And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight (Numbers 13:33).

Giant – A person or thing of great size, strength, intellect.

God instructed Moses to send men to Canaan. Canaan was the ancient name of the land of  Israel. At the time of the Israelite conquest under Joshua, Canaanite culture had reached great heights. Excavations at several sites reveal a semi-agrarian culture dominated by immoral, religious fertility cults honoring Baal (sun or lord), Asherah (straight – goddess, head or bust on a straight pillar), and Ishtar (Assyrian goddess of the Morning and Evening Star- the planet Venus).  High places, sacred trees, and idolatry were the common form of worship. The overt paganism and gross immorality of the Canaanite religion were in direct contrast to the divinely revealed religion of Israel.  When God called Moses out of the burning bush, God instructed Moses He had heard the cry of  His people and He was there to deliver them out of their bondage to bring them to a land that was flowing with milk and honey, a land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites were residing. “A land flowing with milk and honey” was a poetic word picture expressing the beauty and productivity of the Promised Land. The children of God were living in bondage;  they were in need and wanting while the adversaries of God were living in a land where God’s children should have been living. When the children of Israel begin to cry out, God heard them and sent someone to bring them out of their bondage.  God will always deliver His people divinely or through a human source as He did with Moses and the children of Israel.

After their deliverance from Egypt and Pharaoh while on their way to the Promised Land, the children of Israel begin to murmur and complain, and because of their disobedience (Hebrews 3:19 – So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief).  The Israelites died from twenty years and older because of their disobedience and unbelief. God promised them the land, but He didn’t promise them; they didn’t have to fight the giants to enter into the Promised Land. They were going to have to fight for what God had given them.  You and I are the same way; God gave His only begotten Son, Jesus for our salvation. Salvation is a freedom which is; spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically, financially and when our sunset comes, Heaven will be our home.  Moses sent out ten spies to look at the land and the people in the land; only two of them returned with a good report. Eight of them saw the giants and became fearful, thinking of what the people of the land would think of them rather than seeing who they were in God.

Every giant we face, God is greater! God will never allow us to enter into a problem without giving us the answer to the problem. The problem is many don’t want to wait and receive the answer from God, many want a quick-fix, and God is not a quick fixer. He wants us to see what’s inside of us; God is very much aware of what’s inside, and that is why He allows problems, trouble to come our way to make surface what’ really in us. Whether it’s faith or doubt, godliness or carnality. Whatever is in the heart and the spirit will manifest itself when problems and trouble come our way. We are in this world, but we are not of this world, so the things that are manifesting in the natural can be dominated in the spirit. Taking dominion isn’t given because one attends church regularly, or speaks in tongues, shouting and dancing or one that does good deeds. Dominion comes with submission to the Word of God and the instructions of God.

Heaven is for the believers, but before we can enter, there are some giants we have to conquer. One major giant, most Christians, have to conquer once they become a Christians is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is a stronghold which is a spirit that most Christians wrestle with. God wants the Christian to stop wrestling with it and conquer it. The spirit of unforgiveness has another spirit that group themselves with unforgiveness which causes Christians to stay in the state of trying to grow spiritually but stay in the same state of mind due to the strongholds.  Bitterness is the main stronghold of unforgiveness accompanied with the spirits of resentment, hatred, violence, temper, anger, retaliation and sometimes murder. Physical murder will not happen, but one can be murdered with the tongue.

Unforgiveness keeps the individual in bondage and the one that hurt them in bondage. Prayers aren’t answered when one has unforgiveness (And when ye stand to pray, forgive, if ye have aught {anything} against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses – Mark 11:25). Strongholds can also bring sickness, diseases, mental and emotional disorders. Many Christians are bound by strongholds of stubbornness, contention, bickering, quarreling, control, spite, hurt, judging, criticism, faultfinding, fear of rejection, inferiority, loneliness, envy, distrust, anxiety, fear, jealousy, envy, unbelief, doubt, pride, competition, agitation, all these are strongholds, giants in the lives of God’s people that can be conquered.

God will not manifest Himself in the sanctuary as He desires when the church or half of the church is bound with strongholds and trying to worship Him and bound. You can only worshiper God in spirit and in truth, that’s when you can pull and draw on the Spirit of God to enter into our sanctuaries and upon us. When you mention strongholds or sins, Christians think on the sins of sexual sins, drunkenness or addiction. Anything that’s controlling you rather than you controlling it will and can be a stronghold. There is not a giant or stronghold in the life of a Christian God has not given the power to overcome. God has given us a weapon called confession; coupled with fasting and prayer you will have a mighty and strong weapon against every spirit, stronghold, and giant. Stop focusing on the stronghold, and focus on who is greater than any giant or stronghold in your life when you completely give your life to Him. When God sees His child walking uprightly before Him and the adversary and his imps trying to bind them, God will step in and lift up a standard for you. Confession, prayer, and fasting are our weapons, but sometimes with all that, you will need God to step in and take up the fight.

Many times strongholds are in our life due to us opening a door for them to come in. As Christians, we can’t look and listen to everything. We can’t go everywhere and be on Satan’s territory and think we can fight Him. You can’t hang with a person that’s willingly rejecting the teaching of the Bible. Our thinking has to change and be transformed by the Word of God (And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what that good is, and acceptable, and perfect will of God – Romans 12:2). When we don’t read and study the Word of God, our intellect tells us we’re living a good life before God. God wants submission to His Word and His instructions and it can only come by knowing what His instructions are.

 Live according to God’s Word, confess, fast and pray. Memorize Scriptures to quote against strongholds and let the God of Heaven hear you repeating His Words. You know He watches over His Words to hasten to perform them? Strongholds will only come subject to the Word of God and your submission to God’s Word.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear (endure) it.