3 Characteristics and Strategies for Overcoming Strongholds
When the Apostle Paul said that we “wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers,” what did he mean? The verse found in Ephesians 6:12 makes something very clear. Paul did not believe his warfare was a battle with people, political institutions, or even personal circumstance. Our warfare, like his, is an intense, personal, and close wrestling match with disembodied spirits.
- How do you know you are under attack? One of the things I’ve noticed is that when I am in warfare I don’t feel like myself. I feel disconnected, awkward, and inauthentic. I’m not myself and I don’t even like who is showing up. Do you ever feel like this? It’s like you’re someone else. Something is trying to take over your thought process. Remember: the battle zone is in your thought life. The secret is to catch the enemy when he attempts to slip into your thought life like the serpent in the garden. Don’t let the thought take hold. For this reason Paul says one of our primary weapons is the power to inspect and take thoughts captive as they enter your mind. Paul describes an interrogation process, in which we take a thought captive “at the point of a spear.” Notice the language he uses to address strongholds: “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
- What is a stronghold? Think of it as a house made of thoughts. It’s a pattern of thinking that has a “strong hold” or grip on your mind. And let's be honest: if it's a pattern of thinking it is also a pattern of feeling and behaving. A stronghold is something that exerts an influence or leverage over the thought patterns that play in your mind. They produce a harvest of consequences. The devil is trying to rob you and your children of God's inheritance. He does this by working to get you to compromise and bow your knee to unbelief, apathy, fear, lust, addiction, depression. Don’t let him succeed. Put up a FIGHT!
- What is God’s goal for you? The Spirit of God wants us to be thinking beings who operate out of freedom!—NOT robots. The Holy Spirit is busy right now setting us free from CONTROLLING SPIRITS. This includes all addictions and compulsions. As a believer, you are not under the dominion of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). God created man in His image and in His likeness and gave him a territory called a garden. In that sphere of influence man was in charge. He had authority over the snake. God has put you in the garden of your life. He wants you to be free to flourish, create, and expand dominion. God made you in His image and wants your mind free to see, sense, discern, and judge.
How can you dismantle these strongholds?
Strongholds are like fortresses that must be torn down one brick at a time. Every thought that hits you needs to be countered by another thought! Lies need to be answered with TRUTH. You need a proclamation in your mouth—there is an “IT IS WRITTEN!” for every battle. These truths need to be meditated upon and literally “engrafted” into your soul. In this way God uses our warfare to do something that totally frustrates the enemy. It makes us stronger! This connects us to the lineage of overcomers described by the writer of Hebrews who said: “Out of weakness they became strong!” (Hebrews 11:34)
Question: What lies do you need to refute in your mind? What truths do you need to stand on for daily victory in the spiritual realm?
Comment below and tell me about it!
As One!
Lance
Rejected by my Amish Mennonite mother and severe abuse in the home .hatred and violence by dad and siblings.scorn and rejection from mom and siblings. The thought that if I was perfect then I would be accepted has haunted me along with being diagnosed as having Post Traumatic Stress. I desire to be free from all the toxic past .
Hi Lance,
My thought stronghold was a person for many years. A secret sin. My doctor, a Godly woman taught me to break soul ties and that helped a lot. I learned however that some soul ties are not just a string thick, or even a rope thick, more like a tree trunk thick. I had to hack that thing a lot to get it loose. It had been there for years, so it took a while to get rid of it. How awesome to be free!!! When a thought enters my mind now I can choose to think on it if it is good, or reject it if it is not of God. I found it helpful to say, ‘I love God too much, I’ve come to far and I won’t go back!’ Resist the devil and he will flee!
Blessings,
Thank you for reminding us about strategies of the enemy. Those in ministry seem to be targeted even more. It encourages me to know that in those times of brokenness, when heaven seems silent, likely our thoughts are being sabotaged. Often we think ” what’s wrong with me?” You know in your spirit something is not right. However, you might not attribute it to the devil. You turn it inward. That’s when the destructive process begins. You are right. We must recognize the lies quickly before they become a stronghold in our minds.
Lance, Would you please speak again to the issue of the time line, number of demons, number of Christians at this moment in history?
God has been speaking to me about this for several years…..even when we renew our mind with the word…IT IS WRITTEN….this actually becomes a weapon against the enemy….the word accomplishes what it is sent out to do!!! No wonder satan bombards our minds with lies…. because if we can renew it with the TRUTH…..and we become ENFORCERS OF THE TRUTH…….we will be DEMONSTRATORS of Gods promises and TRUTH and we will become ONE with The WORD …united in HIM…and the world will see and know who the ONE TRUE GOD IS!!! THE WORD MADE FLESH AND IS STILL ALIVE IN US!! We will be united in Him……. AS ONE!! JOHN 17
When you refer to disembodied spirits, this infers they had bodies at one time. Can you expand on where the body started and ended?
The very last sentence: “As one” I saw in the spirit earlier this morning! Yes, the Holy Spirit brought back the scene of a partner’s conference we got to late. They graciously got the two of us a spot to sit and two plates for us at a table! You were speaking after the meal, and you got to a part where everyone at their tables were standing with you, at the ready to put our arms down when you did, and declare, “As One!” I was marked by that and have shared it back here in Ontario, Canada!
The lie I wrestle with is that I’ve failed in the past, in significant and fundamental areas I was responsible for in life, and therefor now its too late to do anything about it or even be different.
I wrestle with a lack of discipline to my eating habits, knowing what is right to do, but not doing it. I’m confident this isn’t only in my eating, I’ve asked the Holy Spirit to expose the plan of the enemy to keep not just me, but my offspring from destiny and purpose and to provide a strategy. To totally in the time of temptation, reveal the enemy’s plot, and truly see what is being stolen,
Hi lance. This is how I explain strongholds. In our Heart we have wounds from our past that have effected our lives. Which then develops a lie from that wound in our mind. Then this becomes part of our belief system and then a stronghold is created. This is where the enemy traps us in the prison where we have developed a coping and defence mechanism. Which are really addictions. To numb our pain in our Heart n disconnect from our mind. So when people say oh you need to break that behavior a person struggles with a certain addiction but the cycle keeps happening. Only when we choose to face our past and acknowledge the pain and express our emotions n give ourselves a voice. Like Journaling our negative thoughts n emotions then can we can let go and replace our lies with truth. Only then are we able to move into our present future. Defeating the enemy n which breaks strongholds n sets us free . The devil is subtle but Jesus defeated him. We need to take Jesus by the hand n walk out of prison n shut the prison door n walk in the Lords truth. Isaiah 42.