Detecting and Destroying
The Roots of Our Sins # 3
“Tearing Down Strongholds” # 2
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor
God intends His children to live in victory over sin. God has made it possible for every believer to experience victory over the temptations of sin through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
- When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the eternal penalty for the sins of those who will receive Him as their Savior and Lord.
- When Jesus rose from the grave, He defeated the power of the sin nature in which every person is born.
- When a sinner is born again, they are indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit, who then enables them to live in this sinful world, but not to be attracted to it, involved in it, or deceived by it.
- Therefore, as believers, we are dead to sin but alive to Christ.
- We are no longer slaves to sin; rather we are slaves to the Lord Jesus, who saved us from our sins.
- Therefore, we are to RECKON ourselves dead to sin and then REMIND ourselves that sin no longer rules over us.
- However, when we do sin and fall short of God’s glory, if we will confess that sin, God will not only forgive us of that sin, but He will cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
However, if we, in effect, “nurse” our sins, justify them, rationalize them, or try to minimize them, Satan will use that act of disobedience to establish a “stronghold” in our souls.
- In biblical terms, “strongholds” refer to fortified structures or places of defense.
- In spiritual terms, “strongholds” refer to the entrenched patterns of thought or behaviors that are resistant to God’s truth and hinder one’s spiritual growth.
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Strongholds can be established in our personal lives, our marriage, our family, our employment, or in our leisure activities. They can involve finances, pornography, drinking, overeating, laziness, lack of discipline. Unless that stronghold is removed, that demon will invite other demons to occupy other parts of our soul, and multiple strongholds are constructed in that person’s soul. |
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 – “The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
The Seven Most Common Strongholds in the life of Believers:
- The Stronghold of Depression
- Depression comes from the root lie that we are unloved, unwanted, unneeded; that there is no real purpose for our lives.
- It can also result from the different seasons of our lives; death, divorce, division within the family, discouragement, or to suffer defeat in any area of our endeavors.
- To suffer from depression doesn’t mean our faith in God is weak, or that we are not saved. It means we have believed Satan’s lie that our lives no longer matter.
- However, in John 3:16, the Apostle John said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
- We are loved with the greatest love the world has ever known.
- God does care for us and He has made every provision for us to live with Him eternally.
- When the darkness of depression descends, stop and remember who and whose you are. You are a child of God: a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, created by God and for His great glory.
- The Stronghold of Bitterness or Unforgiveness
- Bitterness is a cancer on our souls that destroys us from within.
- Many Christians feel justified in being bitter against others, and they will tell you what others have done to them that made them bitter, such as a parent’s neglect or physical or emotional abuse.
- As those who have been forgiven of our sins by the grace of God, we have no right to hold on to the sins and offenses others have done unto us, and the only remedy for bitterness is forgiveness.
- In Ephesians 4:32, the Apostle Paul said, “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
- The Stronghold of Legalism
- A stronghold of legalism is a deeply ingrained, rigid mindset that replaces the grace and love of our personal relationship with God with a strict dependence on man-made rules, personal opinions, cultural traditions, and strict interpretations of Scripture.
- Our eternal salvation is by God’s grace alone, through our faith alone, and in Christ alone, and to add anything more to that is heresy.
- In Ephesians 2:8-9, the Apostle Paul said, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
- In John 1:12, the Apostle said, “But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
- Our eternal salvation does not depend upon our performance, but rather upon God’s promise.
- The Stronghold of Anxiety and Fear
- The lie at the root of fear and anxiety is the fear of harm and punishment.
- In Matthew 16:24-28, “Jesus said unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
- The success of our lives is not in the number of days we live, but in the level of the investment of our lives in the kingdom of God.
- The Stronghold of Torment
- The symptoms include hearing voices, seeing images, graphic hallucinations, mental anguish, intrusive thoughts, vivid but often wicked dreams, and a deep sense of darkness that surrounds them.
- The lie here is that the enemy has power over us, but that cannot be true for a Christian.
- In 1 John 4:4, the Apostle said, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
- The Stronghold of Confusion
- The symptoms of confusion are aimlessness, stagnation, and apathy, and the lie of confusion is deception; things that we have been told, and may even believe, that contradict the truth of God’s Holy Word.
- The only way to defeat the stronghold of confusion is to search the scriptures until you are convinced about the truth of whatever the issue is, and that clarity will set you free from the confusion.
- 1 Corinthians 14:33, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.”
- The Stronghold of Addiction
- While there are many different forms of addiction, they all have some form of demonic influence, for every addiction has the power to destroy the life of one who bears God’s image.
- Deception says participating in this sin will satisfy you; the drug will satisfy you, the alcohol will satisfy you, the sex will satisfy you, the pornography will satisfy you, but it is all a lie.
- In 1 Corinthians 10:13, the Apostle Paul said, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
- In James 4:7, the Apostle said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you!”
