Stand Strong in the Word
Stand Strong in the Word is a weekly bible study that teaches through the Bible verse by verse in chronological order. For more information, visit www.standstrongministries.org.
Stand Strong in the Word
#289 "Spiritual Warfare: The Battle to Take Every Thought Captive" Part 2 (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)
Have you ever felt like there's more happening than what you can see? Like an invisible battle is raging all around you? As Christians, we don’t fight against flesh and blood—we wage war in the Spirit. In this episode, we’ll uncover the unseen realm, expose the enemy’s strongholds, and learn how to stand firm in the mighty power of God. The battle is real... but so is our victory!
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Have you ever felt like there's more happening than what you can see? Like an invisible battle is raging all around you? As Christians, we don't fight with flesh and blood. We wage war in the spirit. On today's podcast, we'll uncover the unseen realm, expose the enemy's strongholds and learn how to stand strong in the mighty power of God. So turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, and let's get into it. Well, hey there, my friends, welcome to Stand Strong in the Word. Podcast. Jason Haman is with you guys as always. Blessed to be with you guys as we continue our study here in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, where we're going to be doing a multiple-level, if you will, podcast on spiritual warfare. And so if you have any questions, you can contact us by emailing us at info at stanstrawministriesorg, and we will do our best to get back to you in a timely manner. Just be patient. We do get a lot of requests that come in, and so I want to make sure that when I'm reviewing your guys' questions, that I have time to adequately respond, and so I love doing that. So I want you guys to know that Continue to pray for the ministry. I've been hearing from many of you guys, even in my travels, that.
Speaker 1:Listen and download the podcast. Leave us a review. Check out the website stanstrom review. Check out the website standstrongministriesorg, where we have articles, youtube stuff. Subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you've never have even gone on the YouTube channel, go to YouTube.
Speaker 1:Stand Strong with Jason Jimenez and we are now this year putting out more weekly content, and so that's another avenue to help you guys, you know, learn through wise thinking and bold living with those videos dealing with cultural issues, apologetics, biblical worldview, stuff. But here we want to know God's word and we want to stand strong in the word of God, and we know that what I mean with that language. When we look at scripture, you see over and over again about standing strong and you see that the Bible is our sword, it's our weapon. We need to learn how to use it. And so, as we're going to be, you know, looking at verses three and following in part two of this series where we are talking about spiritual warfare, the battle to take every thought captive Now, where I pointed out last podcast and again, if you've missed any previous podcasts, check those things out we have three areas where spiritual warfare is multidimensional.
Speaker 1:We have the flesh to contend with that we have a fallen state in this world. We were born in sin. Yes, through Christ, you've been justified by faith, but we are still living in this body of death, according to Romans, chapter seven, and knowing that there is sin that we still struggle through we see this in 1 Peter 2.11, that we are to put those aside and not feed the lusts or walk in darkness. Ephesians 5, verse 3. But there's also an enemy that we are fighting against who seeks to destroy us. He is going around like a roaring lion. He is the prince of the power of this air. He is in charge right now, in the physical realm of the world.
Speaker 1:That the worldly systems are going to be talking about today is a lot of it's been engineered by Satan and we kind of mentioned that, but we tend to not go deep into what that actually means. We can pinpoint examples or say Satan's behind this, but we don't do much beyond that. Oftentimes, and as I was pointing out in the last podcast, there is a level of ignorance that we all have. I'll be the first to admit, even as a child, when I was seeing demons and I was having these night terrors and I would see these phantom-like figures and I felt like I was always being watched and people prayed over me, people counseled me, but really what helped me was I was just diving deep into scripture and trying to learn and through that there was this sensitivity, this discernment, if you will, to go deeper and figure out what is actually happening.
Speaker 1:Believe in the spiritual realm. Obviously, we believe there's a God and there's Satan, the enemy. He is not the opposite of God, but there is a real foe that comes to kill, steal and destroy. He tries to take an opportunity to take us out. We see him tempting Jesus. We see that he tempted King David. In the Old Testament there's a lot of examples of Satan. We see that he tempted King David. In the Old Testament there's a lot of examples of Satan. We see that he's accused of their brethren. And so when I was exploring those things and then God started bringing really some godly people in my life that were just taking me under their wing and whether it be them telling their stories about how they do spiritual warfare what spiritual warfare is?
