 I wanna show you seven of the most common strongholds that I see in the life of the believer. And then I wanna show you how to get to the root of each one of these strongholds. We're covering depression. We're covering unforgiveness or offense. We're covering legalism. That's a big one. I'm gonna spend some time on that one, probably more so than the others. We're talking about anxiety, which is a stronghold or fear. We're also talking about torment. The symptoms of torment include voices, hallucinations, anguish, the anguished mind, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, a sense of darkness and things like these. We're also addressing the stronghold of confusion and then we're gonna be talking about addiction. I wanna show you how to get to the root of each one of these strongholds so that 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. So as we go through these, I believe that God's gonna reveal truths that will liberate you and then keep you free. Now we're gonna look at the symptoms of each one of these strongholds. I'm gonna show you some of the root lies upon which these strongholds are built and then I wanna minister truth to these areas where many believers are bound. I believe God wants you to hear this. Now you have to fight the flesh because this is gonna be somewhat of a lengthy lesson but fight the flesh, fight that urge to pull away. You know the mind, many cases, needs constant stimulation. That's the flesh, it needs entertainment. It craves distraction. So you have to say no to the flesh and yes to the spirit. I want you to write that in the comment section right now whether you're watching live or whether you're watching the replay, right? Yes to the spirit. Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses four through five. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling 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. And this is slide number one, Mr. Lay. 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 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 six months, then bound for six months. Free for three weeks, then bound for three weeks. Some it's more of a frequent flip-flopping. Sometimes it's one day to the next. Sometimes it's one hour to the next. 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. Now keeping this graphic up just for a second, Mr. Lay. 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 life. 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. Stronghold number one, let's look now at depression. Now, depression comes with various different symptoms. Some people, they feel hollow inside. Others feel disconnected, alone, hopeless. Sometimes they may even feel sorrow. A lot of people think that when it comes to depression that they're always just gonna feel sad. They're always just gonna feel heavy. And sometimes that's not even the case with depression. Sometimes there's just a real emptiness with depression or even an apathy or even like this sense of disconnect like a derealization, like nothing around you is real because you're just kinda detached from all your emotions. Now, depression usually comes from the root lie. Actually, I should say one of these root lies that you are unloved, that you are unwanted, and that you have no purpose. When you feel unloved, that's one of the root lies of depression. When you believe you're unwanted, that's one of the root lies of depression. When you believe that there's no purpose in your life, that's one of the root lies of depression. And by the way, also of cynicism. Cynicism produces, or cynicism I should say, is produced from this lie that we have no purpose, that nothing has any purpose, that nothing matters, no one really cares, no one really loves me. It's just this disconnect from life. And sometimes also it can be a combination of these various different lies. I know that because there was a season in my life where I battled with depression. Now watch this. In John 3, 16 and 17, very famous portion of scripture, we actually see all three of these different things addressed directly. For God so loved the world, you're loved. That he gave his only begotten son, he gave his son why, so he could have you, you're wanted. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. There's your purpose. For God sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So here we see the love of God, which is an everlasting love. Here we see his desire for you. He desired you so much that he sent his son to die for you. And then here we see that you have purpose, that you might have everlasting life. And what is that everlasting life? It's life unto God. It's connection with who he is. It's experiencing him. It's knowing his glory. It's loving God and being loved by God. It's living a life of purpose unto his glory, giving him praise that is found in everlasting life. Now, hearing these lies exposed and then hearing the truth that contradicts those lies doesn't always immediately break off the depression because breaking depression isn't as simple as thinking a happy thought. I used to get really frustrated with people and they tried to give me some generic advice to help with my depression by telling me things like, well, just think happy thoughts, just be positive. Other people have it worse. Go out and do some exercise. Go out and get some sun, touch the grass and you'll be all right. Now, there is to some degree some truth in those things, but you can't just think happy thoughts. You can't think positively out of depression. Rather, this is about the renewing of the mind and not just knowing the thoughts intellectually, not just knowing the truth on a surface mental level, but allowing those truths to permeate your entire being, knowing and believing deep down inside that God loves you, that God wants you, that there's a purpose for your life. Because again, we can say these things, we can think these things on a surface level, but until we're willing to actually let the truth be immersed in the truth and let the truth, how shall I say all of the implications of those truths actually begin to affect our lives? Until you do that, you're not gonna see real breakthrough. Now this is where the cynical reinforcing lies begin to rise because every stronghold is rooted in lies, but every stronghold also has reinforcing lies, lies like I already tried that before, or it doesn't work for me, or this sounds too simple. I think it's interesting that people want their solution to be complicated because I think it's a form of self validation when they believe that their solution is more complicated than just simply knowing and believing the truth. But the fact of the matter is that the Bible works for all of us, truth works