by Dutch Sheets
The captain of a ship on a dark night saw faint lights in the distance. He told his signalman to send the message: "Change your course 10 degrees south."
Immediately he received the response: "Change your direction 10 degrees north."
The proud captain was angry that he was being challenged, so he sent a further message: "Change your course 10 degrees south. This is the captain speaking!"
He received the response: "Change your direction 10 degrees north. I'm Seaman Third Class Jones."
The captain, thinking he would terrify this insubordinate sailor, wired a third message: "Change your direction 10 degrees south. I am a battleship."
The final reply came: "Change your course 10 degrees north. I am a lighthouse.""
The Male Pride Factor
God, the light of the world, is forever trying to get fallen humanity to alter their course. Arrogant humans, who have chosen to captain their own lives, usually charge on to their own destruction.
This pride factor also answered my question of why, regardless of where I went in the world, I found more women saved than men. I knew it couldn't be because they were smarter! The reason is that this root of pride is stronger in men than in women-most men at least. Some of us in the ultra-humble class no longer have a problem with it.
The reason pride is stronger in men is that which was strongest in us in a pure form before the Fall became strongest in a perverted form after the Fall. The motivation in men that found its greatest fulfillment in covering, nurturing, protecting and caring forleading from a servant motivation-turned inward at the time of the Fall.
The desire to lead became a desire to dominate or lord over, a giving nature turned into a getting nature and a secure humility was transformed into an insecure pride. To see how we men were supposed to cover and lead, we need only to look at Jesus, who led and walked in amazing authority and power, yet from a pure serving motivation.
Counselors will counsel many more women than men because it is so difficult for a man to say, "I need help." Women are usually the first to say, "I'm sorry" or "I was wrong." Men are usually more competitive. Women are usually more giving and selfless. Why are these things true? The pride factor in men.
Praying for the Lost
This understanding of the blinding ability of pride is a tremendous clue in how to pray for the lost. It is mentioned again, along with several other important insights, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Most Christians have interpreted these verses, especially verse five, as something we are to do for ourselves. Although I have no problem with doing it for ourselves, the context is certainly that of spiritual warfare for others. The Living Bible makes this very clear. As you read it in this paraphrase, notice also the references and inferences to the root of pride we saw in 2 Corinthians 4:4.
It is true that I am an ordinary, weak human being, but I don't use human plans and methods to win my battles. I use God's mighty weapons, not those made by men, to knock down the devil's strongholds. These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding Him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God, and change them into men whose hearts' desire is obedience to Christ.
As we observe these verses more closely, we'll see that the Lord gives us not only a solution for the pride problem, but also identifies and offers God's remedy for other aspects of the stronghold. This passage is both fascinating and enlightening.
Notice first that God tells us what should be obvious: The weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly. This simply means they aren't human. God knows we often overlook the obvious, so He states it clearly. We will never win people on an intellectual basis, nor will we do it through innovative techniques or methods alone. We certainly won't do it by nagging them, putting notes in their sandwiches or berating them with statements such as "When are you going to get right with God?"
When we approach people on a human basis, especially if they feel we are pressuring them, we generally make things worse. This is because the root of pride in them that says, I don't want anyone else controlling me or telling me what to do, rises up and defends itself. If we attack this pride on a human level, we will only strengthen it.
God's Holy Detonators
On the other hand, we have weapons that are "divinely powerful" to pull down strongholds, if we would only realize it. God says, "Instead of using yours, I'll let you use Mine. Yours won't work, Mine will." The word "powerful" is dunatos14 and is actually one of the New Testament words for a miracle. These weapons empowered by God will work miracles. The word is also translated "possible." I like that. Do you have anyone that seems impossible? Will it take a miracle? With this power, they become possible. And, of course, this is the Greek word from which we get the word "dynamite." This stuff is explosive!
This dynamite is explosive for the "destruction of fortresses" or, as the King fames translation says, is capable of "pulling down strongholds." "Destruction" and "pull down" are the word kathairesis. This important and powerful word has a couple of pertinent meanings. One of them is "to bring down with violence or demolish" something." With this powerful, miracleworking dynamite behind our weapons, we can become demolition agents violently tearing down Satan's strongholds.
I remember as a small child watching the destruction of an old brick school. I was fascinated as the huge cement ball, attached to a gigantic crane, was swung time after time into the building, crashing through walls and ceilings, bringing incredible destruction. I suppose this would be, in one sense, a viable picture of our warfare as we systematically-one divine blow at a time-work destruction on the strongholds of darkness. It truly does usually happen this way-a systematic, ongoing, oneblow-at-a-time war against Satan's stronghold.