Speaker 1:Obviously, in the last podcast we kind of highlighted we used Dr Tom White's definition, and I used it because it's pretty broad, it kind of encompasses a lot and when I started to learn more about what it looked like and people are telling me the encounters then it was about, like, looking at the authority that we've been given in Christ, in his name, to cast out demons. And so this is now where we're going to be transitioning to, where we see the flesh that we contend with the enemy who is, we know is a defeated foe, but he's the prince of the power there right now, and his days are numbered. But we also have this worldly system. We live in a fallen world that God is going to restore Acts 3.21. And so, right now, when you talk about spiritual warfare, those are the three dimensions that we have to focus in on. So, as we are transitioning now into verse three, where it says for, though, we walk in the flesh, so again we are in this body. This is a typical terminology that Paul uses to talk about our physical presence in this world, but he says we are not waging war according to the flesh.
Speaker 1:So now what we're going to be seeing in part two of the study on spiritual warfare, according to 2 Corinthians 10, paul's going to be describing what this spiritual battle looks like as Christians, what we are facing and, what's important that we cannot lose sight of is he's using a metaphor, what this spiritual battle looks like as Christians, what we are facing. And what's important that we cannot lose sight of is he's using a metaphor every time. He dealt specifically and really the two weighty passages is Ephesians, chapter six, and here in 2 Corinthians 10, where Paul uses a military metaphor when dealing with spiritual warfare, the spiritual battle. So I'm sure many of you are aware of Ephesians 6, verse 11. It says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Speaker 1:Now I want to pause here and I want us to understand what these schemes are of the devil and why this is so important is because the Greek word that Paul uses here is methodeia, and it means craft or deceit, or cunning device, or the wiles or the error of the devil. And so what he's trying to do is, through his craftiness, through his deceit, he is trying to get at us, and this is what the waging of the war that we are to look at. So, yes, a lot of the things that you and I are dealing with in this world and a lot of the temptations that we have in the flesh is constructed by Satan. Now, every time we fall into sin, we can't blame Satan for it, but he has certainly laid out this method, this deceit, this cunningness throughout the world to say, you know, just one hit won't really be that bad. Or disobeying your parents, you know, this time to get what you really want to do, it's really not going to be that bad. Or sleeping with her or him is really not going to have consequences. You love that person, right? It's no big deal. Everybody's doing it on and on and on, listening to this kind of music, watching this kind of a movie, you know, flirting with this kind of person when you're married. You know you have these cunningness, these things that, yes, you have to make a decision as a Christian, but we have to understand what's happening on a deeper level.
Speaker 1:Derek Prince in Spiritual Warfare, a book called Headquarters, the Heavenlies, the Battlefield, our Minds, because one of the things remember and the highlight is taking every thought captive. He says quote for our wrestling match is not against flesh blood, not against persons with bodies, not against persons with bodies, but against rulers with various areas and descending orders of authority, against the world dominators of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness and heavenly. This is important. That's why we are to put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, because we cannot do it on our own. So when he says we walk in the flesh, again he's dealing with our ordinary routine as a human being, in the daily life that we live. We live and we breathe and we do the stuff that we set out to do each and every day. It's almost like what Paul said in Galatians 2, verse 20, when he says I have been crucified with Christ, so it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. So, again, as a Christian in this world, in the flesh, sarx, just this physical body of mine, of course we know we are a spirit body, but Paul's saying here but I live by faith, notice in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So this life that we're living right now in this world, we as a Christian are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and so we are not to walk in the flesh, but we are to live in the power of the spirit so we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Speaker 1:So, when it comes to issues at work or at home, relationship issues yes, no doubt somebody who willfully disobeys God there will be consequences, and it affects us. So think about all the people that are living in sin right now. And that is spiritual warfare, my friends. It is Satan going after that person. If they're a Christian, he's trying to eliminate their purpose in life. He's trying to get them to be defeated. He's trying to think that they are worthless, that God doesn't love them, to not know what their spiritual gifts are. And, if they know what their spiritual gifts are, to make excuses as to why they're not exercising them for the glory of God, to honor the Lord in their calling and their purpose, and on and on we go. So, when you take all the things that you are dealing with, at the heart of everything is spiritual warfare. It's not you directly having an issue with that coworker, or having that issue directly with the son or daughter, if they've rebelled, or you're having issues with your spouse. At the heart of this is what the enemy is doing the son or daughter, if they've rebelled, or you're having issues with your spouse. At the heart of this is what the enemy is doing.
