The Stronghold of Unforgiveness

This is a copy of an e-mail sent to members and friends of Ranch Community Fellowship on October 23, 2008.

The Stronghold of Unforgiveness

By Pastor Ed Wandling

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds [emphasis added]. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NIV)

This is one of the most familiar verses among Christians, but have you ever asked what is meant by “stronghold?” The context tells us it is about thought patterns. The words use in verse five that help us understand the nature of a stronghold are “argument…. pretension [meaning opinions],” and “thought.” A stronghold is a way of thinking that is different compared to God’s way of thinking. Ed Silvoso describes it this way.

A stronghold is a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes the believer to accept as unchangeable something that he or she knows is contrary to the will of God.

This is precisely where we are when we do not forgive. We know we are to forgive, but because the wound is so deep or the offense is so unjustifiable, we cannot or will not bring ourselves to do so. We have no hope that we could or would ever extend forgiveness. So we have accepted a position that is contrary to the will of God, and it is eating away at the meaningful life God wants us to have.

One reason we do not forgive is our definition of forgiveness. Our misunderstandings of what forgiveness is and what it is not prevent us for experiencing the joy God has for us in this area. We need a Biblical understanding of what it means to forgive.

This Sunday at RCF, in our current message series entitled “Guard Your Heart,” I will continue to teach about forgiveness. An unwillingness to forgive is among the most common strongholds believers face. All of us struggle with it. Many of us are gripped with it. You are not alone in your struggle. Come this Sunday as together we lay this down at the foot of the cross. Let’s let Jesus, by the power of his most holy Spirit, set us free.

“Get To” not “Got To”

Jesus says “…do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.” (John 5:45 NIV)

Many of us are confused about the relationship between the law of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. Very often we treat the grace of Christ as if it supplanted the law of God, yet Jesus himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)[1] While many of us know this academically, practically we overemphasize the law, or grace, which leaves us an unsatisfying life with God and an inaccurate witness.

The New Testament teaches us that the law has at least two purposes; to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24) and to teach us how to live in love (Matthew 22:37-40 ). In many respects, the law actually foreshadows the kind of life God wants us to have, but the law, by itself, was incapable of producing that life. It was only capable of exposing our need for a savior while giving us a hint of what life could be.

Unfortunately, we are still left with a dilemma. How do we reconcile the law of God with the grace of God? I think Kevin Myers, a pastor in the Atlanta area frames it best. He basically says we “get to” rather than we “got to.” We “get to” live the life of God. Earning a life with God is no longer a “got to” proposition. Through the grace of Christ we “get to” live the life of God with God.

The work of Christ not only provides an avenue of forgiveness for our sin, but a conduit of power propelling us toward sin-free living. That conduit is the Holy Spirit, God, living within us. When we are living a truly spiritual life, that is to say living by the Spirit, then we fulfill the law of God. (Galatians 5:16-18 ) The Law becomes a guide, a measuring stick, to which we compare our lives. The degree to which our lives measure up indicates to us how well we are nurturing our relationship with Christ and experiencing the joy of living in his grace.

We are still expected to fulfill the law of God, but the difference is found in how we fulfill it. Do we fulfill that law as a goal through our own efforts? Or rather do we fulfill the law almost as a by-product of nurturing the life of Christ within? The former is from the outside in while the latter is from the inside out. I believe the latter is God’s plan, and it is even found throughout the Old Testament books of the Law. To cite one example, in Deuteronomy we read, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”[2]

© 2007, Ed Wandling

[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.