We need to understand what the scriptures reveal concerning spiritual warfare. The problem with Christianity is that nobody wants to dare traditions; nobody wants to challenge the status quo. And the Bible tells us that is supposed to be, because revelation is progressive.

The Bible says in Romans 1:16-17 where Paul proclaimed, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to them that, believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile and the Greek, for in it is  the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.”  Peter also said in 2 Peter 1:19, that we have a more sure word of prophecy unto which take heed as unto the light that shineth in the darkness till the day dawn and the daystar arises in your heart. So there is a progressiveness – word of prophecy, sure word of prophecy, more sure word of prophecy.

Proverbs 4:18 says that the path of a just man is like a shining light that is shining more and more unto the perfect day.  We are supposed to be knowing better and better. If all we know now is what Branham and Frisby knew before they died, then we are foolish. We are not taking advantage of what God has said that we are supposed to be getting to know better, not because we are better, but because we live in the days that are closer to the very end.  And that means that certain things we have always held unto will  be upturned as we progress in revelation. That is why God says He will teach us line upon line, precept upon precept, a little here, a little there. That’s exactly what God is doing and if we are not taking advantage of this we will be the worse for it. 

What many see as spiritual warfare is when a person manifests demonic oppression and another prays for hours to deliver him. What a joke, what fallacy! Have you ever wondered why some people battle over the same issue for years without any change in their situation? In fact there are some people you can recite their prayer if you live close to their houses; they say the same prayers everyday.

The scripture in 1 Timoth 6:12 says “fight the good fight of faith. What does it mean to fight in the first place? What is a good fight? What are the dimensions of fighting?

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.  1 Timothy 6:12

To fight means “to try to overcome.” So when the Scriptures says “fight the good fight of faith,” it is saying you are supposed to fight against what is fighting your faith. You have faith but something is trying to overcome it, so fight against that thing. You couldn’t have had faith in the first place if Jesus had not finished the work. But because He finished it, He handed us the victory and we are to guard that victory (in the territory of our faith) against any contrary force.  The Bible says we should give no space to the devil (Eph. 4:23). That means the land that Jesus has conquered and given to us, we must not give an inch to the devil.

To fight also means to “oppose by action or by argument.” Don’t forget that the word adversary means an opposer, and that is the meaning of the word “satan.” That means that it is the devil actually that is contending in disguise by his lieutenants. You have to fight for your faith because:

1. God says you should fight for it
2. Because your faith is at stake
3. You should fight because without that you cannot fulfill God’s purpose on earth.
4. Because the victory has already been won, you have to fight to maintain it.

So it is important for us to fight. That means we are actually going to wrestle against the devil and all his wiles. It takes strong people to fight and win, so the battle is to the strong and not the weak. What the Bible means when it says “the battle is not to the strong” in Eccl. 9:11, is that the battle is not to the physically strong, it is not to the most armed or to the one that has the highest number of anti-ballistic missiles; it boils down purely to strategies. But you must understand the warfare, before you can know what strategies to apply. Proverbs 24:5 says “a wise man is strong, yea a man of knowledge increaseth strength.” So don’t be happy that you are weak.  If you are weak, you will be exploited. That is why the Bible says that those that know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

The Bible does not only say you should fight, it says you should fight the good fight of faith.

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;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor. 10:3-5

For though we war in the flesh, our fight is not by sight or by our physical senses, it is in the invisible realm. And since our faith is not physical, our weapons also cannot be physical else we would just be fighting a lost battle.

This  Scripture in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says that our invisible weapons are mighty, but they are not mighty on their own, they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What then is a stronghold? Stronghold means “to hold or keep safely.”It means “to fortify.” To fortify means “to surround with a wall, a ditch or palisade or other works with a view to defend from the attack of the enemy.” It also means “to strengthen against opposition.” A stronghold is something that is securely preserving till no opposition can gain entrance. The kind of weapons we have for our warfare will sink any type of fortified stronghold, so that we can enter into the territories that belong to us, that have been taken away by philosophies, ideas, opinions, Nollywood, Hollywood and all manners of advertisement on TV.