Speaker 1:So this phrase not waging war according to the flesh though Paul lived obviously in the world, and you and I live in the world he says we're not living according to the desires and the pleasures of the sinful world. See, that's first and foremost, and this is something that I've had to take to heart and ask God to work in my life, because a lot of times and I've seen it when you are dismissive or you don't necessarily focus in on what God wants from you, this, this obedience, this diligence, this resilience spiritually, and you're kind of caving or compromising or giving in and you start taking the pleasures of the world, you start making excuses. That, right there alone, is a prime example of the war that is waging within our souls and we have to be sensitive to this. In fact, again, this metaphor that Paul's using is a military one. The Greek word for waging here is striomai. It means to serve as a soldier or to advance a fleet of soldiers in battle. So we are not advancing in the flesh, obviously, to fulfill its pleasures, and we're not to fight against one another. No, this term is used seven times in the New Testament Luke 3.14, 1 Corinthians 9.7, 2 Corinthians 10.3,. 1 Timothy 1. No, this term is used seven times in the New Testament Luke 3, 14, 1 Corinthians 9, 7, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3,. 1 Timothy 1, verse 18, and 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 4, james 4, verse 1, 1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 11. So a soldier who's advancing a fleet you have your soldiers in there, ready for battle. We are not to be like that against one another. So he's already setting up this metaphor but saying don't be like this in the flesh. So you think about how much time and energy, if you will, that we put in fighting against one another. And what Paul's saying is it's not supposed to be like that. As a Christian, we are to focus our energy, as a soldier of Christ, to fight against the enemy that is Satan. Baker Exegetical Commentary says this.
Speaker 1:Yet two points are striking about the use of the language in chapter 10, verse 3 through 6. First, although Paul normally uses military word pictures to make a point about living the Christian life victoriously in the face of spiritual forces or partnership in Christian ministry, the imagery here is directly pointedly against the apostles' opponents at Corinth. He portrays himself as in a battle for the hearts and minds of the Corinthians and the false ministers in Corinth clearly are seen as the enemy. Second, the imagery used in these verses seem to cluster around a specific aspect of battle in the ancient world siege warfare, by which walls are torn down, end quote. Now, this is important because notice, he's recognizing these false teachers and later he's gonna be talking about how they overextend themselves, they boast in themselves, they think they're better than everybody else, and this pride again goes back to Lucifer when, because of his pride, he fell. He wanted to exalt himself above God.
Speaker 1:And Paul is using this language and he's pointing out that his enemies true people that think they're living the gospel or they have the right answers, and they don't he's saying these people are being brought in by the enemy and these false ministers that were in Corinth they're the enemy because they are doing the works of Satan. They're embodying the pride, the boastfulness, and so one of the things he's gonna be using with this in verse four now, is talking about these strongholds that come as a result of this. But there's one last thing we have to understand with this last term, when he says we are not waging war according to the flesh, this actually is a slightly different term that we're seeing in context. So one is we have, we live in this world. We have this body, this physical body, this fleshly body, sarks. But the other terminology he's using here is again we are not to be advancing worldly lusts and passions that run contrary to God. If you think back in Romans 8, verse 9, he says you, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. So we have to understand that when you and I, my friends, are gonna be tearing down these strongholds, when you and I are gonna be holding every thought captive, we cannot give into the flesh. We're not warring or advancing our message.
Speaker 1:That is the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died, was buried and rose again. And when the Bible says that it's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me, because we believe in the crucifixion and through that and the resurrection we have justification, we've been sanctified through the blood of Christ, we've been made new. We don't then compromise and live in the flesh and justify, like so many, quote carnal Christians or supposed Christians. They're a name only when I was writing the book Hijacking Jesus and sometimes it's so sad because you're like man. Am I coming off so judgmental and harsh when, in reality is, if you go against the doctrinal teachings of scripture, that you don't believe that Jesus is God, you can't be a Christian. If you deny the virgin birth, you can't be a Christian. If you don't believe that Jesus performed miracles, that he rose from the dead, you can't be a Christian.
Speaker 1:So when we are in spiritual battle, my friends, we are not to compromise. We are to be grounded in God's word. We're to be led by the power of the Holy Spirit, filled every single day Ephesians 5, 18, praying in the spirit Ephesians, chapter six with the armor of God and doing it together. We don't fight in battle alone. This imagery again, this metaphor that Paul's using, is not a lone ranger soldier. This is us fighting together in the power of God, through his strength and his might and his truth, with one another. That is the church, who Christ is the head. And then we go and we do the work that God has called us to do.
Speaker 1:Now, notice now, in verse four he says for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. I love this because, if you go back, he says we don't wage war according to the flesh, and our weapons of warfare are not of the flesh. But what are they? They are given to us by God. They have divine power to do what To destroy strongholds. Now, what Paul does here is he's proceeding to detail what our spiritual weaponry looks like. So when you and I are not compromising and we're living in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will understand our weaponry, and not only that, but we will be able to face the battle that is before us. So this terminology, weapons of our warfare the Greek word for weapons is hopla. It speaks specifically to battle ready weapons. So, again, when you look at this imagery that Paul's painting, when he's using the word waging we are not waging war according to the flesh is to serve as a soldier who's advancing a fleet of soldiers in battle. So you're ready for action, you are heading there to defeat the enemy and you have weaponry that has been given to you to do its job. It's battle ready weapons. So you're not passive, you are actively engaging, and that's the point.
