 Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. It's time to be free. It's time to discern and then destroy demonic strongholds. I wanna look at the scripture to show you what a stronghold is. I'm gonna show you how to identify strongholds and then I wanna show you how to tear down strongholds using the truth that's given to you by the word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, the power of a stronghold could be wreaking havoc in your life right now. All spiritual bondage is rooted in spiritual deception. Jesus said, the truth shall set you free. You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free. So if you're still bound, then there's a truth that you haven't yet come to fully realize. And so as you begin to expose the lies of the enemy, you begin to walk in the freedom for which Christ died to give to you. Now, believers often go their whole lives, not realizing how the lies that they believe are deeply affecting everything about them. I know that when the Lord set me free from anxiety and panic, that He revealed to me the root lie that was causing me to live in fear. And once I saw that lie for what it was, once it was exposed to me, I looked back on the timeline of my life and I realized, oh my goodness, it was that same lie that followed me all those years. Many different problems, many different manifestations of the deception, but it was all rooted in the same lie. And as you begin to see the truth, you're gonna begin to realize how many of the things that you do and say and think are because of a lie that you believe. So first, what is a stronghold? Second Corinthians 10, four through five says this. We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. Second Corinthians 10, four through five. Now the context here is that Paul the apostle is defending his apostolic authority against jealous pretenders who are calling into question what God had given to Paul the apostle. In other words, they're saying Paul doesn't have power, he's weak, he's not like us, we're the ones with real authority, just very rebellious deceitful divisive lies that these pretenders, these jealous pretenders were spreading in the church. So Paul begins to defend his apostolic authority. Now context considered, we see a spiritual takeaway that has application for everyday life. While Paul the apostle is defending his apostolic authority, he refers to these deceptions, these false reasonings as strongholds. That's a great analogy because it reveals to us just how deception works in our lives. You see in the natural realm, a stronghold is like a fortress or a high tower or like a castle. Really any strong structure that's meant to keep dominion to help give you an advantage as you advance. So in the same way, the thoughts that we think become like strongholds in our lives. Now we thank God that when Jesus rose from the dead, he already bound to the strongman who is Satan and he plundered his goods. Now because of what Christ did on the cross and in that power of the resurrection, you and I live in freedom because of what Jesus has done. So Jesus has already bound the strongman. I'm not talking about the strongman. I'm talking about strongholds, thought patterns, deceptions, ways of thinking that cause us to live certain ways. So let's break this verse down here. Our weapons are not carnal. In other words, they're not fought by physical means nor by human effort alone. You cannot fight the devil with your fists. You cannot fight the devil with physical strength. You cannot fight the devil with emotion. He doesn't respond to these things. He responds only to our spiritual weapons given to us by God, primarily which is the truth. Mighty through God, meaning it's effective for the cause of God. To the pulling down of strongholds, this is referring to the utter destruction of and total removal of a barrier or obstacle. Now, if strongholds in your life are torn down in the way as being described here in the scripture, then that would mean that not one brick would be left upon another. It's absolute devastation to those strongholds to where when you're stepping into victory, you don't even have to worry about getting a pebble in your shoe. There is not a single obstacle once you've completely torn down strongholds in this way. So this is absolute freedom. Whom the sun sets free is free indeed. Absolutely, completely, holy. It is absolute freedom. That's what God has given to us. That is what you must aspire to. That's what's available to you. That's the standard. Casting down imaginations. These are reasonings, deceptive paradigms, mindsets. Bringing into captivity every thought and that is to take control of our thoughts. You cannot take control of the thought until you've learned to address the thought pattern or your ways of thinking. So here's how it works. A lie doesn't become deception until you believe the lie. If I lie to you, then I just gave you misinformation or I gave you a half truth. But only when you believe that lie are you now said to be living in deception. If I lie to you and you reject the lie, you're not deceived. But if I lie to you and you accept the lie, then now you're deceived. This is why the enemy works at making his lies believable. And he even uses your circumstances, your emotions, culture, worldly philosophies. He uses all of these things to make his lies more believable, to endorse those deceptions that he brings before you. And so once a lie has been believed, it produces feelings and actions. Those feelings and actions become habits. Those habits become cycles. This is why sometimes you'll experience freedom for a couple of weeks or maybe a couple of months. Some even experience freedom for a year or two and then they find themselves right back in the problem that they were in first and they get frustrated with this because now they're repeating cycles and those cycles are what we refer to as spiritual bondage. Now, most believers try to address the habits themselves while failing to address the deception behind those habits. I want you to write this in the comments section. Say, open my eyes. Let that be your public prayer. Make it your declaration. Open my eyes. You wanna begin to see the truth. You wanna begin to see in the light. You want to have these strongholds exposed because somewhere if you're bound, now I know it may not feel like it. I know it may not seem like it. I know sometimes we as believers seek for other explanations outside of scripture, but I promise you, if you are spiritually bound, that's because somewhere deep down you are believing a lie. Whether you're aware of that lie or unaware of that lie, it doesn't matter. You are believing a lie deep down inside if you are spiritually bound. And so that lie becomes a deception once you believe it. Those deceptions become feelings and actions. Filling in actions turn to habits. Habits become cycles. Cycles are what we refer to as spiritual bondage. Again, most try to address the result and not the root. Now, how then do we go about identifying these? Well, first I wanna share with you different types of strongholds, and maybe this will help to identify some of the lies in your life. Now, there are thousands of lies that the enemy can use against you, but in terms of categories of lies, there are only a few. So I'll name some of the more common ones, and maybe as you're listening to these types of strongholds or these patterns of thought, you'll recognize somewhere in there a lie that you might be believing. And so I'm gonna talk to you about the stronghold of accusation, the stronghold of temptation, the stronghold of fear, the stronghold of depression, a little bit about the stronghold of distraction, a little bit about the stronghold of confusion, and we will probably maybe talk a lot about the stronghold of torment because this is the one that believers most often confuse for full-on demonic possession. And then once I show you these different types of strongholds, I wanna then take a look at a basic plan for identifying lies. So even if you don't necessarily hear a specific lie that I'm mentioning here that you can identify in your life, even if we don't necessarily cover that specifically right now, I wanna give you a principle or a set of principles that you can use as tools for identifying those lies for yourself. Let's take a look first at number one, the stronghold of accusation. Revelation chapter 12, verse 10 says, Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens. It has come at last salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to the earth, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. The scripture refers to