The root of a stronghold may often be found in five words or less that we confess.
In a recent article (“Are Your Negative Expectations Limiting God?”), I touched on some of those word curses that were the seeds to a forest of torment that sound like this:
“You will never be anything.”
“You are not (pretty, smart, thin) enough.”
“I am too (fat, stupid, depressed, afraid, angry).”
“I can’t….(fill in the blank).”
Simple one liners, or word curses, become bait demons use to get you to agree with their lies.
What is a Stronghold?
As believers, we know from scripture that a stronghold places itself above the truth of God. The Message Translation calls them; warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God. The Passion Translation goes further to call them “deceptive fantasies” and “arrogant attitudes” that oppose God. (2 Cor 10:5)
The secular world, however, will label these habits- an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.
But the scientific world will call them neural pathways along which information travels through the neurons (nerve cells) of the brain.
Strongholds, habits, or neural pathways are created by repeated thoughts or actions that if demonically inspired are meant to keep you from fulfilling your purpose.
As a man thinks so is he! (Prov. 23:7)
That means whatever you meditate on long enough becomes a part of you because it stores in your permanent memory banks!
A Personal Encounter
I saw how the demonic kingdom roams about trying to influence our thoughts to build these strongholds when I was a little girl.
I remember going into a bathroom that was under construction without lights in my father’s store. As I entered in the dark, I saw baseballs being thrown at me in the spirit. (I saw many things spiritually that I did not understand as a child, and demons taunted that gift to cause great fear later in life.) Each of these baseballs had a thought attached to it:
“You hate your mom.”
“You wish she were dead.”
They pelted me with these thoughts until I ran out of the bathroom searching for my mother, When I found her I cried, “I don’t know what is in that bathroom, but those are not my thoughts!” She asked me, “What thoughts?” When I explained, she calmly said, “No, those are not your thoughts.” Feeling better and relieved of guilt, I went outside to play, but I never forgot that assault. It is a picture of the battering that goes on in the spirit over our minds. Demons cannot read your mind, but they can offer you a menu of thoughts to derail you.
A Client’s Torment
I remember a 12-year-old girl who came in sobbing she because she thought she was gay. I asked her why she felt that. Her response was, “Because I have all these thoughts!” I asked her, “What if I told you they were not your thoughts.” She replied, “Well, whose else would they be?” It took me most of the summer to explain how demons manipulate your thoughts. She left that summer relieved with a new direction.
If you have struggled with thoughts that started with five words or less in your youth, through deliverance, God can do a system reset to renew your mind. Are you ready?
We are only a short contact form away, and the blood of Jesus Christ is the best root killer to demonic strongholds!
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