Speaker 1:Every single day, as Christians, we are in spiritual battle. This word warfare is strata. It's a word that describes a war campaign or an expedition. So you and I, my friends, right now, I want you to think about this what is your strategy against Satan? What warfare are you engaging right now? What campaign or expedition, if you will are you facing right now? Who is with you? What type of army do you have around you?
Speaker 1:When you look at the Greek English lexicon of the New Testament, it says this word warfare. Strataea is to engage in war or battle as a soldier, to battle, to fight, to engage in war, to engage in warfare. So we, as Christians, we don't sit on the sidelines when we came to Christ and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we've been justified by faith. We were given the armor of God. We've been tasked, through our calling in the spiritual gifts that you specifically have been given, to exercise. You are now gauging in warfare, that is, in spiritual warfare.
Speaker 1:Now, what I want to point out also is that the only other time that Paul uses this term strataea is when he was writing to Timothy. And listen to what he says in 1 Timothy 1, verse 18. He says this charge I entrust to you, timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you that by them you may wage the good warfare. So notice, when Timothy comes to Christ and he was also, you know, the acknowledging of the elders and through Paul, the apostle, that he had a calling in his life they were anointing him and calling him because there was a warfare that he was to wage, that he was to fight. So Paul uses this simile, this figure of speech, in a way to establish a certain tone that we have to understand as Christians, that we're soldiers, we're engaging in military service.
Speaker 1:You and I, right now, as you're listening, we are engaging in a military service. Think of this podcast right now, specifically, since we're highlighting spiritual warfare as your training. You are a soldier and I've been tasked as a leader in the church to equip and prepare you for battle. Now I wish I could see all of you guys face to face, right, and give each one of you guys a hug to encourage you, to pray for you, and I just pray that you guys have great shepherds in your community. But, christians, we have to understand something All of you that are listening and I'm so thankful that you're listening Are you prepared for battle?
Speaker 1:Are you battle ready? I love the fact that many of you listen because it helps you be battle ready. I love the fact that my weekly men's group many of them will say this is a church body. That encourages me. I love the fact that when I am blessed and privileged by many of the donors in our ministry, it allows me to be able to go out there and preach in all kinds of different churches and denominations and backgrounds and to engage Christians of all different walks of life. I love that and a lot of them feel defeated, which is one reason.
Speaker 1:My friends, in our strategy as a ministry, the first thing is to embolden. It's our E3 strategy Embolden Christians, give them confidence. You and I can't find confidence in and of ourselves. The confidence that we are to have as Christians, to be engaging in military service, to be prepared for battle, comes from God. And since our battle is mainly spiritual and also worldly, with this worldly system that is engineered by Satan, we are not to use earthly weapons, if you will. We're not to rely on our own strength, because that won't suffice. Wealthy weapons, if you will. We're not to rely on our own strength, because that won't suffice.
Speaker 1:If you go back in this letter, if you go back to chapter six, verse seven, Paul actually lists. We oftentimes just focus in on the armor of God. That's mentioned in Ephesians six. But Paul says some of the weapons that we have. He says by truthful speech and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.
Speaker 1:I think this is so important that we can't miss because, remember, we are not waging war in the flesh. So we don't compromise, we don't excuse away, and God forgive us all when we do fall short. But the righteous man gets up again, proverbs 24. We're not to give up, because Christ's love is far greater. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more. But we don't rely on our own strength and we don't let the enemy come in there and cause us to feel like we're losers.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's so sad and you and I know this, my friends, and maybe this is gonna speak to you directly and personally that so many Christians feel so defeated that they're not even being used by God. They're not battle ready because they keep slipping back into worldly things or they don't really know about their faith, and so they're not battle ready. They don't have the knowledge. They don't not battle ready. They don't have the knowledge, they don't have the skill, they don't have the experience, but I want to remind you, guys, as we look at what Paul's saying the weapons of righteousness, see. That's why we cannot neglect this. And when I was looking at this, it just hit me like a ton of bricks for the right hand and for the left. When you and I have our weapons in hand, we have the righteousness of Christ. So when you and I see the picture of the soldier with the armor of God, with the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness, and we have the belt of truth and we're walking in the peace of the gospel and we have the sword in hand, et cetera, all of those things is the weapon of righteousness. This is what it represents. And so we're not living in this war, we're not letting the world defeat us, but we are a shining example. Or, as Ephesians 5, verse 1 says, we're imitators of God, that we are exposing the darkness. That is our calling. That's being battle ready, that's fighting the good warfare that Paul told Timothy to do in 1 Timothy 1, verse 18.