for all of us, no one is the exception, and we should be encouraged in that. If you say in yourself, I already tried that, but you're still bound, then I promise you you haven't already tried it. The scripture says that God be true in every man a liar. I know that when I would lie to myself, I would say things like, I already tried this, it doesn't work. I've been through this road so many times before, nothing's actually going to click for me or this is just the way it's meant to be or this is just the way I am or I'm gonna be stuck here forever. People of God, don't you realize those are the reinforcing lies? The lies that combat the truth. So that foundational lie, the first lie comes and it builds a stronghold. And then we try to fight that lie with truth. And then there's another lie that comes now that contradicts the truth that we're trying to believe. So it's a fight to believe the truth. You say, who is doing the lies? It's the enemy. This is how the enemy attacks believers. The enemy's power over the believer is deception, period. And so we overcome him by knowing the truth. The enemy, Satan is the father of what lies. It's all he has. All he has is what he can say. It was that way from the beginning. Well, how did he take the dominion from man? How did he cause man to fall? He lied. He twisted the word. So this has always been, since the beginning, a fight for truth. And so it really is going to be a fight. That's why you have to raise your shield of faith. The shield of faith being what? The shield of faith is your belief in the truth of what God has said. And so when the enemy fires those darts at you, when the enemy throws a lie your way, you raise the shield of faith. That faith is your belief in what God has said. So that's the first stronghold, depression. The second one is offense or bitterness or unforgiveness. Now bitterness is one of the symptoms, but unforgiveness is a real tough stronghold to break because people feel justified in staying bound in it. And many times they don't want to be free because they're finding protection in this stronghold because it keeps them from being hurt again. But some of the symptoms of offense are anger or you're untrusting or you want others to hate who you hate or you never give the benefit of the doubt to anyone or in your mind, anything anyone ever says is interpreted as a slight against you. That's a form of bitterness. You're spiritually dry, your prayers are cold, your worship is cold. These are symptoms of offense. Now the lie at the root of the offense and you're not gonna like this if you're bound by this. I tell people all the time, don't argue against your deliverance. You be amazed at how many Christians get angry when you give them the truth that can free them. Don't argue against your deliverance. The lie that's keeping you bound in offense is that you have the right to hold on to that unforgiveness. Now I already know that this particular stronghold will probably be more offensive than any of the strongholds that I talk about. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but generally speaking, this has been my experience. When I talk about offense, it's like people think I'm talking directly to them and they get angry with me, they say, but you don't know what he did. You don't know what she did. How dare you, you don't know my story. And I'm thinking, I'm just speaking publicly. I'm not even talking to you personally. And they comment things like, well, you don't know what I've been through. How dare you question the anger that I have. And I'm thinking, I don't even know the situation. I'm just presenting what the word of God says. And so people who struggle with unforgiveness are very touchy. It's like walking on eggshells with them. So I'm just gonna give it to you straight because I want you to go free. You have no right to hold on to that unforgiveness. That's the lie that you believe. You believe that you're justified for it. You believe that you have the right to do it. You believe in some strange way that you have the moral high ground for holding on to that unforgiveness. And it's just not true. Ephesians chapter four, verse 32 says, instead be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. It's Ephesians 4, 32. So how has Christ forgiven me? How has God forgiven me? He gives me a clean slate. He gives me a fresh start. Now this is not to say that you should allow people to continually abuse you. And there are certain circumstances where, of course, we're not just talking about some offense. We're talking about things that probably should be handled in another way. But no matter what it was, that bitterness in your heart, that unforgiveness in your heart must be released. You say, well, how do I do it? How come I'm having so much trouble? Tell me how to do it. I'm telling you how you have to stop believing that you have any right to hold on to it. You have to stop believing that it is in any way justified for you to remain bitter, for you to hold that against someone. And that's at the root. And most people will never get to that root because they're too busy being caught up replaying the thing that happened over and over in their mind. The next stronghold I want to talk about is the stronghold of legalism. Now, 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 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. We can't do it without him. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter two verses eight and nine, God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done so none of us can boast about it. Here the scripture is making it very clear that salvation is ultimately a work of God. And that when we place our faith in what Jesus has done, that God does the miracle of salvation. 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. All 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 re-enter. 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 wanna 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. The door of justification, I'll read this verse, keep the imagery up please Tim. 