the enemy as the accuser. Now we understand that Satan himself is not omnipresent. He cannot be everywhere at all times. So when we talk about attacks of Satan, we're not saying that the devil himself is attacking you as an individual. Rather, what we are saying is that Satan, who is in charge of the powers of darkness, there is a kingdom, there is a structure there who is in charge of the powers of darkness uses his minions to indirectly attack you. So they're under his jurisdiction. They're under orders from him. They're under his dark authority. And therefore we say when a believer is being attacked even by a minion of hell, even by a demonic force that's not Satan, we say generally that a believer is being attacked by Satan. It's a satanic attack. So it's of satanic nature. It's not necessarily Satan himself. So we understand that Satan's nature is that of the accuser, constantly bringing before you the memory of your past sins. Now, here's a challenge. You know intellectually, in your mind right here, you know that God forgives sins when you repent. We believe that as Christians, don't we? You might even share that with people who you're ministering to, who come to you saying, well, God forgive this and you assure them, yes, God will forgive that. And they say, well, God forgive this particular thing, you say, yes, God will forgive that. And so you know intellectually, philosophically, theologically that God forgives sinners. First John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now watch this. Even though we know intellectually that God forgives our sins once we've repented, some of us still bear the shame and guilt of our sins because deep down inside, whether we say it or not, whether we actually think it in these plain terms or not, whether we're aware of it or not, deep down inside, many of us still have trouble believing that God has forgiven us for our specific wrongdoing, especially those believers who tell themselves, I knew better and I still went ahead and did it anyway. Well, God forgives those even who knew better and that includes you. And so here's how this stronghold might take root in your life. Let's say you're going about your day, you're living happily, joyfully, undistracted, just living in the blessing of God when suddenly a thought comes to your mind and it's a memory of something you did years ago or even maybe months ago. And you are filled again with the shame, with the guilt, you begin to attack and even accuse yourself. That's the enemy reminding you of your past. Now, if you're gonna look at your past, I often tell believers, when the enemy bids that you look at your past, okay, look at your past, but look far back enough to see the cross. Look far back enough to see the sacrifice that Christ made to purchase the forgiveness for your sins. And so maybe this is you. You know this is you because you have trouble receiving blessing when someone tells you that they appreciate your leadership or that you're a good Christian. It makes you uncomfortable because there's still this overwhelming sense of shame and guilt because of your past. When you begin to enjoy your life a little too much, you feel guilt for that because the memory of that thing keeps coming back. Well, you can't do anything about the past, can you? I mean, what do you do when the divorce has already happened and the other one has moved on? What do you do when the abortion already happened? What do you do when you've done something for which there is no reconciliation in the natural realm? Many of us, many believers, say to themselves in a very subtle way, and it's in partnership with the lives of the enemy, they'll say, well, I'll enjoy my life. I receive the forgiveness of God, but deep down inside, I'm still gonna hold on to this shame just a little bit. Just hold on to this guilt just a little bit. And they're not at all like the psalmist who said, your hand weighed heavily upon me. Now, let me rejoice or take that weight off of me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. So that restoration of joy is what was prayed for even after he knew that he was guilty. He repented, of course. He asked for God's forgiveness, of course, but then he said, now let me rejoice or restore unto me that joy of salvation. And some believers can't do that. Why? Because they're living in legalism. They think their salvation somewhat depends upon them. They think to themselves, well, God forgave me, but I'm still gonna hold myself responsible. And they're harder on themselves than God is at this point. This isn't to say that God isn't just. Of course God is just. Of course he punishes sin. Of course God has wrath. Of course he's holy and we should reverence him. But after he's extended to us forgiveness and grace and mercy and compassion, and that sin has been dealt with, why then do you add a standard that God didn't put there after you've sought forgiveness? And you still hold yourself under the contempt of that sin. You let it weigh on your conscience and you're constantly looking in the past worried about that thing coming back or worried about that thing disqualifying you or worried about the fact that maybe God still sees it or maybe others can see it on you in some way and you just can't get over it. And you're committing emotional religion where you are now trying to pay penance for your sin even though Christ already paid that price. And just as many in times pass of the legalistic world would pay their penance by whipping themselves on the back, you do that to yourself emotionally, constantly whipping yourself on the back. I deserve this. I can't enjoy the blessing of God too much. And you feel guilty when good things start to happen in your life or when good things start to happen you tell yourself, okay, well this has to be where everything falls apart now. And there's no peace, there's no joy, constantly questioning your salvation, constantly wondering if God's done with you. That is the stronghold of accusation. That is not how you're supposed to live. We as believers are to live in confidence in our salvation and with that confidence comes joy. You want to know why joy is lacking because you're not confident because you're trusting in yourself not in the finished work of the cross. So here's how this might look as a stronghold. The enemy might say you're not forgiven or the enemy might say God's forgiveness doesn't apply to your specific situation or the enemy might say your sin was so vile, your sin was so great that yes, God will forgive you, but it's like forgiveness light or forgiveness the free version. It's like a freeware where you have it but only in its smaller or lesser form. My friend, that is not how you're meant to live. God called you to live in peace and confidence in your salvation. So the enemy throws these lies your way and then what are you filled with? The feeling of shame, guilt, fear. So what's your action now? I'm gonna show you something and many of you as I say this right now you're gonna go, oh my gosh, that's me. I do that all the time. Not everybody, but many of you will. Now here's what happens. You're filled with shame, guilt, fear, uncertainty about your salvation. And so what is your action? This is what many believers do. They begin to seek affirmation through specific questions that have to do with their specific sins. So they'll ask, so like a believer will, let's say for example, this is just an example, I'm not using a real life one. I'm just gonna kind of make a composite of the various different messages I've received before. Let's say somebody says, you know, the power of God was moving in a church service and I was a little skeptical and I feel like I committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And then I could give the material, a lesson, a video on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, on how a true believer can't commit the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And instead of just taking the general principles and having it apply to them, they'll watch the whole lesson, they'll read the whole article, and then they'll come back to me and they'll go, yeah, yeah, I heard what you said, but what about me? What about my specific situation? Because I was in that church service, it was God moving and I thought it was the enemy. David, does that apply for me too? They don't know how to take principles and so they need specifics. And that is an example of a legalistic mindset. Here's the problem. Just when you find emotional and mental relief in one area, the enemy is just gonna hit you with something else. So Christians messaged me again