NOT ONE BRICK!

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

"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."

A stronghold is a fortress built brick by brick, stone by stone. It is built to protect what is inside. It is a structure out of which forays are made to attack and wreak havoc on surrounding areas. St. Paul uses this analogy to describe an aspect of the spiritual warfare followers of Jesus Christ are engaged in. Doubts about God's intention toward us, His faithfulness, His knowing us, His caring; these thoughts, like flaming arrows, fired at us from our ancient foe seem to "make sense" when our eyes get fixed on our circumstances. And then, we are handed by our enemy a "brick" to set in place to make room for yet another brick to be placed.

Disappointments, struggles, losses, sorrows, all these are common to all humanity, yet for the believer they are never defining. They neither tell you who you are nor who God is. They are the result of living in a world that has been broken by sin, distorted by deception and robbed of true meaning and purpose.

Satanic lies are like curses. "Did God say?" was the first curse thrown at humanity in the Garden of Eden. Lies produce death, distorting what God has said about you. Such lies and distortions whisper that God doesn't care, He doesn't have the power to save, rescue, restore, or preserve the resurrection Life He has put in you.

The lies seem to be confirmed by how we feel, what we can see, what we understand of our circumstances when we are relying on our own understanding. If we do not bring those conflicting thoughts to God asking, "Lord, is this true? Shine Your Light into this thought process to dispel any darkness." then those lies begin to be laid brick by brick, becoming strongholds of deception. The enemy makes forays out of those strongholds into our minds and wills at times when we feel most vulnerable, times when the lies seem more plausible than the true Truth.

Those strongholds utilize our past brokenness, our propensity to still yield to familiar sins to sow doubt and fear that somehow God has not done in us what He has said He has done through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Satan attempts to get us to define ourselves by anything BUT the Word of God.

Demons accuse and slander us to our own selves saying, "You are not worthy." What they mean by saying this is that God will not/cannot save or restore you because you are not worthy of His love. That seems to make sense, because the truth is we are NOT worthy, but that has never been and will never be the basis of God's commitment and love for us in Christ Jesus! We will never make ourselves worthy of God's grace. Grace is unmerited favor. It's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His Mercy God has saved us. It is by the washing of regeneration and His renewing us by the Holy Spirit's uniting us to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we are saved, rescued and become new creations in Him.

Our salvation is soley grounded in Who Jesus Christ is and what He has fully completed. Strongholds are demolished brick by brick. Each conflicting thought or idea that attempts to exalt itself above the Word of God, the knowledge of God must be challenged and cast down at the feet of Jesus for its annihilation and removal.

Lord Jesus, not one brick; my Lord not one! Let no thought that attempts to contradict Your truth be deposited in the soil of my mind. Please don't let any construction begin to build any stronghold. Not even one brick, my Lord!