Swords and Towers

I am The Hungry Disciple and I've been chewing on The Word.

Have you ever noticed that The Word of God uses the same word in a negative and positve context? I have been thinking about the word stronghold. The Bible uses the word stronghold both as a decription of God's protection and as a place we are ensared in mental torment, confusion and wrong believing. The picture of both is one of being surrounded by a high an impenetrable place; one a place of safety and the other a prison.

The Bible tells us we have wrong thoughts of every kind and that those wrong thoughts and the wrong beliefs they are based on cause us torment and can prevent us from knowing and receiving all the Truth that Jesus Christ is for and in us. This flawed thinking is not something we can change in ourselves. All the self-discipline in the world may control such thinking for at time, but the word stronghold implies that these thoughts are ingrained, like a rut in a muddy road that dries and becomes a trench. We may attempt to steer our thoughts in the right direction, but very easily our mental wheels can slip back into old ruts. 

"The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity." 2 Cor 10:3-6 The Message

The Greek makes clear that Paul is talking about a military operation, but what I find exciting is that the sentence structure is clear; these weapons are the noun doing the actions in this declaration from Paul, and the weapons are described by the adjectives and adverbs in his sentence! 

It is clear that the believer wields the weapons, but it is just as clear that the weapons are God’s and operate in His power. It is clear that they pull down, demolish, and smash wrong thinking that dares to stand up against the knowledge of Christ’s Truth.  The weapons line up our thoughts, feelings and uncontrollable impulses with Divine understanding and mature them into Christ’s likeness.

Have you ever thought that you were responsible for overthrowing strongholds, as well as refuting your mental arguments, theories, reasonings and every proud idea that sets itself up against the knowledge of God? Have you ever felt powerless to lead your thought and belief systems into the obedience of Christ?  Yeah, me too, but I was a faker!

There is only one offensive weapon used by Paul to describe a believer's arsenal against wrong thinking. That weapon is The Sword of The Spirit, which is The Word of God.  There are some unique concepts Paul chooses. He describes a short sword, a personal weapon, worn on the body for close combat.  Our spiritual belief battles are personal battles. My thoughts aren't your thoughts and none of  our thoughts are God's thoughts.  We are going to feel threatened and frightened as we use the Weapons of God. Just remember, Before Alice battled the Jabberwocky The Mad-hatter told Alice, "The sword knows what to do. All you need to do is hold on to it."

Pauls chooses the Greek for words spoken with the human voice. The Sword of The Spirit is a personal Word, a Word spoken to us individually.  When Jesus said man cannot live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from God, he uses this same expression "the words of God's voice" and He said these spoken Words proceed, ever in present tense. So let go of thinking that you are in a battle with your own mind. The Spirit of Christ in you is doing battle with your unrenewed mind. Our calling is to listen, understand, submit to His correctness and continually fill your thoughts with what He says to you.  

It all starts with The Scriptures. Reading them. Believing them. Speaking them to yourself. Thinking on them. Listening. Trust The Spirit of God to make them personal to you. Trust Him to whisper His Divine words directly to your heart. Rest in knowing the only thing you have to do is hold tight to what God says to you. "The Sword knows what to do". God's Words do the warfare; clean up the carnage; and rebuild Himself as your only Foundation. His Love will replace your prison tower with an impenatrable tower of His Love for you and in you!