about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I was conversing with someone the other day and I said, you know, I'm gonna give you an answer, it's gonna help you get through this, but if you don't deal with the root of this problem, your mind is just gonna find something else to obsess about and be afraid of. Because the issue isn't you're worried about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, the issue is you're living in the past, you're living in the memory of your sin. The issue is you haven't learned of that affirmation of the Father, you haven't learned of that assurance of salvation and because of that you live under the accusation of the enemy under that power and you can't break free from it. So they constantly repeat questions. Well, does it apply to me? What about this sin? What about that sin? What if I did this? Well, what if I did this knowing this at this time in a church building? And this gets more and more and more specific. Why? Because they just can't take the truth and apply it to their lives because they're so bound by a lie, the lie being you're not forgiven. God's forgiveness doesn't apply to your specific situation or it's God's forgiveness light. You get a little bit of the forgiveness but you still have to bear some of that shame. You still have to bear some of the guilt. You still have to bear that weight on your conscience. No, when you come to Jesus, the blood of Jesus cleanses your conscience so that the guilt and the shame goes with it. Now I'm not saying that there aren't natural consequences of course. Like for example, if someone goes out and rebels against the Lord and they end up in an accident of some sort and they're injured and because of the lifestyle that they were living, not saying that that was God directly punishing them but maybe they were living a foolish lifestyle, drinking, partying and they ended up in an accident and affects them physically, God can heal them. But those physical realities now that they're living with are a result of the sin that they committed. Not again, always a direct punishment from God but just a naturally occurring result to foolish living that can't be undone or a man who commits a murder. You know, he murders someone, okay, God can forgive that man but he's probably still gonna spend the rest of his life in prison. So there are natural consequences that occur. Of course, I'm talking about in the supernatural realm where there is absolute forgiveness and the guilt and the shame God wants to take from you too. And again, we don't feel we deserve this and that's part of the accusation. That's why, by the way, accusation works so powerfully precisely because it's so believable. Yes, it makes sense that we don't deserve forgiveness because we don't and so the enemy will take that truth and pair it with the lie that we're not forgiven and now he has you and that again repeats. And so that thought pattern, I'm not forgiven, I'm not forgiven leads to feelings of shame, guilt and fear. And now the action that you're living in is constantly seeking affirmation, constantly worrying about your salvation and then it actually pushes you further into sin because shame pushes you away from God. And now it pushes you further into sin and now that you're choosing to sin under the power of that stronghold, that stronghold gains more power because now there's more to accuse you of and then you get stuck in the cycle. And so you can break the power, of course, by coming out of this, walking in God's forgiveness, repenting of your sins but then addressing the root lie, which is accusation. That's number one accusation. If this is helping you, just type amen in the comment section or you can type in the comment section, that's me if you're identifying with this. Stronghold number two is temptation. First Thessalonians chapter three verses four through five says, even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come and they did, as you well know, that is when I could bear it no longer, that is why when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless. If sin were a product, demons would be salesmen. Now let me be clear here and this is an unpopular truth. Nobody decides to sin for you, but you. No, the devil did not make you do it. No, it was not a spirit living in you that forced you to sin. When you have a sin problem, you have to address the desires of your heart because the scripture makes it clear that when we sin, it's because we were drawn away by our own desires. Now, demons can play to those desires by presenting tempting offers, but ultimately you're the one who decides to sin. However, this is how it works. All temptation is rooted in deception. Well, think back to the Garden of Eden. First, the serpent tells Eve, did God really say he questions God's word? And then once he questions God's word, then he can contradict it. So first he'll get you to question the word, then he'll contradict the word and then the lie begins to take form. Here's the lies that can add to the success of temptation. This sin will satisfy you. God won't punish this sin severely. God's presence can't satisfy you or this sin isn't that bad or this sin isn't affecting anyone. These are all lies that we believe about sin that ultimately cause us to yield to temptation. So all temptation is rooted in deception. The reason you're choosing to sin is because you believe somewhere deep in your heart that that's gonna satisfy you, otherwise you wouldn't do it. But the belief that it will satisfy is one of the lies that keeps you going back. It's not until you repent, that is bring your mind into agreement with God's mind about sin that you'll actually see breakthrough. You have to agree that the sin has to go. It has to go immediately in all forms and in all measures. So the lie, this sin will satisfy. God won't punish this. God's presence won't satisfy you or this sin isn't that bad or this sin isn't really hurting anybody. And then the feeling, watch this now, you start to think that way and now the feelings come with it. What are the feelings that come with temptation? You feel trapped. You feel like a hypocrite. You feel double-minded. You feel like two different people. You're switching from one person to the next. And then that action becomes more and more sin. But what's the root lie? It's that it's gonna satisfy you or that it's not that big of a deal or that God won't punish it. And then the result is you form a habit, a secretive lifestyle, a guilty conscience. You begin to feel distant from God and what does all that do? It produces more deception and then you find yourself trapped again in that cycle which is what we call spiritual bondage. Now again, most believers will just address the habit and you should address the habit. You should implement willpower and discipline and accountability and all of the practical measures that are necessary for overcoming temptation. Of course, yes, do those things. Pray, read the word. Of course, do those things. But don't forget to address the root lie that's drawing you to that sin in the first place. So that's how temptation can work as a stronghold. Next is a stronghold of fear. Now we know of course the scripture tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but a power and love and a self-discipline or of a sound mind. Second Timothy one, five through seven, we can read that. We have fear of fulfilling the call of God or not fulfilling the call of God. Many have the fear of man, the fear of tragedy and calamity, the fear of death, the fear of sickness, the fear of loss, the fear of loneliness. The list goes on and on. There are multiple different fears that can agitate those weaknesses within us. But we have to recognize that ultimately, fear is based on the question, what if? What if? And then of course our mind goes to the worst case scenario. Fear says, or I should say fear asks, what if? But faith boldly declares even if. We have to get this right because I think many people have been led astray on this particular point, this particular issue I should say. Many have been led astray because they're not properly equipped to deal with their fears. I'll tell you what I mean. When someone comes to you and says, oh, I'm afraid of this happening or that happening, I'm afraid of this accident or that accident or this tragedy or that tragedy, I'm afraid of death, I'm afraid of sickness, I'm afraid of fulfilling the call of God, I'm afraid of not fulfilling the call of God. I'm afraid of what they'll think. What is our first instinct to do in comforting people like that? Well, we often reach right for consoling them by saying it's not gonna happen. I'm afraid