Deuteronomy 12:2-3 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
After God’s people have possessed the Land that God gave, then they were to respond by destroying the places in the land where unbelievers worshipped their false demon gods. The response to God’s gift was a violent overthrow of the places where idol worship was going on. The violence is felt in the words destroy, overthrow, break, burn, and cut down. The Lord planned the takeover of the Kingdom of God to be total and complete. There was to be no compromise with pagan idolatry. No vestige of demon worship was to be left over.
The Lord gives the Kingdom, the Spirit, and the Life to us and plants it in us by grace. Then we are to possess it by faith. Jesus gives, we receive. But once we own the spiritual life within us, then we still need to root out the spiritual Enemies that go to war to prevent our settling in the Kingdom and enjoying God’s Life. There are places within the soul that oppose God and resist the Kingdom takeover. They may be pet sins, worry, anger, lust, fear of death, doubt, etc., etc. There are places where the devil has a foothold and tries to tempt us into sin and unbelief. Ephesians 4:27, “Give no opportunity (place) to the devil.”
Even though Jesus has given violent victory to us, we must still be willing to let the Spirit apply the Victory of Blood to the specific issues that still plague us. This is an ongoing process that will not be finished until we die. Daily repentance and faith will always be necessary for us. And we need not be afraid to take a spiritually violent approach to the self, the demons, and the idols that remain in the soul that has been taken over by Jesus. Destroy those places with applied faith.