Let’s begin by listening to the Book of James 4:6-10,

But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

From the letter of James 4:6-10, we can derive a process to drive strongholds of the evil one from our lives, giving us a systematic way to use the weapons the Lord has provided us.

          1. Humble yourself before God (v. 6b)

The first step involves confessing our sin and seeking cleansing from defilement. Before we can do that, we must first admit that there is something wrong in our lives, and have the desire to deal with the ‘Jerichos’ in our lives that block our victories.

Then, we acknowledge we need help from God and when we humble ourselves before God to repent from our sin, it means we fully acknowledge our wrong thinking and actions and intentionally want to deal with it. Matthew 3:8 reminds us, “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.” God will forgive us not because of who we are, or what we have done. He forgives us because Jesus has paid the price by shedding His blood on the cross. After we have confessed our sins, we must then cleanse ourselves from defilement.

          2. Submit totally to God (v. 7a)

When we submit to God, we surrender ourselves totally and fully to His authority. In this step, we pledge our allegiance to Jesus as Lord and come under His covering. Fully submitting to Him means that we are truly sorry and want nothing more to do with the sin. Being repentant involves the principle of removing and replacing. It involves lifestyle and community changes.

There’s a difference between worldly and godly repentance. Worldly repentance is to be sorry and remorseful because we have suffered the consequences, but stop short of life change. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says:  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

So here, we see that godly repentance results in not just behavior modification, but a changed life.

           3. Resist the evil one (v. 7b)

Resisting the evil one and his work will only be successful after we humble ourselves before God and submit to His Lordship. This is a deliberate act of the will and we do that by faith in the word of God. When we do so, the devil must flee (v. 7b). To resist the evil one is to deliberately rebuke unclean spirits and to specifically command them to leave with authority. It is not praying as we pray only to God.

4. Draw near to God (v. 8a)

In removing strongholds, there is a void left behind when evil spirits leave us. If we do not fill this with godly thoughts and actions, the evil spirits will return and the same strongholds which we previously removed will once again be re-erected (Matthew 12: 43-45). This is the key step of drawing near to God by intentionally engaging in spiritual disciplines - regularly praying, reading the Word and giving time to thanksgiving, praise and worship. Another way of drawing near is to constantly give thanks and having a grateful heart. As we recall what the Lord has done and given to us, we become more God-conscious and less self-conscious.

5. Avoid double-mindedness (v. 8b)

This means that on one hand, we want to have a breakthrough with, for example our addictions, but on the other hand, we still cling to the pleasures of sin. 2 Peter 2:22 describes it as follows:

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

Not every fault or blemish is easily removed. We are to cleanse our minds, hearts and mouths - and then our eyes, ears, hands and feet; that is, our motivations, words and actions.

6. Continually submit to God (v. 10)

The first five steps are the beginning of a journey with God to tear down a stronghold. Strongholds are not formed overnight, and neither will they be torn down so quickly. It is a process that we have to fight through, and thus it is important that we continually surrender ourselves to God. It is a daily walk of discipleship, where we take small steps each time to strengthen our faith, and to progress towards spiritual maturity. We do so by standing on the promises in God’s Word, and by resisting our human desires to return to the same addictions or faults.

In order for strongholds to be demolished, our thought life must also be brought under the control of Christ. Our thoughts are where spiritual battles are often fought - they lead to plans, then decisions, then actions. In time, actions become behaviours, patterns and attitudes. Strongholds may begin in the natural, but they are reinforced by the spiritual. Therefore, we must guard our thought life and belief systems by examining every thought in the light of Christ. They must be aligned with Scripture and the inward witness of the Spirit.

Ungodly beliefs are thoughts, suggestions, perspectives, worldviews, proposals and attitudes which are contrary to the nature, character and Word of God. These beliefs may appear to be true because of the believer’s feelings, thoughts and experience. However, they are not godly because they contradict God’s Word and God’s nature.

Ungodly beliefs develop firstly as a result of our own carnal minds, and are often an outcome of our family background and a secular worldview. Another ungodly belief with which many Christians struggle is about our relationship with God. There is also the ungodly belief that the more we serve God, the more God should bless us. This leads many to step on a performance treadmill and try to ‘earn’ His blessings through church service and leadership.

If we do not grow in our knowledge and understanding of who God is, we will often struggle with many ungodly beliefs about ourselves, God and others. Therefore, our minds must be renewed through daily surrender (Romans 12:2) and we must be conscious of the thought patterns of the world. Renewal of the mind involves unlearning and relearning all the time, and we need to constantly go back to the Word and the Spirit’s fresh revelation to measure our thought life. If the thought is contrary to the Word and the inward witness of the Spirit, we reject it. Ultimately, we want to grow in having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

How do we take our thoughts captive in obedience to Christ? Before that, we must first discern their source. Thoughts (and consequently visions, dreams and propositions) can come from three sources: man, the evil one and God. Thoughts from God build us up and are rooted in the Word. Thoughts from the evil one or from our human understanding disturb us and cause us to fear or lose our peace. They are contrary to God’s Word and His character.

To take these thoughts captive means to appropriate Scripture and cast all our cares on him (Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7). We commit to him our anxieties: not having provision, our children’s welfare, whether our husbands will remain faithful when travelling overseas, or if we will be retrenched. We continue to do so until the peace of God guards our hearts and minds from our wild imaginations and turbulent emotions (Philippians 4:7). God wants us to experience Him and to be victorious and strong in our spirit. He wants us to make wise decisions and to prosper in life. The imagination of our hearts and minds must be continually cleansed by the blood of Christ, and replaced by the Word “to dwell in [us] richly” (Colossians 3:16).

At the end of today’s sharing, you may have the following reflections. What are some ungodly beliefs in your life? How can you transform these into godly beliefs? In the next episode, we will look into the last part of our third milestone at Jericho - 'Finding True Knowledge of God’.

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