Let’s face it. We all need a plan of action when it comes to tackling a difficult task. No army takes the field to fight without “counting the cost” as Jesus said, or without having a plan to execute, a battle strategy.

(2 Corinthians 10:3-6) For though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not worldly, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience has been confirmed.

THE AIM: THE DEMOLITION OF STRONGHOLDS. What is a stronghold? It is a fortified structure, a detaining wall, a highly defensible position. What strongholds must we demolish? The strongholds of the enemies of the gospel: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Where are these strongholds positioned? Remember that we are not fighting a physical battle, but a spiritual one. I would include in the list of strongholds areas where the enemy has become entrenched in your life. Ingrained bad habits, ways of thinking that are contrary to godly ways, behaviors that are second nature and go unrecognized, but are nonetheless sinful, attitudes that go unchecked and flare out of control: rage, anger, malice, bitterness, resentment, hatred, partiality, self-loathing and punishment, discouragement, despair, depression, despondency and such, sinful attitudes, actions or words that we have come to justify as permissible, even though they are explicitly forbidden by God’s Word, evil speech such as slander, gossip, innuendo, backbiting, name-calling, and blame. Basically, a stronghold exists because we have failed to tear it down. The wisdom, philosophy, ideas, attitudes, motives, values and goals that the world exalts run counter to what God wants. Because we are in the world and listen to the world and are influenced by the world, we fail to even evaluate them and see if they are in line with God’s desires. The more we listen to the world and follow the world’s ways, the more we become immersed in them. Satan’s lies underlie and reinforce the world’s thinking, speaking, and behavior. The flesh desires what the world presents and provides. These three enemies are aligned in their efforts to build fortresses of wrong thinking, wrong speaking, and wrong actions in our lives. The word “argument” is the word for reasoning. We must destroy sinful reasoning that continues to justify, support and encourage sinful living. “Every lofty opinion” is literally “every elevated place or thing.” Those ideas, opinions, reasoning, and attitudes that seek to elevate our desires above God’s desires must be destroyed. We must decide that it will be God’s way, not ours. When you think of all of the bad thinking, acting, and speaking we have grown accustomed to, you begin to realize that this is going to be a fierce struggle, a horrible battle, a bloody war.

Understanding the enemy’s strategies. We must make sure we understand the tactics of the enemies of our faith. We know that deception is a big part of that strategy. Therefore, we must constantly guard our thinking and evaluate every thought, word, and action to see if it conforms to godly living. Rationalizing is another tactic. Getting us to question God, His goodness, His will, His plan and His commands will introduce doubt that will open the door to justification of ungodly ways (reread Genesis 3). Seducing us into overconfidence is a familiar tactic, but continues to be effective. Our pride, our extreme confidence in our ability to master our selfishness and control our lives, leads us to believe that we are safe, secure, untouchable. We don’t have to worry about this sin, that evil thought, those ugly words (or so we are led to believe). Then, from out of nowhere, the enemy unleashes an ambush that takes us by complete surprise and we fall or retreat in disbelief. Making sure we are familiar with the enemy’s tactics will help us to face the battle head on.

Using our weapons effectively. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. It is sharp and powerful, cutting through the doubts, fears, rationalizations, and wrong thinking in our lives. It cuts to the core of our being. It reveals the stealth tactics of the enemy. It lays out the right attitudes, actions, and speaking that we must adopt. It lays out a course of action for our lives. It unveils God’s thinking, God’s actions, and God’s words for us. It reveals His plan for the world, the future, our salvation and our living. It brings to light the dark deeds of this world and exposes them for what they are: the path to destruction. It is our military manual and we must become familiar with it if we are to succeed in battle. It is the sword that we must learn to wield in battle if we are to cut through the lies, deceptions, rationalizations and fallacies of the enemy. A soldier who goes into battle but doesn’t know how to shoot a gun is useless in battle. We must become students of the Word, yes, even masters of the Word.

Self talk is another weapon. We must learn to identify false thinking and speak the truth to ourselves. Sometimes, I listen to Christians talking and I think, if they would just listen to what they were saying, they should easily see how wrong that thinking is. Over and over in Scripture, we are told to stop deceiving ourselves. If we learn to scrutinize what we are telling ourselves (our thinking) and evaluate our thought processes, we can begin to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” When I catch myself lying to myself (and still happens more frequently than it ought), I speak (sometimes audibly) the truth as the Spirit brings it to my attention. I will even chide myself (“You know better than to think that way, Dan!”). We must learn to take prisoners in this battle: imprisoning evil thoughts, selfish desires, and sinful actions.

Prayer is a powerful weapon. With it we marshal and rally spiritual forces to aid us in our struggle. We cry out to the Spirit of God to give us strength to stand. We pray for the encouragement and consolation of the saints of God to stand with us. We plead with the angels of God to encamp around us for spiritual protection. We pray for wisdom to understand God’s plan, His will and His ways. We invoke the spiritual authority to send Satan fleeing. In God’s power, when we resist the devil, he will flee. We ask for the power to do what we know is right, what we know we need to do, what we know must be done to win.

Winning the war. Determine that you will never surrender to the enemy. Decide that you won’t quit, you won’t give up, you won’t give in, you won’t stop fighting. Winston Churchill, in a speech titled The Unrelenting Struggle, spoke these inspiring words:

“Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Stay alert. Continue to learn to use your weapons and to fight the battle. Guard your walk with God. Remind yourself that losing a single fight does not mean that the war is lost or that the struggle is over. Follow orders, even when you don’t understand them. Remember that the overall battle plan is bigger than you and your particular struggle. You may not know now how your little campaign will ultimately affect the overall battle or the struggles of others. But maybe someday you will see how your success in the struggle contributed to an overwhelming victory in the larger war.