Speaker 1:I like what Expository's Bible commentary says about this particular passage. It says, quote a successful campaign can be waged in the spiritual realm only as worldly weapons are abandoned and total reliance is placed on spiritual weapons, which can demolish apparently impregnable fortresses where evil is entrenched. So, my friends, we do not have the strength within ourselves to stand against and defeat Satan. We all must acknowledge our weaknesses. That's part of the battle knowing our place and being fully reliant on the power of God. I mean, if you consider Paul and all that he went through as an apostle, there's no way he could have been able to do all that he did if he relied on his own strength. He says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 10, for the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Speaker 1:So now let's focus in on what this phrase divine power to destroy strongholds actually means. Number one we have to understand this word for power in the Greek is dinatos, and this is an important phrase because it's showing you this power, this explosive power that you and I don't have within ourselves. It actually depicts a story that we see in the Old Testament. Remember when Joshua was not relying just on the physical armory or the physical presence of his soldiers, but rather they depended on God. They relied on God's divine power to bring down the walls of Jericho and to defeat their enemy. In Joshua, chapter six, verses one through 20. That's the picture that I want you and I to understand when you and I are looking at this verse four, for the weapons of warfare are not of the flesh.
Speaker 1:So there's no doubt that Joshua, though a godly man, a great warrior, the army that God had him lead to Jericho could not have taken over that city. The only reason they took over that city is because the divine power of God was there for them to tear down those walls. Now, obviously that was a physical battle, but we know that it demonstrated a spiritual one, because God was advancing his name in a lot of this land of wickedness, telling them repent, telling them to repent, telling them to repent, and over and over again, a lot of these enemies of God's people were doing evil things. It would not repent. Some of them did. We see this in Jonah's story. But in this case there was a battle that raged because there was a stronghold that was in opposition to God's people advancing and going into the promised land. So this term stronghold is oikouama and it's a military term portraying a fortified city or palace.
Speaker 1:Now I want you guys to understand that in context, at the time in which Paul's writing this, there was the crumbling walls of Akro-Korinth that were set against the hills of Korinth. That served as a backdrop to what Paul I believe is illustrating on a deeper level. A backdrop to what Paul I believe is illustrating on a deeper level, that is a spiritual one that has eternal consequences. The NIV application commentary puts it like this quote like the wise man of the Proverbs, paul's purpose is to destroy the defenses of self-confidence and self-exaltation that have been erected by the self-commendations of those who oppose the progress of the gospel. End quote.
Speaker 1:And that's the point, my friends, as I want to close out on today's podcast, and in part three we're going to pick up in verses five through six and we're going to start exploring expositionally. We're going to be breaking down what these arguments are, these lofty opinions and seeing the hierarchy of Satan and how he sends out different types of demons to do different types of things. And one of the things we're gonna be looking at specifically with these strongholds are the doctrines of demons, these false ideologies, these empty philosophies that we are constantly being inundated with, not just through social media, but also through the personalities and the progress that people are trying to make within entertainment, politically, on a national, global scale. And we have to, as Christians, be discerning of these things and refute them not just with logic and reason, but speaking the truth graciously and with love and without compromise. And so I want to encourage you guys whatever spiritual battle or warfare you find yourself in, know that there's victory in Christ. Know that, if you're involved in a local church, set a meeting with a pastor.
Speaker 1:Don't do this alone.
Speaker 1:If you feel like there are thoughts in your minds, things that are causing you to feel very disturbed or uncomfortable, like it's almost like demonic, don't think that something is wrong with you to the point where no one's going to believe.
Speaker 1:You go to a Bible teacher, someone that you can trust, that's discerning, that's caring and empathetic, that you can pray with, and start exploring these opportunities to maybe find out if there is demonic activity that you need to cast out. We have the authority in Christ, my friends, to do this, to have the armor of God, because when we allow anger or sin to become a common thing in our life, that's a foothold that the enemy can use, and, gradually, the more that we compromise or give ground to him, the more exposure we're giving to the enemy to twist and to cause his lies and deception to control our minds and our actions. But in Christ there's freedom, and I want to leave you with that promise to know that if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So be encouraged today, and I can't wait as we explore verses five and six on the next podcast. Until then, keep standing strong in the word of God.