Our weapons through God are also capable of casting down (throwing down) imaginations. So let’s look at the meaning of the word imagination.

The New English Bible says (2 Cor. 3:4,5) “The weapons that we wield are not merely human but divinely potent to demolish strongholds. We are engaged in confuting arguments and pulling down every barrier raised against the knowledge of God.”The word interpreted imagination is actually “arguments” in the Greek lexicon. Remember that to fight means to oppose. So when God says you should fight the good fight of faith, He is saying “oppose everything that is opposed to the faith of God – every argument that may be advanced by science, by newspaper, by home video, by your pastor, by the preacher, by your tradition, by anything whatsoever, that is opposed to the faith of God. That is the beginning of the battle; fighting against principalities and powers is the latter part of it. The war is split into two – the civil war and the territorial war. If you have not dealt with the civil war, you are joking concerning the territorial war. But while you are fighting the civil war, territorial war will advance, but you deal with it so that you can continue with it and quench it, then face the territorial war squarely.

I want you to know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with strongholds, imaginations and thoughts, just as there is nothing wrong with principalities, powers and rulers. You need to understand that we are not fighting arguments or strongholds, what we are fighting are strongholds that are contrary. Security men are not put in places to harass people, but people  who are not the kind that ought to be in that place. Why many Christians have remained under serious oppression of the devil is because they don’t know that they are supposed to build strongholds in their hearts. If you don’t have strongholds built in your heart, you can be very sure that you are a victim of spiritual oppression. These strongholds are fortification that you have built in your heart with the word of God.

Anybody that does what Adam and Eve did, cannot be fit for the Rapture (Gen. 2:9; 3:3). God never told them not to eat of the fruit of the trees in the midst of the garden, He only told them not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This shows us the need for accuracy in the knowledge of the word of God, you must be precise in God’s word. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were both in the midst of the garden, but because they could not discern the word of God accurately, instead of pinpointing one of the trees in the midst, Eve pointed to the two. God expected them to eat of the tree of life, so they would have lived forever. Instead of discerning God’s word, they chose to be blinded and satan took advantage of them, zeroing inn on that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their error of omission led to error of commission.

If you have a child that is just growing, you have all the opportunity in life to feed him with life and life alone, until there is enough stronghold in him that when you are not there in school and his teacher tells him that man evolved from apes, he would boldly stand and say “God created me, I did not evolve from apes.”  But what happens if you have never taught him about the Creation of man at home? Give them the fruit of the tree of life so much until there is no space for anything else. That is the same way our body system operates. White blood cells when they recognize any attack, they all deal with the attack together. They are a form of stronghold.

So what happened to Adam and Eve was that they did not have any stronghold, and we all know that nature abhors vacuum.  There is no free thinker, you are either on the side of God or on the side of the devil. The problem is that strongholds have taken effect in our hearts because of how we grew up to believe many of the fallacies we were told. For example, we were told that if you sit down at the door step to eat, you will never be satisfied. It is a lie, they only used that to teach that children should eat in hygienic places. So mind how you raise your children, you may be raising a stronghold that will last them their lifetime, which may be contrary to sound word.

Stronghold is like a cast, whatever you put inside it takes the shape of the mould. Strongholds are like containers, they give shape to whatever comes into them. If you have built a stronghold that makes you believe that all preachers are liars, this word cannot help you; but you will be helped in the name of Jesus. Certain experiences of life have formed strongholds in your mind concerning different issues of life; and God knows that you were not born again when you imbibed them, that is why He is now equipping us who have come to Him.

“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:10

God did not just give a commission of building but to first root out, pull down, destroy and throw down, before to build and to plant, because you cannot build God’s house on Satan’s foundation. Understand that the battle against Satan is first in the mind. This is when he uses imagination and all things that are unscriptural (lies) to cause us to disobey God or to keep us in bondage. The only answer to Satan is to fill our hearts with the word of God as Psalm 119:9-11 says, “ How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!”