Christ – a different type of saviour
January 14, 2019
The Holy Innocents of today
January 14, 2019
The spiritual “weapons” necessary to wage war on any stronghold requires one’s knowing how to use them effectively and consistently.
The co-founder of Zion RC community highlighted the weapons referenced in 2 Corinthians 10:4 are not “natural” swords or guns, but weapons originated and “energised” by God.
“They are not human philosophies; they are not human ideas. They do not depend completely on human effort. You may use some human effort; you may need some planning but all of that is under the power of the Holy Spirit or else you are not going to use those weapons well and effectively,” Mary Baptiste said during a talk for Catholic Charismatic Renewal’s 22nd National Conference, January 4–6.
Baptiste’s talk on Saturday was centred on the verse: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.”
At the start of her presentation, she identified the work of the devil is to “mash up” one’s family and community. Hence it is imperative to be “mighty” in God and gain spiritual understanding.
“A stronghold is nothing nice. A stronghold is oppression…areas of my life where I am oppressed, where I am enslaved, where I want to come out but I can’t come out…. The enemy has seen my attraction to certain things and the enemy comes in now to take a hold of me, to seduce me, to influence me, to weaken me, so I may say ‘Yes’ and I will go like a lamb to the slaughter following the enemy.”
Baptiste gave the examples of strongholds present in crime, the drug trade and family life. “When a woman said to me ‘Nobody in my family gets married’…. that’s a stronghold. Whatever historical background, whatever social background brought that about, if we continue it now, you are in and under the power of the enemy in your family life and we are seeing the fruit of that in some groupings in the country,” she said.
Continuing the discourse, Baptiste emphasised the Holy Spirit has the power to remove “national and international strongholds” in every single family on every single street. But there’s a condition. “The Holy Spirit must find hearts and minds that want to be filled with righteousness….”
Baptiste added that there are many degrees and levels of strongholds—strongholds that are one million years old and entrenched racism over a thousand years old.
Gaining victory over these strongholds requires two critical spiritual weapons—righteousness and the Word of God.
Righteousness, is the foundational weapon in the warfare. “In order for us to get the freedom from those strongholds, there must be people in there who are hungry, who are thirsting, who are weeping, who are crying for righteousness,” she said.
The Word of God, she said, is able to penetrate any situation: “…because the word of God is eternally alive and active, which means it can get engaged in what is happening and it can bring wisdom, light and understanding so that wise decisions can be made.”
Ultimately, Baptiste called on participants to examine their position in God’s army.
“Who is your commander-in-chief today?…Is it Jesus Christ?” she questioned.
Reminding that the soldier cannot be “higher” than the commander-in-chief, Baptiste commented, “Then you (are) on good grounds for pulling down strongholds.” – Kaelanne Jordan, kjordan.camsel@rcpos.org
