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Be prepared to battle life's strongholds By Rev. Farrell Duncombe in the Montgomery Advertiser A stronghold is defined as a place that nature or man has made strongly defensible. In ancient times kings, nobles and nations built strongholds and took refuge in them from invading armies. These were very strong structures built by using thick and solid stones. It made counter attack much easier. The guarding soldiers could rain down arrows on the invading armies. Most of the time strongholds were built on mountaintops or high places and were heavily guarded. No one could enter in or go out without prior permission. Such was the ancient city of Jericho. History tells us that it was surrounded by two massive stone walls. The outer wall was six feet thick, 20 feet high with an inner wall 12 feet thick and 30 feet high. There was also a 15-foot guarded walkway between these two walls. From a military standpoint, it was practically impenetrable. This great walled city stood as an obstacle between the people of Israel and them claiming all that God had for them. Therefore, before they could go deeper into the land of Canaan and receive the promises of God, Jericho had to fall first. This ancient city represents those things that are entrenched and rooted in our lives that prevent us from going on and receiving the blessings and promises of God. Oh, we all have them! Regardless of how pious you may think you are, no matter what others may say, there are some things embedded in your life that hinder your walk with God. Perhaps it is a lost loved one we would like to see the Lord touch and save; a lost community over which we are burdened; a ministry from the Lord that we feel inadequate about; or financial trouble that stresses us to the limits of our patience and faith. It may be a root of bitterness, an unforgiving spirit that stands between you and God's best for you. It may be some old habit or bad attitude that is holding you back. It could be something from your past that you continue to struggle with to this day. Before you will ever receive all God has for you, that stronghold must be torn down! We must learn not to look upon our obstacles as dead-ends, but as opportunities for the Lord to work in our lives. Just as real are physical and mental strongholds that plague us, so are there spiritual strongholds. These are lies that Satan whispers into our mind as a simple thought. Then it grows up to a giant that controls our will and life against God's plan. It took builders many years to erect a physical stronghold and it is the same with spiritual strongholds -- they are not built overnight. A major step in the path toward physical, mental and spiritual victory over the strongholds of life is confidence in the Lord -- confidence in his promise and confidence in his power. We may think that we will never see our strongholds fall at our feet, but we must ever remember that God will always keep his promises! He has promised us the victory, and the victory shall be ours (I Corinthians 15:57; II Corinthians 2:14; Romans 8:37). At Jericho, Israel was about to learn the truth that victory was in the Lord and not in themselves. They were about to participate in the strangest victory in the annals of history. For them, victory would come about not as the result of trying, but as the result of merely trusting God. Whatever God has promised, he is well able to bring to pass. Therefore, let us face our strongholds well assured in the fact that God will do everything he has promised us he will do! The Rev. Farrell Duncombe is pastor of St. Paul AME Church. His column appears on the second Saturday of each month in the Montgomery Advertiser.