 You can experience permanent deliverance. Listen, the life of the believer is meant to be one of victory. God did not create you to struggle under the power of these strongholds. Deliverance is yours today, and the truth will set you free. I believe God wants you to hear this. First, I want to look at what is a stronghold. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 4 and 5 say this, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pooling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now, the context of this portion of Scripture is Paul the Apostle defending the legitimacy of his apostolic authority. Certain pretenders who were very jealous of what God was doing with Paul the Apostle began to speak against him, saying that he wasn't a true apostle. They began to belittle him in front of the church. So, Paul the Apostle responds to this, and he calls their slander. He calls their gossip. He calls their arguments and reasons. He calls those things a stronghold. Now, a stronghold in the natural realm is like a fortress or a castle or a wall. Any structure that prohibits the movement of one army into the land that belongs to the one who owns the stronghold. It's a term of war. It's a term of describing a place of safety and strength. And so the enemy can build strongholds in our lives. This is where God's people need deliverance. God's people need deliverance from strongholds and spiritual bondage. And the root of all strongholds is deception. Paul the Apostle compares these imaginations, these deceptions to these mighty structures that are difficult to remove. And so he says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. In other words, we wage a spiritual war, but mighty through God to the pooling down of strongholds. I love that phrase, pooling down of strongholds. It's describing the utter obliteration of these structures in our lives, casting down imaginations. And every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So we come against these strongholds with truth. These strongholds are points of deception. This is how the enemy works against the believer. This is how a stronghold works. Strongholds first begin with a lie. I want you to see this up here on your screen. Strongholds begin with a lie. That lie, once it's believed, becomes deception. Now listen to me very closely here. A lie has no power over you if you don't believe it. The only way a lie gains power is if it goes from being a lie to deception. A lie is anything that contradicts the truth. And once you believe that lie, that belief in the lie is what we call deception. If someone lies to you and you don't believe it, you're not deceived. If someone lies to you and you accept it, now you're deceived. That deception becomes the pattern that governs your thoughts and your feelings. Those thoughts, those feelings begin to follow after the way of that deception or that stronghold. And then those thoughts and feelings begin to affect your behavior. If you feel like God has rejected you, if you think God has rejected you, you're going to begin to behave like God has rejected you. If you feel like you can't overcome sin and you think that you can't overcome sin, you're going to behave like you can't overcome sin. If you think the enemy has power over you and you feel like the enemy has power over you, you're going to behave like the enemy has rightful power over you. That behavior becomes your habits. Those habits are daily repetitions or frequent repetitions that eventually become life cycles. And this is where people don't make the distinction that they should. Habits are our actions that you perform frequently, whether that be weekly or daily, hourly, whatever. The cycles, that's what you get stuck in when you go back and forth. A lifestyle of bad habits, and then a lifestyle where you're not committing those bad habits, and then a lifestyle of bad habits again, and then a lifestyle of not committing those bad habits. This is what happens to many Christians. They'll get free for six months and then be bound for six months. Free for three weeks, then bound for three weeks. So those habits, that's the frequent performance of something that you do. But those cycles, now this is where the habit comes on again, then off again. And some even repeat these cycles in years, four or five years at a time, 10 years at a time, one good decade, one bad decade. And those cycles, that's what we refer to as spiritual bondage. That bondage is what produces the symptoms of guilt, shame, torment, angst, heaviness, that weightiness that you feel on you. And here's the problem. Many Christians try to address the bondage itself or the symptoms, and they never address the root lie. They never address the root lie that is actually causing the deception. So the root lie remains hidden under all the symptoms. That bondage produces many different effects in our emotions, in our lives. And those cycles repeat again and again. But until you get back to addressing that lie, you're addressing the result and not the root, the symptom and not the source. Now, when you learn to expose the lies, then you learn to get to these spiritual strongholds at their very root, not surface level to where you feel good for a few weeks and then have to go back to get deliverance again, but instead addressing the lie at its root, uprooting it, removing it, and then you watch the fruit of that stronghold begin to wither. Now, we're going to look at the stronghold and then reveal the truth that can break its power. Legalism at its root is an attempt to do in man's ability what can only be done in God's ability. Now, you've often heard the term religious being thrown around at people as a Christian insult. You know, people get into debates and arguments online. And instead of going to the scripture, instead of being kind to one another, instead of working things out, what's the most common insult thrown at other Christians in any Christian debate on any topic? You're religious, you're a Pharisee, you're legalistic. Well, it actually has a meaning and it's not just an insult that we use and it's not and shouldn't be used in that way anyway. But religion is man's attempt to do what only God can do. It's to take on certain burdens that God did not tell us to take on. Someone is not religious just because they insist on biblical accuracy. Someone is not religious just because they insist on holy living. Someone is not religious just because they insist on honoring God, honoring God, living holy, biblical accuracy. These are not marks of religious people. Those are marks of God's people. What is religion? What is legalism? What is the stronghold of legalism? It's this mindset