“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)
“And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.” (2 Samuel 5:6-7)
The life of a Christian can and should be a life of continuous victory. But, yet, it is also a life of constant warfare. Satan is our enemy and he hates us with a passion. He places in our path everything imaginable to try to stop us. He tempts us with all sorts of evil devices. His sole purpose in existence is to try to destroy you.
The Word tells us not to think it strange when trials come our way. Even Jesus Himself was tempted by satan. Some people teach that Christians can reach a state of closeness with God and never be tempted again. Not so. That's a lie straight from the pits of darkness. The closer you draw to God, the more the devil's going to attack you. Why? Because the closer we are to God, the greater the threat to satan and his kingdom.
The warfare is real. It never stops. There are no truces. But through it all, you can still have complete victory over the devil through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God wants you to have victory over all the powers of darkness. You can have victory over all the forces of the enemy.
Jerusalem is reported to sit in the exact geographical center of the world. During the time of Saul's reign, it was inhabited by the Jebusites. They were a fierce and warlike people who had never been conquered. Saul couldn't conquer them either. Although he conquered many heathen nations, around him the Jebusites seemed invincible. Even the military might of Egypt feared them. As the Bible describes it, they were undoubtedly aided and backed by satanic forces of darkness.
The Jebusites were satan's cancer in the midst of Israel. God wanted them totally defeated. Just as Saul never did defeat them, he was also never able to defeat his internal problems with pride, jealousy and more. We should learn from Saul's tragic example. If we do not defeat and overcome the enemies within us, the enemies without will eventually defeat us. It is a battle to the death, the death of the stronghold within our lives, or the death of our spiritual experience with God.
The first thing David did when he became king of Israel was to attack and defeat the stronghold of the Jebusites. He recognized them for what they were, the enemy within. They could not be allowed to stay. They had to be rooted out. Just like the Jebusites were recognized by David as an internal enemy, we, too, must be willing to recognize the weaknesses that we have in our lives. It may be jealousy, envy, gossip, strife, bitterness, or any one of one-hundred other vices. Whatever it is, it is a matter of life or death to root out these shortcomings before they defeat you. For if they remain, they will grow in your life until they consume you. Defeat your strongholds in the Name of Jesus. Fight them. Rebuke them.
Now, if we are going to defeat these strongholds and overcome the enemy, we must be armed. We must be armed to overcome the powers of darkness and to gain total and complete victory in our lives. How should we be armed? Well, definitely not with carnal weapons. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” We should be armed with the blood of Jesus. We should be armed with the power of the Holy Ghost. We should put on the whole armor of God. And when we are armed with the weaponry of the Lord, we can be more than overcomers. We can conquer the forces of the enemy.
A lot of people never get victory over their strongholds because they never want to recognize that they even have any. The first thing David did was to recognize that the Jebusites existed and that it was the stronghold of forces contrary to God. He did not ignore the fact, he faced it head on. He recognized them for what they were, wicked, evil, and sinful. If Israel was to survive, they had to be destroyed totally, absolutely and completely. There could be no middle ground.
If you are going to live a victorious Christian life, you must face the strongholds in your life head on. You must not ignore them. The strongholds in your life must be totally destroyed. You have no other choice. You must destroy them, or else they will destroy you. As long as you refuse to admit that there might be strongholds in your life, you will never have complete victory. David recognized the Jebusites as a festering sore in the midst of Israel. He didn't ignore it. And if we are able to obtain victory in our lives, we must admit if there is a festering sore called a stronghold in our lives, this is the way to victory.