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? Second 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. So then some might ask, well, can we go back through that door of justification the other way? Well, that's the debate on once saved, always saved. We're not talking about that right now. It's irrelevant to what we're discussing here. We're not talking about whether we can go back through that door or not. I'm just saying that even when you make mistakes, that there are different things that the enemy will try to do to accuse you and even convince you maybe that you've crossed over back through that door of justification. Then finally, over there on the right is the door of glorification. Philippians 321 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, you know, 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. Number four, the stronghold of anxiety and fear. Now anxiety and fear is closely tied to legalism. So I'll just reference you back to 1 John chapter 14 or chapter four, excuse me, 1 John chapter four versus 16 through 18. And there we see that perfect love casts out all fear. So that's the key truth I'll be using to combat this stronghold. But again, this does have some close ties to legalism but ultimately the symptoms of fear and anxiety include paranoia, perhaps social anxiety, you're a worst case scenario type of thinker, you lack joy, it's very difficult for you to enjoy the blessings of God because you believe that just as things get better that's when they'll all fall apart and so forth. So the lie at the root of fear and anxiety is the fear of harm and ultimately punishment. Now many of you know I was delivered as a born again believer from the stronghold of anxiety. And God had to really help me to embrace the truth in order to be free from it. But I can tell you that once I realized that God was really for me, not for my sin, God was really for me and that he was working with me, not against me for his glory and that I could trust that he would keep his promises. Once I really began to embrace that the fear started to lose its hold because belief in that truth has practical implications for everyday life. Well think about the fact that say for example, like I used to have this fear of getting into vehicles. I could not for the life of me bring myself to get into a car. I know that may seem silly to some but if you battle with anxiety you know how severe some of these fears can become. So I wouldn't even step into the car because I was so convinced, that was it, I was thoroughly convinced something bad is going to happen when I get into that car. Something bad is gonna happen the moment I get it I'm gonna die in a car accident and so forth. And then I realized okay and some of you won't like this reasoning but I had to really come down to the foundation of this. And I realized okay what if I did die in an accident? What do I think is gonna happen? And I realized something. I wasn't trusting in the goodness of God. Do you realize that the goodness of God is the ultimate safety net? That even if the worst should happen that we have nothing to fear. I mean sometimes people try to overcome their anxiety by convincing themselves that nothing bad's gonna happen but that's a lie. It's not true that nothing bad will ever happen. I mean people say all the time well God has wonderful plans for my life we'll tell that to the early church martyrs was that not a wonderful plan that God had for their lives? What about our brothers and sisters who are being executed for their faith around the world? Are they not in God's will? Are they not blessed? We have to think about these things. So ultimately fear asks what if but faith boldly declares even if and that is the truth that will set you free. Now again these truths as I minister them you may hear them and go okay I acknowledge that or maybe you've even heard it before but it's not just a matter of hearing it and thinking it in your mind and receiving it as a fact but actually asking the Holy Spirit to convince you of that truth at your very core and then to ask him to show you how that lie is affecting various different ideas in your life. Number five torment. Now this one is severe. Symptoms include hearing voices, seeing imagery that's hallucination, mental anguish, intrusive thoughts, nightmares, a sense of darkness and this stronghold is the stronghold that believers most often confuse for demonic possession. Now the lie here is that the enemy has power over you. Now that may sound counterintuitive because the imagery is so powerful. I'll tell you a story. There was a man of God, I believe it was Smith Wigglesworth who was preaching a revival service and this revival lasted for days and people would be praying and worshiping and hearing the word of God, praying for the sick, casting out demons, seeing miracles, all of those wonderful things that come along with revival. They would do that morning, noon, night, morning, noon, night for days this went on and so he became tired and he told himself I'm just gonna slip away just for a few hours. I'm gonna get some sleep and then I'll get back to the revival meeting and so he leaves the revival service, goes home to get some rest and while he's sleeping, he senses this dark presence come into his room and it woke him up. He sensed the heaviness of demonic power. Many of you know what that feels like. I know I can sense that in people and it's strong sometimes. You just know that person has and I'm talking about true demonic possession, not just strongholds. I'm talking true demonic possession. There's this real presence on that person and it's a heavy, dark presence on the demon possessed but he had recognized that because he knew what a demonic presence felt like. So he senses this dark presence come in the room and it wakes him up and then he fills his bed like an indention on his bed and it slowly starts to sink, like the weight of somebody sitting on his bed. I know this is gonna freak some of you out but you have to hear this story. Some of you are saying if that was me, I'd have been out of there. He senses the bed indenting and by the way, I've had this happen to me before. There's been nights where the enemy tries to freak me out and maybe I'm not as bold as this guy as I'm about to tell you but I've sensed that presence sit on the bed and move the bed and I would look and I would see the bed move down. I've had my covers pulled off of me and I can feel a presence in the room. So this man is sitting there and this demonic presence sits on his bed. And so he rolls over to look at who might be sitting on his bed and he sees sitting at the foot of his bed, the most vile, wicked looking, evil demonic creature. And the way he describes it was just this, it was just an ugly being. And this being is sitting there taunting him, trying to intimidate him and this is what this preacher does. He turns over, he sees this demonic being and he says, oh, it's only you. Rolls over and goes back to sleep. Now, what would happen to most believers in that situation? If they saw demonic presence trying to intimidate them, they would be freaked out of their minds, they would panic, they would probably lose sleep for the next couple of weeks. Look, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses five to 10. This is Paul the apostle talking about demonic attack coming against