that at its core thinks that the responsibility is on self instead of on God. Sure, we surrender, sure, we submit, sure, we cooperate and obey and trust and have faith. We do play a part, but the main part is God. Now, some of the symptoms of this stronghold include but are not limited to fear. Constantly questioning your salvation. Self-hatred, a warped view of God, a warped view of self. You view God as angry, or perhaps you imagine that God loves you, but he doesn't like you. Perhaps you imagine that his patience with you is worn thin, or you think that you're just hanging by a thread and then God is going to do away with you, or that God wants to punish you and he's just looking for the opportunity to do so. So these symptoms, fear, constantly questioning your salvation, self-hatred, a warped view of God, these are all symptoms of the lie that is legalism. Now, let me clarify this. I'm not saying that we can just live however we want. The Bible says just the opposite of that. The Bible makes it clear that we are to live holy. And holiness is the absolute standard for the true believer. If someone is truly born again, they will have new desires. If someone is truly born again, they will look to please God. If someone is truly born again, they will begin to disdain their sin. They become frustrated with themselves because they don't want to do those things that offend the Lord or displease him. And so holiness has a place. Do not hear what I'm not saying. We ought to live holy. And by the way, let me add to that, there are consequences for unholy living. There are issues that will arise. Sin is still very powerfully destructive in the life of even the believer. If the believer walks in disobedience, sin will destroy. If the believer walks in disobedience, God will chastise. Why? Because he loves you. So God punishes the sin because he loves you, not because he hates you. If you're his child, he corrects you because he loves you. So let me emphasize that because I don't want anyone misunderstanding me. Absolutely. We ought to live holy. Absolutely. We ought to strive to please God. Absolutely. Sin has consequences. Absolutely. God will correct sin. But we have to be rid of this performance-based Christianity, this points-based approach to God. And this worm mentality that we have has to go. What do I mean by worm mentality? Well, many promote self-hatred as if it's humility. We understand that compared to God, we are nothing. We understand that there's nothing we could be or do without God. We understand that God is far greater than we could ever comprehend. And that compared to him, there is no comparison. God is great and we need him. We depend upon him. He's the source of life and truth. We should reverence him. But we have to be rid of this idea that the more we hate ourselves, the more spiritual we are. That we're just these little worms before God, these disgusting creatures that God is just tolerating. Do you realize that God loves you? Do you realize that the Bible says in John 1-12, 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, you are a son of God. I can hear the women saying, well, daughters too. No, son of God, you're a son of God. If we men have to be the bride of Christ, you have to be the sons of God as well. Why? Because there's inheritance in sonship. So we are the sons of God. We're not these little worm-like creatures. Yes, we were sinners. Yes, we were on our way to hell. And of course, to some degree, we still deserve hell. But we stand now in the righteousness of Christ by faith. And the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5-17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Now remember, I told you that one of the symptoms of the stronghold of legalism is this idea that you're living in the constant fear of losing your salvation. Let me show you the difference between a faith perspective on salvation and a legalistic perspective on salvation. And keep in mind that this is not about the debate about once saved, always saved. Can we lose our salvation or not? We're not talking about that right now. What we're talking about is the confidence that we have in what he's done in our lives and how we stand in him now. So take a look at this. This is the difference between faith and legalism. When you stand in faith, you see a distinct bold line between saved and unsaved. And you know where you stand. We have the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. If you've placed your faith in Christ, now you are saved, saved versus unsaved. And then you look at legalism and the weight of you that. Legalism causes you to see salvation as more of a gradient. To where there's this blurry line, you don't quite know where you are and maybe if you perform better, you get a little bit more on the saved side. And if you have some days where you mess up, now you're a little more on the unsaved side and you don't really know where you are in the process. There is no confidence in your salvation. And you believe now you can regress into a former state. And you believe now that demons can reenter. And you believe now that God rejects you. You believe now that the Holy Spirit abandons you. And it's this gradient. You don't really know where and nothing's really certain. Am I free? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Am I saved? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Is God pleased with me? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. And it's this gradient. And so in faith, we know I'm saved. Yes, I don't always perform with perfection, but his grace makes up for that. This doesn't mean I should go on sinning. But this simply means that I know where I stand with him while I am being perfected. While I am being perfected, I know where I stand with him. Legalism, I have no idea. I have no idea from day to day. And so I live in torment. I live in fear. I live constantly questioning my salvation. And that's the difference between faith and legalism. Now, to help you better understand salvation, let me show you something here. The Bible says in Colossians 2.13, I'll just read this verse to you, and then I want to show you something else. