Wednesday, May 14, 2003
A "daisy cutter" sounds like something you'd use to trim up your yard, doesn't it? Well, don't try it - it's one of the most powerful bombs in America's new high-tech arsenal. It was used against the caves of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in the search for Al Qaeda. Iraq felt its force next, along with the new powerhouse they call the Bunker Buster. That bomb can actually penetrate deep underground to bunkers where military leadership may be taking refuge. Places that used to be impenetrable succumb to the power of new weapons that they just can't withstand.
Well,
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Busting Enemy Bunkers."
The power to destroy an enemy stronghold is a vital element in the outcome of the battle. That's why God has provided to those who belong to Him, weapons strong enough to destroy the strongholds of their enemy. And if you're at all serious about Jesus Christ, you can be sure your enemy is serious about you. The devil is serious about using his entrenched ground in you and around you to limit how victorious you're going to be.
Because we all have entrenched sin in our lives, we have these deeply embedded enemy bunkers that the Bible calls strongholds. They include those ways of thinking, ways of acting, ways of responding that continually defy the control and direction of Jesus. The strongholds in us are often hard for us to see because they've been there so long. But if you belong to Jesus, I can guarantee you that the Holy Spirit inside you is working even now to help you see, identify, and admit where the enemy keeps winning in your life.
Beyond the enemy strongholds in you, there are also enemy strongholds around you - evil influences and ideas and lifestyles that defy Jesus, that hold prisoner people you care about, that stand in the way of the advance of the work of Jesus. Pornography, racism, addictions, religious divisions, spiritual hypocrisy, gangs, occult forces, false religions - they can all be spiritual strongholds.
They're strong. They're deeply entrenched and fortified. But they can be demolished by those who understand the enemy they're up against and what it takes to beat him - God's bunker-busting weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4, our word for today from the Word of God, says: "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." Your enemy wants you to believe that nothing can ever change his control over things he's controlled for so long. But God has clearly told us that we can wage war successfully against the evil one if we use God's bunker-busting bombs.
Those weapons include the Word of God - it includes bombing him with Scripture about the very thing that has been his stronghold area. And then you pray defiantly against it, repeatedly aiming all the power of heaven at that bunker. And then get some of God's people together to go against it with you - because, as Jesus said, "I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it." (Matthew 16:18)
And Scripture says that "they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 12:11) Keep invoking the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus against Satan and his stronghold - he can't stand it because the death certificate of the devil is signed in the blood of Jesus. Finally, use praise against your enemy's hold on things - in the Bible's words, "You have ordained praise ... to silence the foe and the avenger." (Psalm 8:2) The one place the devil can't stand to be is in the middle of praises to Jesus.
The devil's long-held fortresses and deep bunkers in your life can be destroyed - as you unleash all the awesome power of Jesus Christ on those strongholds. With Christ's almighty power and your defiant faith, that stronghold is coming down!