him. Guys, if anyone tells you that Christians can't be attacked or influenced by demonic powers, they're not showing you scripture. Now we understand that there's a limitation on what the enemy can do to Christians. Obviously you can't possess them, demons can't indwell them. We know this as a fact, but in terms of the attacks, in terms of the influence, in terms of the deception, in terms of the torment, the enemy can still do this. And so therefore, Christians need deliverance in many instances different from exorcism. But watch this now, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses five to 10, and I mention that because torment is the stronghold most often confused for demonic possession. And that's exactly the point. The enemy wants them to believe he has more power than he actually does. So 2 Corinthians 12, five to 10 says this, that experience is worth boasting about, but I'm not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so because I would be telling the truth. So he's talking about his credentials here as a man of God, but I won't do it because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message. Wow, what a beautiful thing. Verse seven, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God, watch this now. Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me, and keep me from becoming proud. Now just to comment here on the thorn in the flesh, Paul is using an analogy, a metaphor to describe a literal reality. So thorn in the flesh, that phrase is a metaphor. You say, how do you know that? Well, what is a thorn? A thorn in the Greek here is a wooden stake. No one is saying, nor has anyone committed themselves to believing that Paul is walking around with a wooden stake in his body, his physical body. So the term thorn in the flesh is the metaphor. The literal reality is the messenger of Satan. So thorn and flesh, those two words are being used as a metaphor to describe a literal reality. So like if I say, the children ate candy and they were bouncing off the walls. Well, okay, the candy was literal, but then bouncing off the walls, that's a metaphor. So same thing here, thorn in my flesh, that's the metaphor, messenger of Satan, that's the literal reality. He didn't have an actual wooden stake in his actual physical body. So the messenger of Satan, what did the messenger of Satan do? The messenger of Satan tormented him, but to keep him from becoming proud, it tormented him. Now we don't know whether this demonic being was speaking directly to Paul or whether he was speaking through perhaps someone who was keeping him captive or was coming against his ministry. We don't know, but the enemy was tormenting Paul. Now watch this, verse eight. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, my grace is all you need. Look, if this was a demon in him, do you think God would say, oh, you're fine, just keep my grace? No, you would get it out of him. But we see here it's something different. It's an attack against him, not a being dwelling in him. My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses and in the insults, hardships, persecutions and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. What was God's answer to the torment? Grace, inner strength. Now, some believers panic at the mere idea that they're being tormented. My friend sitting right here on the phone, Colin, do you mind if I share a little bit of your testimony here? I have sitting here, I won't make him come on camera because he's a little camera shy. He's sitting right here. When he came to our ministry, he was tormented of the mind, hearing things, seeing things. Today he sits here right in front of me and I look at a man of God, completely stable, filled with joy and peace. And he's smiling at me right now as I say this. And people saw the difference. Why? When he finally realized, yes, the enemy may be attacking me, but he has no power over me. Listen to me now. There's a game that I play with my precious aria. Jess and I sometimes will allow aria to sleep in our bed and, you know, we'll tell her stories or we'll just maybe aria will bring some toys and she'll play with the toys in the bed. But on some nights, aria will say, Dad, can we play shadows? Can we play shadows? And so what I'll do is I'll get a flashlight. I'll put it behind our heads, kind of held up by the pillows and the light shines onto the ceiling. And aria sticks her hands in the air and her hands, we could see the silhouette of her hands, the shadows on the ceiling. And she does different things. She'll make them people. She'll make them animals. She talks with her hands. She does like a whole shadow puppet show, if you will. And there's this thing that she does. She goes, look, Dad, my hand's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And she starts to bring it closer to the light so that her hand now looks like it's filling the whole room. Like a giant hand covering my whole ceiling, but it's just a child's hand with no real strength in it. She hardly has any grip strength at all. But yet, if you were to see that hand on the ceiling, you would think that hand could crush me. Yet it was delicate and small and no grip strength whatsoever. Well, that's what the enemy's like. The enemy is all shadow, no substance. The enemy is all bark, no bite for the believer. Now please don't hear what I'm not saying. I am not saying that the enemy is not dangerous because he is if you compromise. I am not saying that the enemy can't wreak havoc in your life because the Bible warns us very clearly to watch out for our enemy who's seeking to devour us. Devour is not a good word. So I'm not trying to inspire apathy. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be vigilant. What I'm specifically speaking against right now is paranoia. Paranoia and panic at the sheer idea that we're being attacked. You know that I used to hear things. I used to see demonic powers try to intimidate me. And once they saw that I just, you know what? You can try to intimidate me, but I know I'm walking in the spirit. Nothing you can do. You know the enemy stopped trying that on me. I used to be tormented by nightmares. Sleep paralysis, which is, it's a whole different topic which I cover. Well, maybe we'll get into it another time. But you see, the enemy would try all these things and the moment he saw, it's not working on me. He began to back off. The enemy is like a bully who once you stand up to realizes he can't bully you anymore. And this is not me saying we have this great power. It's God's power. And again, one more time, I'll say it to balance this point. Don't scoff at supernatural beings. Don't look down and say, well, the enemy can't do anything to me ever. No, because if