for this world too. Our Joshua, Jesus, will give the signal, and a
trumpet will blast. He will reclaim every spoil and repel, once and for all,
each demon. He will do again what he did in Canaan. Until he does, keep
marching and believing. Defeat your strongholds with the spiritual weapons of
worship, Scripture, and prayer. Move from false premises to God’s promises.
It’s just a matter of time before your Jericho comes down.
The End.
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