I might get sick. Oh, that's not gonna happen, you're overthinking it. I'm afraid I might be in an accident. Oh, that would never happen. Come on, the odds are not there. That would never happen, you're okay. I'm afraid of my loved ones dying. Oh, that's never gonna happen. God wouldn't let that happen. Your loved ones are never gonna die. And so what we're doing is we're trying to address the fear by denying the fact that tragedy occurs. Here's the problem with that, tragedy does occur. And when tragedy occurs, the person who was told that nothing wrong will ever happen in their lives, that person feels lied to. They feel disillusioned, their faith is shaken. They feel betrayed by God. Why? Because they were told it's not gonna happen. God's not gonna let anything bad happen to me. Nope, no, sir, I'm a child of God. Nothing bad will ever happen. Well, that's not biblical. Jesus said in this world, you'll have tribulation. Think of Paul the Apostle's life, shipwrecked, abandoned, imprisoned, rejected, lied about, killed. Why? Because he was faithful to the call of God. But did he see himself as a victim in all of that? No, of course not. He knew that even if the worst should happen, he was still victorious. So that's not how you overcome fear. You don't overcome fear by denying that anything bad could ever happen to you. Because then that just shrinks you back into a small world. And again, that bubble is burst quite quickly and devastatingly, when something actually happens, that's not necessarily the most ideal. And I'm not saying this as a doom and gloom guy telling you, everything's gonna go wrong, everything's gonna go terrible. No, I'm just saying in life, that's a part of life. It doesn't mean the enemy has power over you. It doesn't mean you're cursed. It doesn't mean God's losing. It doesn't mean you're a victim. We are victorious even in these things. But to lie to people and tell them, that's never gonna happen. You'll be fine. Everything's gonna be okay. Well, that's not the way to live life because now you're just denying reality that bad things can happen. So how do you overcome fear then? Fear, again, asks what if? And you don't answer that question with, well, it's not gonna happen because then fear is just reinforced and it comes back twice as strong when tragedy hits. No, how do you deal with it? Bold faith, faith which says even if. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, what did they say when they refused to bow? Our God is able to deliver us from this furnace, the fiery furnace. But even if he doesn't, we will not bow. What a statement. Even if he doesn't rescue us the way we know he can, we're not gonna bow to that idol. We're not gonna bow to that false perception of who God is. And so fear is dealt with when we realize, okay, bad things do happen. And in this life, I will experience tragedy. I will experience betrayal. I will experience heartache and hurt. Oh, but I'm pressed, but not crushed, persecuted, not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. What can separate me from the love of God? God's love is that ultimate safety net. That ultimate safety net that rests there so that we can declare even if, even if the worst should happen, I'm loved by God. Even if I should lose it all, I'm loved by God. Even if everyone should turn on me, I'm loved by God. Heartache and tragedy, part of life, I'm loved. And it's that love of God that gives us that inner strength. Well, what does the Bible say? It says perfect love casts out all fear. And that if we're afraid, it's because we're afraid of punishment from God. That's ultimately what fear is based on. We don't recognize how protected we are by the love of God. Not from tragedy and pain or even death. All of us one day are gonna die, unless of course the rapture happens before then. But my goodness, what are we afraid of? If the worst should happen, aren't you still loved by God? If the worst should happen, doesn't that mean to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord? What are we afraid of in this life? What are we afraid of losing? What are we afraid of happening? Pain, pain is temporary. Heartache, heartache is temporary. Suffering, suffering is a part of the Christian life. And nothing can compare to the glory we'll experience then. The suffering we have now doesn't compare to the glory then. So what are we ultimately afraid of? We are ultimately afraid that God's love, that safety net isn't going to catch us. And when all is said and done, God will reject us. God will be angry with us. God will punish us. And that comes from not understanding his love. That comes from not understanding what happens when you place your faith in Christ Jesus. And the righteousness of God is imputed to you. So again, that lie, you're unsafe. You'll fail. You're gonna fail in your calling. You're gonna fail in your marriage. You're gonna fail as a dad. You're gonna fail as a mother. You're gonna fail as a friend. You're gonna fail in business. You're gonna lose your health. Everyone's gonna turn on you. People will betray you. Everyone's gonna talk about you. Nobody likes you. Tragedy is coming. Calamity is around the corner. Sickness and disease await you. Loss is your portion. Loneliness is your portion. These are the enemies attacks. And the answer isn't to say, no, none of that could ever happen. No, the answer is to say, even if. Even if I still won't bow to fear. The perfect love of God cast out all fear. Isn't that wonderful? You see, the promise isn't a perfect life. Hear me please. The promise isn't a perfect life. It's his perfect love. It's his presence. It's him. And once you know how secure you are in him, then that stronghold loses its power in your life. So these lies, you're unsafe. Well, maybe unsafe superficially, maybe physically unsafe in some situations. Or I know believers who are sick in body and it's severe. They still trust God. Why? Because ultimately, when all is said and done, don't be afraid of those who can kill the body. Fear only the one who could kill the body and the soul in hell. But see, he rescues the soul of the one who believes. So you're rescued. So you don't overcome fear by shrinking your world and saying, none of this could ever happen or I'm gonna prevent this from happening. It's in acknowledging that even if the worst should happen, and that's the truth that sets you free from that stronghold. So number one, accusation, two, temptation, three, fear. I won't have time to delve into the rest here, but I do wanna start giving you some keys on how to overcome them. So we'll give a brief survey over these and then we'll get right into how to identify and then tear them down. So depression is one, depression is rooted in lies. Lies like you're alone, you're unloved, you have no value, you have no purpose. And then the feeling that's produced from these lies is heaviness, you feel disconnected, you feel distant, you feel lifeless, you feel cynical, you feel empty. What's the action now? Action is low energy, not laziness, low energy, you're discouraged, you're sorrowful, suicidal ideation, isolation from other people because you don't trust them, that's depression. And then the result is no motivation for life or anything in life, and there's that weight on you. And you might think it's a demon on your body when it's a fact, it's a lie in your mind. That's depression. Now, there are some psychological and physiological aspects to depression, of course, but I'm showing you the spiritual aspects. Then there's distraction, the lie there. This needs your attention right now or this is important enough to focus on or this is more important than what you're doing. This is how we get arguing and bickering and it's sad in the body of Christ to see the state of the body of Christ now. I pray all the time, whenever I see preachers attacking other preachers for unfounded accusations, preachers attacking other preachers for differences in doctrines, preachers attacking other preachers for a misunderstanding of something they said and instead of allowing them to tell you what they meant in their words, what they in their pride and their arrogance and their ego stand by their criticisms because they don't wanna have been wrong. That's distraction or when we argue about genealogies and meaningless words, when we argue about certain feasts and Sabbath days and when we argue about how to pronounce certain words in scripture. I mean, that's how detailed some of these distractions get. Distraction also is entertainment, Netflix. Distractions, what's the lie? This needs your attention now. This is important enough to focus on. This is more