we sin and compromise, we make ourselves more vulnerable to deception and attack and influence and torment. But if we're walking in the spirit and the enemy's trying these things, can he do? Oh, it's only you. The enemy gives you a nightmare. Yeah, pray, rebuke it, sure. But then don't spend the next four nights pacing your room, wondering, God, have you abandoned me? Because the enemy will use our feelings and our emotions to try to endorse his lies. So you feel afraid, you feel like something bad's gonna, you feel like the enemy has this power over you, not realizing it's just a threat. It's just a threat. And that's the true power of the Holy Ghost is that it brings light and life to you. There's an illustration about this man who was, I believe it was at a carnival. The anecdote varies from whoever tells it, but it was at a carnival and maybe behind the scenes at a carnival. And this man begins to ask a trainer who was watching over some elephants about the way that the elephants were being kept captive. He noticed that these large elephants, these big creatures had ropes tied to their ankles and those ropes were nailed into the ground with wooden stakes. And he saw this and he realized that elephant can break out of that rope like that. He could snap it like it's dental floss. That stake in the ground, I don't even know how it's being held in place right now, just with a little, maybe even just a fractional use of its strength that stake would come right out of the ground. So he's wondering how does this keep the elephants in place? So he asks the trainer, how are you keeping these elephants in place? He says, well, since these elephants were babies, we kept them tied to these wooden stakes, these ropes and wooden stakes. And when they were babies, that rope was enough to hold them. It was enough to keep them there. And so they just grew up thinking, this rope is stronger than me. And now that they're bigger and stronger and perfectly capable of breaking through that rope, they won't do so because they don't realize that they can. You see, before we came to Christ shore, we were hopeless, helpless. The enemy could do anything he wants. When we're in Christ, we're sons of God. Remember, you're a new creation. Reflections of light, heavenly beings, sons of God. Know who you are. Yes, okay, you know what? You wanna try to attack me with a nightmare? Try to attack me with a torment? You wanna try to attack me with intrusive thoughts? Okay, bring the attack on. I'm gonna run to Jesus. Bring the attack on. I'm gonna run to refuge. I'm gonna live clean. I'm not gonna give the enemy a point of vulnerability that makes me more susceptible to believing his lies. Say, greater is he who is in me and he who is in the world. The same spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells in me. You have to get bold with it. You have to learn to stand up to the enemy with the power of the Holy Ghost, not on your own strength. He'll defeat you every time, but with the power of the Holy Ghost. As I'm reading the comments, don't bring them up on the screen. This brings so much clarity. People talking about the truth. People saying this is liberating me. If that's you, if this is breaking some mindsets in you, I want you to comment free. Just type that one word free. And we could spend all day on just the stronghold of torment, but we'll move to number six and then we'll focus on number seven where I'm gonna be talking about addiction. Number six is confusion. And the symptoms of confusion are aimlessness, stagnation, and apathy. You don't know where you're going. So you get stuck and in getting stuck, you just stop caring. Now, usually with confusion, there is a hidden lie. Please, please, please hear me. Please hear me. Where there is confusion, there is always deception. Where there is confusion, there is always deception. Now, I'll give you an example. Let's say there's a young man who wants to date a girl who's not saved. Now, we know what the Bible says about this, that we're not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. That's not just for marriage. That applies to relationships in general. In other words, they're not gonna go the same direction as you. There's a certain limitation that's there when someone is an unbeliever. So the Bible says to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, but this young man doesn't care, he thinks the girl is beautiful, he starts dating her, he ignores the word, suppresses that truth, and says, I'm gonna date her anyway. And then, as they begin to date, now they start compromising. Sin slips in. Now, he's confused. God, do I keep this relationship? Or do we repent together and try to keep going the right way? And all this confusion starts to set in. And so now he's going, wait, what's God? God, do you want me to break up or not? And he can't tell. Because his emotions are saying, stay in the relationship, fight for it, forgive, you know, all these things. And the word of God is simply saying, be not unequally yoked, be not unequally yoked. But because he's believed a lie, he's not gonna be able to tell which one is which. Or another example. Oh, and please hear me now, church. Let he who has eyes to see see, let he who has ears to hear hear. The truths of the spirit, only those who are of the spirit can receive spiritual things. Unbiblical doctrine is very difficult to break away from. It's easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they've been fooled because ego comes into play. Now, what happens is when someone believes an unbiblical doctrine, they have a consistent worldview and that consistent worldview, even though it's built on deception, it's consistent. So the moment you introduce truth to someone who believes an unbiblical doctrine, they go, I'm confused. Now I'm confused. And what happens is they think that it was the truth that was introduced that caused confusion, not realizing it was the lie they had already believed that had already bound them and prepared them for confusion the moment truth came in. So we think, okay, that's the introduction of truth there's the truth, now I'm confused. Oh, it must have been what you told me. I know this will happen to me. Like for example, I used to believe that God wanted me to be poor. Like that was like, I was so convinced of that. God wants me poor and God wants me broke. And then I realized poverty and prosperity, neither one of those unto themselves are pleasing to God. Now, I don't believe the prosperity gospel. You don't name it, claim it, blabbit, grab it. So a seat of $77 and in seven days, you'll have a seven-fold return that will last for seven years and gimmicks and things like that greed and guilting people into giving. I