DO YOU HAVE ANY STRONGHOLD IN LIFE TO BE PULLED DOWN?
I strongly believe that we need a TOTAL FREEDOM ministry to pull down strongholds hindering progress in our lives.
We organize camp meetings for training and prayers to empower people who have never gone through this process. We believe that people need basic instructions to help them become champions even when at home. I don’t like to see people dependent on being prayed for by spiritual ministers. Instead, people must be equipped to be effective prayer warriors and overcomers in spiritual warfare even when they are alone.
However, it is very dangerous to engage in this kind of spiritual warfare when one is alone without a thorough knowledge of DEFENSIVE AND OFFENSIVE WEAPONS.
Probably you are asking yourself about what stronghold is all about and whether you have any stronghold in your life. 2 Cor 10:3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”
I would like to help you know important things about strongholds. Basically, the stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern molded by satan in our way of thinking. It is a collection of ideas in agreement with satan. Remember the devil does not FORCE people to do evil but he ENTICES them. I once said that the devil has never undressed a person to commit adultery. What he does is to entice a person so he/she undresses himself/herself and commits adultery. A demon may be cast out of a person and leave a stronghold behind. A demon is cast out but a stronghold is pulled down. That is the reason why we have people who are free from demons but their life has not yet changed for the better. They still have old-natured thoughts and behaviors. Demonic strongholds have negative effects on people’s lives.
Let me share with you three main types of strongholds:
1. Personal strongholds – These strongholds resulted from open doors to the devil caused by an individual himself/herself.
2. Cultural strongholds – These are actions in a specific culture that agree with the devil and are against God’s righteousness. Some strongholds are places where people were born, raised, or are living now. Something common in your culture may be unacceptable in another culture. These strongholds differ from region to region and from tribe to tribe. That’s why there is a difference in development and worldviews from one culture to another.
3. Cosmic strongholds - These demonic strongholds are territorial spirits that energize entire geographic areas to embrace wicked behaviors and evil ideas. An example of this kind of stronghold is the king of Persia who hindered and delayed answers to Daniel’s prayers for 21 days.
Strategic and targeted prayers can break demonic strongholds.
What are indicators of the presence of strongholds in your life then? Some indicators in the following list may be repeated because their father is the same i.e. satan:
Cluster 1—Anger (hatred, malice, rage, murder, temper, cursing, vengeance, retaliation, violence, abuse, cruelty, unforgiveness, bitterness, being judgmental or critical, taking offense easily/irritability, anger towards authority, anger/resentment towards God, etc)
Cluster 2—Fear (fear of man, doubt/unbelief, dread, worry, anxiety, fear the worst will happen, fear of various illnesses like cancer, fear people will get angry with you or won't like you, etc)
Cluster 3—Abandonment (desertion, divorce, rejection, neglect, victimization, blocked intimacy, not valuing people/relationships/ending relationships, isolation, loneliness, etc)
Cluster 4—Shame (anger, condemnation, disgrace, embarrassment, guilt, hatred, self-hate, self-pity, withdrawal, hiding/antisocial, timidity, inferiority, etc)
Cluster 5—Lying (cheating, theft, deception, trickery, untrustworthiness, adultery, denial, self-deception, secretiveness, hiding purchases/activities/relationships, etc)
Cluster 6—Financial lack (belief in poverty, robbing God by not tithing, not believing in covenant blessings, greed, covetousness, debt, dishonesty, idolatry of possessions, failure, etc)
Cluster 7—Addictions (alcohol, tobacco, drugs, food, chocolate/sweets, pornography, sex, flirtation, junky magazines/websites/TV shows/movies, overeating, anything you cannot do in moderation, etc)
Cluster 8—Sensuality (lust, fantasizing/coveting another's mate, flirtation, premarital sex, sexual abuse, fornication/adultery/emotional adultery, demonic sex, pornography, bondage/control, rape, incest, homosexuality, and lesbianism, etc)
Cluster 9—Depression (rejection, despair, helplessness, hopelessness, sadness, self-pity, withdrawal, suicide, etc)
Cluster 10—Grief (sorrow, despair, heartbreak, loss, pain, torment, weeping, anguish, agony, etc)
Cluster 11—Mental instability (mental illness, compulsions, confusion, hysteria, paranoia, insanity, etc)
Cluster 12—Pride (arrogance, disdain, selfishness, control/pushiness, independence, lack of concern for others, gossip, etc)
Cluster 13—Procrastination (sloth, laziness, distraction/ confusion/ lack of focus, not thinking things through before acting or speaking or writing emails, lack of organization/preparation, lateness/tardiness, missing appointments/phone calls, etc)
A rhetorical question: Don’t we still have believers and ministers who struggle with these strongholds and don’t see a way out?
Don’t we see rich people who don’t enjoy life, married people who fail to be faithful, educated people who don’t get promising jobs, people promoted to higher positions but don’t bring expected transformation, people giving good advice and ideas but are ignored, people with high salaries but still ask bribe as small as 1,000 Tshs, good worshippers but addicted to pornography, loved people but overcome by fear of rejection, people living a normal life but very egotistical, people with enough helpers at home but always late in church services, meetings or any appointment.
What is the solution? Strongholds controlling them must be pulled down. And this is not an easy task. It needs special training and instructions. Israelites needed seven days to demolish the walls of Jericho under God’s instructions.
If we persist in misusing the Holy Scriptures to defend our vulnerabilities we will go nowhere. We will not be different from a signpost that has never reached where it is directing people to go.
IT IS NOT GOD’S WILL FOR YOU TO CONTINUE LIVING THAT KIND OF LIFE. FEEL YOUR AGE.
What I have learned through experience is that even the majority of born-again Christians still struggle financially despite that they no longer spend money on prostitution, drinking beer, smoking, and the like. So there is something wrong somewhere. We need to be serious about this. I have been organizing paid-in-full camp meetings but some people have been struggling to get even their come-and-go transport. But if you ask them why they could not afford it, they will not attribute that problem to satanic strongholds. Apostle Paul didn’t fear to expose demonic interruptions in his journeys and ministry. 1 Thess 2:18 “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.”
God loves you so much and He wants to make you an overcomer.
Please, leave a comment below if this message has touched your life.
