What is a SPIRITUAL stronghold? In a spiritual sense, a stronghold is a fortress in the spiritual dimension of your life from which the enemy (Satan and his demons) operates, undermining God’s good purposes for your life, which then results in unhealthy habits and thought patterns which can be very difficult to break free from.

Ridding yourself of these strongholds not only requires great intentionality, but also an understanding of its root cause and how it got constructed in the first place, and how God’s word empowers you to break free from it. The Biblical reality is that,  In Christ, YOU HAVE DIVINE POWER TO BREAKTHROUGH THE STRONGHOLDS IN YOUR LIFE

The apostle Paul says in: 2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-5 “[the weapons we fight with have] divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

At the end of last week’s message, I gave you one simple assignment, TO PRAY that the Holy Spirit of Truth would bring to light any stronghold that may be present in your life! (Things like bitterness, manipulation, to laziness, even religion). I explained that the root of a stronghold may be in one of FIVE areas, where you have allowed the enemy to establish a stronghold.  

5 SOURCES OF STRONGHOLD YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED

UNCONFESSED OR UNREPENTANT SIN IN YOUR LIFE: The Biblical fact is this, there is no sin in your life that is so great that the cross of Jesus isn’t greater than and that hasn’t already paid for. However, God will not heal that which you will not reveal. The spiritual enemy of your soul thrives on secrecy and will establish a stronghold in unexposed sin in your life.

OCCULT ACTIVITY you’ve engaged in, some of which you may still be participating in. Whether it’s Wicca, Fortune Telling, Black or White Magic, Spiritism, or conjuring spirits, or even yoga (depending on who your focus is on during meditations).  It’s like placing a “vacancy” sign on your life for evil spirits.

LIES YOU HAVE BELIEVED: These include lies about God, about yourself, and lies about how God sees you. Lies that the enemy has been playing over and over in your mind for years, which, in your pain, you’ve unfortunately bought into. What lies have you believed? 

UNFORGIVENESS: If you are still nursing bitterness against someone/people, the enemy will take advantage of that to keep you in bondage. The people who wounded you may not deserve to be forgiven, but we forgive because Jesus Christ forgave us for a an even greater sin against God. Secondly,  we forgive because it sets us free from bondage produced by bitterness.

HEREDITARY or in your LINEAGE: You may have picked up on the fact that certain unhealthy behavioral and thought patterns present in your life was also present in your father’s (or mother's) life, and his father, and so on. Sometimes, unhealthy, even ungodly family traditions and family patterns is passed down from generation to generation to generation until someone stands up and say, IN JESUS NAME, NO MORE!

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