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So what is the knowledge of God? I submit to you that it is the Word of God. Strongholds then are the things in our lives that divert our attention from spending time meditating on the truths of Scripture! There will be times where it seems like we are being pulled in every direction. A deadline at work is looming and then our spouse calls to ask to run an errand. While running the errand our boss or a coworker may call requesting status on the deadline. All of these things are meant to draw us away from the Word of God. So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. There are many Christians who seem to never find the plan of God. They struggle through their Christian journey with little assurance that their lives are fulfilling the purpose for which God put them on the earth. You may have a need for healing or finances. Most Christians will immediately cry out to God for these things. I believe this is why we struggle with receiving from our loving heavenly Father. People approach Him for what they need, struggle with their faith, and then become disillusioned when the answer does not come. At the end of my message the pastor stood with tears in his eyes. He told me that no one had ever told him a relationship with the Holy Spirit was possible! Standing in front of his congregation this pastor asked me to introduce him. I was shocked. Religion has robbed the Church of power because it has taken away the aspect of relationship. It paints God as a cruel taskmaster who will lose His temper and punish us for the smallest mistake. This is not the picture painted in Scripture. I’ll never forget the walk from my seat to the pulpit. The Holy Spirit began to speak to me in that still small voice within my spirit just as He will speak to anyone listening. He asked me to talk about Him. Many years ago an opportunity opened for me to speak in a Freewill Baptist Church. This was odd because I had just graduated from a school with Pentecostal beliefs that were totally counter to what this church believed. Religious tradition has robbed a large portion of the Church from being able to experience God’s power. The cure for an outward obsession will be found in a revelation of our position in Christ. It will require effort to dig out all of the Scriptures which tell us what this is. This effort will be greatly rewarded as it will lead us into His rest. Many people believe that God can do anything. How many of us actually believe that He will do it in our lives? Paul tells us that grace reigns “through righteousness” by “Jesus Christ”. I challenge you to go through the New Testament to identify Scriptures that identify your rights in Him. Let me provide you with a few examples. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. It is up to us to either allow sin or righteousness to reign in our lives. God is not the one opening the door to sin or depression in our lives. He has provided complete freedom in Christ Jesus but we must choose to open His Word and allow it to wash away the strongholds that have taken root in our souls. Jesus was secure in His relationship with God. He only sought to please the Father. He was not moved by people’s feelings about Him. I’ve heard ministers talk about the need to map every stronghold over a city to provide a roadmap for spiritual warfare. To the best of my knowledge, 2 Corinthians 10:4 is the only place where “strongholds” are mentioned. Jesus knew the people's heart condition. He ministered the truth and many were offended. This is a much different model from our seeker friendly church movement that seeks to create a non offensive worship environment! At the end of John 6 ends with the account of Jesus’ sermon in which He describes Himself as the bread of life and tells the listeners that eternal life would be available to those who ate His flesh and drank His blood. His sermon was something that could not be perceived by the natural mind. Many people were offended and left Him. It is unfortunate that the modern Church judges success on carnal things. We look at church attendance, the preacher’s lifestyle, and now even online audience size to determine success. This is not how Jesus looked at success. A friend recently asked about the difference between presence, anointing, and glory. I had to pray about this. Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit when they invite Jesus to become the Lord of their life. We all have the “presence” just as the man mentioned above has the “presence” of his wife with him on a daily basis. I recently went on a week-long trip with my wife. We rented a cabin for three days and just enjoyed the views and each other. It may not be intentional but it is our decision to allow sickness, disease, lack, and depression into our lives. We do this by not giving time to the Word and fellowship with God. Jesus already shed His blood. We will make mistakes and we will miss God at times in our Christian walk. Forgiveness was purchased long before we were born! If we acknowledge our mistake He will “send forth” the forgiveness already provided to us in Jesus and cleanse us from the sin with no remembrance that it ever happened! We must develop in our revelation of the Father’s love for us. He sent Jesus to die for us before any of us were conceived in our mother’s womb. Our sins and iniquities were forgiven nearly two thousand years before any of us drew a breath. This includes all past, present, and future sin that any man or woman will ever commit! I once fought with depression. People had called me stupid growing up and I believed them. Teachers told me I was not smart enough to learn and I believed them. My life was a self fulfilling prophecy of failure and defeat. A revelation of God’s love will cause the trials and criticisms of this world to become less significant to us. Why does it matter if someone thinks that we are an extremist for following the plan of God? Jesus loves us and would never ask any of us to do something that would hurt us. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.