Apostle Paul was such a prolific writer who shared with us so many truths about the kingdom of God. Given, the fact that He never physically fellowshipped with Jesus, He had access to so many spiritual truths by the power of the Holy Spirit.
His second letter to the Corinthians is one of the books of the bible that has so many truths that Christians have been held accountable to. My focus for this blog post is II Corinthians chapter 10 which has one of the most quoted verses in christian-dorm. II Corinthians 10:3-4 – For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down strongholds. But my main focus is verse 5 which I think is not as quoted as verses 3 and 4. Apostle Paul goes ahead to tell us the kinds of strongholds that we have to pull down as Christians; these strongholds include arguments, thoughts, imaginations that may pop up in our minds, life and society. He goes like this,
“Casting Down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
II Corinthians 10:5
For the longest time, I have been so focused on the pulling down of external strongholds the enemy tries to erect against the body of Christ. A closer look at these verses, we can see that these strongholds also include arguments, thoughts, imaginations that goes contrary to the perfection that God has designed for us. The perfect and ideal world God created for us was Eden where we have everything we need and most importantly sweet fellowship with Him. Daniel who was a valiant man as recorded in the bible thrived in this kind of environment where he enjoyed communion with the Lord although he was taken as a slave to Babylon. Daniel was extremely vocal and expressive about his faith, so much that people felt threatened and stopped at nothing to see him destroyed. In the time and place where Daniel lived, it was the propaganda to push the idea of another god to everyone – Daniel 3:1-17. But not Daniel and his friends, I find it powerful and brave of Daniel who was a captive in a strange land to be so bold to stand for His God. Obviously his confidence came from a place of depth with the Lord, He knew His God too well.
When he was accosted for not bowing down to the god built by king Nebuchadnezzar and was about to be thrown into the fiery furnace, his response is a classic example of casting every imagination that exalts itself of the knowledge of God. His enemies had imagined him and friends burnt to ashes in the furnace but their response was – “our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king“. This illustration highlights two things I would like to emphasize in this blog post: the propaganda of another god outside the almighty God and secondly the threat of destruction by the enemy. The world we currently live in may just be similar to Babylon as described in the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar designed a beautiful god in his eyes and pushed it down the throats of his subjects the same way the devil has designed so many “beautiful” things that has now become gods in this world. And if care isn’t taken we may begin to worship these gods. For example, the unreasonable zeal for money isn’t healthy and more or less a pointer to the fact that such a person has made money their god. The list is endless in this age and time but it is our responsibility as children of God to capture these things, cast down all of these things that may be highly exalted above the knowledge of God.
And finally, the second focal point from Daniel’s illustration is the fact that the enemy was bent on seeing his destruction as well as his friends if they did not bow to the powerless god. Similar in this age and time we live in, the enemy is working tirelessly to threaten believers, discourage us from serving the Lord happily. Truth is he can only try but we that know our God will continue to do exploit – Daniel 11:32.When we say exploits, in my opinion it includes a triumphant life, sane and healthy life in Christ Jesus. And it all begins with the knowledge of God, it is with our knowledge of God that we are able to cast down every imagination or thoughts that tries to exalt itself above the knowledge of God. A basic example is if someone calls you failure, that can easily sow a seed of doubt in one’s mind but you can quickly combat that with the knowledge of what God says. The Lord says that in this world, there are many tribulations but He has overcome, so will you through His help-John 16:33, He also says that as long as He dwells within you, you cannot fall or fail – Psalm 46:5. And on days, the enemy is trying to whisper sadness or depression into your life, that can be cast down with the knowledge of what God says in Isaiah 61 that He has given you His garment of praise instead of mourning and more so in Nehemiah 8:10 He says that His joy is our strength and portion and in Psalms 16:11 He says that in His presence there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.
So as we go into this week and the rest of our lives, remember to cast down quickly every imagination, thoughts that may try to exalt itself above the knowledge of God. Casting these. imaginations start with the knowledge of God and the knowledge of His word concerning you.
Selah.