important than what you're doing. Those are the lies that lead to distraction. And then, what's the feeling? You feel your ego is boosted. You're fired up, ambitious, rushed, pressured, right? Because your mind just is constantly on this and that and this, that and this, that and you're distracted. Your pace speeds up. Now what begins to happen? You do things that ultimately deter you or rob you of peace. You invest your time in things that won't matter. You waste your days. Why? Cause you're distracted. And the result is you become ineffective, tense, angry. I've seen it happen, guys. I've seen it happen to many in ministry. They become so focused on attacking other ministers in their arrogance and pride, not recognizing that maybe they got it wrong. Maybe they misinterpreted them and they double down on it. And then their whole ministries change because of the spirit that's now coming through. And that has more to do with just other ministers. This is people in local churches. This is people in families. This is mothers and fathers in their relationship with their kids. This divides families. This divides churches. This divides ministries. This breaks up businesses. This breaks up marriages. Why? Because they're so distracted on things that don't matter and the ego clings to these things. Not just distraction through entertainment. I think we all understand how that works and how that brings destruction but distraction also on meaningless arguments. Let's go now to number six, confusion. I'll say this. In 1 Corinthians 1433, God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all churches of the saints. So God is the one who brings clarity. Now watch this, watch this, now watch this. I need you to understand this because this is very important in regards to how confusion works. If you are confused about something, it means that somewhere you are believing a lie. You're only confused when you try to force a lie and the truth together. So the lie can look like this and this is again another ego boosting stronghold. What I believe couldn't possibly be wrong. And so you cling to something that's not biblical and you're offended, you're unsure, you're uneasy and so what's the action now? You hold on to your beliefs instead of submitting to scripture. What's the result? You stay bound to a lie. And this has more to do with, this has more to do than just with doctrine. This also has to do with life events. I mean, for example, if someone believes they need to be in a relationship with someone who's not born again, they can lie to themselves justifying why they're with that person when the scripture says be not unequally yoked. And so what's gonna happen? Deep down they're holding onto the lie. I should be with this person. This is an exception. God understands. I know what I'm doing, right? There's the lies they're believing and then they read in the scripture, be not unequally yoked with unbelievers and then they're conflicted internally and then they just go, I'm confused. I don't know what I should do. But you're confused because you're clinging to a lie. The moment you let go of the lies, everything becomes clear. So that's another stronghold. There's this confusion that arises when you try to hold to the truth and to a lie at the same time. It's compromise. Number seven, torment. Now this one is severe and it can get very severe. We're talking torment that can produce mental anguish, hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, night terrors, intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideation, paranoia, this heavy weight on you. That's torment. And it affects the mind very negatively. And so what happens is this lie is ultimately saying that Satan has more power over you than he actually does. And I find that the most tormented Christians are the ones who hyper focus on demonic power, minimize the Holy Spirit's power and maximize in their minds the power of the enemy. All the enemy cursed me. All the enemy possessed me. All there's something living inside of me. All the enemies wreaking havoc in my life. Everything's going wrong in my life because the enemy. Nevermind foolish decisions. Nevermind sinful mistakes. Nevermind poor choices. No, it's all the enemy in my business, in my finances, in my relationship. I'm single because Satan probably not. You're probably single because of decisions you're making. And so we have to grow out of this type of thinking where we're blaming everything on demonic powers. And torment is often linked with this type of thinking because we exaggerate the power of the enemy so much in our lives that we think he's able to do more than he actually can. And he takes advantage of that. He's a bully. Of course he's gonna take advantage of that. So when you hyper focus on the attacks of the enemy and you're worked up emotionally, you're losing sleep, you're mentally emotionally exhausted. Well, of course you're just gonna be more vulnerable now to the attacks of the enemy. Often I find it's not necessarily the enemy trying to attack you that causes most problems. It's your response to the fact that the enemy is trying to attack you that causes a lot of problems because most Christians just panic. Oh, what am I doing wrong? What happened? How do I get out of it? Just walk in the spirit. Well, no, no, no, it has to be more like in the movies. No, no, no, just walk in the spirit. Jesus already bound to the strong man. Victory is yours if you just submit to God. Believer, it's so simple. Spiritual victory is yours if you just submit to God. Now some might say, well, wait a minute, I am submitted to God, but things are still going wrong in my life. Well, that's part of life. And if you keep giving the devil credit for everything that goes wrong in your life, again, you're gonna imagine he has more power over you than he actually does. That's his goal. And this is why some of us need deliverance from our deliverance doctrines because some of the things we believe actually partner with the lives of the enemy and strengthen this stronghold where we start to believe that the enemy actually has more power over us than he does. And we partner with that in our belief and our fear fuels that lie. So we live under the stronghold. Troubling thoughts, you get a troubling thought, you start to feel that torment from that troubling thought because you're so hyper focused on it because you're so believing it. The action, what's the action? You become more paranoid, isolated, neurotic. And what's the result? You now lack peace. There's the stronghold, my friend. And when you lack peace and you're isolated, you, in that isolation, your thoughts run wild. In that isolation, you lose rest. In that isolation, you lose all checks and balances. In that isolation, you get really weird. Now, I'm not saying that to make fun of anyone. That's a fact. You get very strange. And so it begins to work things in you that push people away and as people are pushed away, the torment is increased. And so this is why the enemy works so hard at getting you to believe that he has more power over you than he actually does. Now, I cover in detail these strongholds and more. In my book, Holy Spirit, The Bondage Breaker available at bondagebreaker.com, experience permanent deliverance from mental, emotional, and demonic strongholds. I'm gonna tell you in a moment, right here in this message, how to identify them in principle and then also how to break the power of the strongholds. We go over these strongholds and more. I talk about also in this book, The Attack of Sickness. I talk about addiction. We go into great detail on how to combat these lies, how to discipline the mind to combat these lies. We show the limitations of demonic power, the origins of Satan, the battle for dominion and how to avoid certain protocols that actually just make the problem worse. So again, you get this book, Holy Spirit, The Bondage Breaker, experience permanent deliverance. That's God's will, permanent deliverance, not from deliverance to deliverance, but from glory to glory, from mental, emotional, and demonic strongholds. And you can get that at bondagebreaker.com. So let's look at how to identify these strongholds. It's very important to remember that you cannot systemize discernment. In other words, many believers just want this long list. Tell me all the lies the enemy can tell me. Tell me all the things that can make me vulnerable to these lies. And I'll walk around with that list. My friend, if I gave you that list, there would be thousands and thousands and thousands of things on that list. Then you'd have to walk around with a book this thick with fonts that was