Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare

When we engage in spiritual warfare, we are fighting against a situation that we cannot overcome in the natural with our own strength. Sometimes, a new issue rises up, where the enemy takes advantage of a given environment and uses it to oppress and defeat us. Other times, it is an issue that has been there for a while, even for generations.

The Bible calls such an issue a stronghold, a word taken from the Old Testament. We read that David used to hide in the strongholds (1 Samuel 23:14). Max Lucado, 1 in one of his articles, says that the word stronghold shows up in the Bible at least fifty times.

Geographically, it referred to a steep cliff or caves in high mountain ranges that were not easily accessible. We can call them natural fortresses. Therefore, anyone who was using them was rather safe. We read about the efforts of King Saul to follow David into these areas to capture him; Saul did not succeed. If you visit Israel, you can still see the strongholds in the Judean Mountains on the side of the highway as you travel down to the Dead Sea.

The Bible talks about God as our fortress. In Psalm 144, David talks about God as “my loving ally and my fortress, my tower of safety, my rescuer” (Psalm 144:2). This idea of God being our fortress, our refuge during troubles, is found in Psalms 18, 27, 31, 59, 61, 62, 71, and 94. Some of these verses make it very clear why this theme was dear to the Israelites.

Total protection is what people expected in a stronghold or a natural fortress. So when a pious Jew like David called Godhis fortress, we get it. For a number of years, David enjoyed the protection of such natural strongholds.

Some ancient cities were natural strongholds. Jerusalem was one of them. That is why the Jebusites, who occupied that city, despised David’s efforts to conquer it. “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” (2 Samuel 5:6). But David found a way to conquer the city by going up through the water tunnel.

Then there are man-made strongholds, which refer to defensive structures that are very difficult to penetrate. That was the idea behind the walls built around ancient cities. One of the strongest strongholds in history was the city of Constantinople. It also shows how difficult it is to bring down strongholds.

Even though it was a human settlement from the seventh century BC, Constantinople rose to prominence when Emperor Constantine made it his capital in AD 330. It was situated at a unique and strategic geographic location, straddling Europe and Asia. It was created as a Christian city of immense wealth and beautiful architecture. It was governed by Roman law, and Greek was the adopted language of the city. The walls around the city were impenetrable for next 1,100 years, despite numerous attacks.

From the seventh century on, the Arabs tried to capture Constantinople because of its strategic location. But they did not succeed until 1451, when the Ottoman emperor Mehmed II finally broke through the walls of the city with the help of gunpowder from China and large, custom-made cannon balls.

This shows how difficult it is to break down an entrenched stronghold. This is where the biblical teaching on conquering strongholds comes in. The Bible is not talking about natural or man-made strongholds. It is talking about inner strongholds that form in our minds or in culture.

The Greek word for stronghold is echuroma. Greek language also has the word echo, similar to the English word. In English, echo represents a sound that repeats itself. In Greek, echo means to “hold fast,” but sometimes it is also used to represent strongholds. This allows us to understand that a stronghold is formed in our minds when we “hold fast” to things we should let go or when we repeat things we should not. Both principles are very important in understanding what the Bible is saying.