Health Minute: Spiritual Strongholds & Health!
Most common symptom
Health Minute Audio Summary:
When Christians contemplate their health problems, they tend to gravitate toward one of two extremes: (1) All my health problems are physical, or (2) All my health problems are spiritual.
The truth of the matter is that while our health problems are usually physically caused, they can sometimes be spiritually caused.
In the first extreme, someone with obvious emotional and/or spiritual problems, will keep trying vitamin after vitamin hoping the next “wonder product” they try will finally solve their problem. In the second extreme, someone will believe that diet, natural medicines, or even conventional medicines are not the answer, but only faith and prayer. This view is often seen in adherents to the “word-faith” and “deliverance” movements. Let’s look at the biblically balanced approach to spiritual issues that most definitely can affect your health — the issue of spiritual strongholds.
WHAT IS A “SPIRITUAL STRONGHOLD”?
A spiritual stronghold might be identified as:
An area in which we have surrendered “spiritual ground” to Satan, and from which Satan can attack our lives.
So then, what is “spiritual ground?” “Ground” refers to JURISDICTION. A little biblical history: When Adam and Eve surrendered to Satan’s temptation, jurisdiction over the earth was transferred to Satan. This was obviously still true at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when Satan offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would only fall down and worship him (Matt. 4:8-9).
The Good News is that through Christ’s death and resurrection, Satan has been defeated and his kingdom is under judgment (John 16:8-11). Though Satan’s authority has been removed, his presence has not, and will not be removed until the final judgment. Thus, we have a new King—Jesus—in heaven in authority over the earth, and yet there is a lot of previously “surrendered ground” on earth that must progressively be taken back by believers in their own lives, as well as in the societies they live in.
But this isn’t just a matter of ground surrendered by Adam or ground surrendered by ourselves before we became Christians. Any Christian can surrender jurisdiction to Satan in any area of his life, thus giving “ground” or a “place” of authority to him. This prompts the scriptural admonition: “ . . . and do not give the devil a place (ground)” (Eph. 4:27)
With each surrender Satan is given more authority to control your mind, will and emotions. In this situation we become more and more spiritually defeated, even in seemingly unrelated areas. We become disillusioned as we sin, confess, repent only to fail again and again. We fail to understand that the “surrendered ground” provided a place for Satan to build a “stronghold” from which to attack other areas of our lives. Even physical health problems may result.