too small to read. And every day you would try to be remembering, okay, what's in the book? What's the lie? What's the thing that causes the lie? What makes me vulnerable to lies? And you live in a paranoia and you live under the weight of religious burden. And that's not what God called you to live in. So, rather than address every single lie that the enemy can tell you, why not just learn the truth? And in learning the truth, you now have a measure against which you can hold all thoughts. The word of God, the Holy Spirit, sound teachers, this becomes a filter for your mind. And so instead of focusing on the darkness, freaking out about the darkness, talking about the darkness, philosophizing about the darkness, you look at the light. And when you live in the light, darkness by its very own nature must dissolve in the power of that light. So the best way to deal with darkness is to simply turn on the light. Not to scream at the darkness, not to punch the darkness. You couldn't do that if you tried. But to just turn on the light. So how do you turn on the light in your life? Number one, you know the truth by God's word. Psalm 119, 105 says, your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Second Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. So there the scripture is making it very clear that the Bible is our light. So don't tell me you're desperate for freedom when you're not in the word on a daily basis. Don't tell me you're trying everything you can to live in victory and you're not even in the word. Because many times we wanna neglect the spiritual basics because the spiritual basics require discipline. It's easier to say, lay hands on me preacher, pray a special prayer over me preacher, just blow a shofar over me preacher so that I don't have to implement the discipline but you can't make up for with superstitious ritual which you lack in spiritual routine. Now I'm not saying that laying hands on people and praying over them isn't biblical. It absolutely is. But what good does it do to get set free if you're not staying free? And if you're not in the word, you can't stay free because you'll just go right back to believing a new lie. If a new lie is exposed and defeated, someone helps walk you through that lie. Okay, you expose and eliminate, you discern and destroy that stronghold. You're not in the word for yourself, guess what now? You're gonna go right back into another stronghold. So you have to know the word. And as you read the word, you go through the scripture, you begin to see that light reflected back at you and you begin to notice things in you that contradict the nature of God and this is where you see transformation. Number two, we know the truth by the Holy Spirit. He is the spirit of truth. John 14, 26 says, but when the Father sends the advocate as my representative, that is the Holy Spirit, he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. John 16, 13, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. Again, that's John 16, 13. So here the scripture is making it clear that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. But if you're not in the word, what can the Holy Spirit remind you of? If he's not able to entrust you with the revelations written in the word, how is he then supposed to build upon your understanding to give you further revelation? He can't if you haven't given him a foundation. So we know the truth by God's word, we know the truth by the Holy Spirit and we know the truth by sound teachers. Ephesians 4, 11 and 12 says this, now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. So here we see that Christ has given to the church gifts in the form of teachers, preachers, apostles. And so God has given to us sound teachers. Now, unless you know the word and the spirit, you're not gonna be able to find sound teachers. I'm just gonna challenge you to do something here. You need to stop listening to teachings that agitate your fears. You need to stop listening to teachings that place religious burdens on you that cause you to become paranoid, that cause you to magnify demonic power and minimize the Holy Spirit's power. Just be discerning. What is this doing in me? Is this lifting burdens or placing burdens? Is this producing peace and a clear path forward? Or is this just making me bite my nails and go, oh my goodness, I don't know what to do now. I feel so overwhelmed that I could be under the power of darkness. This is why you have to be very careful with what you intake. And so you identify the truth by knowing the word, knowing the Holy Spirit and knowing sound teachers. You have these three things now that light begins to shine. And that light shining in your life will make it very, very difficult. Not necessarily impossible because all of us are flawed, but it will make it very difficult for the enemy to gain a foothold to build another stronghold in your thinking. Now, once you've identified this lie, whatever it is that's working in your life, how do you tear this down? I'll give you four keys very briefly here. They're simple and practical. Watch this now. The lies you believe affect you in more ways than you know. And especially the lies you don't know you believe affect you in more ways than you know. Once you discover that lie, you're gonna look back on your life and go, oh my goodness, I can't believe that all along that was the issue. I just talked to someone the other day who said, I'm just now realizing, that's what they told me. They said, I'm just now realizing how anxiety had affected me all this time. How many things I think, how many things I do, how many things I don't do because of anxiety, but I didn't even realize it because I never identified it as the issue. That's the issue with many believers. And they're under the power of these lies and they don't even know it. Remember this, the only power the enemy can have over you is the power he deceives you into giving to him. So you wanna tear down strongholds. There's two elements to a stronghold. Number one, there's the demonic element. Number two, there's a mental and emotional element. How does this work? Demonic powers do the lying. Again, this is different than possession or a curse. Talking to believers now, talking to how a demonic power attacks a Christian. And in fact, I have more on this. We're probably gonna leave it up on the channel. I did a seminar a little more in depth in this, it's free on YouTube. You can watch that where I go into a little more detail in exactly how the enemy can attack Christians. I also have different teachings on the channel that can help you see this. But primarily speaking, the enemy attacks the believer through what he says. You might have a question about a physical attack. Yes, the enemy can send sickness into your body through an attack. The enemy can use a demonized person to attack you physically. Those are primarily the ways that the enemy attacks us physically. But 99% of the enemy's attacks are gonna come through what he says, speaking to you, tormenting you from the outside, accusing you from the outside, tempting you from the outside, confusing and distracting you from the outside, so forth. These are the things he says to us. So that's the demonic element of a stronghold. They're the liars, they feed you the lies. The emotional and mental element of the stronghold is that your flesh becomes trained under the lies of the enemy. So the enemy lies to you and lies to you and lies to you and the eventual result of living under demonic, please hear this right now. This is gonna be so eye-opening for someone. The eventual result of living under demonic deception is always self-deception. The eventual result of living under demonic deception is always self-deception. What do I mean by that? The enemy lies to you, lies to you, lies to you, lies to you, lies to you, lies to you. And then you believe it, you believe it, you believe it, you believe it, you believe it. Eventually, you start to think according to the lie he gave you. Here's the scary part. Someone could rebuke that demon. If you're a believer, you don't have to have it cast out of you, but you do have to resist so he flees. So someone rebukes that demon, you rebuked that demon, you get breakthrough, the stronghold's broken, right? That lie's exposed, the enemy flees. Now he can't lie to you at that point anymore. Watch this now. There are still lies lingering because it's gone from being demonic deception to self-deception. Why? Because you've believed and repeated the lies of the enemy for so long that the lies of the enemy linger to become a part of your mindset. Why would the enemy need to lie to you any longer