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. So here we see that those who are unredeemed were dead in their sin. So we are no longer dead in our sin. We are alive in Christ. Now watch this. Let me show you this. This is what I call the Hall of Salvation. Right here, you'll see a distinct line between unredeemed and then having entered the process of sanctification. So, imagine your walk with God like this hallway. Right there on the left, you see the unredeemed. That's what I just read to you, Colossians 2.13. And then that first line right there is the door of justification. Romans 3.24 says, Yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. So now we have justification. What is justification? Justification is my legal standing. It's a pronouncement. It's a legal pronouncement that's been declared over me. So when I am justified now, I've been declared as forgiven. Justification is my position. And it means that I am free from the penalty of sin. So you cross over that door now, and now we enter into sanctification, which is the process. So justification is your position. Sanctification is the process. And sanctification is you being free from the power of sin. Romans 6.1 through 2. Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not. There's the answer to anyone who says that we should go on sinning. No. Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 2 Thessalonians 2.13 says, But we ought to always thank God for you, brothers and sisters, loved by the Lord. Because God shows you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. So now we're in the process of sanctification. And many believers wonder where they are in the hallway. On good days, maybe you take a couple steps forward. On bad days, maybe you take a couple steps back. But as long as you're through that door of justification, you may not be perfect, but you are in the process of being perfected. Then finally, over there on the right is the door of glorification. Philippians 3.21 says, He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. Now, I battled with this religious mindset for quite a while. Because I was raised in church. I had memorized Scripture. I believed that God loved me so long as I didn't miss a Sunday. I believed that God loved me so long as I met my quota of Bible reading. Now, again, I have to say this because I know that sometimes our minds tend to hear what the speaker is not saying. You should read your Bible. You should pray. You should seek the face of God. You should live clean. That's your reasonable service. That's your worship back to the Lord. Absolutely. But you have to know where the place of works is. We don't do good works to be saved. We do good works because we are saved. If you are truly saved, then you will truly desire to do works that are truly good. You'll desire holiness. You'll desire to be rid of sin. Now, this stronghold has many manifestations, doctrines, and you can see them at work in your mind and in your heart. Like, for example, whenever I would hear preaching on the wrath of God, even though I was born again, even though I was saved, even though I was living clean, for some reason, just fear would grip my heart and I thought there's nothing I can do to be free from the wrath of God, even though I was already saved. And so you see there how the enemy can twist certain truths. He can take truths, twist them, and then leave you bound in a stronghold of legalism. So, legalism, again, religious legalism, at its root, is the attempt to do in man's ability what can only be done in God's. The symptoms are fear, constantly questioning your salvation, not knowing where you stand with God, not knowing where you stand in your freedom. Am I free? Am I not? Am I bound? Am I not? It's self-hatred. It's a warped view of God. But the Bible says this in 1 John 4, 16 and 18. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment. Now watch this here. Here's holiness. But we can face Him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. So there, by putting on the righteousness of Christ through faith and by submitting to the process of sanctification, we have confidence because we live like Jesus. There's grace and truth together. We must live holy, and we can live holy because of the grace of God. So such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, watch this, this is so powerful. And I pray that you hear this and are liberated. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment. And this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love. Whoa. How convicting that is, but in a good way. Because sometimes it can feel so hopeless being stuck in these religious mindsets. Wondering if God's got that list being kept against you. His presence does not depend upon your performance but on His promise. Now I'm not saying, I'll say this one more time just to be clear. I'm not saying we can go on sinning and living however we want. What I'm saying is that even in our imperfection God's grace works with us not to excuse the sin but to help eradicate that sin as we continue in the process of sanctification. Now let's pray that God would begin to break strongholds. Today's your day of deliverance. Believer, today is your day of deliverance. Father, in the name of Jesus we come against every attack of the enemy and I pray that this anointing would break every stronghold in the mighty name of Jesus. In the name of the one whom I serve I break addiction. In the name of the one whom I serve I break every chain of bondage and I command every demonic power to be silent. Be quiet, stop speaking in the mighty name of Jesus. And Lord I pray you would give your people grace and strength to do that which they ought to do. Holy Spirit I pray you remind them of the truth but the truth might set them and keep them free. But today be a day of great liberty in the mighty name of Jesus we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen, write it in the comments. If you want to help us in our mission to continue seeing people saved, healed, delivered and empowered through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit as we go around the world holding events and as we use media as a tool and get behind this ministry. Lend us a helping hand. There are thousands of supporters all around the world who every month pour resources into this ministry. The ministry might keep going and growing strong and we are growing. Listen, you cannot stop a move of the Holy Spirit. The enemy may try and he doesn't like when people are saved. He doesn't like when the gospel is preached. He doesn't like when the truth is ministered. The devil doesn't want to see people saved, delivered, healed and empowered. The devil wants to do everything he can to stop that. But I'm telling you this, you cannot stop the Holy Spirit. You want to get on board with that. You want to help this ministry. You want to be involved. Go right now to davidhernanisministries.com slash donate to give a single gift or davidhernanisministries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter. Whatever you give one time or monthly, large or small, everything helps. Remember my friend, nothing is impossible with God.