November 2000
Page 1 - If the Ship is Sinking... By Paul Anderson
Page 2 - Give Me the Desires of My Heart! By Mary Ann Herzan
- Page 3 - Restoring the True Stronghold - Is God Your Mighty Fortress?
By Dr. Joe JohnsonPage 4 - Association of Renewal Churches (ARC)
Page 5 - Director's Note
Restoring the True Stronghold - Is God Your Mighty Fortress?
By Dr. Joe Johnson"I love you, O Lord, my strength, The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, My God, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies" (Psalm 18: 1-3). "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27: 1).
The Psalmist's picture of God is the place we go not just for salvation, but for encouragement, energy, and the right perspective on life. We need such a stronghold, someone who will protect us and keep us safe, someone stronger than our fears or emotional pain.
God is our stronghold. He is stronger than anything that would harm us. He promises to be the one who will protect us. God invites us to look to Him when we are afraid or when we experience emotional pain. He has created us as dependent beings. This is not necessarily a result of sin, nor does it mean that we are wimps. God created us to rule over the earth through His power and authority, to be dependent on Him to keep us strong. We were created to cooperate with God in a world that is much too big for us.
Adam and Eve came into a big, powerful world. They were told to have dominion and subdue it. They were not expected to fulfill their mandate on their own power or insight. They were to follow God's word and operate in His power. Because of sin we have lost our authority to rule. We are outgunned in this fallen, sinful world and therefore we are too weak to be independent against the enemy. We look for ways to get some control in a hurtful world. We turn to something to hold us strong during times of weakness or defenselessness. A stronghold is something to which we commit ourselves during painful times. Strongholds are a mindset-habits of thinking or beliefs that give rise to emotions that produce actions. When we continue to run to a stronghold, we make it part of our identity. A stronghold helps us get by for awhile but it ends up holding us captive and then becomes our identity. We say, "I am just an angry person," or "I'm a worry wart. That is just who I am."
This is especially true for us as children. Think of a time as a child when you were afraid or hurting, or a time when you were so angry you did not want to talk to anyone. How did you deal with the fear, hurt, or anger? How did you get through the night? As children we usually do not know how to run to God. We do the best we can in order to survive. We find comfort, safety, and protection in whatever way we know how. Strongholds are ways of thinking, feeling, and acting in order to survive. Some strongholds include emotional detachment (which leads to depression), fantasy (checking out mentally when someone is talking to avoid being bored or being scolded) food, drugs, alcohol, addictions, lust, fear, bitterness, self-hate, passivity, eating disorders, compulsive behaviors, perfectionism, fear of rejection, lying, anger and rage. Whatever works to keep pain at a distance may become a stronghold if we go to it habitually.
Strongholds would not be necessary if we did not have pain or wounding. We adapt to these woundings in repeated patterns of behavior, which become strongholds. Vows become strongholds. "I will never be like my father," "I will never trust anyone," "I have to make life on my own, (we believe the lie that no one, including God, will be there for us) or "I will depend only on myself," are all examples of vows we may say to ourselves. We make vows to avoid more pain, to protect ourselves from more hurt or disappointment. When we continue a certain pattern of behavior and commit ourselves to that behavior, that way of acting and thinking and feeling holds us strong. It becomes a fortress to protect us, and eventually to enslave us.
The Christian life is a battle against the powers of sin, the flesh, the world, sickness and the devil. Strongholds have spiritual power connected to them and need God's power to break them. Demonic spirits can attach themselves to strongholds. God wants to deliver us from everything that holds us captive. "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" (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
Strongholds do not give up without a fight. How then do we war?
- Identify the stronghold
The fight begins by first identifying our strongholds. We ask the Holy Spirit to show us what our strongholds are by asking these questions: What lies am I tempted to believe? As a child, where did I run to find protection from fear or hurt, to get me through the night? Do I struggle with believing and receiving the Lord's love? Fill in the blank. If I ______, I'll be OK (I'll be safe). If I hide, I'll be OK. If I get everyone's approval, I'll be OK. If I am not me, I'll be safe. If I don't think about the pain or remember it, I'll be okay. If I fix others and keep others happy, I'll be OK. If I do more and try harder ... If I stuff my feelings ... If I am not a child ... If I perform....
- Confession
I confess my sin of trusting _____________ instead of God to save me from fear and hurt. Lord, show me the lies.
We confess the lies we have believed instead of trusting in God to be our stronghold. The Lord showed my wife, Judy, the lies she was believing: "I cannot live up to people's expectations, but I can hide so they do not notice me. If they do not see me, I'll be okay." This lie became a stronghold of hiding. It began to control her so she could not come out of hiding even when she wanted to. After healing prayer, she found it easier to believe God loved her and would take care of her.
The Lord revealed to me the personal stronghold of self-pity based on the lies: "I'll be OK if I please you. No one, including God, will take care of me unless I please him or her first." "I have to take care of others to feel I have value." "People will abandon me like my father did when he died when I was seven." We ask forgiveness for believing the lies-the sin of trusting in whatever our stronghold is to keep us safe instead of trusting in the Father. Judy prayed, "I confess that I have been hiding instead of following you, Jesus. I have been ashamed of what you created in me. Forgive me, Jesus. I grieve over the wrong I have done. This lie has hurt me and I hate it. Please forgive me, Jesus."
There may be wounding that goes with the lies. We believe the lies because of wounding. In order to believe that the Father is trustworthy, I may have to have the Holy Spirit show me that I was a child that needed to be loved. Jesus' presence in the pain brings healing love and enables us to believe the truth that we have a Father who loves us and is trustworthy.
- Renunciation
In the name of Jesus I renounce these strongholds. I renounce the vows I have made. I renounce the lies I chose to believe. I renounce the lie that this is who I am. I renounce the false stronghold and identity. I renounce the lie I have to depend on me.
- Affirmation of the truth
I choose to act on the truth. I choose to trust you, Father, that you will never abandon me. I affirm that your love for me is unconditional and unchanging. I declare that you, Jesus, are my true Stronghold. You are my shepherd, my strength, and my rock. I believe that you will get me through the night no matter what I fear or how much I hurt.
- Deliverance
In the name of Jesus I speak to all spiritual powers connected to the stronghold of ___________(name one specifically). I speak to all spiritual powers that have clung to this stronghold. In the strong name of Jesus I command this spirit to leave. In the name of Jesus I break the power of the stronghold and lies. I speak to the mountains of self-doubt, fear of other people, and break your power over my mind and emotions.
- Filling of the Holy Spirit
Jesus, fill with the Holy Spirit those areas which have been filled with lies and strongholds and where demons may have had influence.Dr. Joe Johnson is Senior Minister at Grace Church, AALC, in show Low, AZ. The vision of Grace is to be a safe place to discover and fulfill our destiny n Jesus Christ. Joe has also served on the Lutheran Renewal board since 1989.