if you're already lying to yourself? Demonic deception always eventually becomes self-deception. If it's not dealt with at the beginning stages. So here's the problem. Many Christians rid themselves of the demonic aspect. They rebuked the enemy. They resist the enemy, I'm gonna show you that in a moment. They rebuked, they resist. Demonic being is silenced, he flees. And then they go on wondering, wait, why don't I feel free if I already rebuked the enemy? Why don't I feel free if I already experienced deliverance from that stronghold? Why don't I feel free if someone already prayed over me? What happened here? Well, it's because you're now no longer dealing with the demon. Yes, you should deal with the demonic aspect. I'm not saying that demons aren't involved. Of course demons attack Christians. They're very involved in their attacks against us. But I'm saying once you've dealt with the demonic aspect, don't mistake the flesh for lingering demons. Oh, that's gonna set somebody free because somebody's been frustrated and trying over and over and over, you go to every session you can, over and over and over, every conference, every e-course, every book. You're just, how do I get rid of this? And you are mistaking the flesh for a lingering demon. When you've already dealt with the demonic aspect, the Bible gives us very straightforward answers to dealing with demons. They're like pests, you rebuke them, they go. They have to, they have to. Now if it's a really tough situation and your faith is low, you fast and pray, but then you go deal with them and they have to go. That's it, there's no wrestling match. You tell them, if they don't obey, go back and fast and pray, come back, say it again, they need to go that time. If they don't, it's not a demon you're dealing with, it's a flesh problem. And many Christians get so obsessed here because they're thinking, no, it has to be a demon because of the way it feels. It has to be a demon because of how intense this is. It has to be a demon because I'm not sleeping, I'm depressed, I feel this heaviness, I'm not realizing that's what deception does. That's how effective those strongholds in our lives. That's how strong and potent they can be. And now they mistake their flesh for a lingering demon. So number one, you rebuke the enemy, take authority. Look at Matthew 8.16, that evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. Watch this now, and he cast out the evil spirits with the simple command and he healed all the sick. Now, this particular verse is specifically about demonic possession, but though we're not talking about demonic possession because we're talking about the believer, there's still a very powerful takeaway here. If Jesus could rid someone of demonic possession with just a simple command, imagine what he can do in the life of the believer who's dealing with just deception. Demonic possession is an extreme, intense, heightened influence of demonic power. It is probably demonic possession, which is also called demonization, is the most intense form of demonic influence. Now, if Jesus could vanquish that with just a simple command, how much more power will he have when he speaks against a simple deception in your life? Now, some might say, well, that was Jesus. We're not Jesus. Jesus was the son of God. Well, you're a son of God too. God gave you that same authority because Christ is in power, you are in Christ. Christ is seated in heavenly places. You are seated in Christ. Now, think about the ego we reveal when we say such things. Well, that was Jesus who was able to drive out demons instantly. We're talking about us now. Wait a minute, ego has been exposed. Are you of the impression that you're the one casting out the demons on your own strength? So then why would it be your own strength when it comes to simple strongholds? So this scripture shows us the absolute authority, absolute authority that the believer has over demonic beings, absolute, absolute. There's no debate. There's no fighting. And if there is fighting, it's not that they're resisting God's authority. It's that you're not using God's authority, which is precisely why Jesus told us to fast and pray. Think about this. There's only two things that could take you out of alignment with divine authority. That's compromise, number one, and a lack of faith. That's it. All the Bible shows us. And so if you are compromising, repent. If you lack faith, fast and pray, then go back, rebuke the enemy. Say, again, as a believer, you don't have to say, come out of me. You say, stop talking to me. I'm resisting you now, flee. It's not casting out. It's resisting is how the New Testament describes it for the believer. Now, of course, we understand that possession is real. I have a whole bunch of other teachings on demonic possession, but we're talking right now just about strongholds. And so this is the simplest part. Then you resist the enemy. James 4, 7, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee. Write it in the comment section. Resist the devil and he will what? Write that in the comment section. He will flee. Does it say resist the devil and he'll put up a fight until you could figure out the name of the demon he sent? Does it say resist the devil and he'll put up a fight until you unlock some hidden mystery? Does it say resist the devil until you uncover some demonic secret that's been hidden in your family? No, resist the devil and he will flee. Does it say here cast it out? No, it says resist him. Why? Because he's not coming into you. He's coming against you. Very different for the believer. So resist the devil and what does he do? Flee. Why? Because the devil fears nothing more than the believer who understands who they are in Christ. And once he sees that you're resisting him, he takes note, they know who they are in Christ. And so there's nothing he can do. But first you have to submit to God. So the key to freedom and breaking the demonic aspect of a stronghold is submission to God. Again, I said to you, Christ already bound the strongholds the strong man. That's what he was talking about in that parable. He is the, yes, the devil is the strong man. Jesus is the stronger man. Read the parable very carefully. He's talking about himself. He's the one who goes in, binds the strong man and plunders the kingdom of darkness. And so Jesus bound the strong man. He did the work. He defeated the enemy. He delivered us from the powers of darkness. And now in order to walk in Christ, you submit to God. And if you're walking in submission to God, no devil can touch your life. Period. Period. And anything that's been told you otherwise is a contradicting to scripture and it's fear mongering. And I'm here to tell you the truth that you might go free. The enemy has kept so many believers bound because they have so much belief in his power. Now I'm not saying he has no power. I've talked in the past before about two different extremes that we must avoid. We mustn't be apathetic toward the spiritual realm. Of course we understand we're engaged in spiritual warfare. That's what the scripture clearly tells us. And if we remain ignorant of those things, then we remain vulnerable to those things. So no, don't be apathetic, but neither be paranoid. Be spiritually vigilant. Be aware of the attacks of the enemy, but not paranoid with it. Think about a doctor's visit. If I went to my physician and I wasn't eating, sleeping, drinking or exercising and I said to him, doc, I don't feel so good. What are the first questions he's going to ask me? He's going to ask me about my diet. He's going to ask me about my exercise. He's going to ask me about my water intake. He's going to ask me about my sleep patterns. Why? Because he knows that if he can just get me to do the basics, it will cover most of the problems. That's Christianity. Submit to God, do the basics. Pray, read the word, worship, renew the mind. Think on these things and you'll start to see the power of demonic deception broken. Then you speak against, you resist, they flee. So that's the first aspect. Those are the first two keys to dealing with the stronghold. Rebuke the enemy and resist the enemy. So by doing these two things, you've just dealt with the demonic aspect. Now there will still be lingering issues but you've at least identified and eliminated the source. Again, do not mistake the flesh for a lingering demon. Once you've gone through the biblical protocols of resisting and rebuking and if it's necessary, fasting and praying, now you are dealing with the flesh. Anything more is going to create religious effort, superstitious protocol that ultimately keeps you in further bondage. You