Yet, I saw another huge building in Dallas, Texas, demolished several years ago. This edifice was much larger than the school I had seen destroyed as a child. This one covered nearly an entire city block, or at least it seemed that way to me. The demolition crew didn't use a wrecking ball for this one. And it didn't take days-it took seconds. They used dynamite, strategically placed by experts to demolish this major structure in less than 10 seconds.
I like to think that this in some ways can also be a picture of our intercession. Unlike this physical building, we don't usually see the answer in seconds-we may be strategically placing the dynamite of the Spirit for days, weeks or months. But every time we take up our spiritual weapons and use them against the strongholds of the enemy, we are placing our explosive charges in strategic places. And sooner or later the Holy Detonator of heaven is going to say, "Enough!" There will be a mighty explosion in the spirit, a stronghold will crumble to the ground, and a person will fall to his knees.
Mary's Paga
Eva Popham from Ohio shared the following testimony with me of this very thing happening to a lady to whom she ministered:
When Sandra Sims and I first saw Mary in the nursing home, she was demon possessed. Whenever we would come down the hall toward her, she would begin to shake, make violent noises and say things such as, "I know who you are. I know who you represent. I don't want you here." She would use a lot of profanity and disgusting, vile language.
Everyone at the nursing home was afraid of Mary. No one, from the cleaning staff to nurses, would enter her room alone and no one wanted to take care of her because of her violent nature. Thus, she did not receive very good care. When it was absolutely necessary to enter her room, several of the staff would go together. Mary would not allow anyone to touch her or get near to her.
We prayed and fasted for Mary on a consistent, regular basis. It was a couple of months b
efore Mary would even allow us to enter her room. We prayed that God would remove all calluses and pain from her heart [logismos] so that the demons would no longer have anything to hang on to.
God showed us that Mary had been severely abused as a child. We would bind Satan from exercising power over Mary and declare that he could not speak to her [noema]. We asked for a hedge of protection to be around her and for God to give her dreams and visions as well as for angels to minister to her. We bound up the evil forces that were already in her so that they could no longer operate.
For approximately eight months after we were first able to enter her room, we consistently prayed and fasted for her as well as ministered to her. At this time I gave a testimony at our church, Love and Faith Christian Fellowship in Cincinnati, Ohio, about reaching out to Mary. I asked everyone to please pray for her. We joined together in prayer for Mary during that service, and many continued to pray for her. Pastor Mike Murray was given a picture of her to pray over. We continued to pray for God's perfect will to be done in Mary's life. We bound Satan and prayed for all of his doors to be closed in her life.
Sandra and I ministered to Mary's hurts and she eventually let her anger go by an act of faith [another logismos]. She willed for her life to be changed. There was nothing left for the enemy to have as a stronghold in her.
About two weeks later Mary gave her life to the Lord! Today she is dramatically different: She lets people love her and touch her; her voice is becoming more and more soft and gentle; there is even a marked difference in her before-and-after pictures. It's like the real Mary is just now finally appearing. The presence of God is on her now.
The head nurse of the nursing home called Sandra and me into her office to give us a thank-you gift for what we have done with Mary. She told us the staff had all been asking, "What have they been doing with Mary? She is so different!" Because she is no longer violent, the staff is no longer frightened of her, so they are beginning to properly care for her.
Hallelujah! That's gaga! That's a demolition!
I will be explaining the italicized words logismos and noema as we progress-they are specific components of the strong hold. But first . . . along with demolish, there's another interesting meaning to kathairesis. It was used figuratively of "removal from office."" Wow! Is that ever what we're after! ... A new Lordship . . . A different ruler. Our weapons, charged with God's authority, can enforce the breaking of the headship of the serpent. Jesus legally broke it; we can see it become literal through our prayers. Hallelujah!
The Stronghold, Satan's Prison Within
But just what does this word "stronghold" that we throw around so pervasively in the Body of Christ actually mean? The word is ochuroma, coming from the root word echo, which means "to have or hold."" This word for "stronghold" (K -M or "fortress" (NASB) is literally a place from which to hold something strongly. It is also the word for a fort, a castle or a prison.
I've seen pictures of foxholes and trenches hastily dug in times of war to maintain a position. That's a hold. On the other hand, I toured a huge castle on top of a mountain in Salzburg, Austria, several years ago. From this seeming impregnable fortress on a hill, someone had ruled the territory. That's a stronghold!
In essence, Satan has a place of strength within unbelievers from which he can hold on to them strongly. They are prisoners, captives, slaves. Christ was sent "to proclaim release to the captives" (Luke 4:18). I can guarantee you, however, that as His proclamation goes forth now, it will be through the mouth of the Church!
Now we come to verse five of 2 Corinthians 10, an extremely important verse. Let's read it again: "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." It is important to know that "destruction" in verse four and "destroying" in this verse are the same words.
