The Romance of Romans-Part 112

[Michael]

An Addendum on Locating and Overcoming Negative "Strongholds"

The New Testament doesn't go into a lot of explicit details about the
nature of "strongholds" as they have come to be understood among many
believers in our generation...the kind of embedded problems (even
subconscious ones) like I have been describing in my recent posts. The
passage from John's first epistle below may be the best New Testament
passage to turn to in which we see how the apostles thought about
nature of these stubborn "strongholds" of darkness that commonly
become lodged deep in the hearts of human beings...even though John
doesn't call them strongholds. I think this is one of the most
profound passages in all of scripture regarding personal
transformation into the image of Jesus Christ.

1 Jn 3;16-24
16By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we
ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17But if anyone has the
world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart
against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18Little children, let
us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

19By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our
heart before him; 20for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater
than our heart, and he knows everything. 21Beloved, if our heart does
not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22and whatever we ask
we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what
pleases him. 23And this is his commandment, that we believe in the
name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has
commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God
in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom
he has given us.

I will simply point out some of my observations of this passage as it
relates to the framework about human problems and divine solutions I
have previously written about. See if you agree.

1. vs 19: God's intention is to "reassure" our heart in the light of
his grace and truth. This Greek word can also be translated
"persuade"...our hearts need some persuasion to become free and whole.

2. vs 21: Our hearts tend to "condemn" us and this robs our
"confidence before God". This is the focus of the needed
"persuasion"...from condemnation to confidence.

3. vs 22: In turn, this lack of confidence before God in our heart
hinders our intimate communion..our conversational relationship...with
the Trinity.

4. vs 23: If, however, we gain confidence before God, our friendship
with him goes to new heights, depths and breadth. We will discover a
naturally/supernatural flow of prayer, obedience, discernment, faith,
love for others and...

5. vs 24: ...the grace and ability to "remain present" to God ...and
he to us...at all times (a good definition for "abide"). Finally, we
realize how close the Holy Spirit is to us, how involved he is with us
in this process and how accessible to us is his presence and power.

6. vs 16: The genesis of this transformation of heart is based in
"knowing love". Firstly, the sacrificial love of Jesus for us
personally. Then secondly, as a direct outcome, our sacrificial love
for others.

7. vs 18: This love is authentic, genuine, divine, true, beyond
rhetoric...practical and concrete.

8. vs 17: We can choose to "close our heart" to self-protect in the
face of others' needs (as one example among many) which, effectively,
walls us off from the "love of God". The result of the profound
closing of the heart (can be sudden or gradual)...today we call it
"shutting down"...is the formation of a stronghold...like the kind I
have been describing.

9. vs 20: When we discover a stronghold...described by John here as a
area of our life in which our heart is "condemning" us...we need not
panic, they are common to us all. The self-awareness, the exposure, is
a gift from God. The reality is that we do not even know the depths of
our own heart. Fortunately...the "self-talk" of own heart is not the
final judge of our life, for "God is greater than our heart and knows
all things"! Nothing true about us can shock him, scandalize him or
deter his pursuit of bringing his cleansing and healing into our
hearts through Jesus the Son. We need his light to even see the
precise nature of our heart's conflicts. We can fall back safely into
him strong waiting arms when we are bowled over by the blows of life
and our own compromises.

10. vs 19: By this...our hearts go on this journey of discovery and
transformation. By what? By our ongoing experience of living in a
culture in which the love in human relations goes beyond rhetoric to a
more genuine and practical expression. It involves dwelling in a
"sweet society"...the true Church of Jesus Christ...that understands
the nature of the needs, longings, tendencies, temptations,
strongholds of our hearts...and that helps create a practical pathway
out of condemnation into confidence for its pilgrims. Terri and I call
it a "human life refuge for the wild at heart".

However large it becomes in terms of numbers of people, the believing
community must be structured/organized in such a way that in will
continue to include: centrality of God himself, scripture and
devotion, knowing others and being known by others on a heart level,
taking genuine delight in knowing and supporting one another, freedom
to be transparent without rejection, welcoming of accountability for
sins (confession, restoration and restitution), generosity and
compassion for the needy, family-friendliness, vocation-affirming, a
sense of mission to those who have yet come to faith and a felt-
reliance on the Holy Spirit's gifts and graces.