renew the mind. Romans 12, 2 says, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect. Deliverance is already yours. Colossians 1, 13 and 14 who hath delivered us from the powers of darkness. In other words, it's already done. I think many believers mistakenly believe that deliverance is like a substance, like a bottle of water where I, okay, you know, pour a little bit of my glass. I got some deliverance. I need some more. I had a little bit of deliverance on Sunday. I'm coming back for a little more deliverance on Tuesday. Now, if you're talking about sanctification, that's a process. You're talking about overcoming the flesh over a period of time as the character of Christ is developed in you. Okay, of course, that's gonna be a progress, a progressive journey, I should say. So there are some things that do take time, deliverance from the flesh, deliverance from sickness, which can sometimes be a long-term healing, deliverance from deception, which can sometimes be the renewing of a thought pattern. But in terms of the deliverance from the powers of darkness, that's done. Now, why don't we always experience that? Well, because we're not accessing what Christ gave to us. So if I hand you this bottle of water, I say, here it is, it's all yours. If you don't open it and drink it, you're just gonna say, oh, well, I'm still thirsty. Well, here's your bottle of water. Well, thanks for the bottle, but I'm still thirsty. You have to open it and drink it. In the same way, Christ has already given to us deliverance. You were delivered when you were saved. You wanna walk in the benefits and the reality of that deliverance, renew your mind. Submit to God. Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world. Let God transform you. Be ye transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind. So you renew the mind by stubbornly refusing to believe the lies and clinging to the truth. You renew the mind through meditation of the word, the meditation of the truth. What's meditation? Well, I know these days it's kind of been given a bad rap, but meditation is a biblical concept actually. You meditate by repeating something in your thought. Meditation is repetition and thought. So meditating on the word is to repeat the word again and again, the truths of the word again and again in your mind. So that's number three, renew your mind. Number four, finally, is an encounter with God. I mean, as simple as it may be, it's an encounter with God. The Holy Spirit can do more in a millisecond and you and I could accomplish with a hundred years of striving and human effort. So yes, do the practical. Rebuke the enemy, resist the enemy, renew the mind, but live in his presence, my friend. You live in that presence and there's freedom. I'm telling you there's some experience. Living in his presence brings absolute freedom, authority and power. You live in the beauty of that glory. Remember this, demons cannot swim in the depths of God's glory. So Father, I pray that you would help your people to do it. Give them the courage and the strength. Help them to identify and eliminate, to discern and to destroy strongholds of the enemy. I rebuke them now. We come against every demonic attack in the mighty name of Jesus. And Lord, as we rebuke every demonic attack, I pray you would also give them the grace to walk in the spirit and overcome the flesh. We submit to you, say that out loud right now. Say, I submit to you. Say it again, say, I submit to you. In Jesus' name we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say, amen. Well, if you enjoyed this teaching, make sure to leave a like so others can hear this teaching. Your simple like actually helps to spread the message all around the world. And also, if you haven't done so already, make sure you subscribe to my channel to learn more about the Holy Spirit prayer and spiritual warfare and also see the power of the Holy Spirit in action from our live events as he saves, heals, delivers and empowers. Now, if you've been blessed by this ministry, I want to challenge you to do something. You know, we as Christians have a responsibility to preach the gospel. Woe is me if I preach not the gospel. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they hear unless someone tells them? And how will someone tell them unless they are sent workers in the kingdom? All of us play a part of spreading the gospel. Now, I want to challenge you here. 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So I want to challenge you right now. Maybe you're watching this and it's easy to feel disconnected from a teaching, right? You watch it on YouTube or Facebook or wherever you're watching from maybe the app and it's easy to go, oh, well, he's talking to someone else. So there's lots of people who see this and it's easy to be dismissive. And yes, a lot of people are giving and a lot of people are doing their part but I'm asking you to do your part. I'm asking you to get involved and help us continue to spread the gospel all around the world. Pause right now and ask the Holy Spirit what you should do for his ministry. And when you give your offering, I want you to know you're not, yes, in the natural realm you're placing it in our hands and we're using it to advance the ministry. But ultimately you're giving to Jesus. You're giving to Jesus for his work, for his kingdom. Help us on our mission. Let's make a difference. Let's see this world impacting. Aren't you tired of the darkness advancing? Don't you watch the news and become filled with righteous and Ignatian saying someone has to do something, someone has to go and make a difference. That's what's happening and it's working. We're not talking about it. We're doing it. And it's all of us together under the power of the Holy Spirit. So I'm asking you to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you in your giving. Go right now to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate whether you're watching live or on the replay. It doesn't matter. It's always gonna make an impact. Give a single donation by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate or become a monthly supporter by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner. I challenge many of you right now if you haven't done so yet to go and become a monthly supporter of this ministry. That monthly support helps us to plan ahead, helps us to know what's coming in and it helps us to make a bigger impact. But it's working. It's happening large or small one time or monthly. There's no gifts so small that it won't count. Don't discount yourself. And there's no gifts so large that we won't know what to do with it. I promise you, you're watching this business person, investor, someone whom God has gifted with great resources. This is good soil. And we know how to steward gifts from God. We know how to steward gifts from people. So again, no gift so small that it won't make an impact. No gift so large that we wouldn't know what to do with it. Help us. Souls hang in the balance. I don't wanna say no to any nations. I don't wanna say no to any states. I don't wanna say no to any opportunity, any door that opens before us. Help us say yes to the nations of the world. Help us say yes to going around the world. One more time, davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a single gift, davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter. I'll actually load up some emails that I can see. I can see many of you giving right now. I can't see every gift but I can see some of them. And by the way, if you're giving from another country or with another currency besides the US dollar, you can actually go check out our form at davidhernandezministries.com. We should be able to take your currency and we should be able to take gifts from your region. If we can't, of course you can use the social media giving tools but do try the ministry website first. Also for those of you in cryptocurrency, you can make crypto donations as well on davidhernandezministries.com. Monica, thank you for your gift. Gloria, thank you for your gift. Ayubami, thank you for your gift. Jasmine, thank you for becoming a partner. Umakanthan, thank you for your very generous gift. Patrick family, our dear friends, thank you for your gift. Eden and Debbie and Jeffrey and Joe and Jean and Victoria and Reika and Regina, thank you for becoming partners. Barbara, thank you for your gift. Ostantohawamin, thank you for becoming a partner. So many generous givers from around the world. As I said, I can't read all of them but I see many of them. Thank you for your support. And until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.