don't believe any of that. That's all nonsense. Okay, so I'll just say that clearly. Now I do believe God prospers his people, biblically speaking, I do believe that when we give as God directs, not as man manipulates as God directs, then we are blessed, God increases our resources. If we're good stewards of our resources, God will increase our resources more so we can be a blessing to others. We understand these balanced principles of prosperity, financial fruitfulness, we understand these things. But I was totally convinced the opposite way. Like I thought it was just, it was bad. It was like this framework that I couldn't get out of until I met a man by the name of Nelson Sanchez. His name was Nelson Sanchez. I was 14 years old when we connected. And I would go to Nelson's house. Nelson was at a very young age, like a multimillionaire at a very young age. And he began to minister to me principles of kingdom finance. Oh my goodness, I was so confused. I said, no, no, this can't be, this can't be. I'm confused. And because I got confused, I blamed the introduction of truth rather than what I was believing before. And so in doing that, I was arguing against a revelation God wanted to give me. And so I fought him and I fought him and I fought him. And it was funny, not face to face, but like in my mind, I was resisting like, no, no, no, no, no, this can't be right. It's not what I've been told. This is not what I've heard. This is not what I believed all this time. And there was a part of me that was offended. There's a part of me that was a little bit angry. It wasn't a big part of me, but it was there in my heart. But yet I couldn't help but be drawn to what he was saying because I knew somewhere deep inside, there's some truth to what this man is saying. And God used that man single-handedly to transform my mind from this worldly poverty mindset to a kingdom-centered, others-centered mindset in terms of resources and how God wanted to, that God wanted me to do things with excellence and God wanted me to do things properly and God wanted me to be generous. Like it was like news to me. But when I first heard that truth, you guys, I'm telling you right now, when I first heard that, I was confused. And because that truth was introduced to me, I blamed the truth. This is what many of us do. We have our things that we believe, we're convinced of, we've been told, it's emphatic. And then when someone introduces the truth, we say, I'm confused. And then we blame the one who told us the truth rather than dealing with the root. 1 Corinthians 14, 33 says, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. You wanna defeat the stronghold of confusion, find the lie, stop clinging to it. You'll find the moment you release yourself from the lie, clarity. The moment you release yourself from the lie. And this doesn't even just apply to doctrine. This doesn't even just apply to relationships. Those are just two examples that I gave to you. This applies to every aspect of our lives. There are so many things that we believe that contradict the word of God and we don't even realize it. We don't even know it because we were raised a certain way or we were taught a certain way. Or our culture formed our mind a certain way. And so now we believe certain things, not realizing that contradicts scripture. And it's not until we get in the word that we begin to see the truth. And in the truth, we find liberty. Finally, number seven, I wanna talk to you about the stronghold of addiction. Now, there are many different forms of addiction. There's drug addiction, alcohol addiction, porn addiction, food addiction. So many different things can become addiction. I want you to remember this about addiction. People ask me all the time, Brother David, let's just use drug addiction for an example or alcohol addiction, like a substance. People ask me all the time, Brother David, is that spiritual or is that physical? And I tell them, it's both. All addictions have some form of demonic influence. How can they not? Think about what an addiction does. It destroys someone who carries the image of God. Every addiction, every addiction that is destructive to the life of someone who bears the image of God has some element of demonic influence in it. You just look at addiction. Look what addiction does in someone's life. You tell me what other kind of influence could make a parent abandon their child. You tell me what other kind of influence could make someone give up everything that God blessed them with to pursue the pleasures of the world? There is demonic influence in all forms of addiction, period. Now, don't confuse demonic deception for other forms of demonic attack. And I wanna show you how this works, okay, in just a moment. So it's partly demonic. It's partly the sin nature. And then it's partly physiological. Now, when I say that an addiction is partly demonic, people who don't believe in the supernatural say, oh, you're crazy. Oh, you're demon obsessed. Oh, you don't know what you're talking about. Oh, you're superstitious. And they neglect the reality of the supernatural. And then when I say that there's a physiological element to addiction, the people who are superstitious say, no, it's completely demonic and there's nothing else apart of it that needs to be addressed. Both sides are wrong. An addiction is demonic in nature. It's fleshly in nature and it's physiological in nature. Now, when I say fleshly, I'm using that term as it pertains to the sin nature. And that word you have to watch because sometimes when the word flesh is used, it's talking about the sin nature and other times when the word flesh is used, it's talking about the physical body. So context will give the meaning to that particular word. You have to address all these areas. Now, let me show you how addiction works. Slide number four, please. Here's how addiction works. It begins with deception that gives way to yielding to temptation. You say, how does addiction begin with deception? Well, think about this. All temptation is rooted in deception. In Matthew four, you can go look at it later when the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil and the wilderness. The devil would tempt him with lies or the challenge to his identity, which was a form of deception. If you are the son of God, that's deception. It's the challenging of the truth. So deception is the framework for temptation. Deception is what gives temptation its power. So deception says the sin will satisfy, the drug will satisfy, the sex will satisfy, the alcohol will satisfy, overeating will satisfy, and then that deception gives way to temptation or another lie could be the presence of God can't fulfill you like this can or this doesn't