The KJV does a most unfortunate thing in using two totally different words, "pulling down" and "casting down." It is necessary to know these are the same words in order to realize the Holy Spirit is carrying on the same thought. Verse four says our divinely empowered weapons can demolish strongholds, and verse five is going to elaborate more fully just what the strongholds are that we're going to demolish. In other words, He describes for us exactly what comprises the stronghold or prison! This is critical information as we begin to war for the lost.
Specifically, He shares with us three major components of the fortress. These are the things we will begin to call out and demolish as we war over individuals with our divinely empowered weapons. I believe this can be done over people groups as well, but the context here seems to indicate that it is speaking primarily of individuals.
Mindsets
The first aspect of the stronghold He mentions is "specula- tions"-logismos. This word speaks not of the scattered individual thoughts of humans, but of their calculative reasoning, their wisdom or logic." Our word "logic" is actually derived from this Greek root. Logismos is the sum total of the accumulated wisdom and information learned over time. It becomes what one really believes-the person's mindset. Moffatt calls them "theories." Humanity, before the Fall, got their wisdom and logic-their beliefs-from God. Now, James 3:15 tells us they come from the earth, the soul or intellect, and demons.
These logismos would include philosophies (whether formally identified or unnamed personal ones), religions, humanism, atheism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, racism, intellectualism, Judaism, materialism, roots of rejection, perversions-anything that causes a person to think a certain way.
How do these logismos blind individuals? How do they veil truth? The way the human mind functions dictates that when people hear the gospel, before they even have time to think or reason about it, it is filtered through the subconscious where all other information-including these logismos-is stored. This means that unbelievers don't hear what we are saying; they hear what we are saying plus what they already believe.
For example, I was sharing the gospel with a girl who had been horribly abused. "God is love," I said. "He loves you so much He sent His Son to die for you."
She did not hear only what I said. She also heard in her mind-I know because she said to me-"Oh? If He is love, why would He have allowed me to have been so abused? Doesn't sound like a loving God to me." That is a logismos-a belief, a philosophy, her wisdom, her logic. Someone will need to intercede for her and help tear it down.
On another occasion I was sharing the gospel with a fellow who had a logismos I call "good-ole-boy-ism." He was just too nice a guy to think he needed saving. "I'm a pretty good guy," he said. "I don't cheat on my wife, beat my kids, lie, curse or steal. I don't think God would send me to hell."
How does the gospel break through these arguments? Certainly the gospel of truth itself has power to break down some of this when anointed by the Holy Spirit. But it usually takes a long period of time-if you can get them to listen. It is much wiser to plow the ground ahead of time, preparing for the reception of the seed by pulling down these strongholds.
Perhaps you already know what these logismos are in the person for whom you are praying. If not, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to you. He will. And when He does, call them by name, quoting 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Say, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I am destroying you, stronghold of . . ." Do it daily until the person comes to Christ.
All Pride That Rises Up
The second part of the stronghold we must demolish is "every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God" (v. 5, emphasis added). I like using the KJV for this verse because it uses "high thing" to translate the Greek word hupsoma, which is actually the same root word for "Most High" God. It actually means "any elevated place or thing."" This is referring to the same root of pride we discovered hidden in the word "blinded" in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4. It is the "most highness" that came to humanity at the Fall when Adam and Eve bought the lie "You too shall be as God" (see Gen. 3:5).
Humankind, like Satan, attempted to exalt themselv
es to a place of equality with the Most High. We became not the Most High, but our own most high, filled with pride. One leading lexicon even defined hupsoma as "all pride that rises up."" The word would then encompass all mindsets that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.
The good news is that we can also tear down this stronghold in people through spiritual warfare so that they can humble themselves and bow their knees to Christ. Listen to this entire verse again in The Living Bible:
These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding Him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God, and change them into men whose hearts' desire is obedience to Christ (emphasis added).
I like the "cans" and "everys" in the verse. The Lord doesn't wish us luck or tell us that we will win a few once in a while. He lets us know we can break down every proud argument and every wall; we can capture rebels! And we must!
Thoughts and Temptations
Considering the third aspect of strongholds, the Lord tells us we can "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." The word "thought" is noema, which also means plans, schemes, devices or plots. It refers to the spontaneous thoughts and temptations Satan uses to assault the unbelievers, as well as the schemes and plans he uses to keep them in darkness. In intercession we must declare boldly that no weapon of Satan's will prosper. We must bind his plans and stand against them through prayer. We can and should pray that the unbeliever be shielded from Satan's thoughts and temptations.
Marlena O'Hern, of Maple Valley, Washington, had been praying for her brother, Kevin, to be saved for approximately 12 years, with no seeming results. She basically prayed things such as "Lord, come into his life," or "Lord, reveal Yourself to him." As with many of us, she didn't realize there were more specific biblical ways to pray.
