Demonic Strongholds

2 Cor10:4&5

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 


My subject today is demonic strongholds. This is not an argument to prove the devil exists, because I am way past that argument, in fact if you do not believe that satan is real, you might as well stop reading because you will miss all that the Lord wants you to see through this. You have to know there is an enemy.

For many of us, we have heard this verse preached, or even read this several times. I feel like sometimes we can get so numb to scripture because we are not studying the Bible we are just reading it like you would read a fictional book. You can't do that with the Bible because it is a book that must be digested into your spirit. You can't eat a steak in 2 bites, you want to cut it into many little pieces and eat it slowly, taking every bite it, it's the same with the Word. My goal here today is to break these few verses down to you so you can really understand the weight of what this scripture and how you can apply this to your life.

The fact is God wants you to be free because free people, free people. If you are bound and are dealing with something you tend to feel embarrassed or the enemy wants to isolate you so that he can add more weight to you.. meaning the weight of sin.

Weapons 
So what are the weapons that Paul was talking about? You have to go to Ephesians 6: 10-18. This is where it talks about the armor of God, which covers both defensive weaons and offensive weapons.

Warfare
If you think you can escape warfare being a Christian you are living in a dream world. Many times your warfare is even more as a Christian but there is good news, God is on our side. The Greek word for warfare is stratos in which we get the word strategy. Sun Tzu wrote one of the greatest books called "The Art of War." Many in the military have read and studied this book cover to cover several times because Sun Tzu was a war strategist. Sun Tzu was great at strategy, but God is the Creator of all things and is a better resource. God will give you a strategy for the warfare you go through when it comes to battles and strongholds. So many times we want to figure it out on our own but we need a strategy, so pray and ask for it!

Destroying Strongholds
This is where I would like to spend the majority of my time because if we think that simple little prayer will get us the victory over a stronghold you are wrong. I am not knocking new Christians that simply don't know how to pray and intercede. The last thing I want to do is to discourage someone or mock people, but we have a problem with Pastors who do not teach and preach the whole counsel of the Word and preach things to just make you dance and shout because that will make your giving better.
We got to preach and teach the shouting message with the growing message.

So what is a stronghold?

A stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern that has molded itself into our way of thinking ( Ref: ministeringdeliverance.com)

Another definition is a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended and upheld.

Many of us are dealing with demonic strongholds in our lives in some area of our life. Some it's fear, worry, anxiety, addiction, insecurity, gambling, pride, witchcraft, the list goes on and on! My question is, don't you want to be free from the chains? free from the stronghold? 

The enemy cannot, I repeat cannot defeat you unless you lay down and allow him. A stronghold on someone's life is no joke... it's difficult to break but it can be broken. Demons do not like to give up territory, but you have to be just as determined not to allow the devil to have any room in your life.

Look at the picture above, I mean really look... is that you? Are you chained today? Do you feel like your a puppet and the enemy is pulling the strings? Don't you want to be free?


If this is you and you want to be free you must be determined. I remember several years ago I was gripped and bound with pornography. I felt so ashamed as a Christian to be have this big secret. I was going to Bible school and was learning all about the Word and about God, but I had this thing that had me bound. Did I throw my computer away? Did I smash it? No because the addiction wouldn't have gone away, just the means for me to look at it was gone... but it was still there.

So what did I do? Honestly one night I was like I am sick of asking for forgiveness with this. I am bound and I need to be free. One night I got on my knees and I said Lord, I am not going to stop praying, worshipping, praising, and crying out to you until this thing is gone. I want to be free. That night I got free from that addiction. The stronghold in my life was broken!

Take Every Thought Captive

The rest of this scripture talks about taking every thought captive. Have there been times that I have been tempted? Oh yea! Without a shadow of a doubt if you think that once you are free of something that the enemy just stops you are wrong. The enemy keeps up and keeps up and doesn't stop. So what do you do? In my life I have to say in the name of Jesus I command you to go... I take my thoughts captive. I pray that I have the mind of Christ! Go in Jesus name!

Listen the devil needs to know that you mean business. It has to come out of your mouth. You have to take authority over the enemy. Jesus said in Luke 10:19 that He has given us authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all of the power of the enemy. Stop running to a Pastor or minister to do your work. If you are a child of God you have the same authority as any Pastor, preacher etc... you just have to use it.

So as I close I want you to know that it's not easy to dethrone a stronghold but if your sick and tired of it, you can defeat it! God has given you the tools but if you feel like you need more help and deliverance, maybe you need to go to a deliverance minister who can help you get rid of that thing. There may be situations in which you need true deliverance and freedom because you can't do it on your own. Again, don't feel embarrassed or shamed because you are seeking help. Deliverance and healing is the childrens bread.

God doesn't want you all bound up, He wants you free! I hope this blesses many of you today and that you seek that freedom that you desperately need! God is on your side and is here to help you in every situation.

Be blessed!