have any real consequences. These are the lies we believe that cause us to yield to temptation. The ultimate lie being that it's worth it. Temptation produces sin. That sin becomes habitual. Now watch this. At some point, the habitual sin becomes a physical problem. Hear me now. At some point, the habitual sin becomes a physical problem. Watch this now. Deception, that's the demonic aspect. Temptation, that's a combination of your flesh and the demonic because the Bible says that when we're tempted, we're tempted because we're carried away by our own lusts. And then the Bible also makes it clear that the devil tempts us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. That's crying out for deliverance from temptation. So deception is demonic. Temptation is demonic and fleshly. Sin is of the flesh. You choose to sin. Demons can tempt you, but you choose to sin. And then it becomes habitual. Now the flesh is getting stronger with habitual sin. Now watch this. Eventually that habitual sin of the sin nature, of the carnal nature, begins to become addiction. Now you've got a physiological problem on your hand. You have to deal with the demonic. You have to deal with the sin nature and you have to deal with the body. So to deal with the demonic, you have to realize that the enemy's going to seek opportunities to tempt you. Now the context here, we'll consider it and then I'll show you the principle that we're gleaning from this. First Corinthians chapter seven, verse five, do not deprive each other of sexual relations talking to married couples unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so that you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. So he's talking to married couples saying, look, if you want too fast, if you will, sexual intimacy for the sake of prayer, you can do that, but watch the warning he gives. Afterward, you should come together so that Satan won't be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. You see the combination there? Temptation of the devil, self-control. That's you, that's the flesh. So he can only tempt you because of your lack of self-control. He can only tempt you because of the desires that you have in the sin nature. Now watch this. This also shows us that the enemy looks for opportune moments. He looks for the moments that you are weakest and he tempts you with what tempts you most. And he'll always come after you in your weak points. And so what's the answer? You defeat the enemy, the Bible gives it clearly here, James four, seven. So humble yourselves before God or submit yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee. What does the Bible say guys? Guys, what does the Bible say? Resist the devil and he'll fight. Resist the devil and he'll hide near you. No, it says resist the devil and he will flee. Now this has to be done from time to time whenever those temptations arise. How do you resist the devil? How did Jesus do it? It is written. You fight him with the word. You combat him with truth. It is written. So you resist the devil and he flee. So the temptation or the role that demons play in temptation is dealt with when you resist the devil, rebuke the devil in the authority of Christ. Simple exercise of authority. Now, then you have to deal with the sin nature. Romans eight, six to eight says, so letting your sinful nature control your minds leads to death, but letting the spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. So the sinful nature is always hostile to God. Remember, it's both demonic and of the sin nature. Addiction is both demonic and of the sin nature. I wanna be clear because when I talk about the physical elements of addiction, people are gonna say, you don't believe it's demonic. And when I talk about the demonic elements of addiction, people are gonna say, you don't believe it's of the physiological nature. We have to address both because both of these are realities. So letting your sinful nature control your minds leads to death, but the spirit controls your mind will lead to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. How do you do this? Let the spirit control your mind. You should implement practical measures like accountability, like discipline, like exercising your will to resist sin. That's part of it. But I'll tell you this, while you should strive against sin, you must also surrender to the spirit. Surrendering to the spirit solves 99% of the problem. Striving against sin solves 1% of it, but you need to do both. Yes, act against it. Yes, discipline. Yes, willpower. But now you also have to surrender to the spirit. How do you do that? Renewing your mind to the word. Daily prayer, asking for his guidance, being mindful of his presence, slowing down your pace so that he has time to speak to you. These are all things that matter when it comes to dealing with addiction. Now, how do you deal with the physical body? Remember this, the eventual result of habitual sin is physical addiction. Let me read something to you. This is from my book coming out in June of 2023, Holy Spirit, the Bondage Breaker. It's a fact that the body and the brain can be altered, restructured to the point where its sinful cravings can be as strong as hunger, if not stronger. In the case of drugs and alcohol, your body becomes dependent upon the substance. At that point, in extreme cases, the body's need for its vice can become life-threatening. Once the addiction has reached this point, willpower and discipline alone begin to lose their strength. The body begins to act on what it's been trained to do in crave. Sadly, these cravings are so strong that men and women give up all they love to fulfill them. I've seen parents abandon children, spouses abandon spouses, and people give up everything they've worked to achieve for just one more taste of what they crave. So the nature of addiction is thus, it begins in deception. That deception makes you more vulnerable to temptation. You choose to yield to that temptation. That yielding to temptation becomes a habit. That habit affects the body and the brain profoundly enough to become an addiction. By the time the bondage has become an addiction, there are physical elements to it. Addiction, hear this please, addiction is the physical consequence of a constant yielding to temptation. Let me say that again. Addiction is the physical consequence of a constant yielding to temptation. So you keep choosing to yield and to yield. The flesh gets stronger, stronger, stronger. And eventually the flesh begins to alter brain chemistry and bodily cravings to where now you're dealing with an addiction. So if it's come to this point, what do you do? Number one, and this is addressing now the physiological element. Remember, we talked about the demonic, we talked about the flesh. Now we're talking about the physiological element. Number one, deal with it early. James 1, 14 and 15 say temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. So address it while it's still a smaller problem. This may not apply to everyone, but if you're noticing it beginning to form, you have to take action now. Number two, deal with it practically and spiritually. Now remember this, God can heal anyone of anything. I've seen drug addicts, I'm talking like heroin. I'm talking meth, I'm talking lifelong alcoholics. I've seen them delivered in an instant. And I would call that a deliverance slash healing because their physical body is being touched by the power of the Holy Spirit. And I've seen them never touch drugs again, never touch alcohol again and so forth. God does that, but that's not always the case. We cannot try to fit God in our boxes. God doesn't wanna be put in a box. Those who say he can't heal people miraculously don't know what they're talking about. And those who say that God doesn't sometimes require of us to walk a journey, they don't know what they're talking about either. It's both and not either or. God does not wanna be put in a box. And so yes, God can heal it instantly, but if he doesn't, you deal with it spiritually. Prayer, fasting, reading the word, church attendance, accountability, all of these things. And God has nothing against the medical profession. Now I gotta be careful with the way I say this because not all practical attempts at addressing addiction are biblically consistent. Be very careful with where you go to get the help with the physical element. Be very careful who you get counsel from. Be very careful with medication and so forth. Really, really pray through these things and use discernment because there's lots of confusion there on some of these issues. But generally speaking, this is not to say there are no problems with these industries. Generally speaking, Jesus is not against medical professions. Matthew 912 says, but when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Now Jesus here is talking about the fact that sinners need him, not the people who think they aren't sinners. But context considered, he's actually speaking positively of physicians. So he has nothing against them even when he healed the lepers. He told them, go and have yourselves checked of course by the religious leaders, but he's not against medical practice. Now there are some who say, you can't counsel out demons. And I agree, you cannot counsel demons out. You have to cast demons out. You can't rebuke what needs to be counseled and vice versa, but, but, but, but, that doesn't mean that there's no room for this because once you've addressed the demonic power in the unbeliever, you have to cast it out with the believer, you rebuke it so that it's silent. And then now once you're dealing with the sin nature, that's up to the individual to submit themselves to God. And then you're dealing with the physiological element. God could heal that person. Absolutely positively, I've seen it. I've seen him do it thousand times and many more. But when God doesn't do that and sometimes he doesn't move the way we want him to move, it's okay to apply practical techniques as long as you're using discernment when you do so. And then finally, you wanna deal with it aggressively. Romans 13, 14 says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, that's the sin nature, to fulfill the lust thereof. Don't give the man of sin opportunity. If you're struggling with pornography, get rid of your phone and your internet connection. You say, David, how will we watch you? Get a friend who can show you our videos. You do what you must. You're struggling with the drug addiction, move out of state and go live with some Christians who you know aren't gonna hook you up with drugs. I'm serious. I can't tell you how many times I've sat across from someone who says, I wanna be free, I wanna be free. And we've rebuked the devil. They're dealing with the sin nature, they're trying, but they just can't overcome that physical element. I say, I'll pay for you to go to rehab, but you have to leave because this area is not good for you. It's not good to be around these friends. And they'll say, oh, I don't know, it seems too drastic and they don't wanna do it. It's okay, you don't really want freedom that badly. You have to deal with it aggressively, drastically. Jesus said, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Now I'm not telling you to literally amputate your hand. What Jesus was talking about there was the severity of sin and how we should take great measures to avoid it. So you talk about the man of sin and this addiction. You're serious about this? Okay, get serious, prove it. Oh, you know, I wanna overcome this weed addiction. I really been praying and I just can't, are you serious? Prove it. Move away from where you can get the connections. Get rid of your phone. You're serious about overcoming the porn addiction? Get rid of the internet connection. Get rid of social media. You should not even be on social media. You say, well, how do you receive these teachings and so forth? Well, I'll tell you, have a friend download them for you. Get a flip phone. Make no provision for the flesh. How serious are you? You do that for a season and then when that's broken and you can handle those things again, come back to it. But if you're serious about it, you'll get serious about it. Everyone I've talked to, and I need to be careful about the way I say this because there are nuances to everyone's struggle. But generally speaking, the people I've talked to who've overcome these things with the Holy Spirit's help either were miraculously and instantly healed or they took aggressive action against this thing. And until you do that, you're not serious. I told you, I'm just gonna tell you the truth, guys. I'm just gonna tell you the truth. So you gotta deal with the demonic. Resist the devil and he will flee. All addiction has some form of demonic influence. No one can convince me otherwise. All addiction has some form of demonic influence, period. Dealing with the sin nature. Romans 8, 6 to 8, let the spirit guide your life. Let's do practical basics of Christian living. Number three, deal with the body. How do you do that? You deal with it early. You deal with it practically and spiritually and you deal with it aggressively. 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 that 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. Hey, listen, if you enjoyed this message and you think more people need to hear it, leave a like on the video right now. 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